Green Thread Follow Up
Ray Fanning- Journalism School
I have revised my Broadcast Newsroom course (RTV 460) by adding a “Greening UM” beat for
the student reporters. Each student will file at least one television news story on a sustainability
effort at UM over the course of the fall semester. The reporters will learn about sustainability
by gathering, and reporting news about on-going projects at the university.
I am assigning the class to read “What is Sustainability Anyway?” by Thomas Prugh and Erik
Assadourian. We will then discuss the article in class and relate it to what is going on at UM.
I also plan to show a video clip, either of Jared Diamond on his book “Collapse”, or of Thomas
Friedman on his book “Hot, Flat, and Crowded.” I will emphasize that the reporters must put
their individual stories in the context of sustainability for the audience. The students will learn
about sustainability, while bringing the university’s efforts to a wider audience.
The students will:
 research a specific story
 videotape at least two interviews
 shoot additional video for the story,
 organize and synthesize the information
 write a script
 edit the video for broadcast
I will grade their individual stories; including how successful they were in understanding and
communicating the concept of sustainability. The stories will appear on “UM News”, a weekly
segment that airs on the morning shows of the Missoula CBS and NBC affiliates. The segments
also air on their sister stations across much of the state.
We will also collect the “Greening UM” stories on a DVD at the end of the semester.