MSU JRN 300, Summer 2017, Sec. 730
(online)
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
By appointment
Dates
May 15 to Aug. 18
Final exam none
Class blog jrn300isprettycool.blogspot.com
A NOTE: While the
syllabus accurately describes the content that will be discussed and acted upon
this semester, the sequence and dates are subject – and likely – to change.
This is a departmental syllabus that will be tweaked to best fit the needs of
this class section while adhering to class goals and grade outlines. Please
carefully take note of assignments and due dates as these are announced during
the course of the semester, and PLEASE READ THIS SYLLABUS CAREFULLY AND IN
ITS ENTIRETY. You will be responsible for knowing the content and course
structure from the time the semester begins. “I didn’t know we had to do that”
will NOT be an acceptable excuse, if the subject matter is contained within
this syllabus.
Also, if this is the first time
you’re taking a summer course at MSU, be aware that a college summer class
differs greatly from high school summer classes. In high school, summer classes
generally are remedial and take a much easier pace; in college, they do not and
they cover EVERYTHING that would be covered during the regular school year,
with the SAME expectations. So please do not expect a relaxed pace or lower
standards in this or any summer class at MSU.
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 (and in some cases, across the country), 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:
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
We will NOT
be using D2L for this class. Instead, we will use a multitude of
mediums: to check on class assignments and homework, review lecture notes, go
over past assignments, look at strategies reporting and writing well, and do
other activities we will be checking in daily with a class blog at www.jrn300isprettycool.blogspot.com. Please
make sure you check it Mondays through Thursdays for the latest assignments,
deadlines and readings.
YOU
WILL NEED TO CHECK THE CLASS BLOG ON A DAILY BASIS IN ORDER TO KEEP CURRENT ON
ASSIGNMENTS AND READINGS, so please make this a daily habit every weekday, Mondays
through Fridays. The blog is formatted for both desktop and mobile, giving you
greater options in how to engage it. Again, WE WILL NOT BE USING D2L FOR THIS CLASS; PLEASE BE SURE TO CHECK THE
CLASS BLOG.
We will file our assignments either in WordPress or via email to
omars@msu.edu. Please make sure that you
get that address correct – omar with an s at the end – as there is an omar@msu.edu address that’s incorrect but active. If your work is not
correctly sent to omars@msu.edu, it will not be graded
If
you do not have a WordPress account set up for MSU journalism, you will have an
account made for you later this summer. To lear how to access and use WordPress
for this class, click here: http://news.jrn.msu.edu/student-journalist-resources/the-wordpress-dashboard/
ASSIGNMENTS
We will be doing trend and issue stories, which means our
stories will be based not on events or happenings but on broader in-depth
matters that broadly affect a community, like poverty, segregation,
homelessness, community development, etc. We may use specific events or
happenings to illustrate a larger trend or issue, but we need to delve into the
larger issue and get into the whys and hows than simply stating
who-what-when-where. Stories must have at least two media (writing, photo,
chart, graphic, video, audio) to earn the highest grade. Even a perfect story
can earn only a 3.0 if it uses only one medium. If you wish, you may make
writing your secondary emphasis behind video, audio or photo.
Source lists accompany each story. Include phone
numbers and emails for sources so the professor may contact them.
These are our
assignments:
·
There will be seven weekly stories. Topics must be
pre-approved by the instructor, and all MUST be based on news happening on your
beat (the geographic area to which you will be assigned to cover) and directly
relevant to people living within your beat. Stories can be to localize state or
national issues, cover local politics, or features or profiles. 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 a character-driven story
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 or professors who have perspective on the issue. Do something that is
issue-oriented rather than a one-time event, an advancer or something that is
merely descriptive and lacks a news angle. Sports stories, entertainment,
fashion and opinion writing are important, but do not submit them for this
course. Everything we do will help you get better in those fields, but we do
not cover them.
· A 300-word job
shadow report regarding someone working in professional journalism (and NOT
public relations, marketing and the like). This should help you build your
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.
This is not due until late in the semester but we highly recommend you get
this done early. Plus, you must first get subject approval from me before you
start a shadow.
·
The final project should be your most ambitious and
deeply-reported trend or issue story. You can start thinking right away about
what you'd like to do. Choose something you're really interested in to make
this great.
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
·
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
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 do extra weekly stories to improve your final grade.
If you do more than the seven required weekly stories, I will use your seven
with the highest grades in calculating your final grade.
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. No exceptions!
ATTENDANCE
We need you regularly checking the class blog and making ALL
deadlines. Missing deadlines will negatively affect your participation grade,
in addition to netting you a zero on the assignment.
If needed, Michigan
State’s grief absence request form is here:
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. Show me through your
actions that you are 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 could be referred to the student judicial affairs
office for a disciplinary hearing.
When interviewing, be courteous and respectful. Introduce
yourself as an MSU journalism student working for an online news site,
informing the source of how much time the interview will take, that your intend
to publish (THIS IS NOT “JUST FOR A CLASS!” THE NEWS STORIES WILL BE PUBLICLY
POSTED TO A REAL NEWS SITE!) and thanking them.
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.
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