Syllabus for Introduction to Reporting and News Writing

AJRL 200Z Spring 2008 Section 1
Introduction to Reporting and News Writing

Mondays and Wednesdays 4:15-5:35 p.m.
Social Sciences Room 134 on Mondays and AS13 lab on Wednesdays

Rosemary Armao
Assistant Professor
Office: Humanities 327
rarmao@albany.edu or roarmao@hotmail.com
(office) 518 442-4997 or (home) 518 459 7095
Available anytime by phone or email or as you catch me. Official office hours are Mondays and Wednesday from noon- 3 p.m.

OBJECTIVES
In this class you will begin to think and work like a professional journalist. We will explore how and where story ideas come from and how to turn ideas into publishable copy. You will learn something about critical thinking and healthy skepticism while cultivating and working with sources. The unchanging basics of newsgathering rather than rapidly evolving technological skills will be strongly emphasized in this course. They include observing, interviewing, documenting with records, following the money and behaving ethically. Also stressed will be the organizing, structuring and writing of reader-friendly news stories. In short, when you come out of this class you will know much more about the standards, ethics and style of journalism no matter your medium or beat.

READINGS

Required

*The Associated Press Stylebook” No one really loves this book. But it is a classic and you need to obey its picky rules on everything from whether you use “10" or “ten” to is it “Muslim” or “Moslem”? (And when does the end punctuation go outside and inside the quote marks?) I’m not saying you have to get this book, but if you don’t follow its rules on assignments for this class, you’ll get lower grades in school and curses from copyeditors in any print journalism job.

*“Writing and Reporting the News: A Coaching Method (5th ed.)” by Carole Rich. This is an excellent and newly updated text on doing journalism. Readings will be assigned from this text during the course of the semester.

In addition, you must regularly check Class Notes, a blog at http://armao200z.blogspot.com for additional readings and notices about assignments and readings.

Recommended

The following are books that serious journalists, especially interested beginners, will want to read. If not during this course, then sometime during your career.

*”The Elements of Journalism: What Newspeople Should Know and the Public Should Expect,” by Bill Kovatch and Tom Rosenstiel. It’s short and it’s great on what journalism should be at this time.

*”The Elements of Style” by William Strunk Jr. And EB White. It’s very short and it’s a classic on the mechanics of correct writing. It’s even a little humorous. No less a personage than Stephen King lists this as required reading for writers.

*News is a Verb” by Pete Hamill. My favorite, this is a short (you seeing a trend here?) and powerful. A long-time newsman and novelist fires off an essay about what’s wrong with modern newspapers and how to fix it. The ideas apply to journalism beyond print.

*“On Writing Well,” by William Zinsser. Another classic on writing non-fiction and well-written itself. This is a how-to for writing clean and strong.

*The “Best Newspaper Writing” series from the Poynter Institute. These books – the latest is for 2007-8, include notable pieces in a number of categories such as deadline writing, investigative etc with illuminating interviews with reporters on how they got their stories.

*All the President’s Men” by Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein. The inside story of an investigative reporting effort that ended the Nixon presidency and changed US journalism. It’s a primer on persistent and imaginative sourcing and use of anonymous sources.


OBLIGATIONS

Think of 200Z as a newsroom rather than a classroom because the same rules will apply.

*Attendance. Just as you must show up to work in the professional world, you must come to class. We will be hearing from speakers, holding news conferences and doing interviews, all of which, unlike traditional lectures, cannot be made up. You cannot “get the notes” from a classmate. Some rare excuses are acceptable for missing class, such as court appearances and deaths in the family. But you must let me know BEFORE the class you are going to miss. Each unexcused absence will lower your final grade by a third of a mark (from A to A-) for example. Absences I do not know about ahead of time will be treated as unexcused absences.

*Laptops and cellphones. These are the instruments of our profession which allow for excellent note-check and fast fact-checking. You are allowed to bring them into class and keep them turned on. You will be expected to act professionally, however. That means no text-messaging friends, surfing the net or taking lengthy calls from friends during class.

*Deadlines. Missing deadlines is professionally unacceptable for journalists and for you too. If you cannot keep to a set deadline for some reason related to newsgathering, you may get a sympathetic hearing. But you may not miss a deadline and then give an excuse. Assignments will be marked down one grade for every day it is late. On the other hand, you may choose to turn in assignments and stories before deadlines, which will win you the right to an early edit and a chance to rewrite for a higher grade.


*Plagiarism and fabrication. Making up quotes or other information or copying the work of others and passing it off as your own may result in a F for the course and referral to university officials for other action. Admittedly, it is not always the easiest thing to distinguish between legitimate backgrounding and reference and plagiarism. We will be talking about this in class and if you have any doubts on this score, consult me.

GRADING

There will be no exams. Stories are what count

Half of your grade will depend on a news article that you will find, develop, report, write and try to publish as a final project. The idea is that this story will pull together all that you should learn in class. Length should be about 1,500 words depending on your topic, about which you should consult with me. USE OF MULTI MEDIA PICTURES EETC.

The other half of your grade will depend on class assignments and exercises and on homework. Homework includes a personal blog that you will set up and file frequent dispatches to. MORE MORE. Not every assignment will count in the calculation of your final grade. Some assignments are intended (what a concept!) simply to help you learn. But it will not always be clear to you whether or not you are working on an assignment that “doesn’t count.” This may be maddening to you, but in journalism you have to act like every assignment matters.

You may find the grading system confusing, unfair or subjective. And you will be right, as is every reporter who has ever whined about a vague, biased and subjective editor. If you work hard or show big improvement over time you are likely to be rewarded. But then, a completely mediocre performance broken by a spectacular performance on a single story could get you that reward too.

DISABILITY If you qualify for accommodations because of a disability... DO WHAT
sexual harassment – religious observation????

SCHEDULE OF CLASS AND OUTSIDE WORK (subject to abrupt and radical alteration)

WEEK 1:

Jan.23 – News that changes lives. In-class writing exercise.

WEEK 2:

Jan. 28 - What is News and What’s it For? Set up blogs no later than the end of this week

Jan. 30 - The notes that help you earn A’s as a student won’t cut it when you become a journalist In-class writing exercise.

WEEK 3:

Feb. 4 - What can I write about? Beats and idea generation. By end of this week submit at least two possible ideas for final stories ETHICS: When does background and context cross into plagarism? Can you plagarize yourself?

Feb. 6 – How do I get people to talk? Finding, cultivating and using sources. Homework: turning a news release into a real story ETHICS: Getting too close to sources and burning them and keeping them secret

WEEK 4:

Feb. 11 – Interviewing – framing great questions that get you answers to Who What Where When How and Why.

Feb. 13 – More on effective interviewing from reading body language to figuring out how to tell when someone is lying to you. Before the start of Winter Break you will turn in a summary with quotes from an interview with someone DIFFERENT.

WEEK 5

Feb. 18 – Winter Break. No class.

Feb. 20 – Interviewing wrap-up In class exercise

Week 6

Feb. 25 – Researching online, in libraries and in public records. Freedom of Information requests. Homework: backgrounding an individual

Feb. 27 – In lieu of class at 3 p.m. – Screening of film The Paper followed by Q&A with Aaron Matthews. Homework: write a news article on Matthews’ presentation

WEEK 6

March 3 - Following the money. Reading a budget. In-class exercise

March 5 – Math for journalists. In-class exercise

WEEK 7

March 10 – The form and structure of a news story is as set in tradition as a fairy tale In-class exercise

March 12 – Organizing a story In-class exercise with small groups

WEEK 8

March 17 – Focus and pre-writing. Leads and kickers and middles that make sense Homework Deconstruct a major news story

March 19 – Point of view and tone. Objectivity is the goal – or not.

WEEK 9

SPRING BREAK. NO CLASS.

WEEK 10

March 31 – Editorial writing GUEST SPEAKER

April 2 – Good campaign coverage

WEEK 11

April 7 – Investigative reporting GUEST SPEAKERS

April 9 – Emerging new sources of news and the technology that goes with them from blogs and cell phones to You-Tube and multi-media

WEEK 12

April 14 – Photojournalism GUEST SPEAKER

April 16 – Covering a public meeting Homework: do it.

WEEK 13

April 21 – No Class.

April 23 – ETHICS Empathy and doing no harm when you publish. In class news conference with a victim of the press

WEEK 14

April 28 – The No. 1 Topic beginning journalists wish they’d learned in J-School: Time organization and management.

April 30 – Libel, privacy and other legal issues related to newsgathering

WEEK 15

May 6 – Last day of classes and all rewrites and final projects are due.

May 14 – Final day to turn in rewritten projects for credit.