This writing intensive course will explore a range of current and historic political writing, including campaign coverage, political criticism, statements, agit-prop, longform reporting, and advocacy journalism, in order to develop an understanding of political writing as a varied set of genres with attendant tendencies and ethical presumptions to be approached critically. We will look at media coverage of elections and state operations, but will focus on issues and stories far beyond this, including coverage of race and racism, social movements, climate narratives, feminist and LGBTQ struggles, and more. Students will gain a sense of: 1) How the media is broken up into a coverage landscape and what this means for how issues are covered, prioritized, and deprioritized. 2) How ideas, ideologies, and discourses are established, maintained, and challenged in the news media and have been throughout history. 3) An array of genres of political writing, including how to translate academic theory into writing for the public. 4) How to navigate the current political media landscape, with visits from celebrated writers, editors, and producers. 5) Students will develop their own political writing through a series of writing assignments, aimed towards possible publication in professional outlets.