Covering a Public Meeting: Your Availability

One of the assignments will we do this semester is a story reported and written after covering a live public meeting, such as the Long Beach City Council.

Because these kinds of meetings don’t take place at 7:30 a.m. on Tuesdays and Thursday, my hope is that we can cancel one of our morning classes, sleep in and attend a meeting later in lieu of that class.

But for that to work, I need to know that everyone has enough flexibility in their schedule, between other courses and work, to attend a meeting outside of our regular class hours. (This story is not due until early December, so that we’ll have learned a lot of good reporting skills before covering the meeting. I’d think a meeting in November would be our best bet.)

The easiest public meeting to cover would probably be the Long Beach City Council. They meet Tuesdays starting at 5 p.m., except for the last Tuesday of each month. However, for those of you live in cities far from Long Beach, I’d be willing to let you cover a meeting in your hometown, too (with my approval of the meeting).

I might also consider letting you cover one of the major campus organizations, such as the student government, though I’d caution you that finding a decent story in a smaller meeting can be difficult. In other words, you’ll find a lot more to write about in the Long Beach City Council than you will in the CSULB student senate.

Please let me know by posting a comment below this blog entry on 1) whether you have availability to attend a Long Beach City Council meeting at 5 p.m. on a Tuesday; 2) if you have a different preference, i.e., covering the San Juan Capistrano City Council, etc. whenever they meet; 3) or whether you have a different type of meeting you’d really rather cover, in which case I’ll listen to your pitch and let you know.