COM 308 - Public Affairs Reporting and Writing

• Identify key sources on their public affairs “beat” who can be regularly interviewed to reveal stories important to their news outlet’s audience.
• Locate and recognize where all the different important public affairs beats conduct their business and their key players and issues
• Recognize the difference between records and documents available to the public and those that aren’t and how to request and use them for stories.
• Recognize the difference between what/when/how government councils/commissions/committees can legally discuss government business in private versus what and when and how they must do so with public notice and in the public eye. 
• Write public affairs stories that include backgrounding, interviews, documents, data and observation that are relevant to their audience.
• Write stories about government agency meetings that are accurate and relevant to local readers
• Use social media to help cover public affairs beat and to disseminate stories and engage with their audience.