Journalism Law Laurel Bay Presentation Case
In my Journalism Law class that I took back in the Fall 2019 semester, I worked with my classmates on a real-world case study that involved investigative work and requests for information (FOI) to frame a podcast series about the Laurel Bay Military Housing Public Health Review in Beaufort, South Carolina.
We framed this as an ethical and case law analysis, highlighting the key issues, relevant evidence, and extrinsic factors, while reflecting on the experience of framing a legal story through a journalistic lens.
Journalism Law, instructed by the lovely Ann Marie Adams, was a great class because it was the first time where my peers and I had a set time every Tuesday to discuss and debate the hottest controversies in journalism. I quickly became one of the more vocal students in the class and made sure to stay after class every time Ann Marie brought in a guest speaker. As a more seasoned student, I was able to make my own judgments on which speakers inspired me and represented ethical values that I believed to be important, even if others did not.
During all these insightful discussions that took place throughout the semester, it became more and more evident that I was interested in investigating corporate actions and government accountability. So when it came time to work on our Laurel Bay podcast, my particular segment focused on the role the government had in the case and what party should take responsibility for the people who were seriously affected. The positive experience I had producing this podcast led to me joining the WICB radio station and falling in love with audio reporting.