The Signal School · mass media, journalism & screen
Journalism & Reporting
Finding out what happened and telling it straight — sources, verification, and the discipline of the second call.
The whole working method of a reporter — judgment, sources, interviews, verification, and the story filed on time.
Long-form accountability work — building the paper trail, interviewing up the chain, and proving what powerful people deny.
Syllabus · 4 units · ~40 hours
Unit I — The Hypothesis and the Minimum Story
Choosing a target you can actually prove · The minimum story and the maximum story · Story memos and the go/no-go decision
Unit II — Paper and Data
Freedom-of-information requests that get answered · Court records, corporate filings, and property rolls · Spreadsheet skills for reporters · Bulletproofing: the source-by-source annotation
Unit III — People
Working from the outside in: former employees first · Whistleblowers: duty of care and legal exposure · The no-surprises letter and the accountability interview
Unit IV — Publishing Without Getting Sued
Libel review with counsel · Fairness, right of reply, and publication timing · After publication: follow-ups and consequences
Narrative techniques for true stories — scenes, characters, structure, and endings that earn their length.
Syllabus · 3 units · ~20 hours
Unit I — What a Feature Is
News pegs and evergreen stories · The profile, the trend piece, the reconstruction · Reporting for scenes, not just facts
Unit II — Structure
Openings that are not ledes · Chronology, braids, and frames · The kicker: ending on purpose
Unit III — The Writer's Ethics
Compression without invention · Reconstructed dialogue and its limits · Fact-checking narrative work
Making pictures under news conditions — access, timing, captions, and the ethics of the frame.
Syllabus · 3 units · ~18 hours
Unit I — Seeing the Story
The single picture versus the picture story · Moment, light, and composition under pressure · Working a scene: wide, medium, tight
Unit II — Conduct in the Field
Access, permission, and public spaces · Photographing grief and violence · What may never be staged
Unit III — The Edit and the Caption
Selecting from the take · Toning limits: what editing is allowed · Captions that carry the reporting
A working introduction to journalism for school-age reporters — real interviews, real stories, a real publication.
Syllabus · 3 units · ~12 hours
Unit I — Your First Assignment
What counts as news at a school · Asking a stranger three good questions · Writing down exactly what people say
Unit II — Getting It Right
Checking names, dates, and scores · Fair coverage when your friends are involved · What an editor does to your draft
Unit III — Publishing
Headlines that tell the truth · Choosing a photograph and writing its caption · Handling reactions to a published story