JRN 300: The Spring 2017 Syllabus

MSU JRN 300, Spring 2017, Sec. 004 (8-9:50 a.m., Tue./Thu., CAS 237)

Reporting and Writing News, three credits

Instructor                  Omar Sofradzija (so-FRAD-zee-uh)

Contact                      omars@msu.edu by email and 702-271-7983 by cell

Office hours              CAS 360

Tuesdays, 10 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.

Wednesdays and Fridays 12:30 to 3 p.m.

Thursdays, 10 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.

Dates                          Jan. 9 to April 28

Final exam                 Wed. May 3; 7:45-9:45 a.m., CAS 237

Class blog                  jrn300isprettycool.blogspot.com

WELCOME!

I look forward to getting to know you and working with. Our goal is to produce work that can be published on the J-School news site, http://news.jrn.msu.edu/.

As we cover people in the communities around MSU, we will learn confidence, reporting, interviewing, better writing and multimedia.

We have a challenge. We want to do journalism in ways that are not standard, routine and boring. Let’s make people laugh, be outraged, think. Let’s make them smarter. We must do this while achieving journalistic accuracy and fairness.

Using the skills and values you learned in JRN 200, you will now create multimedia news sites that will prepare you for 400-level classes.

We will focus on:

* Writing (a career building block for all media)

* Reporting (the fundamental skill of interviewing that makes your work unique)

* Critical thinking (the ability to analyze and to question)

* Digital skills (to find, gather and convey information)

* Storytelling (powerful communication)

Success now will qualify you for freelancing, internships and jobs later.

Required book

“Associated Press Stylebook & Libel Manual,” 2014 or newer; print or digital

ACADEMIC & JOURNALISTIC INTEGRITY

Cheating violates the very natures of journalism and education, to seek truth. I pursue any incidence of cheating I learn about to protect the reputation of our students, our school and our university. I also do it to give the student responsible every opportunity to learn to be ethical. The School of Journalism’s Code of Ethics and Standards is required reading in your first week. The link is here:  

http://cas.msu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/Code-of-Ethics-2013-10.pdf

Your work must be your own. It must be original. Fabricated or plagiarized work will receive a zero and will result in an Academic Dishonesty Report with the university. You will be required to complete online training in ethical practices before receiving any grade in this class. The professor may check stories for originality by using TurnItIn software.

FORMAT

One class each week will be largely reserved for lectures, discussions and planning. The second will be a deadline day for peer editing and production. Expect schedule changes for opportunities including breaking news. The objectives, the grading plan and focus will not change.

ASSIGNMENTS

We will not all be doing the same stories in the same week. While one team member is covering a meeting, another might be interviewing people on the street. Over the course of the semester, everyone will cover the same range of work. Each story must have at least two media (writing, photo, chart, graphic, video, audio, map) to earn the highest grade. Even a perfect story earns only a 3.0 if it uses only one medium. Writing may be your secondary emphasis behind video, audio or photo.

Include source lists with each story. Include phone numbers and emails for sources so the professor may contact them. Put them at the end of your submission.

These are our assignments:

* There will be seven weekly stories. One community story must come from a government meeting. Develop an idea for an economy story. Also appreciated are profiles, explainers, advances, reactions to state or local politics. One of your stories should be an edited video with proper titling and lower-third labels. Entertainment, sports, fashion and opinion writing are important, but are not eligible in this course. Everything we do will help you get better in those areas, but we do not cover them.

* A 300-word written job shadow report. This should help expand your career network. Write as an essay, not a news story. Write about whom you shadowed, what they do, what they like and do not like about their job, your thoughts on which parts of the job you would and would not like. We do not shadow relatives, students or campus media such as The State News, WKAR or The Impact. We do not shadow where we have worked or done internships. That would defeat the purpose. This is not due until late in the semester but we highly recommend you get this done early.

* The final project is an issue-oriented multimedia news-feature or trend story. Broad subject areas include education, transportation, law enforcement, the environment and growth. Local leaders in government, schools, business, volunteerism and the like will be some of your sources. Human interest or character-driven elements will be essential to carrying it along, so you will need a couple of grass-roots people. One or more sources should be outside experts such as state officials, analysts or professors who have perspective on the issue. Do something issue-oriented rather than a one-time event, an advancer or something that is merely descriptive and lacks a news angle. You can start thinking right away about what you’d like to do. Choose something you’re really interested in to make this a great project. We will shape it through the pitch process.

GRADING

Stories are judged on news value, reporting, accuracy, clarity, mechanics and use of multi-media. Stories are not accepted after deadline.

·       Seven public affairs stories                      49 percent

·       Major-issue feature project                      25 percent

• 5 percent for proposal
• 5 percent for rough draft
• 15 percent for completed project

·       In-class exercises and quizzes (4)               5 percent

·       Midterm                                                      5 percent

·       Street reaction interviews                             3 percent

·       Job shadow report                                       5 percent

·       Teamwork and class participation                8 percent

(Distracting use of social media counts against participation)

Work will be graded on a 4.0 scale.

If you consistently invest time and effort you will succeed. Start with intensity and keep it up. This is what we are looking for:

4.0: A newsworthy story with a good idea, told clearly, cleanly and in some depth with four or more varied, knowledgeable sources employing at least three media. These might be text, photos (with original captions and a map or graphic, slideshow, video or audio, depending on what best tells the story. Uses elements like subheads and block quotes to hold readers. Completely accurate, well-organized, solid grammar, punctuation and style and links to relevant resources.

3.5: A clear, well-written story with three good human sources and, in addition to the text, links and visual elements—either your original photos or graphics—high up on the Web page. (You may incorporate handout photos with permission from the owner, but these cannot count as your original work Get in the habit of shooting or making a visual element—even a good head shot—with everything you do. Consistently good mechanics.

3.0 Better-than-average report based on solid reporting with three relevant sources. Story answers questions readers want to know. Writing is accurate, but copy needs polishing.

2.5 Story has problems in organization, focus and sentence structure. Uses only one medium or has fewer than three named, human sources. Problems in mechanics.

2.0 Average. Weak organization or reporting. Errors in mechanics. Lacks minimum sources or has weak ones; uses only one medium. Not the type required in this class.

1.5 Weak. The lead does not state the news. Insufficient sourcing. There are problems in news interpretation. Weak mechanics. Story is incomplete. Needs substantial rewriting and editing. Cannot be published.

1.0 Major fact error. Or, lacks fundamental reporting and writing. Problems might include omission of key facts, several deductions for errors in AP style, spelling or punctuation. Poor news judgment.

Weak sourcing. Needs substantial rethinking. Cannot be published.

0.0 Story misses deadline or contains plagiarism, fabrication or other ethical problem.

Extra credit:

·      

You may earn 0.25 toward a story grade each week by posting a tweet and a Facebook post on your team’s sites about a current or upcoming news or event.

·       You may also earn half the grade of a weekly assignment (2.0) by attending an outside lecture approved by the instructor. Limit of two.

·       You may do an eighth story for extra credit. It will be graded like your seven weekly assignments and added to your total. 

Deductions

Accuracy is so important to our professionalism and credibility. Please, please, please be careful. Triple-check names, dates and numbers. Major fact errors, such as an error in the name of a person, business or place, or a date or number can result in a 1.0 on an assignment. If it starts with a capital letter or is a number, check twice.

Each mechanical error in spelling, grammar, style, punctuation, or in formatting your byline will reduce the assignment grade by 0.25 up to a full 1.0 off for that assignment.

Deadlines: Like newsrooms, we do not work after deadline. YOUR STORIES MUST BE SUBMITTED ON TIME.

Rewrites: We encourage rewriting. You may rewrite two stories for re-grading. This must reflect additional sourcing or a restructuring, not merely correcting edits. Grades of the original and rewritten stories will be averaged. Rewrites must be submitted within one week after the instructor grades the original.

ATTENDANCE

We need you. We will do some peer edits and we need your ideas. Much of what we cover in class is not duplicated online, and we are not using a textbook, so you need to be in class and engaged. Do not schedule interviews or work during class time. This will be treated as an unexcused absence.

Absences may be excused with a doctor’s note or bereavement. I allow two unexcused absences, but that is all. Arrange to get notes from a classmate. Two late arrivals or early departures equal one absence. Three unexcused absences may lower your course grade by 0.5. Four unexcused absences lower your grade by 1.0. Five unexcused absences may result in course failure.

Michigan State’s grief absence request form is here:

http://splife.studentlife.msu.edu/regulations/student-group-regulations-administrative-rulings-all-university-policies-and-selected-ordinances/grief-absence-policy

TEAMS

Although we will work in teams, grades are individual. We work in teams because that is how newsrooms work. We are graded individually because that is how employers evaluate and determine raises. Teamwork is part of individual evaluations. If you want to collaborate on an assignment, ask the professor first.

THE KEYS TO SUCCESS

• Be organized.
• Talk to a lot of people on your beat. (Stories do not come from Google.)
• Find some super sources early.
• Work ahead, reporting more than one story at a time.

SOURCING

One of our objectives is to help you get good at interviewing. For that reason, each story should have sources with heartbeats and names we can publish who come from different perspectives. A web page does not have a heartbeat. We use only named sources. Three well-distributed sources would be an elected official, an expert who knows about the issue and someone at the grass-root. Someone whose quote you hear at a public meeting is not a source. Interview them after or outside the meeting.

Something you read online or in a book may be used, but is not a source. Good sources whom you can interview for more than one story save you time. Interviews should be face to face.

To maintain journalistic independence, do not use relatives, neighbors, classmates, members of your organizations or friends. This includes Facebook friends. This is  because journalistic ethics require us to be independent. If a friend is the best source for a story, talk to the professor to see if you should even be doing the story. Using friends and relatives as sources without saying so will be treated as a serious breach of trust.

When interviewing, be courteous and respectful. Introduce yourself as an MSU journalism student working for an online news site. Inform the source of how much time the interview will take, that you intend to publish and thank them.

EXCLUSIVITY (NO DOUBLE-DIPPING)

Work done for other classes, companies or campus media may not be submitted in this class. Professional newsrooms have similar exclusivity rules. It would be unfair for one student to use campus activities for grades when others can’t. However, if another news outlet wants to republish work you do for our newsroom, talk to the professor.

PARTICIPATION AND TEAMWORK

This is 8 percent of your grade, more than an individual story. Come to class job-ready: on time, alert and engaged. Show respect to all. Exhibit workplace professionalism.

MSU’s Code of Teaching Responsibility says appropriate conduct involves “the right of faculty members to conduct classes, and of students to participate in those classes without interference or disruption.” If a student's behavior interferes with teaching and learning, the student may be required to leave the classroom and could be referred to the student judicial affairs office for a disciplinary hearing.

Silence your phone and put it away. There is a break halfway through each class where you can attend to your social media. Don’t e-mail, text or surf in class unless it is part of our work. This will hurt your grade and you might be asked to leave or counted as absent. Out of consideration to others, this professor prefers not to stop class because you are engaged with your devices, but will note your weak participation.

Contribute to discussions. We value students who help others by showing them how to do things or offering ideas and contacts. This helps our class, just as it would help any team. 

This is how participation is graded:

8: Consistently contributes good ideas, suggests stories and helps others

7: Regularly engaged in class discussions

6: Shares ideas if asked, but rarely initiates

5. Rarely contributes and usually just reiterates basics

4: Often disengaged in class, sometimes don’t know what was discussed.

3: Often involved in social media, side conversations, other work, sleeping, eating, etc.

2: Distracts others

1: Disruptive

DISABILITY POLICY

MSU and I are committed to equal opportunity in all programs, services and activities for all people. If you have a Verified Individual Services Accommodation form, you are welcome to share that with me at the start of the term. If you don’t wish to do that right away, that is your choice. But for me to grant an accommodation, I must know in advance of the date of the test or project to help you. Accommodations are granted by the Resource Center for Persons with Disabilities, which you can find at rcpd.msu.edu. Please also tell me about allergies. If there is anything I can do to teach better, tell me.

RELIGIOUS HOLIDAYS, MILITARY SERVICE

Diversity is one of my values and it is for MSU and the School of Journalism. If religious holidays or military service require adjustments, please tell me in advance.