Course Description: This course continues on the foundation of News Reporting and Writing I. It explores the techniques used to research and report complex political, social, and economic issues for all media. Students learn advanced strategies for how to investigate the most common areas covered by reporters, including education, zoning and development, crime, legal affairs, public forums and other governmental entities. Advanced writing techniques for various types of news articles, including tight deadline reporting and writing, are also taught. Strategies are developed for individual reporting projects in print, broadcast, and digital media. Published examples are critiqued to lead students toward an ethical and analytic approach to public affairs reporting.
The plan: This course is designed to bring students into the professional world of journalism. After being challenged on reporting and writing skills and knowledge of Associated Press style, students will be broken into groups that will work as competing news agencies. While the work will be graded individually, the atmosphere will be collaborative. Journalists work as teams within their news organizations to cover a variety of angles when a story breaks. It is a fast-paced environment where the strong survive. Your ideas and stories will be subject to criticism within your group and the class, but the goal is for the criticism to be useful and respectful. Still, remember that you will need a thick skin in this business.
There are a series of assignments throughout the semester, but it is better to think of it as one proposition: You’ve been hired as a reporter to cover the Ithaca community and the surrounding area. To succeed in this job you need to get out into that community and meet people, find out the issues, uncover the unreported stories and coordinate with your colleagues on how to best report them. Fire, business, sports and science are some of the topics that you will be covering, but don’t restrict yourself by tackling these in order. Instead, you should be working contacts with the idea that anyone you meet could be a source for any one of these topics. Part of your job in this class is to tell stories from the Ithaca community, not the Ithaca College community. In this class you have the opportunity to use the city of Ithaca and the surrounding areas (Cortland County, etc…) as your “real world” news market. Part of your grade comes from the story you pitch. If you pitch an IC story, it better be something the community as a whole (Ithaca and beyond) would be interested in
Grading:
The tryout 5%
Beat notes/future files 5%
AP Style test 10%
Fire assignment 10%
Business assignment 15%
Sports assignment 10%
Science assignment 20%
Final project 25%
Course Outcomes: Through each of these assignments, you will learn and be assessed on these skills:
1) Working a beat for a news organization.
2) Optimizing the Web to reach an audience.
3) Editing video in a variety of software.
4) Using audio, video and Web elements in a news report.
5) Writing for all aspects of journalism
6) Understanding the importance of voice pitch and clarity when telling a story
Required:
The Associated Press Stylebook
Flip Video camera or comparable equipment
Reading the local newspaper and watching local news every day.
Rules for the classroom:
1) Can’t eat food in class (because of the computers).
2) No cell phones going off during class.
3) No use of laptops in class, unless your professor has approved their use as part of an assignment.
4) Maintain respect for your colleagues.
COURSE POLICIES
Attendance: Your active attendance and participation is required. After a third unexcused absence, your grade for the semester will drop by one step for each subsequent absence. For example, a student getting a B+ in class would drop to a B. Excused absences are for bereavement or documented illness. If you have a conflict with another class assignment, let me know about the situation ahead of time. If you are absent from class, it is your responsibility to get assignments, handouts, notes from discussions and lectures, etc, from a fellow student. Please come to class prepared.
Academic honesty: The use of work other than your own without proper citation or credit is a serious offense. Penalties for plagiarism include: failure on the assignment and/or failure in the course and/or College academic discipline, which could mean suspension or dismissal from the College. Plagiarism can involve not only written work but computer programs, photographs, artwork, films, videos, and audios. If you are at all unsure about what constitutes plagiarism, or how to give credit, see your instructor and consult the Student Handbook (see "plagiarism" in the index).In a collaborative project, all involved students may be held responsible for academic misconduct if they are either knowing participants in plagiarism or complicitous. Our recommended style manual is published by the American Psychological Association and is available in the bookstore.
Students with disabilities : In compliance with Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and the Americans with Disabilities Act, reasonable accommodation will be provided to students with documented disabilities on a case by case basis. Students must register with the Office of Academic Support Services and provide appropriate documentation to the college before any academic adjustment will be provided. To contact that office call 274-1005, or contact Leslie Schettino, Director of Support Services for Students With Disabilities, at lschettino@ithaca.edu.
Mental health: Diminished mental health, including significant stress, mood changes, excessive worry, or problems with eating and/or sleeping can interfere with optimal academic performance. Problems with relationships, family worries, loss, or a personal struggle or crisis can also contribute to decreased academic performance. Ithaca College provides a Counseling Center to support the academic success of students. The Counseling Center provides cost-free services to help you manage personal challenges that threaten your well-being. Getting help is a smart and courageous thing to do – for yourself and for your loved ones.
Safety: You must respond to and report conditions and actions that may jeopardize your safety, or that of other people and/or equipment. Report to the responsible College employee. During class sessions that person would be your instructor or lab assistant. Outside of class the person might be your instructor, lab supervisor, co-curricular manager, equipment and facilities manager, or one of the engineering support staff. You must be aware that misuse of equipment or use of damaged equipment can create the risk of serious injury, infectious contamination, and expensive damage. You may be liable for damage or injury resulting from such use. Unsupervised use of facilities puts you at risk. Failure to be alert to safety problems, or to report them, may have serious consequences for you or others.
Academic honesty: The use of work other than your own without proper citation or credit is a serious offense. Penalties for plagiarism include: failure on the assignment and/or failure in the course and/or College academic discipline, which could mean suspension or dismissal from the College. Plagiarism can involve not only written work but computer programs, photographs, artwork, films, videos, and audios. If you are at all unsure about what constitutes plagiarism, or how to give credit, see your instructor and consult the Student Handbook (see "plagiarism" in the index).In a collaborative project, all involved students may be held responsible for academic misconduct if they are either knowing participants in plagiarism or complicitous. Our recommended style manual is published by the American Psychological Association and is available in the bookstore.
Students with disabilities: In compliance with Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and the Americans with Disabilities Act, reasonable accommodation will be provided to students with documented disabilities on a case by case basis. Students must register with the Office of Academic Support Services and provide appropriate documentation to the college before any academic adjustment will be provided. To contact that office call 274-1005, or contact Leslie Schettino, Director of Support Services for Students With Disabilities, at lschettino@ithaca.edu.
Safety: You must respond to and report conditions and actions that may jeopardize your safety, or that of other people and/or equipment. Report to the responsible College employee. During class sessions that person would be your instructor or lab assistant. Outside of class the person might be your instructor, lab supervisor, co-curricular manager, equipment and facilities manager, or one of the engineering support staff. You must be aware that misuse of equipment or use of damaged equipment can create the risk of serious injury, infectious contamination, and expensive damage. You may be liable for damage or injury resulting from such use. Unsupervised use of facilities puts you at risk. Failure to be alert to safety problems, or to report them, may have serious consequences for you or others.
DEADLINES: Deadlines are FINAL. There are no exceptions – you will receive a failing grade if you hand in an assignment after deadline.
COURSE SCHEDULE
Aug. 26: Introduction and course overview. Reviewing the basics and AP Style.
Assignment: THE TRYOUT – find and report a news story for print.
Aug. 31 to Sept. 2: Working in a newsroom, working a beat and developing sources. Pitching story ideas, writing skedlines, beatnotes and future files. Turn in tryout assignments.
Sept. 9: The business assignment. Picking teams that will work as news agencies. Learn iMovie HD or Final Cut Pro. Individual sessions to review tryout assignments.
Sept. 14 to 16: Pitching business stories, choosing a theme, writing a budget, making assignments within groups. Optimizing the Web.
Sept. 21 to 23: Business packages due. AP Style test.
Sept. 28 to 30: The sports assignment. Creating timelines with Dipity
Oct. 5 to 7: Pitching and planning the sports assignment.
Oct, 12 to 14. Sports packages due.
Oct. 15 and 16 - FALL BREAK
Oct. 19 to 21: Pitching and planning the fire assignment.
Oct. 26 to 28: Fire assignment due.
Nov. 2 to 4: The science or medical assignment.
Nov. 9 to 11: Pitching and planning the medical/science assignment
Nov. 16 to 18: Medical/science assignment due.
Nov. 21 to 29: Thanksgiving break.
Nov. 30 to Dec. 2: Pitching and planning the final project
Dec. 7 to 9: Work on final projects.
Final exam period (2 p.m. class) : 7:30 to 10 a.m., Wednesday, Dec. 16.
Final exam period (4 p.m. class): 4:30 to 7 p.m., Monday, Dec. 14.
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