Journalism 1 – News Writing
and Reporting (3 units)
Course Syllabus
Instructor: Tom Amano-Tompkins Term:
Fall 2014
Section: 6827 – MW 9:30 am – 10:55 am Location: H 111
Office hours: MW 10:55 am-11:20 am
Class Website: http://caliteachj1fall14.blogspot.com
Course Catalog Description:
This
course provides instruction in writing and reporting for the news media,
including print, video, and online media. As part of this, students will learn
how to read and understand newspapers and broadcast journalism. Students will
gain experience in learning the proper format and Associated Press style for
writing news, features, and sports stories. The course will also explore the
role of visual media in journalism; students will learn to find and use the
critical elements of a news video. Emphasis is placed on gathering information,
covering issues and events in local communities, and understanding media ethics
and laws.
Prerequisite: Credit in English A or qualification by testing
(English or ESL Placement Test) and assessment.
COURSE OBJECTIVES: At the end of the semester, you should be able to:
Recognize
and explain the differences between journalistic writing and English
composition writing; demonstrate interviewing and related professional
news-gathering techniques needed to write a news, a feature, an arts review,
and a sports story; analyze and evaluate stories to determine whether they are
news, feature, arts, or sports stories; define and identify a news lead, a
feature lead and a sports lead; produce a publishable news lead, feature lead
block and sports lead; construct a basic news story, a basic feature story and
a basic sports story using industry-standard techniques and guidelines; review
a work or art (music, theater, film, etc); recognize and employ Associated
Press-style guidelines in preparing journalistic writing; recognize and apply
professional legal and ethical rules when gathering information for stories and
when writing stories.
STUDENT LEARNING OUTCOMES:
1. Upon completion of the
course, students will be able to write a one-sentence, hard news/summary lede
that incorporates at least 3 of the 5 Ws, is 30 words or less and doesn't start
with a quote or the attribution. (assessment for all J1 SLOs: news story
assignment)
2. Upon completion of the
course, students will demonstrate the ability to research
and evaluate appropriate sources and background materials for a news story.
3. Upon completion of the
course, students will be able to write a
complete hard news story using the inverted pyramid format.
Required
Text: (available at the campus
bookstore)
The
Associated Press Stylebook and Briefing on Media Law 2013– ISBN 9780917360572
Inside
Reporting, Tim Harrower (Third
Edition) – ISBN 9780073526171
You are required to read a daily
newspaper every day. Most students will read a paper available on the Internet.
Bring
your books, a notebook, and a pencil or pen to every class meeting. To complete
some assignments, you will need access to the Internet and access to a computer
word processor.
Online Course Materials
Links to most readings,
handouts, and this syllabus will be posted on our class’s Web site. You will
find it at this URL: http://caliteachj1fall14.blogspot.com. You are responsible for the material that is posted.
You must check the Website at least once each week. You must set up an RSS reader
and review it several times daily. I suggest Feedly.com (we will go over this
in class).
CHEATING/PLAGIARISM: If you are caught cheating you will automatically
receive a zero on that assignment/test, and I will complete an Academic
Dishonesty Report Form and submit it to the Humanities Division Office with my
strong recommendation for full disciplinary action. You will also become
ineligible for all extra credit points, including points already earned. I have
a zero tolerance policy on plagiarism. For more information, see the Board Policy 5138, Standards of Conduct AND my
plagiarism handout, which I will provide. The
plagiarism handout is mandatory reading; we will review it in class and you
will sign off to show you have read and understand it.
GRADING: Your
final grade will be based on the average score of the grades you receive on
writing assignments, a research paper, quizzes, homework assignments, class
participation and conduct, in particular absences and tardies.
If you want to discuss your grade at any time during the semester, let me
know and when we meet, come prepared. It is your responsibility to keep up with
your progress, including missing assignments. Be proactive; take control of
your own experience.
Quizzes: You
will get a short quiz at the beginning of each class. Quizzes will be given at
the beginning of class, so arrive on time. I won’t repeat questions already
asked, and I don’t offer make-ups – even if you have a really good excuse.
TESTS: There will be two big tests during the semester: a
mid-term and a final. Make sure you are in class for the tests, as I don’t
offer make-ups.
HOMEWORK: As
journalists in training, you must learn to make your deadlines, so all homework
must be turned in on the day it’s due.
I encourage students to submit work via email, but you must use Microsoft Word
or Pages software (and insert printed copies into your notebook). Otherwise,
hand in typed, double-spaced copy. Handwritten
work will not be accepted. Late homework will not be accepted. If you are
absent, I expect you to email me your homework for that day.
NOTEBOOK: Part of your final
grade is based on a notebook you will create containing all of the materials
you receive during the semester. This includes all the notes you take this
semester (you must take at least 10 complete pages of notes. Notes from
interview with guest speakers do not count as notes.), every handout I give
you, plus every graded assignment you receive from me. Everything must be kept
neatly in a three-ring binder in chronological order. I EXPECT STUDENTS TO TAKE NOTES. YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY TOPIC THAT
IS DISCUSSED IN CLASS, AS WELL AS ANYTHING THAT IS IN YOUR READING
FINAL PROJECT:
Your final project (not to be confused with your final test) will consist of a report
about a city council or ed. board meeting you cover. Further information will
be given later in the semester.
CLASS CONDUCT/PARTICIPATION: Part of your grade will depend on your regular
attendance and participation in class. To earn these points, you must show up
to class on time with your work done. You must make a visible effort to engage
in the material and participate in class discussions. You must turn in work that
displays effort and forethought and
does not appear shoddy, sloppy, mangled, mutilated or hastily slapped together.
You must consult your syllabus regularly to stay up-to-date on the work and the
policies. In addition to showing up on time and prepared, please conduct
yourself in class as a mature adult who exhibits respect for others at all
times. Please refrain from excessive side conversations, as they are disruptive
to others. You are encouraged to bring digital media such as computers, iPads
and other such notebooks, iPods, smart phones and all similar electronic
info/communication devices. You must not use them for non-class activities. If
you are doing so, you will be asked to leave class for the day. (NO TEXTING And NO HEADPHONES unless
directed).
ATTENDANCE:
Regular attendance is expected of every student. El Camino’s admissions policy
says that the instructor may drop students whose absences from a class exceed
10 percent of the scheduled class meeting time. If you miss
five classes, I will drop you. Please
don’t ask for exceptions. I am firm, fair and consistent on the guidelines.
TARDINESS:
You must arrive to class on time. When you arrive, please sign-in. If you
arrive late, please sign your name on the late list. If you are tardy twice, it will equal one absence. Tardy is defined
as not being present when roll is called. If you leave early twice, it will
equal one absence. Early is defined as leaving before the class is dismissed.
If you do not put your name on the late list when you are late, you’ll have
been marked as absent on the roll sheet. It’s your responsibility to put your
name on the late list when you are late.
MAKE-UPS:
Make-ups are a logistical impossibility, so I do not offer them. Since you
signed up for this class, it is expected that you will be in every class
meeting. If something unforeseen arises and forces you to miss a test or
homework or something else, work hard on scoring well on the remaining
assignments. Please do not ask me to make exceptions,
RESPONSIBILITY:
Your education is your responsibility. You will find class assignments and
material on the class website. You must show up on time and do your work. If
you miss a test or homework assignment, do extra credit work. If you miss
class, check with a classmate or come to my office hour to see what you missed.
FORMATTING: All
written assignments must be typed and double-spaced using Times New Roman 12
pt. font. Work that has not been typed will not be accepted. If you don’t have
a computer at home, build in extra time to use the computers provided by the
school. If you’re having any trouble at all with computer use, come see me and
ask me for help.
If you have a documented disability and wish to
discuss academic accommodations, please contact the Special Resources Center at
310-660-3295 as soon as possible.
Schedule of Topics, Readings, and Written Assignments (subject to
change)
Date
|
Readings to be
completed before class
ALWAYS READ THE NEWS!
|
Quizzes, exams, homework, major assignments
|
Week 1— Introduction
|
||
Mon.
8/25
|
Quiz:
None
Today: Read MLK quote (from
Greenwald Twitter feed): The United States is the greatest purveyor of
violence in the world today.
Introduction
to the course, the syllabus, each other, first-day business
Homework:
Read the syllabus,
Read the news every day.
Handouts: Syllabus, syllabus quiz,
plagiarism
|
|
Wed.
8/27
|
Quiz:
On plagiarism
Today:
The critical importance of journalism
and how the digital revolution has shaped all professions related to the
media Basics: editorial/advertising; objectivity/opinion; the role of
journalism in American society and the anatomy of a newspaper.
-Using a news reader (Feedly).
–Students must set up a Feedly account. (http://help.edublogs.org/2012/12/10/introduction-to-rss-and-subscribing-using-rss /)
Homework: Review AP Style Book, sign
and turn in plagiarism sheet
|
Return plagiarism sign-off
Bring in the syllabus quiz
|
Week 2 – The
Journalism Basics, Journalism in Change, Journalism Around the World,
|
||
Mon.
9/1
|
LABOR DAY HOLIDAY – NO
CLASS
|
|
Wed.
9/3
|
Quiz:
First short current events quiz today
Today: Journalism in the digital world, “citizen” journalism, Twitter,
blogging
-
NSA Spying
-Facts and opinions:
-The fate of Stephen Glass:
http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-stephen-glass-ruling-20140127,0,3659758.story#axzz2rdCum32T
-
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/28/world/spy-agencies-scour-phone-apps-for-personal-data.ht
Homework: Read chapter 2 of Inside
Reporting
Handout: Ledes handout, Assignment
1: 7 elements, ledes checklist
|
Facts
or opinions quiz
|
Week 3— Writing
the News
|
||
Mon.
9/8
|
Quiz:
current events
Today: [Take notes] What is a news
story? Why is something a news story? How can you tell something that is from
something that isn’t? Discuss chapter 5 material: Hard/soft news; the five W’s; leads, the inverted
pyramid; hard news structure. How do you get from beginning to end?
Homework: Assignment 2, to complete
#2 you must read Media Helping Media on
the use of quotes http://www.mediahelpingmedia.org/training-resources/journalism-basics/659-how-to-use-quotes-in-news-stories-and-features
Handout: J1 Assignment 2 quotes
|
Assignment
1 due
|
Wed.
9/10
|
Quiz:
AP Style (from summation on page 57 of Inside
Reporting)
Today: (cont) What is a news
story? Why is something a news story? How can you tell something that is from
something that isn’t?
Again, discuss chapter 5 material: Hard/soft news; the five W’s; leads, the inverted
pyramid; hard news structure. How do you get from beginning to end?
Handout: Assignment 3 ledes, also
ledes checklist
Homework: Read chapter 3, Inside Reporting
|
Assignment
2 due
|
Week 4 – News
Story Structure
|
||
Mon.
9/15
|
Quiz:
current events
Today: Put together the pieces of the inverted triangle? Transitions.
Relation of information to quotes. Completing the circle.
Homework: Assignment 3 ledes
Handout: Assignment 4 Lede puzzles,
News Story Structure
|
Assignment 3 due
|
Wed.
9/17
|
Quiz:
current events
Today:
How to step back and know where to begin. Break down a copy of the LA Times or some other daily into its
component parts. Why do you think the various sections exist?
Homework: Assignment 4 lede puzzles,
Read chapter 4 Inside Reporting
Handout: Homework 5
|
Assignment 4 lede part 2 is due
|
Week 5 –
Snowden and Spying
|
||
Mon.
9/22
|
Quiz: Longer quiz on the NSA
and spying (your ongoing reading should prepare you for this). To review,
read Glenn Greenwald on spying in the Guardian (http://www.theguardian.com/us)
Today: Discuss Electronic
spying, threats to the social order, Edward Snowden, Glenn Greenwald, and the
future of journalism.
Homework:
Handout: Assignment 5 and 6
(interviews)
|
Quiz on
current events
|
Wed.
9/24
|
Quiz: current events
Today: What do interviews (and
interviewing skills mean to a journalist). How do we use interviews? How to
we present them today, because of the Internet and its impact on digital
publishing.
Homework: Come up with 10 questions
you’d ask someone over the age of 50 to measure the differences between life
when they were 20 and life today. Read chapter 5 Inside Reporting
Make sure to bring AP Stylebook to class
Handout: (see
website) Assignment
7
|
Assignment
5: Interview questions due
|
Week 6 – Interviews
|
||
Mon.
9/29
|
Quiz: current events
Today: Discuss David Carr’s
article in NYTimes about social media and the shooting in Ferguson, MO
Homework. Read the chapter “Why
Twitter Matters.” It’s posted at the University of California, Berkeley
J-School website: http://multimedia.journalism.berkeley.edu/tutorials/twitter/
-http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/18/business/media/view-of-ferguson-thrust-michael-brown-shooting-to-national-attention.html
-If you don’t have a Twitter account, open
one and explore how journalists use it. Begin work on quotes to assignment.
My Twitter ID is “@tompjourn.” Set up a Twitter account and send me a tweet
telling me who you are and say hello.
Handout: (see
website)
|
Assignment 6: Interview due (see handout)
|
Wed.
10/1
|
Quiz
Today: How does Twitter work? How
is it used? Who uses it? Why? What does Twitter mean to those who cover the
news and those who consume the news?
- Glenn Greenwald is a courageous, smart
journalist who has been instrumental in exposing government spying. Find his
Twitter feed and follow him.
Explore the Twitter response to the killing
of Ezell Ford by LAPD. Write a one-paragraph summary of what you found to me,
and be ready to explain to the class what you found and what you learned from
it.
Study for mid-term
Handout: (see website)
|
Set up Tweet account and send @tompjourn a
tweet
Write a one-paragraph summary of Ezell Ford
killing by LAPD, using material from Twitter
|
Week 7 –
|
||
Mon.
10/6
|
Quiz
Today:Headline and caption writing. Twitter, social media, and searching for the news. Bring your iPhones, iPads, laptops etc.
Homework:
study for mid-term. If you are unfamiliar with Edward Snowden, watch
this interview. (http://www.theguardian.com/world/video/2013/jun/09/nsa-whistleblower-edward-snowden-interview-video)
Be familiar with the issues surrounding the events.
Handout: (see website)
|
Review
notes, homework, and assignments for mid-term
|
Wed.
10/8
|
Mid-term: your mid-term will focus on the work we have down in class so far this term: the inverted triangle, lede-writing, headlines and captions, finding and summarizing critical information for stories, Twitter and social media, current events.
|
Mid-Term Exam:
|
Week 8 –
|
||
Mon.
10/13
|
Quiz:
Today: Discuss the role of the
media in the case of Edward Snowden and the NSA, in questions about the
police forces and public safety, and in the relationship between governments
and the governed. Why does the news matter? Diagram a possible mid-east
“Domino Theory.”
Homework: FOIA (Freedom Of
Information Act); Read Legal Principles of Newsgathering pp. 321-337 in AP
Style Book
- Homework: Read and then cut out or print out (and bring to
class) a feature-length article from The Guardian newspaper (http://www.theguardian.com/us) relating to Edward
Snowden and the NSA (TBA) that’s been published since Jan 1, 2014. Be
familiar with the issues surrounding the events. You will turn in your
article at the end of the class to get credit.
Handout: (see website) Final project details
|
Fast Food Story due (from lecture notes)
|
Wed.
10/15
|
Quiz
Today: Discuss the FOI, the
reasons for the battle over access to such information, and what it means for
journalists and journalism (and you).
Homework: Public records search and read pp. 338 to 361 in the
AP Stylebook. Read chapter 7 Inside
Reporting
Handout: (see website)
|
|
Week 9
|
||
Mon.
10/20
|
Quiz
Today: Libel, slander, taste,
decency, censorship, copyright, confidentiality, protecting resources, levels
of attribution, freedom of speech
Homework: Read the news (this
weekend, make sure to read the sports section). Read chapter 6 Inside Reporting.
Sports fans: Discuss your favorite sports
Website in class
Handout: (see website) Sports writing
|
Public Records: Assignment due
|
Wed.
10/22
|
Quiz
Today: Who cares about sports? How do you consume sports stories?
Relationship between broadcast news and newspaper reporting when it comes to
sports? What do both mediums do best? Worst? Is sports talk radio news?
Homework: Pick a spring sport at El
Camino, write a 350-word story about the upcoming season or about an El
Camino game (you must be there to see it). You must interview the coach and
at least 2 players
Handout: (see
website)
|
Week 10
|
||
Mon.
10/27
|
Quiz
Today:
Discuss your sports story. Discuss profiles, features, and reviews.
Homework: Finish sports story,
begin profile
Handout: Assignment 9 (profile)
|
|
Wed.
10/29
|
||
Week 11
|
||
Mon.
11/3
|
Quiz
Today:
Homework: Begin work on arts review (assignment 11)
Handout: Assignment 11
|
Assignment Sports Article
|
Wed.
11/5
|
Quiz
Today: Continue discussion of police refusal to cooperate
Homework: Read David Simon's article on police secrecy (posted at website) Anyone writing about Friday night's basketball game must attend
Handout: Assignment 10 (notes into
article)
|
|
Week 12 |
||
Mon.
11/10
|
Quiz
Today: What does the term “social media” mean?
What social media do you use? What
are the most popular?
What is a “citizen journalist?”
What is “social media?”
How might it benefit humankind –
people around the world – to be able to communicate so simply and cheaply?
Do you think that the Internet evens
the playing field a bit between the rich and the poor?
How do you use the web? How have your
Internet habits changed during the last few years?
How has the Internet popular music?
Do you think music pirates or book pirates should be arrested and charged
with felonies for an activity that so many people engage in?
Homework: Write a paragraph about
each of your three favorite apps or websites, explaining why you like them.
Handout:
|
|
Wed.
11/12
|
Quiz
Today: Continue Monday’s discussion, by sharing and talking about your
favorite websites. Compare social media like Facebook and Instagram to
Twitter.
Homework: Read this article The Atlantic about data mining: http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2012/04/everything-you-wanted-to-know-about-data-mining-but-were-afraid-to-ask/255388/
Handout:
|
Arts Review Due |
Week 13
|
||
Mon.
11/17
|
Quiz:
Electronic spying (Snowden, Greenwald, the NSA)
Today:
Discuss tracking on the Internet. Are your web activities being tracked? How
can you tell? Is this dangerous? What is data mining? If you had a company
that was fighting to get a share of the marketplace, would you use data
mining? What does it mean that the government or a private company can dig
into every keystroke you’ve ever made while surfing the Internet? Does that
bother you?
Homework: Update final paper
progress. You must attend the meeting you are reporting, and you must
interview people at the meeting. Update your class notebook; make sure it is
neat and complete.
Begin
assignment 10
Handout: Assignment 10 material
|
Stolen Exams Story
|
Wed.
11/19
|
Quiz:
Today: Vice.com. Is the future of
news gathering? Why is this organization popular?
Homework: Review Vice reports on
police surveillance in Camden, NJ. Review Vice (and other) reporting from
inside ISIS front lines.
Handout:
|
Edward Snowden/NSA quiz
|
Week 14
|
||
Mon.
11/24
|
Quiz
Today: Listen to the public radio podcast Serial, produced by Chicago station WBEZ
-Explore Serial podcast website
Handout:
|
|
Wed.
11/26
|
Quiz:
Update grades, hear episode three of Serial
Homework: Read http://multimedia.journalism.berkeley.edu/tutorials/cat/public-records.
Make sure to follow the links through “police reports.”
|
Assignment
11: Write a review of first two Serial podcasts (in the process, discuss what's offered at the Serial website
|
Week 15 –
|
||
Mon.
12/1
|
Quiz:
Today: Discuss citizen journalism, the role of the media, and the Rodney
King beating. Does the media just concentrate on the bad things? Does the
media overdo it? Does the media avoid
reporting certain stories?
Do you think that most police would
lie to make a case? Some police? A few?
Why did L.A. riot when the police who
beat Rodney King were acquitted?
Homework: Tonight and tomorrow night
watch channel 5 news at 7 or 8 am, or at 6 pm. Watch channel 4 news at 6 pm.
Count the number of news stories and the kind of news stories coming out of
South L.A.
Handout:
|
|
Wed.
12/3
|
Notebook due
|
Notebook due
|
Week 16
|
||
Mon.
12/8
|
Final Project is due today in class. You must deliver your final project to me in person today
during class. Work will not be accepted late or via email. You can arrange to
hand it in earlier than this date
If you think you might have
a problem getting it in on this day, make arrangements with me ahead of time to
turn it in early.
|
Final Project is due!
|
Wed.
12/10
|
FINAL EXAM
|
No comments:
Post a Comment