J440ANNENBERG SCHOOL OF JOURNALISM 1 | Page

Journalism 440 – Environmental Journalism

Spring Semester, 2012

Instructor: Larry Pryor, Associate Professor

  • Office: ASC 327E
  • E-mail:
  • Phones: Office 213-740-9083 (during office hours); Home 818-952-7223;

Cell 818-590-6546

  • Office Hours:Wednesdays, 11 a.m.-11:30, 1:30-3 p.m.; Thursdays, 1-2 p.m., after class, and byappointment on Mondays.
  • Home Address:

1033 Vista del Valle

La Cañada, Calif. 91011

COURSE INFORMATION

4 Units

Section 21298D, Thursday, 2 p.m. to 5:20 p.m., Room ASC 225

COURSE IMPORTANCE, OBJECTIVES AND DESCRIPTION

What does it mean to be an environmental journalist? It might be having a job as editor of the Environmental Defense Fund’s Web site and publications; or covering the federal Environmental Protection Agency for the National Journal in Washington; or camping out on the Arctic Circle while doing a story and photo spread for the National Geographic. The beat is all of these and much more.

Getting started usually involves producing freelance work for local newspaper Op-Ed pages, Web sites and magazines. It might grow out of – as it did for me – covering planning and zoning issues for a medium-sized metro paper. Zoning disputes can get heated, like when a backyard tree shades a neighbor’s solar panels or when a city uses zoning changes to clean up a neighborhood plagued by bars, liquor stores and drugs. An enterprising metro reporter can pitch almost any topic as a story about the environment that would have strong public interest: a breakout of food poisoning in schools, coyotes that prey on pet cats, record sales of air conditioners during a heat wave – and record demand at the local utility’s power plant.

We will spend the semester trying to define the beat, looking at the science reporters need to understand, writing and producing multimedia stories in this genre that would be of publishable quality.

The Los Angeles River will serve as our laboratory. It spans both the natural and urban worlds and has many examples of complex, chaotic and turbulent ecological systems. When we look at Southern California and the L.A. River, we discover how wide the knowledge base must be for the environment writer. You need a working knowledge, at least, ofbiology and Earth science, sociology, anthropology, geography, politics and economics.

Urban design and architecture and the dynamics of urbanization will be important topics for us this semester. The functioning of cities relates directly to pollution, greenhouse gas emissions, food stability, energy consumption and population growth. Topics such as sustainability and adaptation to climate change also relate directly to the efficiency of cities and to the social and cultural wellbeing of urban dwellers. The potential for ecological catastrophes later this century increases, unless the major trends of the past 40 years – globalization and urbanization – can be made to coexist with and promote the health of the biosphere.

On many environmental issues, scientists warn, time is running out. Human-induced damage to ecosystems may become irreversible, unless changes are made to social, political and economic policies at everything from global to local scales. Journalists will have to provide citizens with the context and information necessary for rational decision-making. The public needs the means to assess risks and the data to judge probabilities. Skilled, credible environmental journalists are needed now more than at any time before.

Because environmental journalism cuts through so many aspects of society, reporters must be especially aware of how they go about finding sources for stories. The quality, qualifications, motives and reliability of sources in this genre of journalism will be closely examined by us this semester. The criticism that today’s journalism follows a he-said, she-said format has become a cliché. Unfortunately, the practice of creating bogus conflict by matching credible, expert sources against irrational and unsupported viewpoints is more prevalent than ever in U.S. media. Meanwhile, trust in science, journalism and government is eroding to the point that we may be witnessing political paralysis.

Course Description:

We can agree that three-hour+ classes can be attention killers. I want to break ours up into predictable segments. The Class Calendar below will indicate how that will work. Plus, you will have an opportunity to interact with a class in urban design and take a field trip to the L.A. River. Our class will have a Tumblr Web site to post what we think is interesting or helpful to other class members. I will invite guest speakers on some topics.

Our discussions, readings and reporting will be done mainly in the context of the western U.S., Southern California and Los Angeles County. This region is a living laboratory in which to find environmental trends that seriously impact people’s lives. It is also a region rich in innovation and long-term solutions. California is recognized as a world leader in environmental science and policy.

Class discussion will be crucial to success in this course. I will lecture on the topic of the week at the start of class. I will then lead a discussion of issues that arise out of the readings. Some weeks I will present an environmental problem or paradox for us to work through. I also want you to be aware of the journalistic issues that can arise from our weekly topic, the preparation required to understand the topic and its problems and pitfalls for unwary journalists.

The readings in our course textbook – “City and Environment” by Boone and Modarres -- will be kept to a reasonable length, although the subject matter in this book is essential to doing well in the course and should be absorbed before or at the times designated in the Calendar. I have substituted videos in many cases, instead of text assignments.

The bulk of your work this semester will go into three writing assignments, two of medium length and one major article, which is in place of the final exam. On all of these assignments, you should include multimedia elements, such as photos, maps, charts and video, and they can count against the recommended length of the text. (i.e. A good chart can substitute for 50 words. This will be negotiable.) But I am expecting the story package to be thorough and informative, ready for publication.

You can choose how you wish your projects to be published. You may want to sell your material to a news outlet, for example, or contribute it to neontommy. Or you may wish to post it on our class Tumblr site.

I understand that many of the topics we will encounter this semester are still unfamiliar to you. It may be difficult to come up with story topics, at least in the opening weeks. I will put a list of possible topics up on Blackboard, ones that as your editor I would like to see covered. You may pick one or pitch your own story idea, perhaps one that was triggered by one of mine but takes a new direction. Before you work on a story project, however, you must be first clear it with me, either verbally or by email.

The first two story assignments are news stories on some environmental topic or trend. The first is due on Week Five, February 22, and should be 850-900 words. The second story is due on Week 11, March 22,and should be 1,000-1,100 words. (Note: This is one week after Spring Break. It would be wise to get the reporting done before the break. I will not be extending this deadline.)

The Final Project is due May 3, the day of the final exam scheduled for our class. You will be expected to describe the story in some detail on the last day of class, April 26. (That counts for 10 percent of your final grade.)

The final story should deal with an environmental trend in Southern California that looks at a problem and offers alternatives and solutions. It can be primarily text, of about 2,000 words, with multimedia elements that can be included in place of text. This project is the capstone of the course and should reflect growth in your understanding of environmental trends and their implications for people’s lives. It counts for 30 percent of your final grade.

Students interested in urban affairs and architecture may do one or more of their stories in affiliation with Architecture 542b Going Hollywood, taught by Regula and Douglas Campbell. The course will focus on the appropriate form(s) of an urban park in the 21st century. The studio class will explore the possibilities of a proposed Hollywood Central Park that will span the Hollywood Freeway. The Campbells will also attend our class to discuss open spaces and green belts in urban environments.

READINGS

Required:

  • Boone, Christopher G. & Ali Modarres, “City and Environment,” Temple University Press, 2006 ISBN 1-59213-284-7
  • Larry Pryor, “Slow Fuse; Journalistic Approaches to Climate Change,” The Aspen Institute, 2006 (Handout)

Suggested Reading:

I will also post a bibliography of book titles and links to Web sites, e-mail newsletters and academic papers that can be accessed online. (You will be expected to become familiar with the USC Library’s collection of databases and how to navigate this system to find academic papers on topics you are writing about.)

.

I can loan you books on a wide variety of environmental topics. Just ask. Or I can put some on reserve at Leavey Library.

ATTENDANCE AND CLASS REQUIREMENTS

Class attendance is vital. If you miss classes, it will be difficult to keep up and your grades will suffer. Please alert me by e-mail or by phone or cell (leave a message, if necessary) if you must be absent.Only religious holidays and medical and family emergencies can be used as excuses.

All stories must be approved though the written story pitch process and discussions among us in class. If you decide to change your topic later, you must clear it with me. You must meet deadlines. Late assignments will get an “F.” (No exceptions.)

Accuracy, thoroughness and fairness will be the standard for all of your work. I will also consider the creativity, originality and freshness that you bring to your assignments and presentations. You will be expected to describe your story ideas – pitch them – to me and to your classmates as if we were a reporting team at an editorial conference of a major news organization. I will grade you on the quality of your pitches. I’m looking for enthusiasm, energy and innovation. They must be persuasive and convince us that you should go ahead with the project. (I will hand out model story pitches and discuss them in class.)

AP Style will prevail in all our work, including in charts, graphs, cutlines and text blocks.

Story formats will be the same as in writing courses at Annenberg – double-spaced, normal margins, your name at the top left and in the header at the top on each succeeding page. Stories should be e-mailed to me by the time they are due. You may also submit work by disk in class, particularly if you have in-depth multimedia presentations.

We will use Blackboard and e-mail for communication. I hope you will see me during office hours or talk with me about any questions or problems before or after class. I will also schedule brief visits during class hours with each of you after Spring Break.

GRADING

An “A” represents that you have done professional, publishable work. “B” grades mean that the work is acceptable but needs more work. Below that indicates that the work is not acceptable and must be redone to receive a better grade. You will have to consult with me, if that is the case.

Final grades will be calculated according to this formula:

Reporting Assignments:

#1 25%

#2 25

Class Participation: 10

Class Presentation of Final Project: 10

Final Project: 30

TOTAL: 100%

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INSTRUCTOR’S BIOGRAPHY

I have a background as a reporter, writer, editor and photographer, first at the Louisville Courier-Journal and later at the Los Angeles Times. At those publications, I covered the environment and became an assistant metropolitan editor at the LAT with responsibility fortopics involving science, medicine, urban affairs and the environment. Then I knocked around in politics – a press secretary in a presidential campaign with Gov. Jerry Brown – and published a pot-boiler novel. I went back to the LAT and got involved in new media there in the 1980s, as digital technology was getting off the ground. I ended up being editor of latimes.com, before moving to USC in 1997 to head the Online Journalism and Communications Program at the AnnenbergSchool. I have since returned to concentrating on environmental journalism. In addition to teaching, I am researching topics associated with climate change and how they affect public discourse and block or encourage solutions to global warming.

CLASS SCHEDULE

Note: This schedule is subject to change. In particular, visiting speakers may not necessarily appear on the topics below that coincide with their expertise.

The following are readings that should be done before class on January 12. I will e-mail this assignment to you and post it on Blackboard. We have a lot of material to cover this semester and need to get off to a rolling start.

Readings for Week One:

  • Boone & Modarres, Chapter 1, “Urban Morphology”, pgs 1-37
  • “Forget Nature; Even Eden Is Engineered,” Andrew Revkin, The New York Times
  • Nieman Reports, Winter, 2002, Environment Reporting, a collection of stories about particular aspects and problems associated with the environment beat.
  • Nieman Reports, Fall, 2002, “The Difficulty of Finding Impartial Sources in Science”

WEEK 1: Jan. 12

Class Topic: Introduction

  • What is environmental reporting? What makes it different?
  • What do environmental stories look like?
  • An overview of topics in this specialty
  • How to judge the value of sources and where to find good material

In-class discussion: How reporters can avoid being seen as “green”; where is objectivity when dealing with topics such as pollution and climate change? We will look at case examples and try to sort out terms such as environment, environmental, ecological, sustainable and irreplaceable.

Readings/Viewings:

  • Boone & Modarres, “Population, Urbanization and the Environment,” pgs 39-76 (This also covers topics we will discuss on Jan. 26.)
  • TED: Encountering Urbanization --

(This is a great collection of up-to-date discussion, postings and links on issues central to urbanization. Read the introduction, then do some cruising. The Urbanization Notes on the right side of the page are particularly rich in topics. If you are not familiar with TED: Ideas worth spreading, take a look at I will be using more links to this database throughout the semester.)

WEEK 2: Jan. 19

(A written story pitch for Assignment #1 is due next week)

Class Topic: Urbanization

  • Why cities are essential to human survival
  • How did they become what they are, why, what is their future?
  • Can megacities and the biosphere coexist?

Journalism: How can reporters make the connection between urban affairs reporting and reporting on nature? This may be a key role for blogs and social media; environmental activists are taking full advantage of new media. We need to look at how. (We will also use this time segment to go over how to pitch news stories to editors.)

Readings/Viewings:

  • TED: Hans Rosling on Global Population Growth

(The Swedish epidemiologist is a superb lecturer, with millions of unique hits on YouTube. Check out his other presentations at

  • See also:

WEEK 3: Jan. 26

(A written story pitch for Assignment #1 is due)

Class Topic: Population Dynamics and Ecological Stress

  • The politics of population control and sustainable urban growth
  • Protests, unrest and new media technology: How to they relate to the environment?
  • Food, energy, education and human dignity: A conversation on values

Journalism: The reporter plays a key role in framing environmental topics and in informing public opinion. How can mega-topics such as climate change be made relevant to the everyday lives of an audience? (We will also use this segment of class to go over your story ideas.)

In-class discussion: Can a global consensus be reached on environmental justice? We will discuss the essential values of the good life and the goals for mankind that you believe are achievable in the next 20 years.

Readings/Viewings:

  • Boone & Modarres, Chapter 5, “Healthy Cities and Environmental Justice,” pgs. 134-159

TED: Nic Marks, The Happy Planet Index (Statistician Nic Marks asks why we measure a nation's success by its productivity -- instead of by the happiness and well-being of its people.)

  • TED: Sheryl WuDunn,Our Century's Greatest Injustice (Sheryl WuDunn investigates the oppression of women globally and the importance of helping women in developing countries to have equal access to education and economic opportunity. This has enormous environmental implications.)

David Barboza, Keith Bradsher, Howard French, Joseph Kahn, Mark Landler, Chang W. Lee, Jimmy Wang, and Jim Yardley,The New York Times,“Choking on Growth”

WEEK 4: Feb. 2

Class Topic: Economics, Nature and the Consumer Society

  • Is more better?
  • How do we measure success in society or place a value on the quality of life?
  • The economics of ecological destruction
  • Success stories and models for future human well-being

Journalism: Economics may seem distant from environmental reporting, but an understanding of the “dismal science” is essential to covering many stories at the local, regional and national levels.

Class discussion: Market-driven economics has been based for two centuries in England and the U.S. on consumption and productivity growth. Yet, the resources we consume are largely finite and some are becoming scarce. How can these opposing forces of development and depletion be reconciled? How do we put a price or value on natural resources?Second Topic: Do environmental regulations kill jobs. (How many jobs are represented by the proposed Keystone Pipeline from Canada to Texas?)

Readings:

  • Boone & Modarres, Chapter 6, “Green Spaces, Green Governance and Planning,” pgs. 160-185

Blake Morrison & Brad Heath,"The Smokestack Effect: Toxic Air and America's Schools,” USA TODAY

  • Invasive and noxious weeds

“The Love Canal Tragedy,” by Eckardt C. Beck [EPA Journal - January 1979]

WEEK 5: Feb. 9