News Central

Multiplatform News Delivery (MC005)

Syllabus – JOUR 4350 – Spring, 2009

Lecture 10-10:50 a.m. MWF (§001)
             11-12:20 TR (§002) 		Lab W 1-3:50 p.m. (§501)
        R 2-4:50 p.m. (§502)
Instructor: Randy Reddick
Office 217 Mass Comm		 Phone: 742-6500 x256 e-mail Hours: M-W 8:15-9:45 a.m.; TR 2 -3 p.m., and by appointment
Instructor: Mary Lou Sheffer
Office 225B Mass Comm		 Phone: 742-6500 x283 e-mail Hours: M-W 12-2 p.m.

This syllabus is your contract with the instructor for the course. Please read it carefully and ask questions if anything is unclear to you. Course participation signifies your acceptance of this contract. ADA statement: Any student who, because of a disabling condition, may require some special arrangements in order to meet course requirements should contact the instructor immediately so that necessary accommodations may be made.

COURSE PURPOSE & DESCRIPTION:

Prerequisite: JOUR 4370 and either JOUR 3380 or EM&C 3335 or EM&C 4315. is "Capstone course on production of news in print, online, broadcast environments." This is a converged, working newsroom where senior journalism students refine their news gathering and reporting skills in a multi-platform environment.

REQUIRED TEXTS and other materials:

  • Michael Ryan & James W. Tankard Jr.. Writing for Print and Digital Media. (McGraw Hill: New York, NY; 2005)
  • Course materials online and handed out in class meetings
  • Appropriate storage media such as CD-R disks,  USB flash drive (aka jump drive, pen drive, USB key) to keep copies of your work files. NOTE: You are strongly encouraged to purchase and to use an external hard drive with a USB 2.0 or firewire interface. This may be the only way for you to keep the video files you create for this class — especially if you work with video.
  • The Associated Press Stylebook and Libel Manual current edition
  • SPJ Code of Ethics
  • News Central Web site at http://techimpressions.net/newscentral/ This Web site has many documents that help to explain, clarify and expand upon the printed syllabus. Procedures for filing stories, checking out equipment and other activities are spelled out online. Additionally, class policy updates and announcements will be published here frequently before they are made in class.
  • Your classmates’ work on the Tech imPRESSions Web site
  • Subscription to Mailing List, News at techimpressions.net: The class mailing list is another way students get class-relevant announcements
  • Regular reading of the Lubbock Avalanche Journal, The Daily Toreador, The New York Times Online, Google News, BBC Online (or CNN Online) and the Austin American-Statesman online.

Recommended:

  • Stephen Quinn and Vincent F. Filak. Convergent Journalism: An Introduction: (Focal Press: Burlington, MA; 2005)
  • Bill Kovach and Tom Rosenstiel. The Elements of Journalism: What Newspeople Should Know and the Public Should Expect . (Three Rivers Press: New York , 2001).
  • Larry Makinson. Follow the Money Handbook, (Center for Responsive Politics: Washington, D.C., 1994)

REQUIREMENTS Overview:

This is a working newsroom, known in the college as “News Central.” A team atmosphere is the rule. During the term you will be expected to “take ownership” of the overall output of News Central, helping to define and refine its mission, message and market. In most cases, you will function as a part of a news team to produce news packages. You are continuing to build your own portfolio that you will use in your quest for employment..

  • News Packages (45% of grade): Minimum requirement: You will write a minimum of five stories and otherwise contribute to five news packages.
  • Leadership (20% of grade): Components include team leadership, news enterprise work, newsroom management, production. Provide detailed inventory of News and Leadership at end of term.
  • Exams and quizzes (25% of grade): These include current events quizzes, tests on newsroom procedures, on notes and on assigned readings. You have exams scheduled during weeks 2, 8 and 12. Final exam Tuesday, May. 6, 1:30 p.m. (§001); Saturday, May 3, 4:30 p.m. (§002).
  • Market Research (5% of grade): Done during Weeks 1-3, aka "Report A."
  • Collegiality (5% of grade): Working with others in the newsroom.

ACADEMIC DISHONESTY:

Any student who plagiarizes another person's work will receive an F for that assignment, will stand in jeopardy of failing the class, and will be dealt with according to the Student Code of Conduct. All source materials must be clearly cited in your copy.

GRADING STANDARDS:

For each story you WRITE, the grade you receive will take into consideration both form and content of your work.
FORM considerations include spelling, grammar, punctuation, format, logical presentation, usage, diction, transitions, passive-active voice, conciseness, adherence to AP Style, clarity.
CONTENT considerations include accuracy, completeness, significance of information, reader appeal, newsworthiness, fairness, coherence, strength of verbs (especially in lead).

Lttr Pts Typical Characteristics
A+
A
A-		 95
91
88		 Outstanding writing! Exceptional prose. Thorough research and understanding of topic shown by clear expression of uncommon contextual insight. Solid 3D Reporting. Free of mechanical errors.
B+
B
B-		 85
81
78		 Good work, clearly above average. Free of serious mechanical error. Accurately reports issues/events in appropriate, meaningful context. Thoughts clearly expressed. Needs only minor editing.
C+
C
C-		 75
71
68		 Fulfills the assignment but lacks contextual insight and/or clarity. Work largely sound and accurate, but may be missing important detail and perspective. Only simple grammar or spelling errors. Needs revision
D+
D
D-		 65
62
58		 Has fundamental, often multiple, problems. Missing important information, lacking details. Marred by multiple (or serious) errors in grammar, spelling, or punctuation. Expression often ambiguous, unclear.
F+
F 		56
54		 Unacceptable work. Typically marred by multiple errors in mechanics and  thought content. Often contains factual errors.

FACT ERRORS, including misspelling of names of any kind will result in an automatic F on the assignment. Serious, multiple errors in punctuation, grammar, spelling, or AP style will result in an F.
PRODUCTION: When you produce a news package, that package is also graded on its technical excellence. Separate standards govern each platform.
LATE WORK / DEADLINES: Late work will not be accepted. All finished packages are due at the conclusion of lab time on the week following the news budget meeting in which stories are assigned.
EXTRA CREDIT points may be awarded for quality pieces entered in contests sponsored by SPJ, the Hearst Foundation, or others. The following packages delivered on MassComm servers may earn extra credit or work to fulfill portions of the course packaging requirements: 1) Creation/delivery of a regular weekly podcast (3-5 minutes each); 2) creation/management of a carefully researched blog on appropriate Tech-centered topics.
OPERATIONS: Lab time is for producing packages. Scheduled lecture time should be used for students pitching story ideas, sharing story packages, and critiquing.  After critiquing, students may want to revise their stories for their portfolios.  One person of each team takes producer role for each platform.  All members of a team contribute to news research and gathering of information that will be used on all three platforms.

Beginning with Week 4, each even-numbered week will start with a News Budget meeting Students will "pitch" their story ideas to the NewsCentral team. The story "pitch" will have been turned in to your course instructor on the previous Friday. As a result of the news budget meeting, news teams will select stories to develop. Each team will produce a print, a Web and a video package. This class is a product-oriented class, and you will be graded on both the quality and quantity of your output. This is also a class in working as team. Part of your grade on each story will be based on how well you contribute to the team effort.

GENERAL SCHEDULE: (subject to minor revisions)

Weeks
Lecture and Lab
Assignment
1
Course introduction and expectation for class assignments
Web site: Filing stories, syllabus, procedures and standards
2
Overview of important journalism skills for all three platforms, analysis of citizen journalism and standards
Ryan Chapter 1, the C-J debate and controversy. Exam 1 Friday
3
Newsroom organization, ethics, job shopping 1, the Citizen Journalism debate.
Report A due; story pitch due Friday
4
Jan. 28
News budget meeting 1. Multiplatform news. Review reports on Tech Community journalism,
5
Ethical decisions 1 / accuracy. What is news.
Story 1; Ryan Ch. 2-3; Pitch 2
6
Feb. 11
News budget meeting 2. Critique Story 1 packages
7
Multimedia news.
Story 2; Ryan Ch. 4-5; Pitch 3
8
Feb. 25
News budget meeting 3. Critique Story 2 packages
MIDTERM
9
 Online source credibility
Story 3, Ryan Ch. 6-7;
10
Critique Story 3, the inventory, review
11
Job shopping 2
Pitch 4 , Ryan 8-9;
12
Mar. 31
Ryan 10-11
13
April 6
Tough news assignments
Story 4, Ryan 12-13, Pitch 5
14
April 13
News budget meeting 5
Ryan 14-15
15
April 20
Wrap up, Review. Final Tuesday, May. 6, 1:30 p.m. (sect. 001); Saturday, May 3, 4:30 p.m. (sect. 002).
Story 5, Inventory

Note:   Each team story should have a print version, a television package and a Web version.

Leadership Roles

  • Team Leader: Each person in the class should aspire to be a team leader at least once. Team leaders are selected in news budget meetings according to who does the best job of pitching stories. We do up to four stories each news cycle, five news cycles in the term. Read the story in Chapter 1 of Ryan and Tankard about digging into / developing context. The team leader sees to it that every person in the team has writing / research/ interviewing assignments of equal weight and that ALL members of the team are involved in the storytelling process. The Team Leader acts as an editor to be sure that the story is covered completely and that the finished product is ready for public scrutiny.
  • Team TV Editor/Producer One person earns one half leadership point for producing a TV package in addition to doing a writing / researching assignment.
  • Producer Web One person earns one half leadership point for producing a Web package in addition to doing a writing / researching assignment.
  • Layout Editor / Print Manager One person earns one half leadership point for producing a print package in addition to doing a writing / researching assignment.
  • Camera Person / Visual Editor: This person earns one half leadership point for doing camera work in addition to doing a writing / researching assignment. Exceptional work here (such as telling the story visually, not just filming interviews and standups) may earn extra credit.
  • Editor / General Manager This person oversees entire News Central operation on a week-to-week basis, working with instructor. Person knows what each team is doing and counsels with each team about story legs that need developing. Will write news summary / commentary in blog at least bi-weekly. Will develop “super” organization for news packages. That is, this person will suggest ways of gathering / collecting several different stories and/or packages under one umbrella. This umbrella might include a news cast for TV, a Web site or group of mini-sites, a print publication or any combination of these. Assumes "ownership" role for overall Web site.
  • Operations TV Editor/Producer This person (these persons) is responsible for a weekly 5-minute newscast culled from department-wide contributions.
  • Campus events calendar / campus beat editor: This person constantly scours Tech Announce, campus organization and College Web sites for announcements of events. These are placed into our calendar and this person becomes a resource person for the entire class at the News Budget Meeting and as individuals prepare for that meeting. General calendar for semester needs to be developed immediately and then expanded upon and updated throughout the term. Needs organizational skills to structure calendar into appropriate overlays.
  • Other editors / managers as deemed necessary. These include podcasters and bloggers.

Notes on Overall Grading Philosophy

In JOUR 4350 you become part of a working newsroom. Your performance in News Central will be graded along the same dimensions as your performance in any commercial news room. You will be rated on your reporting excellence, the technical expertise exhibited in your work, and your collegiality and leadership.
A “C” student does what is asked of him / her. All assignments are completed on time with an acceptable level of proficiency both in the reporting and whatever technical aspects apply. The individual fulfills all team assignments and contributes to the development and fleshing out of the team’s story concepts.
“A” and “B” students do more that meet simple expectations, and as a rule they do it better. This means that they willingly or enthusiastically assume leadership responsibilities including

  • Going the extra mile in developing a story or story segment for which they are responsible
  • Take team leadership responsibilities for stories
  • Assume the role of editor and/or package producer

In addition to doing more than simply required, “A” and “B” students do it better. Their work is a cut or two above the average in terms of both the reporting and the technical excellence.
Unsatisfactory performance includes work that contains fact errors or work that has merely a whisper of plagiarism. Grammatical and spelling errors, omissions of important facts or data or other “holey” reporting also detracts from the report. Late work is not acceptable.

Course Assessment

Expected Learning Outcomes Assessment Methods
Demonstrate ability to generate newsworthy story project ideas and sell them to an editor 1, 7
Create news packages based on story ideas generated by self and others 2
Understand the relative strengths and limitations of print, online and television news environments 1, 3
Demonstrate knowledge of ethical challenges faced by news people and options available 6, 7
Comprehend the role of media in society 6, 7
Work as an effective member of a news team 3, 4
Develop and demonstrate newsroom leadership 1, 4, 5

Methods Key:

  1. Students “pitch” stories in a weekly news budget meeting and participate in discussion of how each story might “play out” in print, television and online.
  2. Students work on stories in news teams where the responsibility for developing the story and gathering necessary information is shared.
  3. As part of news teams, students contribute to news products that see light as print, television and online packages
  4. Students are responsible for producing both team and individual packages
  5. Students assume management roles in the newsroom
  6. Students successfully complete 3 exams and 6 random quizzes
  7. Students participate in and contribute to classroom discussions
 
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