CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY, NORTHRIDGE DEPARTMENT OF JOURNALISM Spring 2015 JOUR 315, REPORTING FOR BROADCAST #10057 Monday 9:30am 12:15pm, MZ360
INSTRUCTOR: ARON BENDER, [email protected] OFFICE HOURS, MZ337: Mondays 12:30pm 1:30pm & Thursdays 10am 11am 8186772864/3145/3135
COURSE OBJECTIVES: Students will learn to gather, report, write, edit and present news for broadcast by writing stories, editing newscasts for radio and TV, and completing outofclass assignments. The course includes six hours of classroom and lab activity, some of which will be spent at campus radio station KCSN.
The CSUN Department of Journalism strives to prepare students to become welleducated, principled citizens capable of initiating careers as skilled journalists, public relations practitioners and other related communication professionals.
REQUIRED TEXTS: Writing Broadcast News Shorter, Sharper, Stronger: A Professional Handbook, 3rd Ed. by Mervin Block, 2010, CQ Press, ISBN 1608714179 KCSN Style Guide (distributed during first class meeting and available via Moodle)
RECOMMENDED: http://www.poynter.org/category/howtos/newsgatheringstorytelling/writingtools/
COURSE REQUIREMENTS:
1. Ontime attendance is required. Unexplained absences and tardiness will result in a lower grade. To get a C in the class, students MUST attend at least 90% of class meetings and hand in at least 90% of writing assignments.
2. Students must be familiar with the KCSN Style Guide. Professional radio and TV newsrooms use style guides to maintain onair standards.
3. As detailed in the schedule outlined later in this syllabus, half of the class (Group 1) will write at oncampus radio station KCSN the first half of the semester (1/26 thru 3/13), while the other half (Group 2) will complete writing assignments outside of class. For the second half of the semester (3/16 thru 5/6), Group 1 will complete outofclass writing assignments, while Group 2 will write at the radio station. KCSN News Director Keith Goldstein will attend the first class meeting January 26th to work out a schedule. Students will receive 50 points for each KCSN shift attended.
** FAILURE TO ATTEND KCSN SHIFTS WILL RESULT IN A FAILING GRADE ** ** FAILURE TO ATTEND KCSN SHIFTS WILL RESULT IN A FAILING GRADE ** ** FAILURE TO ATTEND KCSN SHIFTS WILL RESULT IN A FAILING GRADE **
4. Writing assignments are worth 50 points each. They will be explained in class, and posted to the course’s Moodle page Monday evening. Rewrites must be submitted via Moodle as online text or file attachment (or email, if there’s a technical issue) NO LATER THAN 10PM THURSDAY.
5. KCSN News Director Keith Goldstein or one of his producers will be editing stories you write at KCSN. Those edited stories will be returned to you so you may hand those in to the instructor at the next class meeting. Failure to submit those edited stories will result in a lower grade.
6. Access to a tablet (such as an iPad) is recommended. For field assignments and other projects students are encouraged to use a tablet, smartphone or digital recorder to record interviews. Students must be able to email an mp3 or wav, or submit a flash drive, CD/DVD, or digital recorder. The Department of Journalism has digital recorders available for checkout. Audio recording apps available for iPad include (but are not limited to) WavePad, AudioNote, Notability.
7. News quizzes will be given each week via Socrative at http://b.socrative.com/login/student/ room #690516. Students must keep up with current events, read local, state & national news web sites and newspapers, follow news outlets on Twitter (listed with @), watch TV news, listen to news and/or news/talk radio every day. Recommended media include:
Daily Sundial, @DailySundial, http://sundial.csun.edu/ KFI AM 640, @KFIAM640 on Twitter, http://www.kfiam640.com/main.html KNX 1070, @KNX1070, http://losangeles.cbslocal.com/ 89.3 KPCC, @KPCC, http://www.scpr.org/ KCBS Channel 2 and KCAL Channel 9, @CBSLA, http://losangeles.cbslocal.com/ KNBC Channel 4, @NBCLA, http://www.nbclosangeles.com/ KTLA Channel 5, @KTLA, http://ktla.com/ KABC Channel 7, @abc7, http://abclocal.go.com/kabc/index KTTV Channel 11, @myfoxla, http://www.myfoxla.com/ @LAWeekly, http://www.laweekly.com/ @latimes, http://www.latimes.com/ @breakingnews @newsbreaker @cnnbrk @foxheadlines @TMZ
8. Students will write news stories in class each week; mock interviews will also be conducted.
9. Students must hand in three field assignments: stories based on reporting and interviews done out of class – to be explained in detail in class.
JOURNALISM MISSION AND PROGRAM LEARNING OUTCOMES The Department of Journalism strives to prepare its students to become welleducated, principled citizens who are capable of initiating careers as skilled journalists, public relations practitioners and other related communication professionals.
● Students will be able to write for a diverse audience, using proper grammar and punctuation, word usage and spelling, sentence and storytelling structures across multiple journalistic formats. ● Students will be able to gather and analyze information, including basic numerical concepts, using journalistic storytelling techniques, such as interviewing, observation, and researching primary and secondary sources. ● Students will be able to think critically, creatively and independently. ● Students will demonstrate an understanding of professional ethical principles and work ethically in pursuit of truth, accuracy, fairness, and diversity. ● Students will apply tools and technologies appropriate for the news media professions in which they work to communicate for and with diverse audiences. ● Students will be able to understand and apply the historical, theoretical, legal and societal contexts for producing news media for consumers, ranging from local to global.
JOURNALISM DIVERSITY Students in this course are strongly encouraged to broaden their journalistic experiences, with the instructor's help, by including in their work people and subjects, such as: ethnic, racial and religious minorities; the elderly, disabled and poor; gay men and lesbians, and other similar groups. The intent is to ensure that student work reflects diversity of the community. Ethically, journalists are particularly concerned with avoiding sexism and ethnic and gender stereotypes as well as adhering to guidelines for writing about special groups as they develop and interview sources for their reporting.
ACCOMMODATING STUDENTS WITH DISABILITIES The campus Disability Resources and Educational Services offers a range of services, including learning support, disability management counseling, accommodations, such as access to assistive technology or accessible classroom furniture, alternative testing services and exam scheduling. If you have a disability and need accommodations, please register with the DRES office or the National Center on Deafness (NCOD). The DRES office is located in Bayramian Hall, room 110 and can be reached at 8186772684. NCOD is located on Bertrand Street in Jeanne Chisholm Hall and can be reached at 8186772611. If you would like to discuss your need for accommodations with Journalism Department Chair, please visit her regular office hours: Wednesdays 3pm 4pm, and Thursdays 2pm 3pm.
This syllabus is available in alternative formats upon request. As noted in the CSU’s Accessible Technology Initiative: “The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA) and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (504) require that qualified individuals be provided equal access to programs, services, and activities. California Government Code 11135 applies Section 508 of the 1973 Rehabilitation Act, as amended in 1998, to State entities and to the California State University (CSU). Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act was enacted to eliminate barriers in information technology, to make available new opportunities for people with disabilities and to encourage development of technologies that will help achieve these goals.”
ACADEMIC INTEGRITY The highest standards of academic excellence and integrity are expected of students in the CSUN Journalism Department. Plagiarism and other forms of cheating will not be tolerated. Any Journalism major or minor caught cheating will be reported to the University's dean of students and will receive – at the very least – a failing grade in the class. For further explanation of the behavior defined as cheating, and more detailed discussion of disciplinary procedures, consult pp. 647648 in the 201214 CSUN Catalog, also available online at http://www.csun.edu/catalog/policies/academicdishonesty/. Please also remember that U.S. copyright laws protect much of the information posted on the Internet. Passing this information off as your own is a violation of CSUN's plagiarism policy, and carries the penalties outlined above.
* SHOULD CHANGES NEED TO BE MADE TO THIS SYLLABUS, A NEW ONE WILL BE DISTRIBUTED and/or POSTED TO MOODLE *
Week Subject
1/26 Introduction to class & KCSN Style Guide Tour KCSN News @ PAC GROUP 1 BEGINS SHIFTS @ KCSN Group 2 Writing Assignment #G21 due by 10pm Thursday 1/29
2/2 Lecture/discussion: Radio news writing News Quiz #1 KCSN Style Guide Quiz #1 Group 1 @ KCSN Group 2 Writing Assignment #G22 due by 10pm Thursday 2/5
2/9 Lecture/discussion: Radio news writing News Quiz #2 Mervin Block Style Quiz #1 (covering textbook Part I) Group 1 @ KCSN Group 2 Writing Assignment #G23 due by 10pm Thursday 2/12
2/16 Lecture/discussion: Radio news writing News Quiz #3 Mervin Block Style Quiz #2 (covering textbook Part II, sections 4, 5 & 6) Group 1 @ KCSN Group 2 Writing Assignment #G24 due by 10pm Thursday 2/19
2/23 Lecture/discussion: Interviews & TV writing News Quiz #4 Mervin Block Style Quiz #3 (covering textbook Part II, sections 7 & 8) Group 1 @ KCSN Group 2 Writing Assignment #G25 due by 10pm Thursday 2/26
3/2 Lecture/discussion: Using audio/actualities, writing wraparounds News Quiz #5 Field Assignment #1 recording due Group 1 @ KCSN Group 2 Writing Assignment #G26 due by 10pm Thursday 3/5
3/9 Lecture/discussion: Posting on and writing for social media http://www.poynter.org/category/latestnews/medialab/socialmedia/ News Quiz #6 Mervin Block Style Quiz #4 (Part II, sections 9, 10 & 11) Group 1 FINAL WEEK @ KCSN Group 2 Writing Assignment #G27 due by 10pm Thursday 3/12
3/16 Lecture/discussion: Posting on and writing for social media News Quiz #7 Field Assignment #1 script due Group 1 Writing Assignment #G11 due by 10pm Thursday 3/19 GROUP 2 BEGINS SHIFTS @ KCSN
3/23 Lecture/discussion: Timing & Writing on Deadline News Quiz #8 Group 1 Writing Assignment #G12 due by 10pm Thursday 3/26 Group 2 @ KCSN
3/30 Lecture/discussion: Kickers News Quiz #9 Field Assignment #2 due Group 1 Writing Assignment #G13 due by 10pm Thursday 4/2 Group 2 @ KCSN (no shifts Tuesday 3/31, campus closed for Cesar Chavez Holiday)
4/6 NO CLASS: SPRING RECESS NO KCSN SHIFTS Monday 4/6 thru Friday 4/10
4/13 Lecture/discussion: Producing radio newscasts News Quiz #10 Group 1 Writing Assignment #G14 due by 10pm Thursday 4/16 Group 2 @ KCSN
4/20 Lecture/discussion: Producing radio newscasts News Quiz #11 Group 1 Writing Assignment #G15 due by 10pm Thursday 4/23 Group 2 @ KCSN
4/27 Lecture/discussion: Producing radio newscasts News Quiz #12 Field Assignment #3 due Group 1 Writing Assignment #G16 due by 10pm Thursday 4/30 Group 2 @ KCSN
5/4 Lecture/discussion: Producing radio newscasts News Quiz #13 Final Exam review Group 1 Writing Assignment #G17 due by 10pm Thursday 5/7 GROUP 2 FINAL WEEK @ KCSN (thru Wednesday 5/6)
5/11 FINAL EXAM, 8am 10am, MZ360
GRADING:
1. This is a skills class; students will be graded on their ability to write, report and produce broadcast news. Accuracy, style and clarity are important, as are grammar, spelling and ability to meet deadlines. Improvement over the course of the semester will be a major consideration in your official grade.
2. Writing assignments (50 points) will be graded based on the following standards: 4550 points (90100%), work would be acceptable asis in a professional environment 4044 points (8089%), work would be acceptable with some minor changes 3539 points (7079%), work would be acceptable with major changes 3034 points (6069%), work is likely not acceptable, has serious problems ≤ 29 points (≤59%) work is not acceptable, has insurmountable problems
3. Approximately 1100 points available in this course: 64% of points are writing assignments & KCSN shifts (50pts each) 19% of points are quizzes (1015 pts each), attendance and class participation 9% of points are field assignments (2550 pts each) 8% of points are based on final exam (95 pts)
4. Extra credit will be available during the semester, and will be explained in class and posted to Moodle.
5. To get a C in the class, students MUST attend at least 90% of class meetings.
6. Quizzes will be given at the beginning of class. A time limit for completion will be established. Students who arrive late will not be given any extra time. Missed news quizzes cannot be made up. But if you miss a style quiz (KCSN Style Guide or Mervin Block) you can make up that style quiz during office hours the first week of your return to class. No exceptions.
7. To move on to the next level in the broadcast sequence (J335, J395, J415), students must receive a C in the class; a C does not count as a C, and is not sufficient. The plus/minus +/ system will be used.
8. Students may ask for grades at any time during the semester.
* GRADES ARE BASED ON PERFORMANCE, NOT POTENTIAL *