INTERNATIONAL JOURNALISM - JRN323 Spring 2025

Course

Andrew Giarelli

For information about registration please contact our admissions.

About

This course introduces students to the history and current practice of international journalism. Students use classic as well as contemporary examples of international reporting as models for their own writing assignments.

This version of the course will use a newsroom simulation format around which to build in-class and out-of-class assignments. NOTE: You must bring a laptop computer to each class for in-class writing assignments.

International Journalism

Course code: JRN 323

Semester and year: Spring 2025

Day and time: Tuesdays 15:30-18:15

Instructor: Andrew L. Giarelli, Ph.D.

Instructor contact: andrew.giarelli@aauni.edu

Consultation hours: Tuesdays 12-2 on MS-Teams

Credits US/ECTS	3/6	Level	Intermediate
Length	3 weeks	Pre-requisite	TOEFL iBT 71
Contact hours	42 hours	Course type	Bachelor Required/Elective

1. Course Description

This course introduces students to the history and current practice of international journalism. Students use classic and contemporary examples of international reporting as models for their own writing assignments.

This version of the course will use a newsroom simulation format around which to build in-class and out-of-class assignments. NOTE: You must bring a laptop computer to each class for in-class writing assignments.

2. Student Learning Outcomes

Upon completion of this course, students should be able to:

· Identify and use international reporting techniques.

· Write breaking and ongoing international news leads, summaries and full stories on deadline.

3. Reading Material

Required Materials (We will use all of these news sources. The required long articles are all available on NEO)

Required Long Investigative Articles:

1) Cecilia Anesi, Giulio Rubino, Pavla Holcova, and jan Kuciak. “Going Bananas: Flanders Transformed into Hub for International Cocaine Trafficking.” OCCRP, July 20, 2018.

2) Cecilia Anesi, Luca Rinaldi, Giulio Rubino, and Lorenzo Bagnoli. “Unfinished Lives, Unfinished Justice: The Cocaine Cowboys.” OCCRP, Feb. 22, 2019.

3) Ksenia Churmanova, “From Starbucks to Steelworks: How a Businessman Linked to Ramzan Kadryov benefitted from the war in Ukraine.”BBC News Russian, Feb. 17, 2023.

4) Christopher Giles, “A New Tool Shows What War Has Done to Ukraine’s Forests.” Bellingcat Au. 18, 2023.

5) Christo Grozev, “The Remote Control Killers Behind Russia’s Cruise Missile Strikes on Ukraine.” Bellingcat, Oct. 24, 2022.

6) Ciurcanu, Andrei, “The Simple Fraud Undermining Europe’s Timber Tracing System.” OCCRP, April 8, 2024.

7) Johannes Kaiser, Christope Lehermayr, Sebastian Reinhart, Addendum (republished in voxeurop). “How Timber Smugglers Are Destroying Europe’s Last Primeval Forests. Part I: the Romanian Eldorado.” Sept. 3, 2020.

8) “How Timber Smugglers Are Destroying Europe’s Last Primeval Forests. Part II: The Timber Mafia,” Aug. 27, 2020.

9) Jan Kuciak, “Italian Farms, Slovak Soil.” OCCRP, Feb. 27, 2018.

10) ________, “The Model, The Mafia, and the Murderers.” OCCRP Feb. 28, 2018.

11) “The Money Farmers: How Oligarchs and Populists Milk the EU For Millions” https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/03/world/europe/eu-farm-subsidy-hungary.html

12) Maddie Stone, “The World’s Largest Tropical Wetland Is On Fire.” Vice, July 30, 2020.

13) __________, “An Enormous Wetland in Argentina is Burning Out of Control.” Vice, Aug. 12, 2020.

Recommended Materials:

· You should read, watch and listen to international news and feature stories regularly from news media with a variety of editorial viewpoints. Recommended English-language newspapers and magazines with full online versions are The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Washington Times, The Spectator, The Economist, and The Guardian. Recommended broadcast outlets with full online versions (besides CNN, above) are ABC News, CBS News, NBC News, BBC News, and Al Jazeera News.

4. Teaching methodology

Many classes will start as simulated editorial meetings based on that morning’s breaking news, followed by lead and news digest exercises. They may follow with in-depth analysis of stories on specific topics as noted in the calendar below, guest speakers, and/or group reporting and writing exercises aimed at producing publishable international news stories.

Guests will form an important part of the class, bringing outside real-world experience as international journalists or else serving as sources for student stories. They will include:

Satar Furogh, RFE/RL Afghan on-air news presenter and AAU journalism graduate

Irina Sterpu, Vocea Basarabiei (Moldova) radio-TV journalist and AAU journalism graduate

Michaela Terenzani, foreign news editor, SME (leading Slovak daily)

Ksenia Churmanova, reporter, BBC News Russian

5. Course Schedule

Please note: There will not be a first class meeting on Tuesday, Feb. 4. The first class meeting of the course will be Tuesday, Feb. 11. There will be a required make-up class on Friday, Feb. 21.

Each session has a 15 minute break starting around 16:50-17:00, depending on where we are). Readings are to be done for the session in which they are listed. Some readings and topics may change depending on breaking news.

Date

Class Agenda

Session 1

Tuesday

Feb. 11

Topic: Writing Breaking International News

Description:

1) Course Introduction

2) Deadline Lead Writing Exercises from Breaking International News

3) Composing a Breaking International News Summary

Reading:

Assignments/deadlines: In-class writing of leads and breaking news summary as noted above.

Session 2

Tuesday

Feb. 18

Topic: Writing Breaking International News

Description:

1) Deadline Lead Writing Exercises from Breaking International News

2) Composing a Daily International News Summary

3) Case Study: Murdered Slovak Journalist Jan Kuciak and his colleagues, working with the Sarajevo-based Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project and The New York Times, uncovered European corruption at the highest and most dangerous levels.

Reading:

1) Jan Kuciak, “Italian Farms, Slovak Soil.” OCCRP, Feb. 27, 2018.

2) Jan Kuciak et al., “The Model, The Mafia, and the Murderers.” OCCRP Feb. 28, 2018

Assignments/deadlines: In-class writing of leads and daily news summary as noted above.

Session 3

(MAKE-UP CLASS)

Friday

Feb. 21

Topic: Writing Breaking International News

Description:

1) Deadline Lead Writing Exercises from Breaking International News

2) Composing a Daily International News Summary

3) Case Study: The International Cocaine Trail. OCCR reporters following the late Jan Kuciak’s lead further investigate how cocaine travels via organized crime.

Reading:

1) Cecilia Anesi, Giulio Rubino, Pavla Holcova, and Jan Kuciak. “Going Bananas: Flanders Transformed into Hub for International Cocaine Trafficking.” OCCRP, July 20, 2018.

2) Cecilia Anesi, Luca Rinaldi, Giulio Rubino, and Lorenzo Bagnoli. “Unfinished Lives, Unfinished Justice: The Cocaine Cowboys.” OCCRP, Feb. 22, 2019.

Assignments/deadlines: In-class writing of leads and daily news summary as noted above.

Session 4

Tuesday

Feb. 25

Topic: Writing Breaking International News, Regional Focus

Description:

1) Composing a Daily Regional News Summary: Central Europe

2) Case Study: Covering central-eastern Europe’s populist leaders and oligarch politicians. Slovakia and Hungary. The Czech Republic’s nearest neighbors to the east have become flashpoints in debates over EU support for Ukraine and government control of news media.

3) Guest: TBA.

4) Introducing major writing assignment 1, an 800-word international news story update with some original reporting.

Reading:

1) Selam Gebredikan, Matt Apuzzo, and Benjamin Novak. “The Money Farmers: How Oligarchs and Populists Milk the EU for Millions. The New York Times, Nov. 3, 2019. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/03/world/europe/eu-farm-subsidy-hungary.html

2) Selected “Last Week in Slovakia” newsletters from The Slovak Spectator (English-language edition of SME)

Assignments/deadlines: In-class writing of daily news summary as noted above.

Session 5

Tuesday

March 4

Topic: Writing Breaking International News, Regional Focus

Description:

1) Composing a Daily Regional News Summary: Student-led protests across Georgia, Serbia, and Slovakia.

Reading:

1) RFE/RL, "Why Are Protests Sweeping Across Serbia, Slovakia and Georgia?"

2) TBA

Assignments/deadlines: In-class writing of daily news summary as noted above. Possible Guest TBA.

Session 6

Tuesday

March 11

Topic: Student Demos (continued)

Description:

Reading:

In Lessons and updated in class with breaking demonstrations news.

Assignments/Deadlines: In-class reporting and writing on demos in Slovakia, Serbia, Georgia.

Session 7

Tuesday

March 18

Topic: Investigative Environmental Reporting

Description:

1) Composing a Daily Topical News Summary: Environmental News

2) Case Study: Investigative Reporting on World Deforestation

Reading:

1) Johannes Kaiser, Christope Lehermayr, Sebastian Reinhart, Addendum (republished in voxeurop). “How Timber Smugglers Are Destroying Europe’s Last Primeval Forests. Part I: the Romanian Eldorado.” Sept. 3, 2020.

2) “How Timber Smugglers Are Destroying Europe’s Last Primeval Forests. Part II: The Timber Mafia,” Aug. 27, 2020.

3) Maddie Stone, “The World’s Largest Tropical Wetland Is On Fire.” Vice, July 30, 2020.

4) Maddie Stone, “An Enormous Wetland in Argentina is Burning Out of Control.” Vice, Aug. 12, 2020

5) Ciurcanu, Andrei, “The Simple Fraud Undermining Europe’s Timber Tracing System.” OCCRP, April 8, 2024.

Tuesday

March 25

NO CLASS (Midterm Break)

Session 8

Tuesday

April 1

Topic: War Reporting

Description:

Case Study: Repercussions of the Ukraine War

Guest: Irina Sterpu, Vocea Basarabiei (Moldova) radio-TV journalist and AAU journalism graduate

Reading:

1) Andrew Higgins et al., Moscow Roils A Country on the Edge of Europe and Russia, The New York Times, Oct. 17, 2024.

2) Andrew Giarelli, "This Ticking Time Bomb On Our Border"

4) Alexander Tanas, Reuters, "Pro-Russian Leader of Moldovan Ethnic Minority Detained," March 25, 2025.

5) Sky News, "Zelensky: Ukraine Intercepted Russian Plans To Destroy Moldova," Feb. 9, 2025.

Assignments/deadlines:

1) In-class writing of daily news summary as noted above.

Major Reporting and Writing Assignment 1 due on NEO 11:59 p.m. Friday, April 4.

Session 9

Tuesday

April 8

Topic: New Tools in International Reporting

Description: How do investigative journalism consortia like ICIJ and OCCRP obtain and use public and leaked private financial data like that in the Panama, Paradise and Pandora Papers?

Reading:

1) ICIJ, “Offshore Leaks Database”.

2) ICIJ, “ICIJ Releases Paradise Papers Data from Appleby”

Introducing major writing assignment 2, an 800-word news story update with some original reporting.

Session 10

Tuesday

April 15

Topic: New Tools in International Reporting

Description: How do organizations like Geoconfirmed and The Centre for Information Resilience use geolocation, open-source data, and social media analysis to track human rights abuses and wars?

1) Christo Grozev, “The Remote Control Killers Behind Russia’s Cruise Missile Strikes on Ukraine.” Bellingcat, Oct. 24, 2022

3) Afghan Witness, “Afghan Witness Map” and “Afghan Witness Social Media User Survey”

4) Geoconfirmed maps (conflict map to be selected based on current breaking news)

Assignments/Deadlines: In-class use of online tools described above.

Session 11

Tuesday

April 22

Topic: Writing Breaking International News, Regional Focus.

Description: Region TBA.

Guest: TBA

Reading: TBA, based on current breaking regional news.

Assignments: In-class interview of guest by students.

Session 12

Tuesday

April 29

Topic: Following Up, New Trails

Description: Let’s try to follow up on some of the investigative reporting we’ve been studying, using some of its tools.

Reading:

1) ICIJ, “Deforestation Inc.” (specific articles TBA)

2) OCCRP “Aleph” database (specific datasets TBA based on student interests)

Assignments/deadlines:

Session 13

Tuesday

May 6

Topic: Afghan Focus

Description: Human Rights Under Taliban

Reading: In NEO "Resources"

Guest: Satar Furogh, RFE/RL Afghan Service

Assignments/deadlines:

Session 14

Tuesday

May 13

Topic: Final Story Progress Reports, Course Evaluations

Description: Students will give 10-minute progress reports on their final stories for class feedback.

Reading:

Assignments/deadlines: Major Reporting and Writing Assignment 2 due on NEO 11:59 p.m. Tuesday, May 20.

6. Course Requirements and Assessment (with estimated workloads)

Assignment	Workload (average)	Weight in Final Grade	Evaluated Course Specific Learning Outcomes	Evaluated Institutional Learning Outcomes*
Attendance and Class Participation	42	25%	Working with other student reporters in team setting to produce news copy on deadline.	1.2
In-class writing assignments.	38	25%	Quality of leads and contribution to group news summaries during in-class deadline assignments. These may also include in-class assignments to write about class guests and field trips.	1,2
Major Writing Assignment 1.	35	20%	Produce an 800-word update to an ongoing international news story with some original reporting, including some live quotes from sources, plus background.	1,2,3
Major Writing Assignment 2	35	30%	Produce a 1200-word international news story with all original reporting, including live quotes from interview sources, plus background.	1,2,3
TOTAL	150	100%

*1 = Critical Thinking; 2 = Effective Communication; 3 = Effective and Responsible Action

7. Detailed description of the assignments

In-Class Writing Assignments: These will range from daily work assembling international news summaries to on-the-spot stories, done individually or in teams, about case studies or interview subjects.

Assessment breakdown

Assessed area	Percentage
Ability to finish leads and story summaries from multiple sources on deadline.	50
Ability to work smoothly in team to produce group assignments.	25
Grammar, punctuation, spelling, writing clarity	25

Major Reporting/Writing Assignment 1. This will be your first step in doing your own international news reporting. You will take an ongoing international news story (either one studied in class or another of your choice, subject to instructor’s approval), research past stories to write the necessary background, find unanswered questions or new avenues of inquiry, and add your own reporting that should include some original live quotes obtained from sources.

Major Reporting/Writing Assignment 2. Now you will strike out fully on your own, choosing an ongoing or breaking international news story (either one studied in class or another of your choice, subject to instructor’s approval). Though you will also need to read other related past stories to choose the necessary background material, this story should be predominantly new reporting with all original live quotes from at least three sources.

Assessment breakdown

Assessed area	Percentage
Reporting	50
Writing	50

8. General Requirements and School Policies

General requirements

All coursework is governed by AAU’s academic rules. Students are expected to be familiar

with the academic rules in the Academic Codex and Student Handbook and to maintain the

highest standards of honesty and academic integrity in their work. Please see the AAU

intranet for a summary of key policies regarding coursework.

Course-Specific Requirements

There are no special requirements or deviations from AAU policies for this course.

Prepared by: Andrew Giarelli

Date: Dec. 5, 2024

Approved by:

Date:

Lessons13

Here is the course outline:

We will wade right into the task of international journalism with lead and news summary writing exercises.

1) Deadline Lead Writing Exercises from Breaking International News 2) Composing a Daily International News Summary 3) Case Study: Murdered Slovak Journalist Jan Kuciak and his colleagues, working with the Sarajevo-based Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project and The New York Times, uncovered European corruption at the highest and most dangerous levels. Reading (in Resources, to be done before class) 1) Jan Kuciak, “Italian Farms, Slovak Soil.” OCCRP, Feb. 27, 2018. 2) Jan Kuciak et al., “The Model, The Mafia, and the Murderers.” OCCRP Feb. 28, 2018.

1) Deadline Lead Writing Exercises from Breaking International News 2) Composing a Daily International News Summary 3) Case Study: The International Cocaine Trail. OCCR reporters following the late Jan Kuciak’s lead further investigate how cocaine travels via organized crime. Reading (in Resources, to be done before class): 1) Cecilia Anesi, Giulio Rubino, Pavla Holcova, and Jan Kuciak. “Going Bananas: Flanders Transformed into Hub for International Cocaine Trafficking.” OCCRP, July 20, 2018. 2) Cecilia Anesi, Luca Rinaldi, Giulio Rubino, and Lorenzo Bagnoli. “Unfinished Lives, Unfinished Justice: The Cocaine Cowboys.” OCCRP, Feb. 22, 2019.

1) Composing a Daily Regional News Summary: Central Europe 2) Case Study: Covering central-eastern Europe’s populist leaders and oligarch politicians. Slovakia and Hungary. The Czech Republic’s nearest neighbors to the east have become flashpoints in debates over EU support for Ukraine and government control of news media. 3) Introducing major writing assignment 1, an 800-word international news story update with some original reporting. Reading (in Resources, to be done before class): 1) Selam Gebredikan, Matt Apuzzo, and Benjamin Novak. “The Money Farmers: How Oligarchs and Populists Milk the EU for Millions. The New York Times, Nov. 3, 2019. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/03/world/europe/eu-farm-subsidy-hungary.html 2) Selected “Last Week in Slovakia” newsletters from The Slovak Spectator (English-language edition of SME)

Anti-government, student led protests in Serbia, Georgia, Slovakia

Case Study: Repercussions of the Ukraine War Guest: Irina Sterpu, Vocea Basarabiei (Moldova) radio-TV journalist and AAU journalism graduate Reading (in Resources, to be done before class): 1) Andrew Higgins et al. "Moscow Roils A Country on the Edge of Europe and Russia" NY Times, Oct. 17. 2) Andrew Giarelli, “This Ticking Time Bomb On Our Border” In-Class Reading (in Lessons, to be done in class): 1) Moldova: intro and maps 2) " Moldova's Sandu secures Knife-Edge Win after ' Unfair Fight' " 3) "Zelensky: Ukraine Intercepted Russian Plans To destroy Moldova," Sky News, Feb. 9, 2025. 4) "Pro-Russian Leader of Moldovan Ethnic Minority Detained," Reuters, March 26, 2025.

How do investigative journalism consortia like ICIJ and OCCRP obtain and use public and leaked private financial data like that in the Panama, Paradise and Pandora Papers? Reading (in Resources, to be done before class): 1) ICIJ, "Offshore Leaks Database", 2) "Data Sources" 3) ICIJ, “ICIJ Releases Paradise Papers Data from Appleby” 4) "Pandora Papers Global View"

How do organizations like Geoconfirmed and The Centre for Information Resilience use geolocation, open-source data, and social media analysis to track human rights abuses and wars? 1) Christo Grozev, “The Remote Control Killers Behind Russia’s Cruise Missile Strikes on Ukraine.” Bellingcat, Oct. 24, 2022 2) Center for Information Resilience, “Eyes on Russia Map” 3) Afghan Witness, “Afghan Witness Map” and “Afghan Witness Social Media User Survey” 4) Geoconfirmed maps (conflict map to be selected based on current breaking news)

Let’s try to follow up on some of the investigative reporting we’ve been studying, using some of its tools. Reading: 1) ICIJ, “Deforestation Inc.” (specific articles TBA) 2) OCCRP “Aleph” database (specific datasets TBA based on student interests)

Students will give 10-minute progress reports on their final stories. Reading: Student work in progress.

Read Afghanistan articles in "Resources" Lesson 13 before class.

We no longer support Internet Explorer

INTERNATIONAL JOURNALISM - JRN323 Spring 2025

1. Course Description

2. Student Learning Outcomes

3. Reading Material

Required Materials (We will use all of these news sources. The required long articles are all available on NEO)

4. Teaching methodology

5. Course Schedule

Please note: There will not be a first class meeting on Tuesday, Feb. 4. The first class meeting of the course will be Tuesday, Feb. 11. There will be a required make-up class on Friday, Feb. 21.

Each session has a 15 minute break starting around 16:50-17:00, depending on where we are). Readings are to be done for the session in which they are listed. Some readings and topics may change depending on breaking news.

6. Course Requirements and Assessment (with estimated workloads)

7. Detailed description of the assignments

In-Class Writing Assignments: These will range from daily work assembling international news summaries to on-the-spot stories, done individually or in teams, about case studies or interview subjects.

8. General Requirements and School Policies

General requirements

Course-Specific Requirements

1. Lesson 1: Writing Breaking International News

2. Lesson 2: Writing Breaking International News

3. Lesson 3: Writing Breaking International News

4. Lesson 4: Writing Breaking International News, Regional Focus

5. Lesson 5: Writing Breaking International News, Regional Focus

6. Lesson 6: Student Protests in Serbia, Slovakia, Georgia (continued)

7. Lesson 7: Environmental Investigative Reporting

8. Lesson 8: War Reporting 2

9. Lesson 9: New Tools in International Reporting 1

10. Lesson 10: New Tools in International Reporting 2

11. Lesson 12: Following Up, New Trails

12. Lesson 14: Final Story Progress Reports, Course Evaluations

13. Lesson 13: Afghan Focus