JOU 3117 - Courts & Enterprise Assoc. Professor & SFNS News Director Dan Evans email: daevans@fiu.edu 213.321.3661 (m) | @EditorDanEvans

What we’re covering The Enterprise Story > Whooooo! Expanding Your Sources > TL;DR: Talk to EVERYONE!! Guest Speaker: Stephanie Silver > Asst. State’s Attorney Thursday Class: At the courthouse > I need a hard count

General Notes & Reminders Double check ALL entities, names and titles: Call back and/or Google them Source, source, source: All matters of fact MUST be sourced to someone you have personally spoken to OR gotten from a document If from a person use SAID only. ONLY!! If from a document (including website) use STATED only. ONLY!!

Factual Errors Make sure you don’t contradict yourself: If you say that churches have always donated to a festival in graf 12, but you lede states they didn’t this year, something is wrong and your story loses value because I can’t trust it. Double check all facts and figures: If I can Google a fact and easily determine its truth/falsity, so can you. If I discover something an event is called “Columbian Music Today” and you wrote it as “The Columbian Fest,” you will get points off. You are responsible for your quotes Quoting someone accurately does not mean your work is done. You are responsible for the truth of their statements as well as their value. Only quote people who are likely to know what they’re talking about. People BS all the time. If it’s provably incorrect, that’s points off.

Attribution Again SAID or ADDED for people STATED for documents Do not use ADMITTED, ACKNOWLEDGED, EXCLAIMED, QUESTIONED, EXPLAINED, etc. Let their words speak for themselves. Don’t force it. If you paraphrase a document, you must rewrite it If you use it directly as written, it needs to be in quotes. Period. Otherwise this is plagiarism. More on that in a minute. Even if you paraphrase, it needs to be sourced to the document or website.

AP Style Issues Titles & Second Ref (including minors) Addresses Numbers - Money Numbers - Ages and Ratios Dates

Sourcing Getting the good scoop…

Beat Development / Sourcing Go beyond the usual > Regular folks as well as the powerful Who holds sway in your beat? > Not always politicians; sometimes clergy, sometimes activists Read the local press > Find out what the local journos think is important Be patient > They don’t know you, and won’t likely return your calls the first time Be regular > Set aside 30-45 minutes per two/three times a week to talk to someone your don’t know

Getting & Keeping Get better at small talk > Being friendly goes a long, long way Check-in on a regular basis > Even when you don’t need them for a story Be reliable and honest > Stuff told to you off the record stays that way Constantly asks for recommendations > Ask your sources for more sources But… > Your sources are not, and cannot be, your friends

Types of Interviews In person > What are the pros/cons? On the phone > What are the pros/cons? Email > What are the pros/cons? Social Media > What are the pros/cons?

Enterprise Finding, reporting & writing

Finding… Use your sources. Cast a large net. Don’t just call the members of the city council or mayor, but also the regular members of the community. Go to coffee shops and barber shops. Find out what people are talking about. Trust your instincts. If you know your town well enough — and you should by now — things that seem weird will jump out. Read the council agendas and look for the unusual. Do not think this will come quickly. Give yourself enough time to research and find these stories. Be prepared to do some “shoe leather” journalism. You are unlikely to find anything good by emailing your sources. Call them, or better yet, set up times to meet.

Reporting Once you have your story, remember that you will need to talk to between two and three people for any single useful source. That means you’ll be talking to about a dozen people. Be aware you are likely to have questions as you are writing your story, necessitating calling your sources back (or finding new ones) during the writing process. That is, don’t think for a hot second you can do your interviews and then hide in the library to write. This ain’t an English class. I can help you find and locate sources. All you need to do is ask. But you have to give me enough time.

Courthouse Class Thurs, Mar 28 @ 9:30 am

Details ADDRESS: 1351 NW 12th St, Miami FL. Parking is not free, so try to carpool or take public transit. TIME: 9:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. I need you to be on time. DRESS: This is a courthouse, so you need to dress professionally. No jeans, flip-flops, sandals or, dear god, shorts. WHAT: We’ll be meeting with court administrators and journalists who cover the court. They’ll be giving us insight into how they do their jobs.

Homework Reading: Miami Herald and New York Times (daily). News Quizzz Next Tuesday!! Practice: Find out what 10 people in your city (government officials, community members, leaders) and find out what they think is important. This means you’ll probably have to call 30 people and talk to 15. I’m not kidding. Give me a report uploaded as requested by 3 p.m. April 5. We will not be meeting on that Thursday this is due. Again, you’re welcome.

Remaining Deadlines Source Assignment: Due to Homework at 3 p.m. on April 5 Final Story: Pitch competition on April 10 Story draft due 3 p.m. April 17 One-on-one meetings April 17 & 19 Final version due 5 p.m. April 24 Drills & Quizzes: Final news quiz on April 3 Final news drill on April 5

Assoc. Professor & SFNS News Director Dan Evans email: daevans@fiu.edu 213.321.3661 (m) | @EditorDanEvans