Merrill College capstone class descriptions

We are a professional, working newsroom and we create stories and visuals for a news wire service with many clients — mostly news organizations in Maryland. Students are covering the state government — this means the governor, state agencies, statewide political races, trends and stories that affect people statewide, and the General Assembly in the spring semester.

Students are reporting, researching and interviewing newsmakers on a daily basis, finding stories to cover and pitching story ideas to their editor. We usually meet at about 8:30 a.m. to plan our day, and then start working. You will file your story to your editor and then work together on making it great. Stories appear on the CNS website, www.cnsmaryland.org, and are distributed to and often picked up by news organizations across Maryland, including the Baltimore Sun. Stories may also be picked up by the Associated Press and then appear on dozens of news sites nationwide, including the Washington Post.

You will be assigned a desk in the newsroom, in an old opera house on a historic brick-paved street within walking distance to the State House dome.
The Annapolis bureau meets all day, from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., Tuesdays through Fridays. Undergraduates choose any two of these days (6 credits) or all four days (9 credits).
We do not meet on Mondays, and you should not have homework and you should not be working beyond your hours and days in the bureau.
During your work days, you may be in the bureau, or you may be out covering events, press conferences, enterprise stories or features. You’ll have orientation sessions at the beginning of the semester that will help give you more tools to cover the news.

Beats that students cover include transportation, health, environment, science and technology/cybersecurity, education, the governor, courts and public safety, weather, immigration, social services, business and the economy and more. We have written stories about struggling bats, millions of dollars in unclaimed property, covered a murder trial, interviewed the governor and many lawmakers. We’ve reported on the many ways the state stealthily tracks vehicles, its dirty air, and how Maryland’s crime numbers are probably wildly incorrectly reported to the FBI. We have written about a gore-focused tattoo artist and his hearse, hunting black bears, how an Amish school uses the Internet, and on how the governor has been quietly paroling felons who committed crimes as juveniles. If you propose it, we will do our best to cover it.

All students are expected to use Twitter and other social media to promote CNS stories and as a reporting source tool. You will use DataWrapper to make simple graphics and you will be taking basic photos. You can also do more in-depth visual projects, including drawings, photography, graphics and videos, if you would like.

You can see some past Annapolis students at work here, from about 00:30 to about 00:46: https://youtu.be/Y-eQvFtTQlI.

Here’s a profile of one recent student. He’s at the Baltimore Sun now: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RUNeQ0yP5eM.

And here are some of our stories from this semester, and before: https://cnsmaryland.org/category/annapolis/

Looking forward to seeing you in Annapolis!

The Washington bureau of CNS meets Tuesday through Friday from 9:30 a.m. until 5:30 p.m. Undergraduate students choose two of those days to work. Graduate students work in the bureau all four days. In general, the coursework is done within the hours of the bureau. However, in certain circumstances, students may be asked to volunteer to work a different day to cover a special news event, such as a state funeral, a presidential inauguration, an election night, etc.

Students will be asked to cover a wide variety of Washington-based stories. Some are focused on the activities of the Congress, others on the administration and federal agencies, others on general areas of public policy (i.e., the environment and climate change; income inequality; foreign policy, etc.)

Students based in the Washington bureau are asked to report on and write stories; in some cases, students in the bureau may take pictures or video, contribute to social media platforms (Twitter, Facebook), and even have the opportunity to produce podcasts. Applicants should have proven reporting and writing skills – including the ability to spot developing stories, to generate original ideas, to find appropriate sources, and to produce accurate and compelling journalism – often on deadline. Applicants should also have a good working knowledge of the American political system – how it works, its key figures and current issues. We also would like applicants to have familiarity with the elements of good government and political reporting.

CNS Broadcast Bureau

The CNS broadcast bureau is a rigorous, hands-on, broadcast newsroom that reinforces what you have learned and prepares you to enter the professional industry at the end of your semester. Please note that on day one when you arrive to the CNS broadcast bureau you are expected to have solid news judgment and be able to come up with two strong, doable story ideas every day, and one enterprise story per week.  You should be comfortable and proficient with executing the basics of journalism, how to research stories and how to set up interviews.  You should have a working knowledge of legal and ethical issues.  You should be comfortable interviewing people and selecting strong sound bites for the stories you report.  You are expected to be proficient in all aspects of electronic newsgathering and editing.  You are expected to arrive at the bureau with an easy ability to pitch stories, report, write, edit and air them that day.  In other words, you are expected to turn around a story in eight hours or less.  If you have concerns about meeting these requirements, you should give serious thought as to whether this capstone is right for you.

In this class the focus is reporting. Please do not sign up for this class if your primary interest is anchoring. Anchoring is NOT the focus of the capstone. The CNS broadcast bureau meets Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays from 8:30 a.m. until 6:30 p.m.

If you are part-time, you will meet every other Wednesdays from 9 a.m. – 11 a.m. If you are full-time, you meet on Wednesdays and work on special project reports that will be marketed to local newsrooms nationally with the expectation that your highly-produced story will run in one or more markets in the country.  You will produce one or two of these thoughtful, unique and well-produced  pieces during the semester.  These pieces are designed to stand out and make news directors want to hire you into prominent reporting positions.

Most of the work you do in the broadcast bureau is done within the scheduled meeting times. Occasionally, you will be asked to cover stories outside these times. If you are asked to do so, then your time during the following week will be adjusted to compensate. In this class, you will produce thoughtful pieces that reflect salient issues that affect people in the state of Maryland. This means your coverage area will be Maryland, Annapolis and Washington, D.C. You will produce reporter packages that are day-turn deadline pieces as well as enterprise packages. You will do live shots in real time for the evening broadcast which goes out at 5:30 p.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays. By the end of the semester, you should have mastered coming up with enterprise story ideas, researching, reporting, writing and editing on deadline. All students will get on-camera performance training and feedback.  If you have an interest in sports, you will be allowed to anchor and report some sportscasts. By the end of the semester, you will have created your professional resume reel for your job search. You will have mastered the following learning outcomes:

• Simulate a working newsroom environment through the production of a live newscast.
• Learn to enterprise stories and come up with stories beyond daybook announcements and press releases.
• Focus on reporting and newsgathering skills for a local television news format using state-of-the industry technology in the studio, newsroom and in the field.
• Pay critical attention and apply critical thinking to newsgathering techniques and on-air performance issues. Learn to exercise solid journalistic judgment under deadline pressure.
• Learn the difference between basic reporting and storytelling.
• Learn how to do live reporting on location.
• Write clear and compelling copy under renewing and unpredictable deadlines.
• Learn how critically important it is to work as a team.
• Learn management skills that will help develop leadership skills and a solid teamwork.
• Learn instinctively to be sensitive to issues of ethics as they relate to viewers and colleagues.
• Learn instinctively to be sensitive to issues of diversity as they relate to viewers and colleagues.
• Learn excellence through practice and critical analysis of the industry.
• Learn to conduct research and evaluate information using journalism skills that are appropriate and professional and that reflect high standards and codes of ethics as set forth by RTDNA, SPJ and NPPA.
• Learn to think critically, creatively, and independently.
• Learn to critically evaluate your own work and that of others for accuracy and fairness, clarity, appropriate broadcast news writing and reporting styles and grammatical correctness.

Students in the CNS Audience Engagement bureau listen to and engage with online communities and use that research and reporting to tell audience-focused stories on the CNS website and social media platforms such as Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, Twitter, Reddit and others.

On a daily basis, students use CNS social media platforms and the CNS website to share the work of other CNS bureaus, promoting their coverage by improving stories’ SEO and by creating social content, such as videos and graphics. Students also collaborate with CNS and Howard Center for Investigative Journalism editors and reporters to develop and execute multi-step audience engagement plans for investigative or enterprise projects.

All of the bureau’s work is backed by data. Team members dive deep into web and social metrics to understand how users engage with CNS, and suggest promotion and publishing strategies based on data analysis.

Some audience engagement and social media content creation experience is recommended, including but not limited to classes such as JOUR368D/668D.

The class meets Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Part-time students pick two full days, or work part of all three days. Full-time students work all three days and are embedded in another CNS bureau on Friday. All work for this course will be done during class hours.

Check out our work on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and cnsmaryland.org.

The CNS Data and Graphics Bureau focuses on data visualization, design, graphics and computational journalism in a professional newsroom setting. Students analyze data, do reporting, build data visualizations and information graphics, design and code websites and build automated storytelling tools. Students fill different roles based on their experience and career goals. Some students do a mix of things, and others focus on one area. Students will pitch and execute their own stories and ideas as well as working alongside journalists in other capstones and The Howard Center on larger investigative and enterprise journalism projects. Some experience with coding, design or data is recommended, including but not limited to classes such as JOUR352/652, JOUR472/772, INST126 or CMSC122. The class will meet on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. It is requested that students do not schedule other classes during these times. All work for this course will be done during class hours.

See examples of past student work at CNS Data Stories and Bitter Cold.

In the wake of a train derailment in Ohio that released a toxic plume of chemicals covering more than 540,000 square miles, the spring Howard Center investigation will examine what’s rolling through other communities across the U.S. and whether they are prepared for the next big accident.

We’ll have access to a unique, new database to guide our reporting on what chemicals are going where in our nation’s troubled railway system. There will be opportunities to travel (but it’s not required).

We’ll meet in the Howard Center twice a week, Mondays and Wednesdays 10-6, although hours aren’t rigid. We can accommodate schedules, and students may take 1 other class on those days and make up time on other days. But you must be willing to devote 14 hours a week to the project.

Students also can participate in the Howard Center project by enrolling in an independent study, and we’ll work out an agreement for the number of hours and days/times.

Past examples of student work include: Code Red: Baltimore’s Climate Divide, Essential and Exposed, Nowhere to Go.

The Howard Center investigative class will examine where members of Congress and their staff travel when special interests — trade associations, private companies and nonprofits — foot the bill. What happens there and, just as important, what do their benefactors get in return back here in Washington? There will be opportunities to travel as part of the reporting, but it isn’t required. We’ll have a brand-new Merrill-made database of trips to guide us.

We will meet twice a week, Mondays and Wednesdays 10-6 in the Howard Center, although hours aren’t rigid. We can accommodate schedules, and students may take 1 other class on those days and make up time on other days. But you must be willing to devote 14 hours a week to the project.

Students also can participate in the Howard Center project by enrolling in an independent study, and we’ll work out an agreement for number of hours and days/times.