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Interviews and Profiles

Instructor: George Bodarky

[email protected]

917-647-3726

Faculty Memorial Hall 317

Class Blog: https://interviewsandprofiles19.tumblr.com/

Office Hours: Please e-mail for an appointment

Classes, Tuesdays and Fridays -- 11:30 a.m. – 12:45 p.m.

Course Description: Profiles can be done on just about anyone who's interesting and newsworthy, whether it's the local mayor or a movie star. This course will teach students the basics of reporting and writing a profile story for different platforms. Heavy emphasis will also be placed on the art of interviewing. How do interviewers craft and pose questions? How can questions shed light on important subjects and invite subjects to open up?

Class Objectives:

• Understand what makes for an exemplary profile

• Clear, concise, and creative writing

• Solid research skills

• Strong interview skills

• Learn and develop best practices for creating audio and video profiles

• Develop basic skills in use of audio and video recording equipment and digital editing

Role of guest speakers in this class:

We will invite several distinguished journalistic speakers to explore various aspects of interviewing and crafting profiles. It is important for you to prepare for these visits by reviewing the work of these individuals and developing questions to ask them in class. Part of the value of having visiting speakers is giving you the opportunity to sharpen your ability to interview by asking pertinent questions.

When we have a guest speaker, the pattern will be to have them cover a few specific areas, including advice on writing leads and tips for interviewing. The session will then be open to student questions. Some guests, especially those in broadcast media, may also choose to play examples of their work or the work of others to demonstrate best practices.

***NOTE*** Speakers scheduled for class could be called away for work obligations. We will work our best to reschedule under those circumstances, as well as adjust classroom time accordingly.

Tuesday, January 15th

What’s this class all about?

• Course Overview

• About the Instructor

• Guest Journalists

• Syllabus and Policies

What’s an interview? What’s a profile?

Why might you interview a person?

Who would you most like to interview and why?

What are among the different formats for featuring a person in a news story?

• Interviews

• Breaking coverage of big newsmakers

• Biographies and overviews about people in the spotlight

• Obituaries

• Feature stories on trends that spotlight people

• Personality profile articles

• Tributes to members of the local community

• Character pieces about interesting local individuals

In-Class exercise:

Read Against All Odds, a Beautiful Life from the New York Times. Answer the following questions:

• Who is the main subject of this article?

• What details, anecdotes and accounts from other people illustrate the subject’s personality?

• What overall impression do you have of Maurice Mannion-Vanover from the article?

• Why do you think this article was published in the New York Times?

• If you were to write a more in-depth profile or obituary from Maurice Mannion-Vanover, which details from this article would you include? What additional information would you need to find out? Which people do you think you would interview to get this information?

Read a few more profiles to get a better feel for them. You’ll be asked to share what you discovered as you read.

Homework: Find a profile of a person in a recent magazine or newspaper (this can be from a digital-first publication). Submit the article or a copy of it with the following questions answered on a separate sheet of paper. Submit to me in class. Due Date: Tuesday, January 22nd

1. How does the author describe the setting of the interview? (if applicable)

2. What adjectives are used to describe the person?

3. What is the main focus of the article?

4. What is the dominant impression the author wants to create?

5. What are some of the questions the author must have asked the subject?

6. What sensory detail did the author use?

7. What is left out of the interview that you would like to see?

8. Would you like to meet this person – the interview subject? Why or why not?

9. If you did meet the interview subject, what additional questions would you ask him/her?

10. How do you think the interview subject feels about this article that was written about him/her? Explain.

Friday, January 18th

What are the key elements of writing compelling profiles?

• Hooking the Reader

• Sharing Interesting Details

• Telling an Interesting Anecdote

• Incorporating Direct Quotes

• Revealing Flaws as Well as Strengths

• Using Flashbacks

• Ending with a Strong Kicker

In-class exercise: Blind boxes

Homework: Select an item that has personal meaning to you. Bring the item to class on Tuesday January 22nd

Tuesday January 22nd

The Art of the Interview:

• The importance of research

• The Do’s and Don’ts of Interviewing

• Off the Shelf Questions

• Bedside Manner

In-class exercise: Interview Time

Homework:

Read Living Trans, From Iran to New York City. Analyze the author’s strategy. Answer the following questions:

What questions might the author have asked Pooya Mohseni?

What information might the author have needed to know beforehand to write this article?

What, if any, information did the author leave out that you would like to see added to this article? Due Date: Tuesday, January 29th

Familiarize yourself with the work of John L. Dorman, features writer at the New York Times. Check out the NYT’s “The Neediest Cases Fund.”

Also familiarize yourself with the work of Vinson Cunningham, staff writer at The New Yorker.

Friday, January 25th

Guest Speakers:

John L. Dorman, features writer at The New York Times

Vinson Cunningham, staff writer at The New Yorker

Homework:

Watch the Poynter Institute Webinar – Writing Successful Profiles

There will be a quiz on this next week!

https://www.newsu.org/writing-successful-profiles

User Name: [email protected] Password: Class1

*** Note *** If the above Username does not work try Georgeb

Tuesday, January 29th

Quiz: What did you learn from the Poynter webinar?

In-class exercises:

We’ll sharpen our interview skills through a fun exercise (or exercises).

In-class and homework exercise:

· Come up with questions that cannot be answered yes or no to ask your classmates. You may have time to come up with these questions before class ends. Partner with a classmate you don’t know well. Interview each other and find out who else would be a good source who knows the other person well.

· Complete interviews with at least two other sources who know the subject of your profile well. Compile the information you gathered during interviews into a profile story of 400 – 600 words. Due Date Tuesday, February 5th

· Familiarize yourself with the work of Raffi Khatchadourian, staff writer at The New Yorker. Prepare questions to ask him during our next class.

Friday February 1st

Guest Speaker: Raffi Khatchadourian, staff writer at The New Yorker

Tuesday February 5th

Workshopping Your Stories! You’ll read your classmate stories aloud in class. We’ll provide feedback for revisions. We’ll get through as many as we can and pick back up next class.

Friday, February 8th

Workshopping Your Stories Continued!

Homework: Familiarize yourself with the work of Remy Tumin of The New York Times. Prepare questions to ask her during the next class.

Tuesday, February 12th

Guest Speaker: Remy Tumin, journalist at The New York Times

Field Project and Homework:

· Arthur Avenue Profiles: Find and conduct an interview with a “unique” character on Arthur Avenue in the Bronx, or choose another New York City neighborhood. Talk with at least two other people who know the subject of your profile well. Compile the information you gathered during the interview into a profile story of 400 – 600 words. Due Date Tuesday, February 26th.

Additional Homework: Familiarize yourself with the work of New York Post reporter/producer Alexandra Klausner. Prepare questions to ask her during the next class.

REQUIRED READING: http://nypost.com/2017/05/10/mma-fighting-made-me-a-better-historian/

Friday, February 15th

Guest Speaker: Alexandra Klausner, reporter/producer at the New York Post

Homework: Familiarize yourself with the work of New York Times reporter Emily Palmer. Prepare questions to ask her during the next class.

Tuesday February 19th (NO CLASS -- MONDAY SCHEDULE)

Friday, February 22nd

Guest Speaker: Emily Palmer, reporter at the New York Times

Tuesday, February 26th

Workshopping Your Arthur Avenue Profiles. You’ll read your stories aloud in class. We’ll provide feedback for revisions. We’ll get through as many as we can and pick back up next class.

Friday, March 1st

Worskshopping Your Arthur Avenue Profiles continued. We may also work to squeeze in a quick lesson on vocal performance and/or begin talking about audio profiles.

Homework:

· Come up with two ideas for profiles of New York characters, choosing people who are likely to cooperate with you. Write 200 word pitches for each describing why this person is worth profiling. Due Date: Friday, March, 8th. ***Note *** You will have the choice of profiling this person in the platform of your choice -- print, audio or video as your final project.

Tuesday, March 5th

· Learn field recording equipment and how to use Audacity audio editing software with the Walsh Media Lab’s Hopeton Campbell.

· Listening session and discussion: We’ll listen and critique some audio profiles, as well as talk about how best to approach producing your own.

Homework:

· Conduct research and come up with interview questions for New York City photographer Larry Racioppo. You will be interviewing him in the next class.

Friday, March 8th

In-Class exercise:

· Interview New York City photographer Larry Racioppo.

· Debrief Interview.

The audio from this interview will be made available to you. Please make sure to download it to Audacity on your laptop. You’ll be using it to produce a narrated audio profile. You may choose to do additional recording and/or download music to accompany the interview. The piece should run no more than 3 minutes 30 seconds. Put the audio (MP3) of your profile in the class Google Drive folder by Tuesday, March 26th.

Tuesday, March 12th

Guest Speaker: Sara Kugel, Producer, CBS News Sunday Morning

Friday March 15th

Learn camera equipment and how to use Final Cut Pro video editing software with the Walsh Media Lab’s Hopeton Campbell

We may also take some time to watch and discuss a few video profiles

***SPRING BREAK***

Tuesday, March 26th

Exercise involving camera equipment and Final Cut Pro

Begin workshopping your audio profiles. We’ll listen to your pieces and provide feedback

Homework Assignment: Fordham Athlete Profile: Find and conduct a video profile with an athlete at Fordham University. If you’d like to profile a different type of character, please let me know. Create a profile of up to three minutes. This can include a mix of video and still images. Due Date: Tuesday, April 9th. Upload your video to Vimeo or YouTube and share the link with me in an e-mail. The subject line should be YOURLASTNAME: Athlete Profile

Friday, March 29th

Workshopping Your Audio Profiles continued!

Tuesday, April 2nd

Guest Speaker: Co-host, CBS This Morning: Saturday & CBS News Senior National Correspondent, Anthony Mason

Friday, April 5th

Guest Speaker: Katie Corrado, general assignment reporter for PIX11 News

Tuesday, April 9th

Workshopping Your Athlete Profiles. We’ll watch your pieces and provide feedback. We may have a guest reviewer.

Homework:

· Find examples of audio and video profiles. E-mail me the links by Sunday, April 14th. We will play these in the next class. You may be asked to present on what you like and/or don’t like about your examples. ***Note*** We may not get to everyone’s picks.

Friday, April 12th

Workshopping Your Athlete Profiles continued (if necessary)

Guest Speaker: Marisa White, Director of Creative Services at BronxNet Television

Homework: Use your smartphone or Zoom Handy to record an audio interview with a grandparent or an elder this Easter recess. This should be an insightful interview that draws out the individual’s personality, interesting stories and advice for the young generation. The interview should be no longer than 3:00 minutes in length. Put the audio (MP3) of your interview in the class Google Drive folder by Tuesday April 23rd.

Tuesday April 16th

Your picks: We will play some of the examples you provided to me via e-mail. You will be asked to present on what you like and/or don’t like about your examples

Friday, April 19th (NO CLASS – EASTER BREAK)

Tuesday April 23rd

We audition your elder interviews

Friday April 26th

· We continue to audition your elder interviews (if necessary).

· What did you learn? Each student will be asked to discuss three important things learned during the class about A. interviewing and B. profile writing.

· Discussion of your final project. Once again, your final project profiles must be turned in during or prior to next week’s class.

Tuesday April 30th

Last day of class:

· Hand in written copy of your final profile. Audio or video profiles should be in your class Google Drive folder by the start of class

· Guest Speaker: Mickey Burns, host of PROFILES, a 30-minute celebrity interview show

· Summary of class by instructor

Required Software:

This class will require you to have Audacity audio editing software and Final Cut Pro video editing software on your laptops. You will be required to bring your laptops to class when assigned. You can get further instruction about downloading the software onto your computers from Hopeton Campbell at the Walsh Media Lab. You can e-mail him here [email protected] You can also contact Hopeton if you need a refresher or assistance working with the software after his classroom presentations.

Evaluation Criteria:

1. Participation: You should come to class prepared to actively participate in discussions with guest speakers and otherwise. 30% of your grade will be based on classroom participation.

2. Homework: All assignments must be handed in on time. 30% of your grade will be based on your performance on homework assignments. Points will be deducted for missing deadlines.

3. Final Project: 40% of your grade will be based on your performance on your final print, audio or video profile.

97—100

A+

93—96

90—92

A-

87—89

B+

84—86

81—83

B-

77—80

C+

74—76

70—73

C-

69 Below

Attendance Policy: You are required to attend all classes. There will be a penalty of a full letter grade deduction for students who have more than 1 unexcused absence. You are also responsible for arriving to class on-time. Tardiness may impact your final grade.

University Statement on Academic Integrity: A University, by its nature, strives to foster and recognize originality of thought. Originality can only be recognized, however, when people acknowledge the sources of ideas or works that are not their own. Therefore, students must maintain the highest standards with regards to honesty, effort and performance. As a Jesuit, Catholic University, Fordham is committed to ensuring that all members of the academic community strive not only for excellence in scholarship but also for integrity of character. In the pursuit of knowledge and personal development, it is imperative that students present their own ideas and insights for evaluation, critique and eventual reformulation. As part of this process, each student must acknowledge the intellectual contribution of others. Violations of academic integrity include, but are not limited to, plagiarism, cheating on exams, falsification, unapproved collaboration, and destruction of library materials. For further details, consult the Standards of Academic Integrity on the University website http://www.fordham.edu/info/22218/essential_resources/3030/academic_integrity_policy

Equal Educational Access for All Students: The Office of Disability Services at Fordham University helps to ensure equal educational access and opportunity for all members of our community. In the Jesuit tradition of cura personalis, members of the ODS staff work individually with each student to understand his or her strengths and limitations in order to develop their most effective and comprehensive accommodation plan. Fordham will offer reasonable and appropriate auxiliary aids and services to assist otherwise qualified persons in achieving access to its programs, services, and facilities once students meet with ODS for an initial intake meeting to develop an accommodation plan directly with the student in accordance with Section 504 of the Federal Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and Title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990. Students seeking accommodation(s) should the Rose Hill Office of Disability Services, (718) 817-0655 or email [email protected].

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