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Instructor Class Description

Time Schedule:

Joanne Marcia Silberner
COM 460
Seattle Campus

Special Reporting Topics

Topics vary. Prerequisite: COM 360.

Class description

Reporting across borders: This class will focus on reporting on social, economic and health issues faced by immigrant communities in south Seattle. You'll learn how to work in a community where you're essentially a foreigner, how to understand a different culture, and how to write about it all with meaning and grace.

Student learning goals

Cultural competency -- how to do journalism in a community that is not your own.

Storytelling -- how to tell compelling stories that bring viewers/readers/listeners to places they've never been before.

New media -- how to use data (in the form of graphs, charts, tables, etc.) to tell a story.

Work in the medium of your choice, and learn about others. Print, radio, video and websites are all encouraged.

General method of instruction

Lectures by the teacher and guests, conversations in class, writing assignments.

Recommended preparation

COM 360 or 361, or by permission from the teacher. An interest in diversity, willingness to participate in class, and a desire to tell stories will help a student succeed in the course.

Class assignments and grading

Composing print, web, radio or video stories about issues facing immigrant communities.

Class participation and quality of submitted stories.


The information above is intended to be helpful in choosing courses. Because the instructor may further develop his/her plans for this course, its characteristics are subject to change without notice. In most cases, the official course syllabus will be distributed on the first day of class.
Last Update by Joanne Marcia Silberner
Date: 02/28/2013