Week 4 - Discussion 2 11 unread reply.11 reply. Your initial discussion thread is due on Day 3 (Thursday) and you have until Day 7 (Monday) to respond to your classmates. Your grade will reflect both the quality of your initial post and the depth of your responses. Refer to the Discussion Forum Grading Rubric under the Settings icon above for guidance on how your discussion will be evaluated. The Culture Divide Prepare: For those with little understanding of the role of journalists in our society, the profession could be seen through a very small lens of one that is simply about reporting the facts. While there may be a bit of truth to this with regard to hard news coverage, cultural journalism is a much deeper phenomenon. This genre of journalism is more about understanding the connections and underlying factors for the news that we report on. Cultural journalism refers to writing and reporting that lends itself to the particular ways of life in a society, and it can encompass customs, ideologies, or art forms. We are finding that cultural journalism is quite popular among citizen journalists and those in community newsrooms who possess the time and interest to discover the connections. For this discussion, we will focus on cultural journalism from the perspective of community journalism. Read the At the Community Level: Cultural Competence and News Coverage of a City Neighborhood (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site. article by Garyantes (2012). Reflect: After carefully reading the article, consider your feelings on journalists in your own community demonstrating “cultural competence” in news reporting. Do you feel as though this is an important aspect of reporting? How might it impact news reports in your community? Write: After considering the questions above, write a 250- to 300-word response that discusses how you feel about “cultural competence.” In your initial post, you must include at least one in-text citation from the reading material and an additional in-text citation from a scholarly source that you locate in the Ashford University Library or from another credible source. At the end of your post, include your name and a full reference for all sources cited in the body of your post. All citations and references must adhere to APA style guidelines as outlined in the Ashford Writing Center (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.. Check It! Your post must be submitted through Grammarly prior to submission. Respond to Peers: After you have written your initial post, read the posts of your peers and respond to at least two others about their views on a journalist’s “cultural competence.” Your responses should address them by name, be between 100 and 150 words in length, and you must include your name at the end of each response. Week 4 - Discussion 1 11 unread reply.11 reply. Your initial discussion thread is due on Day 3 (Thursday) and you have until Day 7 (Monday) to respond to your class.

1. Week 4 - Discussion 2
11 unread reply.11 reply.
Your initial discussion thread is due on Day 3 (Thursday) and
you have until Day 7 (Monday) to respond to your classmates.
Your grade will reflect both the quality of your initial post and
the depth of your responses. Refer to the Discussion Forum
Grading Rubric under the Settings icon above for guidance on
how your discussion will be evaluated.
The Culture Divide
Prepare: For those with little understanding of the role of
journalists in our society, the profession could be seen through
a very small lens of one that is simply about reporting the facts.
While there may be a bit of truth to this with regard to hard
news coverage, cultural journalism is a much deeper
phenomenon. This genre of journalism is more about
understanding the connections and underlying factors for the
news that we report on. Cultural journalism refers to writing
and reporting that lends itself to the particular ways of life in a
society, and it can encompass customs, ideologies, or art forms.
We are finding that cultural journalism is quite popular among
citizen journalists and those in community newsrooms who
possess the time and interest to discover the connections. For
this discussion, we will focus on cultural journalism from the
perspective of community journalism. Read the At the
Community Level: Cultural Competence and News Coverage of
a City Neighborhood (Links to an external site.)Links to an
external site. article by Garyantes (2012).
Reflect: After carefully reading the article, consider your
feelings on journalists in your own community demonstrating
“cultural competence” in news reporting. Do you feel as though

2. this is an important aspect of reporting? How might it impact
news reports in your community?
Write: After considering the questions above, write a 250- to
300-word response that discusses how you feel about “cultural
competence.” In your initial post, you must include at least one
in-text citation from the reading material and an additional in-
text citation from a scholarly source that you locate in the
Ashford University Library or from another credible source. At
the end of your post, include your name and a full reference for
all sources cited in the body of your post. All citations and
references must adhere to APA style guidelines as outlined in
the Ashford Writing Center (Links to an external site.)Links to
an external site..
Check It! Your post must be submitted through Grammarly prior
to submission.
Respond to Peers: After you have written your initial post, read
the posts of your peers and respond to at least two others about
their views on a journalist’s “cultural competence.” Your
responses should address them by name, be between 100 and
150 words in length, and you must include your name at the end
of each response.
Week 4 - Discussion 1
11 unread reply.11 reply.
Your initial discussion thread is due on Day 3 (Thursday) and
you have until Day 7 (Monday) to respond to your classmates.
Your grade will reflect both the quality of your initial post and
the depth of your responses. Refer to the Discussion Forum
Grading Rubric under the Settings icon above for guidance on
how your discussion will be evaluated.

3. The Conversation about Conservation
Prepare: Of the topics and issues we read and hear about in the
news today, the environment tends to be one that ranks pretty
high. We are constantly receiving messages about going green,
conserving energy, and tapping into our natural resources. The
person who chooses to write about the environment is one who
tends to care a great deal about these issues but must also be
able to present a balanced perspective. For this discussion, you
will read Climate Change in the Newsroom: Journalists’
Evolving Standards of Objectivity When Covering Global
Warming by Hiles and Hinnant (2014).
Reflect: Once you have carefully read the article, consider how
we defined objectivity. Then, think about your views on
journalists’ ability to remain objective when reporting on
environmental issues. Are there any differences in this and
other types of reporting where journalists must remain
objective?
Write: After reading the article and considering your own
views, write a 250- to 300-word response that discusses those
views. In your initial post, you must include at least one in-text
citation from the reading material and an additional in-text
citation from a scholarly source that you locate in the Ashford
University Library or from another credible source. At the end
of your post, include your name and a full reference for all
sources cited in the body of your post. All citations and
references must adhere to APA style guidelines as outlined in
the Ashford Writing Center (Links to an external site.)Links to
an external site..
Check It! Your post must be submitted through Grammarly prior
to submission.

4. Respond to Peers: Once you have written your initial post, read
the posts of your peers and respond to at least two others about
their views on objectivity when writing about environmental
issues. Your responses should address them by name, be
between 100 and 150 words in length, and you must include
your name at the end of each response.
Required Resources
Articles
Hiles, S. S., & Hinnant, A. (2014). Climate change in the
newsroom: Journalists’ evolving standards of objectivity when
covering global warming. Science Communication, 36(4), 428-
453. doi:10.1177/1075547014534077
· The full-text version of this article can be accessed through
the Sage Journals Online database in the Ashford University
Library. In this article, Hiles focuses on the ability of
journalists who cover the environment to remain objective in
the newsroom. This reading is required for The Conversation
About Conservation discussion.
Garyantes, D. M. (2012). At the community level: Cultural
competence and news coverage of a city neighborhood (Links to
an external site.)Links to an external site.. Community
Journalism,1(46). Retrieved from http://journal.community-
journalism.net/sites/default/files/garyantes-cj1-2012.pdf
· This article focuses on cultural competency, a term used to
measure the level of competence that a journalist has in the
cultural aspects of the segment of society being written about.
This reading is required for The Cultural Divide discussion.
Multimedia
Thirteen. (2014, June 19) Environmental journalist Dan Fagin's
book on Toms River (Links to an external site.)Links to an

5. external site. [Video file]. Retrieved from
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gp8TAnDXTSw
· This video provides a brief news story about environmental
journalist, Dan Fagin, who went on to write a book that
provided insight into Tom’s River and the environmental issues
that caught national attention. This news report/interview will
be beneficial for this week’s The Conversation About
Conservation discussion. A transcript (Links to an external
site.)Links to an external site. is available for this program.
· Accessibility Statement (Links to an external site.)Links to an
external site.
· Privacy Policy (Links to an external site.)Links to an external
site.
Overview
Activity
Due Date
Format
Grading Percent
The Conversation About Conservation
Day 3
(1st Post)
Discussion
4
The Cultural Divide
Day 3
(1st Post)
Discussion
4
AP Style Checkup: More Numbers
n/a
Quiz
0
Environmental/Cultural News Story and Broadcast Script
Day 7
Assignment

6. 10Learning Outcomes
This week students will:
1. Discuss the conventions associated with environmental
journalism and cultural journalism.
2. Compose a news story on an environmental or cultural topic
for print and broadcast media.Introduction
When people think about the environment or culture, they rarely
associate them with journalism. However, these two areas are
actually growing rapidly in the field of journalism as people
seek to tell stories based on facts to those readers who have a
deep concern about the environment and those who wish to truly
understand various cultures. This week, you will explore these
two genres of journalism as well as their growth and relevance
in the field. Writing a news story about an environmental or
cultural topic for a specific publication will give you an
opportunity to put together elements that will draw in current
readers, inspire others, and validate the merit of these areas of
journalism.