College Course 20: Backpack journalism in a digital age

Applicants for the course must have at least one year of college and some writing experience, preferably with online, college, or professional publications. To apply, use our web site application by clicking "Apply now" above. In addition to the online form, you will need to submit electronically your:

1. Resume

2. College transcript(s)

3. Links or PDFs to 1 - 3 examples of your published work (articles, photos, and/or videos)

4. Recommendation letter (on letterhead) from your pastor or campus Christian group leader.

5. A 300- 350 word obituary profiling a famous person. See "Writing" tab for list of subjects to choose from and for some obit writing tips.

6. (Optional) A published article you have submitted, or an unpublished one you plan to submit for an Amy Award. See "Writing" tab.

7. (Optional) Letter on letterhead from your local newspaper editor attesting to a freelance agreement as described under "Course Information."

Materials should be scanned and sent with an email to office@worldji.com. If you don't have access to a scanner, visit an Office Depot or Staples.

Those students interested in college credit must make arrangements with the particular college or seminary. Since this course is limited to 20 students, admission is competitive. Application deadline is March 22, 2017. We admit students on a rolling basis, so we encourage you to apply early.

Required Reading

Students should read the following before the course begins, and bring copies to the course:

The Elements of Style, William Strunk and E.B. White

"Reporter's Guide to Multimedia Proficiency", Mindy McAdams (free download available online- Google it)

World Policybook: Principles, Policies, Procedures, Writing Tips- emailed to admitted students.

Five chapters from Prodigal Press and Telling the Truth -- emailed to admitted students

Recommended Reading:

The New New Journalism, Robert Boynton

 A Writer's Coach, Jack Hart

Telling True Stories, Mark Kramer and Wendy Call

How Christianity Changed the World, Alvin Schmidt

AP Guide to Photojournalism, Brian Horton

Discipling Nations, Darrow Miller

The Big Story, Justin Buzzard

Obit: Inspiring Stories of Ordinary People who Led Extraordinary Lives, Jim Sheeler

 Required

To be admitted to the course, each student must write a 300-350 word obituary profiling a famous person.  Students should write the obit choosing from the list provided below.  Our goal in these pieces is to tell the life stories about people who have achieved success in some field. So you are not writing about that person's death- you are writing about his or her life. You are capturing in words the essence of that life. This is not a death notice like you see family members write with the help of a funeral home … no need to speculate on pallbearers and visiting hours!

It is not uncommon for media outlets to prewrite the obituaries of famous people who are still alive and keep them on file so they are prepared to post a well thought out and edited piece at the appropriate time. Sometimes these pre-written obits leak out to the public. (People published its obit of Kirk Douglas on the magazine's website while the actor was still alive!

Writing a compelling obit in 300-350 words is difficult, especially regarding lives filled with accomplishment. So think of this as a snapshot, not a full-length biography. In a few carefully chosen words you're trying to answer the question: What's that person's life story really about? You need to research their achievements and exploits and deeds, and you need to put them in the proper context for the way they affected our culture, economy or government.  Look for the little jewels, the quick caricatures that capture your subject’s persona. Resist any urges to speak in clichés or gloss over the hard parts. What were the challenges? A good obit needs some tension.

In completing this assignment, you will need to remind yourself repeatedly, “Do I have good, specific examples from the touchstone moments in their lives?” You are looking for anecdotes, physical descriptions, and quotes to embed within your obits that flesh out your subject.

Before you begin writing, make sure your subject hasn't died recently. Try writing a sentence or paragraph that states clearly what the story is about. The sentence might not make it into your obit, but it will help you decide which details to include and which to leave out. Please remember to verify- errors are bad in all journalistic writing- but no one likes to see inaccuracies in the story about the dearly departed!

For more thoughts about writing obituaries please read: The Artist of the Obituary by Andrew Ferguson.

OBIT OPTIONS (with birth year)

James L. Buckley politician 1923

Hal Holbrook, actor 1925

Mel Brooks 1926

Pope Benedict XVI 1927

Harry Belafonte 1927

Whitey Ford 1928

Burt Bacharach 1928

T. Boone Pickens, 1928

James Watson, 1928

Bob Newhart 1929

Ed Asner 1929

Berry Gordy Jr. 1929

Edward O. Wilson,1929

Gene Hackman 1930

Michael Collins 1930

Joanne Woodward 1930

Robert Wagner 1930

James Earl Jones 1931

Dan Rather 1931

William Shatner 1931

Desmond Tutu 1931

Raul Castro 1931

Tom Wolfe 1931

Alvin Plantinga 1932

Nicholas Wolterstorff 1932

Donald Rumsfeld 1932

Yoko Ono 1933

Roman Polanski 1933

Michael Dukakis 1933

Louis Farrakhan 1933

Michael Caine 1933

David McCallum 1933

Walter Kaiser  Jr. 1933

Diane Feinstein   1933

Chuck Swindoll 1934

Hank Aaron 1934

Sophia Loren 1934

Bill Russell 1934

Brigitte Bardot 1934

Jane Goodall 1934

Frankie Valli 1934

Shirley MacLaine 1934

Pat Boone 1934

Bart Starr 1934

Alan Arkin 1934

Wilford Brimley 1934

Dwayne Hickman 1934

Christo 1935

13th Dalai Lama 1935

Ron Paul 1935

Woody Allen 1935

Tony Campolo 1935

Tuition and accommodations are free for college students. WJI and its host partner, Dordt College, will provide lunches and dinners on nearly all days; students are responsible for other meals (mainly breakfast) and for their transportation expenses to and from the course. If you have additional question  please contact WJI's Associate Dean Lee Pitts at lpitts@wng.com.

About Dordt College: 

Located in Sioux Center, Iowa on the edge of the Great Plains, Dordt College is a Christian school dedicated to preparing students for service in Christ's kingdom. The Wall Street Journal recently named Dordt the number one school in the nation for student engagement. Dordt's campus is a great place to be dring the summer months. You can take a stroll through the Dordt Prairie to enjoy its wild grasses and flowers, relax by the large indoor/outdoor pool complex, or hang out with friends at the coffee house adjoining the main dorms. Dord will host WJI in the state-of-the-art classrooms found in the school’s two-year-old Science and Technology Building. Students will be housed in some of the newest dorms on campus that border the school’s colorful prairie and is across the street from the pool complex. 

Dordt College Vice President Howard Wilson said Dordt and WJI are natural fits with both organizations’ emphasis on the role of faith in the exploration of truth.

“We resonate with WORLD magazine’s vision for preparing young Christian journalists to serve in the media,” Wilson said. “We believe it is important for members of the press to do their work through a Christian worldview, like all other areas of study and callings.”

To learn more about Dordt and see pictures of its campus go to Dordt.edu.

Bible

Personal blog site, for posting course articles (Wordpress is a good option)

Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and G-mail accounts (we share stories using Google Drive)

Due to the intensive and technical nature of the course, all students must have particular equipment and software for the WJI course pre-class and class reporting assignments. Some student buy and others borrow, but no exceptions will be made to these requirements. Contact Lee Pitts (lpitts@worldmag.com) with questions well before the course. As college students and recent college graduates, most should already have much of this equipment.  

Students must bring all equipment/materials to class each day ready to report, as a backpack journalist must be ready to cover news always: Your backpack should contain equipment and items, such as fully charged batteries, cables, snack, etc.) so you are ready to go at a moment's notice. Please hold off on buying new equipment until you have been accepted into the program!

The WJI course includes instruction in Christian worldview and the nuts and bolts of backpack journalism for convergent media. The intensive course includes pre-class assignments, two weeks of class residency, and six weeks of post-class reporting and writing.

This is a course in news/feature writing and reporting, designed to help young journalists think through stories Christianly and improve their marketable skills for the digital age. Students will generate a series of multimedia articles for their professional portfolios.

Students will improve their interviewing techniques and journalistic style, and gain training from professionals in photography, videography, and audio work. Class periods will include short lectures but emphasize discussion and analyzing/editing students' stories.

1) The pre-class component: We want to maximize reporting, analyzing, and editing time when we are together, so students will read in advance what we might otherwise offer in lectures. Readings may address topics such as story development, sources of information, interviewing, investigations, accuracy, writing styles, grammar and usage, film and book reviewing, journalism history, ethics, etc.

Students will write two stories that experienced editor Russell Pulliam will read and critique. The students should be prepared to respond to Mr. Pulliam's e-mail comments as quickly as possible. Students will also write one obituary to be read by Marvin and Susan Olasky for potential publication in World.

2) The class component (two weeks): Students should expect to spend 10 hours a day—except on Sunday. 

3) The post-class component (4-8 weeks): Select students will gain more reporting, writing, and video/audio experience . Students will publish their work on Worldmag.com or in local newspapers.

GRADING/CREDIT

All students who successfully complete all the work on time will receive a "Pass" grade, indicating at least a "C" grade. Many Christian colleges grant their students academic credit for work completed at the institute. Other colleges have granted their students undergraduate credit for work completed at the institute.

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Week 2
 

Pre-Class Component

Russell Pulliam, associate editor of The Indianapolis Star, is also a reporter who has worked at the Associated Press, The New York Times, The Washington Post, and other newspapers. He will give close attention to assignments 1 and 2. The students should be prepared to respond to Mr. Pulliam's e-mail comments as quickly as possible. The more editing you can receive before you get to WJI, the better.

Assignment 1, to be mailed to Russell.pulliam@indystar.com by 6 p.m. on May 8:

Write a 400-word feature article about the person who has had the most influence on your life. Explain why this individual has had such an effect on you; make your readers want to learn more about or even meet this individual.

Your particular subject might be your mother or father, a sibling, a friend, a pastor, a teacher or even someone whose non- Christian ways spurred you to change your life for the better. Whatever your choice, it should be someone who has made a dramatic impact on your beliefs and your life. Write your story in third-person (do not use first-person "I"), as though you were writing a news profile.

Assignment 2, to be mailed to Russell.pulliam@indystar.com by 6 p.m. on May 10:

 Write a 500-word profile of a ministry having a beneficial impact on the community or state in which you live or go to school (Jeremiah 29:7 counsels us to have such an impact.) You don't need to know the ministry beforehand, but it could help if you do. Write a profile of the organization answering who, what, when, where, why, how and so what. Include quotations from at least two people who know the ministry and be sure to explain the ministry’s key to success in serving those in need in your area. 

You should get the quotes, ideally, in your own interview. It would be a great idea if you could visit the ministry in person for a day or so and watch its people in action serving those in need in their area. If you use a quote from a news story, give credit to the original source. Remember to avoid using personal opinion or bias. Show the significance of the ministry by stories and facts, not by telling the reader the person is wonderful and important.

Look over this piece on World Magazine’s website, written by instructor Pulliam on his native Indianapolis, to get some examples on the types of ministries you might find either in your hometown or college campus:

http://www.worldmag.com/2015/01/does_your_city_measure_up_to_indianapolis

Assignment 3, to be emailed to office@worldji.com by 6 p.m. on May 12:

If admitted to the course, you'll receive by email the assigned reading: World’s policy book and five chapters on journalism history. Complete the readings and list 5-10 questions, concerns, or new ideas the policy guide or the chapter from Prodigal Press about objectivity raises in your minds. 

Assignment 4, to be emailed to Russell.pulliam@indystar.com by 6 p.m. on May 14:

Research the Sioux Center/ Sioux County/ NW Iowa area and give us a story proposal about some ministry to the poor in the region that you will call home for two weeks. This is just a story idea, using the internet and other research methods. The best reporters bring their own story ideas to the table and don’t wait for an editor to tell them what to do. So start digging out something interesting in this region and tell us about it!

Note regarding assignments 1 and 2: Be sure to cover the who, what, when, where, why, how, and so what of the story. One or more of these are usually missing in the first draft. You should briefly put the person or ministry you're profiling into a geographical context. Below is how one WORLD writer connected a person profiled to a particular place. (This was a longer profile than those you are writing and so could have a longer introduction, but you'll get the idea.)

Ron Lewis' church is not easy to find - unless you know your way around Hardin County, Kentucky, like he does. More people are finding out about Lewis, and the kind of people he represents, since a May special election put him in Congress. the 47-year-old Lewis, a conservative Republican Christian, is the kind of person that Democratic Party leaders say Americans should fear. People in Kentucky's 2nd Congressional District see it differently. And they've seen Lewis up close.

White Mills Baptist Church sits on a hill away from Highway 84, tucked between the White Mills Christian Church and a campground. You know you've gone too far when you take a sudden turn and you're on a one-lane iron bridge across a river. Through the church's exterior looks like it might have appeared a century earlier, the steps are covered with new indoor-outdoor carpet. Central air conditioning is evident inside the glassed foyer. Like Lewis, there's subtle sophistication here - a savvy about technology that works. An advanced electronic soundboard blinks just inside the rear doors.