Terril Jones

Instructor, international and political journalism.

I spent 30+ years as a foreign and business correspondent and editor for Reuters, the Los Angeles Times, Forbes magazine and The Associated Press. My assignments included 18 years in Beijing, Paris and Tokyo covering politics, business, bilateral and regional relations, and all manner of domestic issues. I also had postings in New York and the United Nations, in Detroit covering the auto industry, and in Silicon Valley covering technology, primarily PC hardware and microprocessors. I have had reporting assignments in South Korea, Taiwan, north Africa (Algeria, Morocco, Western Sahara), west Africa (Ivory Coast, Liberia) and around western Europe. 

My coursework takes students through basic journalism techniques and writing assignments that simulate stories faced by domestic and foreign correspondents: a combination of spot and feature news, politics, business, domestic unrest, diplomacy and national security, defense and international conflict, the environment, natural disasters, ethics and arts & culture, and writing op-eds. I stress story organization, writing leads and learning the universally used Associated Press style. In some semesters we learn techniques for digital media and photography, and there are assignments on writing obituaries and film critiques. I also supervise the Global Affairs Podcasting program, where students produce podcasts on issues of international importance and interest.