J315 Syllabus - News Media Writing & Editing

Course Description: J315 contains a substantial writing component and fulfills part of the basic education requirement in writing.

You will learn how to gather and evaluate information to craft stories for the broad public. This course teaches the core skills of news judgment, news writing, basic reporting and editing, feature writing, law and ethics --- and covering news from diverse communities.

The emphasis is on basic news reporting and writing skills that you will find necessary for any career in journalism. The only way to acquire these skills is by practice, so you will write a lot this semester. When you leave, if you have done your best, you will be ready to succeed in your upper-level writing courses and, later, successfully tackle an internship.

Learning Objectives: By the end of the course, J315 students will: - understand the ethical foundations of the profession and its values, including the importance of diversity. - understand the basic elements of digital storytelling. - understand and be able to write different types of leads. - be able to write a basic news story of eight to 10 paragraphs and be able to meet deadlines. - be able to write a short feature story, using appropriate description, detail and quotes. - understand and be able to apply AP style to news stories - be able to find appropriate and diverse news sources, interview them and build the research necessary for strong news stories. - be able to conduct interviews that elicit information and quotes for use in news and feature stories.

Required Texts: News Writing by The Texas Quartet (Sylvie, Garlock, Cash and Dawson). The Associated Press Stylebook (latest edition). The Elements of Style (latest edition) Strunk and White Optional texts: Writing and Reporting News, A Coaching Method (Carole Rich)

Required Reading: All class handouts and the text. Weekly news quizzes will include questions on the reading assignments. The Austin American-Statesman and The Daily Texan. News quizzes and class discussions will be based on both papers. You may subscribe to the American-Statesman, pick up a copy daily in the J315 lab, or use a password provided by your instructor to access an electronic edition. Very Helpful: The New York Times (you can access this easily and free online through the UT Library.)

Course Requirements: The core components of this course are the writing assignments, complemented by lab work, homework and news quizzes. Some of the stories are taken home for completion, others completed in class under deadline pressure. Additional assignments may be added as needed. Assignment feedback will come in the form of written comments by the instructor, in- class oral critiques as well as peer evaluations in lab.

Class Grading / Weighting: Lab work/homework/participation/overall improvement: 15 percent News quizzes, cumulative 10 percent Outside stories #1-3, cumulative 9 percent Outside stories #4-8 (news, speech, meeting, 2 features) cumulative, 25 percent Midterm Story 8 percent Final Story 15 percent Digital portfolio 6 percent Final writing assessment 10 percent AP Final Exam 2 percent

*** IMPORTANT NOTE: Not passing the Final Written Assessment will prevent you from progressing to J-320.

Attendance: Class meets twice a week for an hour lecture and a 90-minute lab. You must read your assignments from your text and supplements every week before class meets to understand fully how to complete your deadline work in lab.

Outside writing assignments are due at the beginning of class. Your instructor will tell you whether to submit electronically, in hard copy or both.

Two excused class absences will be allowed unless your instructor deems otherwise. Grade reductions may be taken after you pass your absence quota. If you miss class without a prior, approved excuse, you will get a zero on any quizzes or deadline work that day. Do not miss any critique days – those will be unexcused. (See schedule below for critique days.) You are expected to be in class on time and will be penalized for excessive tardiness.

Portfolios Save your notes, drafts, rewrites, graded story assignments, class exercises and handouts into a ‘Digital Portfolio’ on UT’s WebSpace: https://webspace.utexas.edu/xythoswfs/webview/xythoslogin.action The complete Portfolio (including copies of assignments you have turned in, but which have not been graded) will be reviewed and graded at the end of the term. The final portfolio is due the week before the last week of class. This portfolio will become your digital resume, which can be modified during your tenure in the J-school.

University Honor Code: All students are expected to abide by the University of Texas Honor Code, which reads: “The core values of The University of Texas at Austin are learning, discovery, freedom, leadership, individual opportunity, and responsibility. Each member of the university is expected to uphold these values through integrity, honesty, trust, fairness, and respect toward peers and community.”

Dishonesty: Any form of academic dishonesty, including plagiarism, manufacturing quotes or sources, using another’s reporting, research or quotes, will result in an automatic grade of “F” for either the assignment or for the class, depending on the situation. Truth and accuracy are the hallmarks of journalism ethics and these values are ingrained in everything you do as journalists. While you may see your class assignments as simply class work, we view them as the first step in your career as a professional and we expect you to conduct yourself accordingly. You are graded in this course not only on the stories that you produce, but also on the framework you begin to build as a journalist. Your instructor will make spot checks of sources to be sure that your reporting is accurate and credible. Ethical violations -- plagiarism, making up sources, failure to properly credit sources, interviewing family members and friends as sources (unless approved in advance by the instructor), submitting stories previously submitted for credit in other courses and quoting sources whom you have not personally interviewed -- are all grounds for failing this course. Remember: Ethics are the foundation of credibility. Betray them and your journalism career may be finished before it starts

Students with disabilities Any student with a documented disability (physical or cognitive) who requires academic accommodations should contact the Services for Students with Disabilities area of the Office of the Dean of Students at 471-6259 (voice) or 471-4641 (TTY for users who are deaf or hard of hearing) as soon as possible to request an official letter outlining authorized accommodations. If you have a disability that you believe qualifies for consideration, please discuss it with your instructor as soon as possible.

A J-315 SURVIVAL MANUAL

Lab rules: No eating or drinking in the labs. Clean up your area before leaving lab.

To Do Well: Attend class. Our lectures are practical. We are telling you how to do this stuff, so you ought to be here to hear the advice!

Keep up with the readings. Our lectures complement the textbook, reading packet and other course materials but do not replace them. You need all sources of information to do well on graded assignments. You must complete your reading assignments before the first day of class every week.

Read news websites, the newspaper and watch news broadcasts. Students who skimp here may not do well on their stories. You need to be able to see the types of things that are considered news, get a feel for the style and basic form. You must keep up with the news to do well on the weekly quizzes.

Do your best. If you have a good attitude and want to do well but are having difficulty, the instructors will go out of their way to help you do better. Please ask. But you must apply yourself.

Think diversity and ethics: You should become aware and sensitive to issues of diversity in the community and how those issues affect your reporting. Ethics are the foundation of your credibility. Betray them and you are finished as a journalist. Your instructor will make spot checks of sources to be sure that your reporting is accurate and credible. Ethical violations are grounds for failing this course. See syllabus for elaboration.

The only dumb question is the one not asked. If you do not grasp something or want more information, ask the instructor. Our greatest reward is seeing you learn this stuff as you prepare to dive into a life of journalism you will love as much as we have loved ours.

Mon/Wed J-315 Key Dates At a Glance / Fall 2011

Date Due Sept. 7 News Story #1 Sept. 14 News Story #2 Sept. 19 Midterm story plan due Sept. 21 News Story #3 Sept. 28 News Story #4 Oct. 5 Speech story (#5) Oct. 12 Peer critique of midterm story draft Oct. 19 Midterm story due Oct. 24 Final News Story Plan Oct. 26 Feature Story – Listening Post (#7) Nov. 2 Outside Meeting Story (#6) Nov. 9 Feature Story – Profile (#8) Nov. 16 Open-book AP Style exam Nov. 21 Peer critique of Final Story Nov. 28 In-class Timed Writing Drill Nov. 30 Final Story; Course survey: portfolio

Course outline

Week 1 Aug. 24 - News Values and Ethics Goal: You will be introduced to the syllabus and course expectations, including ethics and values critical to this course and to the profession. Begin exploring the basic concepts of news value and focus sentences. Learn about your digital portfolio. Reading: Texas Quartet, Chapters 1, 2 and 3 (Why We’re Here; Intro to News and Features, Becoming a Reporter) Handouts: Writing basics, Top 10 AP Style Guide Misc: Instructor will explain protocol for weekly news quizzes and lab assignments.

Lab: 1) Critique news judgment of the day’s Austin American-Statesman, following the first exercise in Chapter 2 of your text. Identify specific news values in stories. Write a focus statement of 20 words or less stating what each news story on that day’s front page is about. 2) Write your autobiography.

Week 2 Aug. 29-31 - Leads, nut grafs and story structure; grammar Goal: Identify different types of leads and when to use them. Learn to identify headlines, captions and bylines. Focus sentences and news value will also be discussed. Discuss basic news story structure and how the lead fits into it. You’ll learn how to identify and label parts of a story. Your instructor will explain different story structures and you’ll practice writing stories in each form, using facts supplied by your instructor. Students also will review the rules of grammar and sentence construction. Reading: Chapters 6, 10 * Handouts: Story Structure; active & passive verbs; punctuation notes

Lecture: Leads: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. What works and what bombs? How to find and write news leads. News story structures: Summary, Wall Street Journal and writing for online media.

Lab: 1) Using online publications identify examples of different story forms. 2) Using daily paper, hard copy or online, find examples of different types of leads and story structures 3) Lead writing exercises – “Leads Olympics” 4) Exercises involving grammar and usage

Assignment: News Story #1 - Attend an event on campus or in the community and write a basic news story of five to eight paragraphs, including a lead, supporting material, nut graph, an ending and quotes from at least two human sources. Provide contact information for all sources (email/telephone numbers) Due: Sept. 7

Week 3 Sept. 7 - Sources; interviewing Goal: Learn where to look for information, how to find diverse sources appropriate to your stories and how to pull the pieces together into a basic short news story. You will work on managing your reporting and writing time to be able to meet deadlines. Learn how to verify facts from human sources, documents and the Internet. Reading: Chapter 7 “The Art of Interviewing” * Handout: UT Libraries resource guide

News quiz #1

Lab: 1) Lead writing exercises 2) Brainstorm the types of sources needed for different story scenarios 3) Online scavenger hunt 4) Interviewing practice 5) Top 10 AP exercise #1

Assignment: News Story #2 - Select an issue on campus or in the community and write a basic news story of five to eight paragraphs, including a lead, supporting material, nut graph, an ending and quotes from at least two human sources. Provide contact information for all sources (email/telephone numbers) Due: Sept. 14 Planning ahead: Hard News Midterm Story: Your story will be 750 to 1,000 words (three to four pages, with a minimum of four human sources whom you interview.) Prepare a story plan that will include an idea written as a focus statement, sources to interview, scenes to describe and questions to answer. Your instructor will review it and approve or help re-direct the focus. Plan due: Sept. 19. Peer critique: Oct. 12 Story due Oct. 19

Week 4 Sept. 12-14 – Back to the future: grammar, spelling and punctuation Goal: Review rules and usage for clear, written communication.

Lab: Nov. 12 – News quiz #2 Drills on common writing errors, active and passive voice, grammar and writing style. Lab Nov. 14 - Top 10 AP exercise #2

Assignment: News Story #3 - Attend an event or select an issue on campus or in the community and write a basic news story of five to eight paragraphs, including a lead, supporting material, nut graph, an ending and quotes from at least two human sources. Provide contact information for all sources (email/telephone numbers) Due: Sept. 21

Week 5 Sept. 19-21 - Covering deadline stories and non-deadline speeches and meetings Goal: You will learn how to interview victims, witnesses and law enforcement officials to cover crimes and disasters for deadline stories and follows. Learn how to prepare for and cover speeches, meetings and press conferences on the fly, often without the benefit of advance preparation. Reading: Chapter 8 “Information Gathering” * Handouts: Racial description guidelines; sources by story category

News quiz # 3 Lab: 1) Discuss the ethics of using racial identification in news stories 2) Examine meeting agendas online and discuss how to report background before the meeting, identifying possible sources and story angles. 3) Complete agenda drill in class. 4) Top 10 AP exercise #3

Assignment: News Story #4 - Attend a meeting on campus or in the community and write a basic news story of five to eight paragraphs, including a lead, supporting material, nut graph, an ending and quotes from at least two human sources. Provide contact information for all sources (email/telephone numbers) Due: Sept. 28

Week 6 Sept. 26-28 - Covering government; public access Goal: You will learn how to glean the important information from a budget or government report and write statistical stories in a meaningful way for your readers. By knowing the basics of media law, you’ll learn how to stay out of trouble in journalism. Your instructor also will review state and federal public access laws and the information they allow you. Planning ahead: Outside meeting story assignment (Story 6): Cover a government meeting on campus, in Austin or in a nearby community. Get approval in advance from your instructor before you prepare for the meeting, which might include a local school board, city council or county commission. No campus clubs! Due: Nov. 2

Reading: Review reporting on government in Chapter 8 * Public Access Power Point * Handouts: Math for reporters

News quiz #4 Lab: 1) Public records assignment 2) Online review of budgets and taxes; drill on property taxes 3) IRE Math test 4) Top 10 AP exercise #4

Week 7 Oct. 3-5 Context; organizing/writing the ‘middle’ Goal: Learn what makes a story relevant and complete. How to organize your story and what goes in the story’s’ middle.’ Reading: Review ‘context’ in Chapter 3 “Becoming a Reporter” * Handout: Context * Handout: keep the middle moving

News quiz #5 Lab: 1) Review papers online or hard copy to identify context that enhances understanding 2) Writing drill: the second, third and middle paragraphs of a story 3) Top 10 AP exercise #5

Assignment: Outside speech story (Story 5)- Find a speech to cover on campus or in the community. Get a bio of the speaker ahead of time, talk to the speaker and organizers before or after the speech and get audience reaction. Due: Oct. 5

Week 8 Oct. 10-12 - Honing the basics Goal: Hone news-writing skills this week by practicing the fundamentals of the basic news story, using facts provided by your instructor. You will learn how reporters develop and milk daily news beats.

News quiz # 6 Lab: 1) Lead writing practice 2) Deadline drills of hard news stories. The instructor will provide several sets of facts. You will have 20 minutes to write each story, turn it in and then go on to the next one. 3) Top 10 AP exercise #6

Oct. 12 - Mandatory attendance for a mid-term story critique. Midterm story critique session in which classmates will critique your midterm news-feature. Bring enough copies of your completed midterm story for your critique group. You’ll read each other’s stories and critique as groups for AP Style, organization, reporting and writing. You may incorporate these suggestions into your midterm story due Oct. 19.

Planning ahead: Final Story: Your final story will be a news-feature, 750 to 1,000 words (three to four pages), with a minimum of four human sources and background source material from research. All stories must include a multimedia element: sound slides, audio, video or graphics. First, prepare a story plan that will include an idea written as a focus statement, sources to interview, scenes to describe and questions to answer with your reporter. Consider multimedia elements that would enhance your story. Your instructor will review it and approve or help re-direct the focus. Plan due: Oct. 27. Peer critique: Nov. 21 Final story due: Nov. 30

Week 9 Oct. 17-19 - Covering Diverse Communities; ethical dilemmas Goal: You will learn about the importance of sensitivity to all people in news coverage. Explore examples of bias in the media involving race, gender and age. Learn how to assure that no part of the community is left uncovered and how to develop sources in communities different from your own. Discuss tactics for advance preparation and covering a meeting. * Handout: Covering Diverse Communities

News quiz # 7 Lab: 1) Timed hard-news drill (10 minutes). 2) Brainstorm your plans for completing a “listening post” assignment outside of class, which forces you to move beyond your usual circles. Before Oct. 18, you’ll need to find a couple of places within an under covered community where people talk and mingle. While there, you’ll have conversations with people, read bulletin boards and leaflets and listen to all of your senses. You’ll look for story ideas that later can be developed into a feature. Ask questions about how this community sees itself portrayed in the media. 3) Top 10 AP exercise #7

Assignment: Listening Post feature story (#7): Report and write a one- to two-page feature (no more than 500 words) that you discovered during your listening post assignment. Story must focus on an under-covered community and include a lead, middle, ending, plus details of observation and quotes from at least three human sources you’ve interviewed in person. Include contact list for all sources. Due: Oct. 26

Week 10 Oct. 24-26 Expanding on Listening Posts and writing about people Goal: Students will develop story ideas from listening post experience. Discuss experiences in listening posts. What was the community’s perception of its treatment in the media? Reading: Chapter 11 “Feature Writing” No news quiz Oct. 24 Lab: 1) Report to the class your “listening post” experience. Then, develop at least three story plans from your “listening post” assignment. One of these plans will become a short feature story. 2) Timed writing drill 3) Top 10 AP exercise #8

Features, profiles and obits Goal: Learn to write about people. Review different ways to organize feature stories, including the narrative approach. Learn and practice the basics of obituary writing. * Handout: Obit writing supplement

Oct. 26 – Lab: News quiz # 8

1) Freestyle Essay Writing: You will be given five minutes each to write three different topics chosen by the instructor. You will see how to loosen your style with spontaneous writing. Read some aloud in class.

2) To practice observation and writing with detail, you will go outside for 30 minutes and find a scene to describe using all your senses. Come back to lab, write it in 20 minutes and we’ll read some aloud.

3) Collect details about one person on campus and select material from what you’ve observed to write a paragraph that makes a focused point about that person. (Are they harried, industrious, exhausted, relaxed?) Read them aloud at the end of class.

4) Draw a name from a diverse selection of living celebrities, research that person’s life on the Internet and write a feature obituary on deadline in lab. Turn it in by the end of class. 5) Top 10 AP exercise #9

Assignment: Feature profile story (#8) - Select a person on campus and collect information about them, from observation, background research and interviews with the subject and colleagues and friends. Write a 500-word profile of your subject, including contact information and research citations. Due: Nov. 9

Week 11 Oct. 31-Nov. 2 Introduction to multimedia journalism Goal: Learn about digital storytelling, reporting across media platforms and the multimedia skills that journalism jobs require. Handouts: * Web writing supplement * 5 steps to multimedia storytelling

Nov. 3 Lab: 1) Identify which types of stories lend themselves to different types of storytelling. Review online multimedia projects and critique them. 2) Decide what multimedia elements you can incorporate into your final story. News quiz #10

Week 12 Nov. 7-9 - Libel and media law; covering courts Goal: Ethical dilemmas that journalists face. Discussion of the basics of media law, you’ll learn how to stay out of trouble in journalism. Covering courts. Review state and federal public access laws and the information they allow you. News quiz #9 Handouts: * Media Law Supplement * Covering Courts How-to guide

Lab: 1) Top 10 AP exercise #10

Attend a court session and write a news brief of what you observed.

Week 13 Nov. 14-16- Finding and developing ideas; using quotes and citations Goal: You will learn how to come up with fresh ideas for stories and hone your skills of observation. Focus sentences and story plans. Discuss the mechanics of using quotes and paraphrasing in news stories. The class will review ethics of quotes. Discuss how to expand the lead into the top of a summary story by using setting quotes and nut graphs. Reading: Chapters 4, 5 “Finding Story Ideas” and “Developing Story Ideas”

No news quiz Nov. 14 Lab: Go outside for 20 minutes to find three story ideas. Return to lab, write and turn in focus sentences and a story plan for each, including people to interview, scenes to observe, questions to ask and other research needed.

Nov. 16 Open-book AP Style exam

Week 14 Nov. 21-23 Critiques for Final Story Goal: You will offer and receive constructive criticism of the final news story that you’ll turn in next week. No news quiz

Week 15 Nov. 28-30 - Final writing assessment; course survey; career advice Goal: You’ll leave the class prepared to seek internships and to succeed in them. Discuss negotiating the application process, the art of working with editors and sidestepping office politics. Reading: Chapter 12 (What’s Next?) No news quiz

Nov. 28 - Final writing assessment; discussion of journalism internships and careers Nov. 30 – Course survey; final story due