This class will teach students the methods used in investigative journalism. Students will learn how to track people through public records, how to use Freedom of Information Act requests, how to read financial documents, and how to interview reluctant subjects. Students will also learn how to organize a complicated story or series of stories and make complex issues comprehensible for a general audience. Course topics will include:

• developing human sources
• following an electronic or paper trail
• translating complex information into digestible news fare
• identifying and navigating basic legal and ethical land mines that investigative reporters encounter