Discussion questions for the December 2008 /January 2009 issue, along with suggestions for further readings, starting with a profile of the San Francisco Chronicle's nearly 90-year-old science editor, a discussion of presidential campaign coverage and a look at the social networking tools news sites are using to better connect with audiences.

Story 1: "90 Is the New 20" |  Story 2: "Off the Bus" |  
Story 3: "Networking News" |  Story 4: "Unheeded Warnings"

STORY 1: "90 Is The New 20: This science writer's passion is undiminished after almost 50 years on the beat." By Lindsay Gsell  

MORE INFO FROM THE STORY:  David Perlman has covered meteor showers and an earthquake, and he's written on topics ranging from evolution to the speed of Neptune's clouds. At nearly 90, the San Francisco Chronicle's science editor has no desire to retire, reports AJR's Lindsay Gsell.

CLASS RESEARCH ASSIGNMENTS AND DISCUSSION:

  • David Perlman's journalism career was launched in 1940, after he graduated from Columbia University and moved to a newspaper job in Bismarck, North Dakota. He's been at it steadily ever since--save for a stint with the U.S. Army during World War II. His longevity in the business is worth noting, but his long-running zeal for his career is not unique. Ask students to research others who have worked at least 50 years in the pursuit of journalism (Helen Thomas leaps to mind); they should profile them in 500-800 words, relying on primary and secondary documents, news accounts and interviews, if possible. What do the journalists have to say about the highs and lows of working so many years as a reporter or editor? What historic events did they bear witness to? Students should be prepared to discuss their profiles when they turn them in.

  • Perlman said his job on the science beat was to take "dense, scientific material and translate it into layman's terms," Gsell reports. He said he developed strong contacts to help steer him through complicated material. But that advice is not so different from tips that might be given by reporters who cover technology, or legal issues, or politics and public policy--or any complicated topic. Invite in three beat reporters from professional news outlets in your community and ask them to talk about how they work their beats and craft their stories so that a general audience can understand them.


    RELATED COLUMNS AND STORIES:
    The Kansas Delegation at the Republican National Convention in 2008. / Courtesy Maryland Newsline, Photo by James Sanborn
    The Kansas delegation at the Republican National Convention in 2008. Were reporters more productive when they were traveling with the candidates and their entourage or operating solo? (Courtesy Maryland Newsline; photo by James Sanborn)
    STORY 2: "Off the Bus: Far fewer news reporters hit the campaign trail with the presidential candidates for long stretches of time this year. Is that necessarily a bad thing?" By Paul Fari 

    MORE INFO FROM THE STORY:  Only five dailies -- the Los Angeles times, New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post and Chicago Tribune -- kept reporters on the road with Sens. John McCain and Barack Obama, Farhi reports. The networks relied mostly on young talent until the last few months. But some of the most illuminating pieces on the contest --such as the Los Angeles Times' exploration of how the race was playing among different demographic groups -- had nothing to do with the campaign trail. And some citizen reports --most notably from The Huffington Post's "Off The Bus" -- shone a light on info conventional reporters did not. Maybe, some ventured, it's possible to cover the presidential contest without being on the campaign bus all the time.

    CLASS RESEARCH AND DISCUSSION:

  • Following a candidate daily on her campaign bus or plane can lead to insights into how the public is perceiving her, how the staff is gelling, and how the candidate's message if evolving. But traveling with a pack of other journalists can also lead to groupthink, noted author Timothy Crouse in his 1973 book, "The Boys on the Bus." The Washington Post's Jonathan Yardley, in a 2004 review, quoted the book's description of pack journalists thusly: "They all fed off the same pool report, the same daily handout, the same speech by the candidate; the whole pack was isolated in the same mobile village. After a while, they began to believe the same rumors, subscribe to the same theories, and write the same stories." Ask students to find at least one example of a story -- not mentioned in Farhi's piece -- in which groundbreaking information was uncovered about the 2008 presidential candidates because the reporters weren't traveling as part of a pack. Students should summarize their findings in a brief memo and be prepared to discuss them with the class -- and to debate the merits of working on or off the bus.

  • Farhi noted that blogger Mayhill Fowler scored several campaign scoops in 2008 by working independently and posing questions to candidates without identifying herself as a blogger or journalist. In June, for instance, she asked Bill Clinton about an unflattering profile in Vanity Fair; Fowler then reported Clinton's tirade, in which he called the article's author a "scumbug." The exchange gave insights into Clinton's thinking, but it also raised questions about journalistic ethics. Engage the class in a discussion about Fowler's conduct. She's described as a blogger, but her commentary regularly ran on The Huffington Post. Should she have been bound by journalists' professional ethics and standards--such as identifying oneself when posing questions? Does the public make distinctions between journalists and bloggers? Could bloggers' (mis)conduct further erode journalists' standing with the public?

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    STORY 3: "Networking News: Traditional news outlets turn to social networking Web sites in an effort to build their online audiences. " By Arielle Emmett

    MORE INFO FROM THE STORY: Some media companies -- including Conde Nast, The New York Times and The Washington Post -- have branded pages on Facebook. Others have developed applications for Facebook pages, which direct traffic back to their own sites. Media companies have seen their traffic skyrocket from such associations. Jim Brady, who recently resigned as top editor of washingtonpost.com, says social text may not save the news industry, but the sites do push traditional news into the social ecosystem. "If you know you have a good story, why not share it?" Emmett quotes him as saying.

    CLASS DISCUSSION AND RESEARCH:

  • Ask students to describe in a 500-word memo which legacy media pages they visit on Facebook and why. Do they visit them for quick updates on the news? Interactions with like-minded readers? Other? If they don't regularly visit any traditional media pages on Facebook, ask them to visit the three linked in the last bullet below and write about what they like and dislike about the pages, and what they would do differently with them. Students should type up their memos and bring them to class and be prepared to discuss traditional media companies' use of Facebook pages.

  • While media companies are using social networking sites to connect with readers, some reporters are using them to find story leads and sources and to disseminate news updates quickly (see first three links, below, on Facebook and Twitter). Invite in three reporters from local newspapers, TV stations or Web sites for a discussion of how they're using the tools in their reporting.

    RELATED STORIES, COLUMNS AND LINKS:


    STORY 4: "Unheeded Warnings: Well before this year's economic collapse, business journalists shined a spotlight on serious problems in the U.S. economy. But regulators and members of the public didn't pay much attention." By Chris Roush

    MORE INFO FROM THE STORY: Diana Henriques of The New York Times tells Roush that perhaps business journalists could raise the volume of their alarms by more clearly connecting the dots between Washington policy and events on Wall Street.

    CLASS RESEARCH AND DISCUSSION:

  • After reviewing some of the stories published by national reporters on the foreclosure crisis and recession, ask students to break into small groups to brainstorm ideas for local (and campus) stories that could help to inform the public. Each group should come up with a list of at least six to eight ideas, along with proposals for multimedia and interactivity (quizzes, maps, polls, etc.) Reading through some of the useful tips from the Poynter Institute, below, may help to jumpstart the discussions, as might a review of these stories published in 2008 by journalism students in advanced reporting classes at the University of Maryland. Students should type up their ideas and be prepared to present them to the class.

  • If students are going to write stories on the business beat, it helps to understand the terms. Have them look up definitions for the following, and be prepared to explain them in class. Add others to the list as you see fit: recession; depression; foreclosure process; adjustable rate mortgages; creative mortgage products, or "exotic" mortgages; subprime loans; derivatives.

    • RELATED LINKS AND STORIES:

    Teachers' guide written and produced by Chris Harvey, online bureau director at the University of Maryland Philip Merrill College of Journalism and a former managing editor of AJR.

    First item for this issue written Jan. 20, 2009; additional items published the weekend of Jan. 31.

    Copyright © 2009 University of Maryland Philip Merrill College of Journalism. Permission is granted to freely print, for classroom use, up to 100 copies of the most up-to-date version of this document, as long as the document is not modified.