Rebuilding Trust through Journalism Education

Abstract

This study details the development of a public affairs reporting course for journalism schools in resource-limited communities offered at a land-grant institution surrounded by a resource-strapped community. This chapter focuses on inequalities related to opportunities for engagement, both when it comes to newsrooms and academic settings. More specifically, we address the challenges of teaching a multimedia-based curriculum while maintaining historical relationships with local citizens in Michigan. Our approach of combining survey, content analysis, in-depth interviews, and a field experiment provides a framework for connecting journalism education with communities surrounding land-grant institutions.