Liz Fusco's University of Rhode Island Journalism 411 Senior Portfolio
According to the University of Rhode Island's Harrington School of Communication and Media website, Journalism 411 is a "structured opportunity to select, review and reflect on examples of work for a portfolio. Formal presentations of the portfolio to faculty required." The JOR 411 class is required to be taken by all seniors.
I completed my portfolio during the fall semester of 2022. The portfolio requires students to write five 500 to 700-word essays on each of the five department-determined outcomes. These outcomes are:
1. Capable of Entry-Level Media Work in One of the Major's Areas of Emphasis
2. Informed About Journalistic Ethics and Capable of Articulating Ethical Decisions
3. Able to Explain the Importance of Journalism in the United States
4. Conversant with Contemporary Media Issues
5. Prepared for a Diverse and Multicultural World and Workplace
In Addition, students must provide three to five examples of their own work that support their knowledge of each of the outcomes.
Below is my portfolio!
Introduction
Since adding a journalism major to my degree during my sophomore year of college at the University of Rhode Island, one thing I have found shocking is the number of my peers who had a sense of “always knowing” they were bound to be journalists.
I was not like them.
Growing up in North Kingstown, Rhode Island, the news wasn’t something I was naturally drawn to as there wasn’t much circulating. In a small town with one high school where everyone knows everyone - where the closest shopping mall is 30 minutes away - I usually knew about my town’s news before the weekly paper circulated.
I was, however, always drawn to writing. In every form, whether it was mine or someone else’s, writing never failed to show me the magic that humans hold. Writing to me was a way to convey my knowledge, my creativity and my work. My writing defined me, and so I was always writing.
My love for writing and reading the writing of others is something I carried with me into my college career beginning in 2019. I came to URI as an English major, and when I leave this May I will be an English and journalism double major with a minor in writing and rhetoric.
In the second semester of my first year, I finally mustered up the courage to show my face at a weekly Monday night meeting for URI’s student newspaper, The Good Five Cent Cigar. I had known I wanted to join because I wanted to write. I enjoyed myself and wrote a few stories a month as a contributing reporter. I never thought anything else would come with my participation in the cigar.
During the first week of March 2020, I met with then Cigar news editor (and later Editor in Chief) Kate LeBlanc, where she taught me about the inverted pyramid and introduced me to AP style. I walked out of that meeting with absolute certainty I would be adding a journalism major.
I continued writing for the Cigar throughout the coronavirus pandemic, where we would meet over zoom on Monday nights. I continued my time as a contributing reporter until I was encouraged by former EIC Theresa Brown to run for a position as a staff reporter. I received the position and continued writing two stories a week for two semesters until I was encouraged to run for news editor, and ultimately won the position for two semesters.
The Cigar was the spark in my journalism career. But the classes offered to me during my time at URI were the lighter fluid. I acquired knowledge throughout my curriculum that allowed me to navigate news gathering and reporting in a 21st-century world.
I’m beyond grateful for the experiences I’ve been given and the real-world training I’ve gotten through both my time as a student in the journalism program, as well as a member of the Cigar. This fall, I was even met with the opportunity to attend the Online News Association’s annual conference in Los Angeles, California with the journalism department where I got to go to seminars and network with journalists from companies as notable as The New York Times.
I am excited to begin my career with the skills and opportunities I have already experienced and to continue my pursuit of knowledge, and of course, the truth, throughout my career.
The spring 2022 Cigar E-board - my first semester as news editor.
Outcome One - Capable of Entry-Level Media Work in One of the Major's Area's of Emphasis
In my time at the University of Rhode Island and writing at the Good Five Cent Cigar, I have been well prepared to be able to complete entry-level media work. Classes such as JOR 220: Media Literacy taught me the basics of writing a news article and how to construct a lede and follow the inverted pyramid structure. This class also taught me about beats or particular areas of interest journalists cover. I was able to utilize my skill from 220 and apply them to my work in JOR321: Magazine and Feature Article writing when writing a story about how one of my favorite bookstores, Mary’s Paperbacks, and how it was affected by the coronavirus pandemic. This article went on to be featured in The Warwick Beacon.
I have enjoyed my experience at the Cigar, not only as an editor, but as a reporter as well. I spent two semesters as a contributing reporter and two semesters as a staff reporter at the Cigar, and during this time I had the experience to report and write over 80 different stories ranging from news to features to entertainment.
One of my favorite news stories that I pitched and wrote for the Cigar was a story on the University of Rhode Island’s Graduate School of Oceanography (GSO) referendum question on the 2022 midterm election ballot. The question was for the approval of a (insert monetary amount) in order to rebuild the GSO, as the buildings were crumbling and in need of total rebuild, according to the dean of the GSO, Paula Bontempi. The University created a task force in order to raise support for the referendum and through this story, I was able to interview two of the leading members of the committee, Bontempi and Anthony Marchese, dean of the College of Engineering. The story taught me how to report on timely political news stories, and also how to apply Bill Kovach and Tom Rosenstiel’s seventh element of journalism - making the significant interesting and relevant - into a story aimed for students to read.
The most influential story for me to ever write was without a doubt a feature story I wrote during my junior year. The story was a profile on URI GSO Professor and founder of the RMS Titanic, Robert Ballard. Even though I knew how to conduct well-rounded interviews before writing this article, the experience of conducting this interview helped me to understand what it felt like to interview as a professional journalist. In this interview, Ballard provided me with many inside details into his battle with dyslexia, and the moral battle he dealt with as the founder of a boat where a great tragedy took place and having such a tragedy define his career. During this article, I learned firsthand the importance of invoking empathy for those being covered in stories.
Finally, during my sophomore year, I got the opportunity to write an entertainment piece on an online theater presentation that took place at URI due to the COVID-19 pandemic. I was able to talk to both the director of this play and one of the cast members about their experiences as students whose curriculum is based on being in front of people during a pandemic.
All of these stories were written in AP Style and are 500 words minimum. All of the stories also have ledes less than 35 words and have two sources.
Outcome One Evidence
Rhody kicks off 'Vote Yes on 1' campaign
'Goodbye Santa' hello interactive theatre
Outcome Two - Informed About Journalistic Ethics and Capable of Articulating an Ethical Decision
Ethical decision-making is a necessary skill for journalists to learn so that they can decide what to report on and how to report on important issues with empathy toward the people involved in a story.
One of the first journalism courses I took at URI, JOR115: Foundations of American Journalism, explored the Nine Elements of Journalism according to Bill Kovach and Tom Rosensteil, and how to apply those elements to my writing in order to make ethical decisions. In JOR410: Ethics in Journalism my knowledge of ethical decision-making that I had previously learned in JOR115. In JOR410, our professor supplied us with journalism cases, both real and hypothetical that spanned all forms of media (photography, written news, broadcast) and had us answer questions on how we would report each case based on the ethical forms of reasoning we had learned about.
In addition to our knowledge of the Nine Elements of Journalism, in 410 we learned about philosophical ways of reasoning to help us make ethical decisions when reporting on difficult or controversial topics. Some of these processes included Sissela Bok, which required us to make decisions based on empathy and social trust, and The Potter Box method, which requires journalists to make ethical decisions after reviewing the facts of the case and consulting their own personal conscience. In addition, In addition to these two we learned about Rawl’s Veil of Ignorance, Aristotle’s Golden Mean, Kant’s Categorical Imperative and J.S. Mill’s Utilitarianism.
In JOR410 I completed two case studies that required me to make ethical decisions using the information I had received in that course, as well as 115.
The first case study I complete was an ethical essay on news coverage of the death of a 21-year-old Georgian Olympic luge athlete during training for the 2010 Olympic Games in Vancouver, Canada. In this essay, I had to explain what processes of ethical reasoning I would use when reporting on an issue. In this case, I decided that it was important for this issue to be reported to the public, however, I invoked Sissela Bok and Aristotle’s Golden Mean to come to the conclusion that I believed the video of the athlete getting into the accident should not have aired. Aristotle’s Golden Mean states that it is important to aim for the ultimate happiness of everyone and to avoid extremes and the video of the athlete crashing is too graphic to show the public when there isn’t an imminent threat posing a large group of people.
I also completed a long-form case study in JOR410 about an ethical issue that occurred when a newspaper in 1989 covered a Klu Klux Klan Rally. The second principle of journalism is that a journalist’s primary loyalty is to citizens, and because of this, I decided it was important for the news to report on the death of the athlete, however according to the eight standards of journalism it is important for the stories journalists report on are being reported in a fair, neutral and balanced manner, and according to the article we were given to complete this case study, the reporter was clearly siding with (insert who he was siding with here).
Finally, in my time as a staff reporter for The Cigar, I was given the opportunity by Editor-in-Chief Emeritus Kate LeBlanc to write an article about a racist direct message that was sent to an NFL player by a URI student over Instagram. The NFL player later posted the message and the student faced consequences. I had to use ethical reasoning when reporting on this issue because while the University was not putting out the student’s name to avoid legal issues, the students who were editors at the Cigar at the time wanted the student to take responsibility for his actions and therefore wanted to identify him in the article. After utilizing the Sissela Bok process along with the editors at the time, we decided to not name the student in this story due to the ongoing legal issues that were happening at the time but announced that if there were any updates going forward we would identify the student and condemn his actions as an institution.
Outcome Two Evidence
Georgian Olympic Louge Athlete Ethical Essay
KKK Recruitment Long Case Study Essay
University responds to racist message sent by students
Outcome Three - Able to Explain the Importance of Journalism in the United States
JOR115 and JOR 410 also taught me about the importance of journalism in the United States. In both of these classes, we spoke about the importance of reporters acting in a “watchdog” role, meaning they must act as an independent monitor of power and report on concerns of all people, regardless of their background or social standing in order for the news to be balanced and fair. Part of being a watchdog is also about journalists giving a voice to the voiceless, or the people who have less power in the media - for example, the impoverished or minority groups.
Working for the Cigar as a student allowed me to get a taste of the role journalists play. As a student journalist, I was interested in the issues that affected students in a community where the institution had more money and power to make large decisions. As a reporter, I was interested in covering issues that affected the world my generation lived in, and also the issues that affected the students, just as a journalist would cover issues that affected the people without voices in society.
In the Spring of my Sophomore year, I was given the opportunity to sit in on a political science course that was being spoken to by Rhode Island Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, where he spoke about climate change and the issues concerning large oil companies causing global warming because of their inability to change the way they get profit in order save our ecosystem. Reporting on this story felt important to me because it was a learning experience, as well as a way to spread the word to the next generation of politicians, lawyers and environmentalists about issues involving our world. Covering the story from a student’s perspective allowed such a large issue to feel more tangible to everyday people who are affected by these issues, just as journalists aim to do with reporting on issues in American society.
In JOR 313: Alternative News Media, my professor put all students into groups and had us create our own alternative news media websites where we reported on a beat that mattered to us. My group decided to report on women’s issues, as we were the only group made up of only girls. For this assignment, I decided I wanted to give my story an angle that was more relevant to women on the URI campus. I reported a story on women in positions of power at URI and how, just like in the United States political system, there is a disproportionate number of women in positions of power at URI. I spoke with Gender and Women’s Studies Chair Emeritus Jodie Lisberger, who spoke with me about the issues of paternal systems that exist in large systems like the government, but also smaller systems like URI and other universities, and how this issue needs more coverage.
As a student journalist who completed a majority of their college career during a global pandemic, there was no shortage of stories that I reported on surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic. I wrote many articles for the cigar and classes surrounding updated mandates surrounding masking and vaccines. I acted as a watchdog in doing this by allowing students to understand what was being asked of them by the University, but also, in turn, raising topics about issues that affected many students in the lack of mandates being put in place for faculty and staff as well. These issues eventually made their way to the student senate floor, in a meeting which I was in attendance for.
I also acted as a watchdog for students as the Cigar student senate reporter for the fall 2021 semester. In this role, I was required to attend all Wednesday night Student Senate meetings and report on the issues in quick turnaround stories that would be published the next day. I reported on many issues that mattered to students, such as updated housing and dining policies that were put in place during the pandemic and how students wished to revise them. The student senate role made me feel like I was truly making a difference among my peers by reporting on issues I knew were of the utmost importance and shining a light on student opinions, rather than focusing on only the opinions of the administration.
This past semester, I reported on a story that was pitched by my fellow news editor at the Cigar, Juliana Lepore, about the legalization of marijuana in the state of Rhode Island and how that would affect students on the URI campus. Not only was this one of my favorite articles I’ve ever written, but I also knew it was a story that many students would be interred in reading due to the effect it would have on their lives. The story was published on the front page of the Cigar above the fold, and we were even able to see support from students for the coverage of this story across social media, proving the importance of our watchdog role for students.
Outcome Three Evidence
R.I. Senator talks climate policy with students
Women in Positions of Power Article
Sparking a Change: How legalizing marijuana affects URI
URI announces vaccine booster mandate for all community members
University loosens mask mandate for first time since fall 2020 semester
Outcome Four - Conversant with Contemporary Media Issues
In JOR410 and JOR115, my class learned about the unique contemporary issues that our generation of journalists will be forced to face.
With the birth and exponential growth in the popularity of social media platforms, I learned in JOR410 that News Deserts are affecting newspapers all over the country. Because of the ability for anyone to report stories online, and therefore, anyone to become a self-proclaimed journalist, it is harder for smaller news organizations in local areas to stay afloat. However, the success of smaller news organizations is important for journalists to be able to fulfill their watchdog role. In this essay, I wrote about the importance of local papers and how they establish the watchdog role in smaller communities. In addition, I spoke about the necessary steps we need to take in our society in order to make sure that local newspapers do not become a thing of the past.
Another contemporary media issue that we spoke about in JOR 410 is the importance of the Black Press. Similar to how local newspapers cover smaller issues affecting specific communities, the Black Press focuses on covering issues that may not be covered by larger, more global media outlets because the people who are in power are most commonly white, straight males. The Black press has devoted itself to acting as a watchdog for Black communities since the beginning of the 20th century. In the 20th century, the Black press was a way for news stories to be reported with more hummanity towards African-Americans. In the essay, I referenced a New York Times Article that talks about lynching without mentioning the word “white,” which ultimately led to the topic being broached as more of a problem caused and suffered by Black people, rather than white people taking responsibility for their actions and overall bias in the media.
In the Fall of 2021 when I was working as a Staff Reporter for The Cigar, I previewed the University of Rhode Island’s 14th annual Amanpopur Lecture which featured CNN political journalist Abby Phillip. I spoke to the Director of the Harrington School of Communication and Media, Ammina Kothari, about the importance of political journalism, especially for aspiring student journalists who would be attending the lecture. Phillip’s lecture was titled “Honesty and Authenticity in Political Journalism,” and dealt with the contemporary issue of people not trusting the media, especially surrounding issues like the 2020 presidential election, when many people called the media fake. I was drawn to this story because of that controversy and my desire to report on how it can be combatted in a society where lies can be so quickly spread on social media.
Outcome Four Evidence
Why the Black Press is Important Essay
Fourtheenth annual Amanpour Lecture to highlight political journalism
Outcome Five - Prepared for a Diverse and Multicultural World and Workplace
One of the biggest lessons I have taken away from my time as a student journalist at the University of Rhode Island is the importance of being open to diversity. This is something that has been discussed in every single one of my journalism classes, as well as the Cigar.
In an interview I did with Narragansett Councilwoman Susan Cicilline-Buannano for JOR320: Public Relations, she told me that differences of opinions are important, and so is respect. This is something I took with me into my reporting from that point on.
I have always been drawn to taking stories with diverse figures in them for the Cigar, not only to fulfill my job as a watchdog but also because I have learned that taking stories that may be outside of my comfort zone or different from my life are the ones I learn the most from.
In March of this year, I took a story that allowed me to attend the University of Rhode Island’s International Women’s Day Panel. At this panel, a diverse group of women’s shared their experiences in all different fields of work, as well as in their personal lives, and how they had to learn to overcome the obstacles put in their way. Many of these women also spoke about their experience as intersectional individuals and how having two minorities a part of their identities made them have to find different ways to earn respect and get the recognition they deserved. In addition, this panel taught me about the need for us to work towards a more inclusive world, and especially a more inclusive journalism field so that the news is kept fair, and balanced and is useful for all citizens, not just majority groups.
This spring I also had the privilege to write a story on the URI Diversity Dialogues program. I spoke with former associate vice president of Community, Equity and Diversity (CED) and chief diversity officer Mary Grace Almandrez about the mission of the program. From this story, I was actually able to take away many of the teaching points the program aims to achieve, to not only create a welcoming and inclusive community on campus but to also prepare students for the diverse professional world that awaits them post-graduation. In writing this article, I learned about how to avoid microaggressions and the importance of diverse perspectives in any workforce, so that the work being done caters to all communities.
During Black History Month in February of my Sophomore year, I was able to profile the former president of URI’s Diversifying, Recruiting, Inspiring, Volunteering, Educating (D.R.I.V.E.) organization, Sheafeel Gedeon, who also taught me about the importance of recognizing diversity as well, specifically in funding. I felt this interview helped me understand that there is a financial side to diversifying as well, which I would have never thought of before this. I utilized my skills as a watchdog for the Univeristy community in my article “Multicultural Organizations call on URI for more support,” in which multiple directors of multicultural organizations on campus also called for more support from the University in recognition and funding services.
Having the experience to talk to diverse people and groups throughout my time as a student journalist has prepared me for diversity in the professional world. Not only have these stories taught me about the importance of diversity and how to strive for inclusion, but they have allowed me to connect with people from many different backgrounds and places, and allowed me to have a great appreciation for that as well.
Outcome Five Evidence
University celebrates International Women's Day with panel
New Programs aim to increase diversity, inclusion at URI
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