The profile is a particularly versatile and particularly challenging journalistic form. The 800-word obituary, the Talk of the Town character sketch, the magazine portrait, the full-blown biography--all present problems of access, insight, empathy, and fairness. Students will focus on the craft of portraying an individual subject and learn about larger issues of journalism (fairness and objectivity, empathy and exploitation, privacy and conflicts of interest) and the basics of the craft (interviewing, fact-checking, structure, use of anecdotes and quotes). Class members will write detailed profiles of each other as the major assignment.
If the course fills, students may email Margo Bresnen, Journalism Program Manager, at mbresnen@princeton.edu to be put on a waitlist. Please include a paragraph explaining your interest in the course.
