The radio documentary is one of the most significant forms to emerge from the field of contemporary, post-war radio. Evolving both from European models such as the seminal German feature Bells of Europe, and the public radio environment in this country, the genre is represented by subtle and complex works in a wide variety of styles, exploring a wide array of topics from personal crises to world events. The form is important, not only because of intriguing and vital subject matter, but for groundbreaking technical and aesthetic vocabularies fashioned, often sui generis, by the producer/artists. As media convergence continues, the form becomes all the more vital in being more easily accessible and styles of storytelling and audio journalism evolve. Students will participate in intensive critical listening and discussion; the latter half of the term will involve researching, assembling, and scripting a short audio documentary feature, for potential air on the New School’s online radio station WNSR. Field trips to creative production facilities will also be part of the course. This course counts towards the Medium requirement for the Journalism + Design Major. This course is open to Lang students only. [Track M]