Syllabus for JOUR 150, Summer 2008
Introduction to Mass Communication, for Young Scholars
M-F, 9 a.m. to noon, July 14 - Aug. 1, 2008
Room 3111 Journalism Building
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Instructor: Chris Harvey |
Course description:
The Young Scholars JOUR 150 course is an overview of journalism for students considering a career in the media -- or simply interested in them as smart consumers. The class will provide discussions and readings on concerns of the journalism profession -- including ethics, libel and privacy concerns. It will also explore other topics, including the importance of the news profession in a democratic society, the dynamics of print, Web and TV newsrooms, and the evolving role of professional media in this era of 24/7 news delivery and “citizen” journalism. Coverage of gender and minority issues, as well as the effects of the evolving media landscape on politics and war, will also be explored. In addition, the course will expose students to basic skills needed to research, report and write news stories on deadline for print and Internet publications. Writing and reporting segments will stress accuracy, objectivity, fairness and coherence.
Classes will sometimes be divided into discussion time and research and writing time, and students will be graded on both. They will also be graded on a test, a final paper, and on pop quizzes on current events and AP style.
The class will include excursions to a professional and a campus newsroom to explore the roles of editors, reporters, producers and radio hosts.
Because this course is so short, attendance is mandatory.
Assignments turned in late or with factual mistakes will receive an automatic F. No excuses, other than the hospitalization of the student or the death of a member of the student's immediate family, will be accepted for any late assignments. Missed in-class work may not be made up, but the lowest in-class grade will be dropped. Please let your professor know if you must miss a class.
Standards, Ethics and Academic Integrity:
Students are expected to adhere to the strictest journalistic and academic standards. For this class, you must do all work yourself, without collaboration with classmates or others, unless I tell you otherwise. Along with certain rights, students also have the responsibility to behave honorably in an academic environment. Academic dishonesty, including cheating, fabrication, facilitating academic dishonesty and plagiarism (including use of unauthorized photos, graphics, text or layouts) will not be tolerated.
Should talk to the instructor at the end of the first class.
About the instructor:
Chris Harvey has worked as an online editor, a magazine editor, a newspaper reporter and a journalism teacher. She left her job as managing editor at American Journalism Review in August 2000 to help build the online curriculum at the college. She created and now edits the college's online newsmagazine, Maryland Newsline, which is staffed by undergraduate and graduate journalism majors. Harvey previously worked as an associate Metro editor at washingtonpost.com; she ran the Washington and Annapolis Capital News Service (print) news bureaus for the University of Maryland College of Journalism; and she covered Congress and the Maryland State House for The Washington Times.
Tentative Class Schedule: (may be adjusted to meet the needs of the class or the availability of guest speakers). Quizzes may occur, unannounced, on any day! Readings should be done before class meets--except for Day 1, when you'll do the readings after class meets.
WEEK ONE:
July 14: Introductions and syllabus overview. Then students will write mini-profiles of themselves, which will be read aloud to break the ice. Your teacher will take a group photo of each of you, so come dressed as you’d like to be remembered. Students will be introduced to blogging software that we'll use in class. We'll use it right away to Web-post your mini-profiles. Second half of class: We'll begin a discussion on what is news? Does the CNN iReport definition of news for its citizen journalists differ from that of traditional media?
Readings for July 14: Chapter 5 in the Briggs book, "How to Blog."
July 15: Discussion: A brief history of the media, citizen media and Internet news and an overview of differences in print, Web and broadcast newsrooms today. An introduction to the Associated Press Stylebook and basic style points. Begin discussing: Is Wikipedia a reliable research tool? Likely in-class assignment.
Readings for July 15: "A Short History of News," by New York University Associate Professor Mitchell Stephens, and published on the Center for Media Literacy site; the Newseum's Paul Sparrows gives a brief history of the Internet (listen to at least part 1); a New Media Timeline, from the Poynter Institute (click through some of the points on the timeline; it's a starting point for discussion).
July 16: We'll meet in class at 9 a.m.; at 9:30 we'll walk together to the South Campus Dining Hall for a TOUR OF THE CAMPUS RADIO STATION, on the 3rd floor of the building. We'll talk to Scott Maxwell, general manager of WMUC FM 88.1, about the mission of the station and opportunities for students to cover news or sports or to host a show. We'll also talk briefly about the importance of college internships and opportunities available with other campus media, including the Diamondback, the Eclipse, the Public Asian, La Voz Latina Newspaper and Mitzpeh. And I'll ask if you have any thoughts/observations on your readings about Wikipedia, before discussing research strategies for journalists and scholars.
Readings for July 16: "Wikipedia in the Newsroom," by Donna Shaw, published in the February/March 2008 issue of AJR; "See Who's Editing Wikipedia: Diebold, the CIA, a Campaign," by John Borland, in the Aug. 8, 2007, edition of Wired; "Collaborative Conundrum: Do Wikis Have a Place in the Newsroom?" by Mark Glaser, in the Sept. 10, 2004, issue of Online Journalism Review.
July 17: Continue with more on research: How do you distinguish between reliable information and junk? How can you use RSS feeds to gather threads of ideas for news stories? With at least one in-class assignment.
Readings for July 17: Chapter 1 in the Briggs Book, "FTP, MB, RSS, Oh My." . Plus: "RSS for journalists: Your own personal Web butler," by Jonathan Dube, in the Feb. 15, 2005, edition of PoynterOnline.
July 18: Basic newswriting skills: The inverted pyramid and writing strong ledes and nut graphs. With in-class writing assignments. Handouts will be given out in class.
Readings for July 18: Great writers talk about great writing: "Real Writers Don't Burn Out: Making a Writing Apprenticeship Last a Lifetime," by Donald M. Murray, his keynote address to the National Writers Workshop, Apil 1, 1995. "The Best Tip I ever got was...," by John Hatcher, published March 16, 2002, on PoynterOnline; and "The Greatest Writing Tips the World Has Ever Seen," by John Hatcher, published Dec. 11, 2002, on PoynterOnline.
WEEK TWO:
July 21: First half of class: Handling direct quotes and attribution in stories. When do you quote, and when do you paraphrase? And when do you not use the quote at all? (Sometimes quotes are blatantly false, as the St. Pete Times' Truth-O-Meter shows for the 2008 presidential elections.) Second half of class: Media coverage of women and minorities, and the role of women and minorities in newsrooms. GUEST SPEAKER: Dr. Carol Rogers, director of Doctoral and Research Studies at the University of Maryland College of Journalism.
Readings for July 21: "The News Media's Woman Problem," a book review by Carl Sessions Stepp, in the August/September 2008 issue of American Journalism Review; and "Where Women Rule," by Sherry Ricchiardi, published in the January/February 2001 issue of AJR. Plus: "No News Is Women's News," by Junior Bridge, president of Unabridged Communications, published on the Center for Media Literacy site; "Media Coverage of Women and Women's Issues," a report by the Media Awareness Network, a Canadian nonprofit organization; "Minorities in Journalism," by Lolita Jones, published April 2001 by the U.S. Department of State; "The Uphill Battle of Diversifying Newsrooms," by Lee Stinnett, published June 9, 1999, on the ASNE site; "Transmitting Values: A Guide to Fairer Journalism," by Keith M. Woods, in the July 1999 edition of PoynterOnline; "For 200 Years, Alternative Press Voices Dissident Views," by Laurien Alexandre, published on the Center for Media Literacy site. See also the conference schedule for Unity 2008.
July 22: Preparing for interviews and interviewing techniques. Short in-class writing assignment: Interview a classmate and tell an interesting vignette about them, using quotes. Remember to use your best quotes; paraphrase if you can say it better. Write up to 320 words. The lead or opening vignette should highlight your main point or theme.
Readings for July 22: "Some Useful Interview Tips," by Joe Hamelin, published March 1, 2004, on PoynterOnline; "The Power of Listening," by Chip Scanlan, published July 3, 2003, on PoynterOnline; "How Memories Become Memoirs," by Chip Scanlan, published Oct. 7, 2002, on PoynterOnline"; Shut Up and Listen: The Keys to Good Interviewing," By Dr. Ink, published July 17, 2002, on PoynterOnline.
July 23: First half of class: using transitions in stories, and possible style or news quiz. Second half of class: How to work ethically and stay out of legal trouble! A discussion of ethics, libel, privacy and copyright issues. With a half-hour introduction to doing research at McKeldin Library on campus.
Readings for July 23: "Briefing on Media Law"--the section on "Legal Principles of Publication," in the back of the Associated Press Stylebook. (In the 2007 stylebook, the section begins on page 352 and ends on page 377.) Plus Robert I. Berkman's "Is It Appropriate for Reporters to Lurk in Online Chat Rooms?" in the Feb. 2, 2004, issue of Online Journalism Review; Howard Kurtz's "Dallas Paper's Story: A Scoop That Wasn't," in the Jan. 28, 1998, Washington Post; and Lori Robertson's "Romancing the Source," in the May 2002 issue of AJR.
July 24: More on ethical conduct and legal issues. Second half of class: GUEST SPEAKER: Associate Professor Mike Williams, who teaches visual and interactive storytelling and who has worked as a professional photojournalist. Students will be introduced to basic still-camera shooting techniques and to Photoshop, a professional tool used for photo editing and graphics creation.
Readings for July 24: Chapter 8 in the Briggs book, "Shooting and Managing Digital Photos." Plus: "Distorted Picture," by Sherry Ricchiardi, from the August/September 2007 issue of AJR. Plus: check out Jonathan Dube's page on "Online Storytelling Forms," on CyberJournalist.net.
July 25: Start off with shooting photos of each other, and cropping and sizing and compressing them in Photoshop. Then: How has the Internet, blogging, podcasting and the 24/7 news cycle changed coverage of the 2008 presidential elections--and politics in general? Plus: Covering the political beat, at the local and national levels. GUEST SPEAKER: Amy Dominello, multimedia reporter at Media General in Washington, D.C., and an alum of our college. Media General is a media company based in the Southeast that owns 25 daily newspapers, 23 television stations and their Web sites. Dominello previously reported for the News&Record in North Carolina. PLEASE REMEMBER THAT YOUR SOURCE AND SUMMARY SHEET FOR YOUR FINAL PAPER IS DUE AT THE START OF CLASS TODAY.
Readings for July 25: "The Beltway-Blog Battle: As old and new media square off in Campaign 2008, each one is getting more like the other," by James Poniewozik, in the June 30, 2008, issue of Time. OffTheBus blogger stories that were followed by traditional media: "Bill Clinton: Purdum a 'Sleazy,' Slimy, Scumbag," published June 2, 2008, on The Huffington Post; "Obama" No Surprise That Hard-Pressed Pennsylvanians Turn Bitter," published April 11, 2008, on The Huffington Post. "Blogging on the Hustings," by Marc Fisher, published in the February/March 2006 issue of AJR. "Journalism's Backseat Drivers," by Barb Palser, published in the August/September 2005 issue of AJR.
WEEK THREE:
July 28: WHAT'S SO DIFFERENT ABOUT WRITING AND PRODUCING CONTENT ONLINE? PROFESSIONAL NEWSROOM FIELDTRIP by bus to washingtonpost.com in Arlington, Va., where we’ll meet with Chet Rhodes, assistant managing editor for news video, and others. We'll meet in the parking lot on the side of the Journalism Building at 9 a.m.; we'll walk together to the bus pickup at Tawes Theater (the side facing lot 1) at 9:05 a.m.; bus leaves at 9:15 a.m. We'll get to the Web site around 10:15 and will stay until around 11:30 or 11:45. We should be back at the Journalism Building by 12:45 p.m. The Young Scholars program will be dropping off boxed lunches for all of you. Also: I'll have a sheet of five brief questions for you to answer based on our visit; you'll type up responses tomorrow at the start of class.
Readings for July 28: Please spend considerable time delving into washingtonpost.com before our trip, so you can ask good questions and get more out of the visit. Please be sure to look at CameraWorks (the photos and video archive); the special report on Elections 2008; the special report on the upcoming Olympics ("Countdown to Beijing"), and the Chandra Levy package--to see how the online treatment differed from the newspaper's.
July 29: Likely style quiz. Then: spend a half-hour or so typing answers to questions related to washingtonpost.com trip. Then: review for test tomorrow. Then: get back final paper summaries and bibliographies. If time permits: Discussion on the effects of covering war --and other disasters -- on journalists. How is war coverage influenced --for better or worse --by government officials and public relations professionals? What impact do news stories have on government war-time decisions? How do journalists do their jobs in war zones? With a special look at the Viet Nam war and the Gulf Wars and the war in Afghanistan.
Readings for July 29: "Remembering the War: An Online NewsHour Special Report," on the Vietnam War, published in spring and summer 2000 on PBS, with special emphasis on "Covering the War," and " Reporting the Story." PLUS: "Whatever Happened to Iraq?" by Sherry Ricchiardi, published in the June/July 2008 issue of AJR; "Dangerous Assignment," by Sherry Ricchiardi, published in the December/January 2006 issue of AJR. "Telling War Stories," by Terry Ganey, published Jan. 20, 2008, on columbiatribune.com. "Myths and Mistakes," Charles Mohr Discusses Viet Nam War-Era Press Coverage," published on the Committee of Concerned Journalists site, Oct. 30, 2006. Plus: "Women on War," by Sherry Ricchiardi, published in the March 2004 issue of AJR, along with "The Women Who Paved the Way. Plus: "Missed Signals," by Sherry Ricchiardi, published in the August/September 2004 issue of AJR. "Close to the Action," by Sherry Ricchiardi, published in the May 2003 issue of AJR; "Preparing for War," by Sherry Ricchiardi, published in the March 2003 issue of AJR. "A Killing Field for Journalists," by Sherry Ricchiardi, published in the January/February 2002 issue of AJR; "Covering the Horror," by Sherry Ricchiardi, published in the January/Febrary 1999 issue of AJR.
July 30: TEST!
July 31: In-class assignment: Writing a reported story on deadline. Cpt. John Brandt from the University Police will come to our class from 9:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. to let you interview him as a group about campus safety, violence and more. I'd suggest you take some time before class to look through some of the daily crime and incident logs compiled by campus police. Crime report statistics are also aggregated on this page. It will be your job to collectively ask enough questions during the hour to come up with your own story, which you will write in the remaining hour and a half of class. I will not tell you what to write; it's your job to find the story during our little in-class press conference. You'll have a half hour at the start of class on Thursday to compile a list of questions, but doing some backgrounding ahead of time will help!
Readings for July 31: See links embedded in assignment above.
Aug. 1: Analysis paper is due at the start of class. (See info above and attached.) Bagels and donuts and discussions about the future of journalism and your possible futures in journalism. We'll also talk about capstone opportunities available through the college's Capital News Service program -- for print, broadcast and online. Teacher evaluations.
Copyright © 2008 Chris Harvey; last updated Aug. 1, 2008