Veteran journalist Dale Rice will begin teaching at Texas A&M this fall with JOUR 203 Media Writing and a COMM course he developed called Political Blogging.

Dale's distinguished 35-year career in journalism includes stints as education writer and city hall reporter for the Syracuse Post-Standard and education writer, capital bureau reporter and capital bureau chief for the Dallas Times Herald. In almost 19 years at the Austin American-Statesman, he's been business editor, deputy features editor and, for the past 15 years (8 years full-time), restaurant critic.

He was kind enough to participate in this Q&A with FJSA's Sue Owen Whaley (who's also a longtime coworker of Dale's at the Statesman.)

You've structured your Media Writing course in a way I find very interesting: Each week, you'll have students confront the main types of stories that a beginning reporter would be asked to write.  Could you talk about some of these, and the thinking behind your approach? 

DALE RICE: I believe in the value of a broad-based education, especially when it comes to journalism, and I wanted to construct a course that reflected that. So I asked myself what every beginning reporter should be able to handle and built the course around those basic elements -- from obits, weather and police stories to features and profiles. It begins with simpler stories -- the weather, for example -- and moves to more complex ones, such as profiles.

There also will be an emphasis on developing reporting skills along the way, because we all know that the final product is only as good as the reporting that goes into it. Plus, I intend to give the students plenty of practice on deadline. Over the course of the semester, I will often use two hours of class time to send them out to report on a topic and then come back and write a 6- to 8-inch story by the end of the class.

I want to instill in them what the demands of modern media are like. The Internet is now critical to the flow of news and anyone associated with the media ought to know how to combine speed, accuracy and clarity.

Deadlines!  I love it.  Yes: The industry is definitely in conversion. What do you feel is the main importance and value of journalism education right now?

I don't think you can underestimate the importance and value of journalism education in the 21st century. I was having lunch one day with a group of professors, one of whom was arguing that the changing face of news gathering and publication through the Internet had virtually eliminated the need for journalism education as we know it.

I countered that the opposite is true. To me, we are in the equivalent of the early 20th century, when many daily newspapers sent new editions to the street around the clock as major stories broke and were updated. That's what we do today with the Internet and on-line publications. News and updates are reported 24 hours a day, whenever they occur.

Consequently, we need journalists who can report rapidly, write quickly, think on their feet and never abandon principles such as fairness and accuracy in the process. That, to me, is why sound journalism education is as important today as it has ever been. 

So these basic reporting and writing skills students will be laying down in Media Writing 203 are things that will apply across different platforms.  Also, you'll be teaching a Communication class in which students will be working directly on the Web. What will your Political Blogging students be doing during this fall campaign season? 

Can you think of a more exciting time to be involved in political blogging than this election? The Web is dramatically affecting political reporting and campaigns, and I'm sure that will be evident on a daily basis this fall. This course will have two major components. One is exploring the political blogosphere -- from far left to far right -- to give students a better understanding of blogs and their impact, as well as the way in which bloggers use and abuse spin and fact. The other is blogging itself. Each student will be required to establish a political blog and post frequently to it during the semester. In the process of exploring and participating in political blogs, the students should become smarter producers and consumers of this form of new media. 

We could even link to the blogs here, perhaps.  I know it's not currently cross-listed as a journalism course, but it could be in the future, I believe?  Do you see prospects for adding more journalism courses down the road, in addition to the core classes now required for the minor? 

I think it would be great to link to the blogs here. I hope my students can build a much larger audience than me. As far as cross-listing courses such as the one on political blogging, I expect that additional courses will be cross-listed in the future as part of the interdisciplinary approach to the journalism minor.  

 I also wanted to ask a little bit about your teaching background -- where you've taught before. I know that you're continuing one facet from a previous class -- you're going to hold current events quizzes.  

My journalism background is expansive -- 35 years as reporter, editor and critic -- but my teaching experience is not. I taught the basic media writing course in the journalism department at the University of Texas. And that was one heck of a learning experience for me. Two things I learned in that class: Take every advantage of news events and don't assume your students know anything about current affairs. 

The semester had barely begun when the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, took place. I immediately flipped portions of the syllabus around and sent the students out to do reaction stories for the next week of classes. In the process of covering a major news event, I could see how much they grew as journalists in a matter of days. 

I was also shocked at how little these otherwise bright students knew about state, national and world affairs. At the beginning of the semester I gave them a pre-test on current events and no student correctly identified more than three major figures in the news out of the 10 questions I asked. That underscored the importance of the long-time practice of giving current-events quizzes to journalism students to encourage them to read news sources on a regular basis. That's a habit they better adopt early if they want careers in the media. 

Part of being a good editor is teaching, of course, and mentoring others.  I know I've learned from you in working with you here at the Statesman.  You're always ready to explain to me how you do what you do, and I think that's got to be a huge advantage for these A&M students coming into your classes, to have that wealth of experience of yours to draw on – city hall, political reporter, capitol bureau chief, business editor, to recap a few of the jobs. When a student reporter wants to know how to find something out, or how to cover a sensitive issue, or how to get people to talk, well, all around, you're a good guy to turn to. 

Speaking of which, one thing you'll be involved with outside of classes is A&M's Liberal Arts Student Reporter program. What will you be doing, and what journalism experience will students get through this program? 

I will be mentoring students involved in the program. These student journalists are employed by the College of Liberal Arts to report and write stories about newsworthy activities in the various departments. Those stories are then disseminated by the college. This is another way that students involved in Journalism Studies can obtain actual experience. 

I will be there to help them through any problems they encounter in reporting (and lord knows I've faced about every one imaginable over the years) and to advise them on the approach, structure and details of their writing. Most of all, I hope I can provide encouragement and support for these young journalists. 

And last, I would be utterly remiss if I didn't ask our distinguished dining critic for food recommendations in the Bryan-College Station area, which you're already pretty familiar with.  Any particular favorites, big or small? 

In Bryan-College Station, I tend to gravitate toward Mexican food, because there's a lot of good Mexican fare available there. For example, I love the beef dishes served in molcajetes at Los Molcajetes Mexican Food at Villa Maria Road and Texas Avenue, the machacado and eggs at Coco Loco on Texas Avenue and the warm salsa (with big chunks of onions) and breakfast tacos at Los Nortenos on Main Street in Bryan. Blue Baker has excellent salads, sandwiches and artisan breads, plus above-average pizza. 

My biggest downfall will probably be Truman Chocolates, whose owner Mitch Siegert was the subject of a story I wrote earlier this year. His chocolates are exquisite.