Crisis Journalism: Writing Articles, Podcasts, and Essays in a State of Emergency

Addressing crises is more important than ever. However, in a state of emergency, it is easy to feel overwhelmed by reporting, inundated with Tweets, and tickled and troubled by TikTok remixes of daily news. This course explores exemplary journalistic works, largely published in 2020 and 2021, that rise above the fray of anxious internet ecosystems to clarify our changing world with vivid skill, ethical precision, and emotional sensitivity—so that these works may inform our own writing. Students examine how the world-changing complexities and personal effects of COVID-19, political unrest, climate change, racist violence, and antiracist response are addressed through short- and long-form investigative reporting, first-person narratives, extended interviews, opinion pieces, individual profiles, art criticism, and personal essays—and how these written forms are transformed into audio podcasts, which we engage through close listening and careful analysis. Short writing assignments prepare students to conclude the course with their own written piece, primed for publication, regarding their own reported experience. Interviews with professional journalists—including a presidential campaign journalist for the Associated Press, opinion piece writers for The Guardian, and the staff film writer at Vox—also teach us practical knowledge about becoming professional journalists in 2022.