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JOHN CABOT UNIVERSITY

COURSE CODE: "DJRN 221-1"
COURSE NAME: "Introduction to News Reporting and Writing"
SEMESTER & YEAR: Fall 2022
SYLLABUS

INSTRUCTOR: Elizabeth Macias Gutierrez
EMAIL: [email protected]
HOURS: TTH 11:30 AM 12:45 PM
TOTAL NO. OF CONTACT HOURS: 45
CREDITS: 3
PREREQUISITES: Prerequisite: EN 110 with a grade of C or above
OFFICE HOURS:

COURSE DESCRIPTION:
This course introduces writing and reporting techniques for the mass media. It focuses on the essential elements of writing for the print, online and broadcast media. The course also covers media criticism, ethics in media, and the formats and styles of public relations.
SUMMARY OF COURSE CONTENT:
This course introduces writing and reporting techniques for the mass media.
LEARNING OUTCOMES:
This course focuses on the essential elements of writing for print and online media. The course also covers media criticism, ethics in media, and the formats and styles of public relations.
TEXTBOOK:
NONE
REQUIRED RESERVED READING:
NONE

RECOMMENDED RESERVED READING:
Book TitleAuthorPublisherISBN numberLibrary Call NumberComments
The Online Journalism Handbook Skills to Survive and Thrive in the Digital AgePaul BradshawTaylor & Francis9781138791565  
GRADING POLICY
-ASSESSMENT METHODS:
AssignmentGuidelinesWeight
News Story PitchWritten and oral formats: discussed during newsroom session for feedback.15%
Mid-Term Assessment of news story coverage and draft30%
News Story (Hard or Soft news)Final copy submitted to The Matthew for consideration and possible approval. The final copy needs to be graded and approved by instructor first.30%
ReflectionMedia criticism and ethical issues: written and oral reflection15%
Attendance & Participation in NewsroomActive participation and attendance is crucial for your work progress. Three late arrivals count as an absence. Three unexcused absences result in the loss of a letter grade.10%

-ASSESSMENT CRITERIA:
A:Work of this quality directly addresses the question or problem raised and provides a coherent argument displaying an extensive knowledge of relevant information or content. This type of work demonstrates the ability to critically evaluate concepts and theory and has an element of novelty and originality. There is clear evidence of a significant amount of reading beyond that required for the course.
B:This is highly competent level of performance and directly addresses the question or problem raised.There is a demonstration of some ability to critically evaluatetheory and concepts and relate them to practice. Discussions reflect the student’s own arguments and are not simply a repetition of standard lecture andreference material. The work does not suffer from any major errors or omissions and provides evidence of reading beyond the required assignments.
C:This is an acceptable level of performance and provides answers that are clear but limited, reflecting the information offered in the lectures and reference readings.
D:This level of performances demonstrates that the student lacks a coherent grasp of the material.Important information is omitted and irrelevant points included.In effect, the student has barely done enough to persuade the instructor that s/he should not fail.
F:This work fails to show any knowledge or understanding of the issues raised in the question. Most of the material in the answer is irrelevant.

-ATTENDANCE REQUIREMENTS:
ATTENDANCE REQUIREMENTS AND EXAMINATION POLICY 

You cannot make-up a major exam (midterm or final) without the permission of the Dean’s Office. The Dean’s Office will grant such permission only when the absence was caused by a serious impediment, such as a documented illness, hospitalization or death in the immediate family (in which you must attend the funeral) or other situations of similar gravity. Absences due to other meaningful conflicts, such as job interviews, family celebrations, travel difficulties, student misunderstandings or personal convenience, will not be excused. Students who will be absent from a major exam must notify the Dean’s Office prior to that exam. Absences from class due to the observance of a religious holiday will normally be excused. Individual students who will have to miss class to observe a religious holiday should notify the instructor by the end of the Add/Drop period to make prior arrangements for making up any work that will be missed. The final exam period runs until December 14.

Students will not be penalized for three absences from classes meeting twice a week.

Attendance grade will be deducted by 5 points for each additional absence beyond the three absences.

Three late arrivals (or early dismisslas) count as one absence. 

Please refer to the JCU Student Handbook and Dean of Students communication emails for updates on COVID-19 protocol.

 

 

ACADEMIC HONESTY
As stated in the university catalog, any student who commits an act of academic dishonesty will receive a failing grade on the work in which the dishonesty occurred. In addition, acts of academic dishonesty, irrespective of the weight of the assignment, may result in the student receiving a failing grade in the course. Instances of academic dishonesty will be reported to the Dean of Academic Affairs. A student who is reported twice for academic dishonesty is subject to summary dismissal from the University. In such a case, the Academic Council will then make a recommendation to the President, who will make the final decision.
STUDENTS WITH LEARNING OR OTHER DISABILITIES
John Cabot University does not discriminate on the basis of disability or handicap. Students with approved accommodations must inform their professors at the beginning of the term. Please see the website for the complete policy.

SCHEDULE

Our journalism experience consists of 28 sessions across 14 weeks. Moodle and MS Teams are the main platforms of the course.  

 

Course material: handouts, manuals, script templates and numerous Internet resources including an ethics course. You are expected to read and used all material.


Please refer to our Moodle course for a detailed bi-weekly breakdown of each session, with resources, activities and assignments and other course material.  Each in-class session requires both preparation and follow up (homework).  

 

COURSE BOOOK: For further reference of instructor’s classes the recommended books are:  The Online Journalism Handbook: Skills to Survive and Thrive in the Digital Age by Paul Bradshaw, 2017 / Journalism: Principles and Practice by Tony Harcup, 2020. Buying these book is not mandatory but HIGHLY ENCOURAGED for extra support and reading material. See Moodle for Google docs link.


Sessions: Each session covers a different topic towards your news story publication.  If you miss one session you miss important content and are expected to catch up from the respective Moodle week asap. 


Homework: In preparation to your pitch, coverage and news writing, you are expected to work outside the sessions on each project on a daily/weekly basis according to weekly material on Moodle.

 

Electronic equipment policy-  With the exception for learning accommodations or a class activity, the use of electronic equipment such as laptops, tablets, or phones is not allowed during class unless notified. Save battery and engage with your classmates and instructor.

 

Late submission policy- Late submissions will incur in a penalty of 3 percentage points per calendar day. 

 

 
 

Week

 
 

Session

 
 

Date

 
 

Topic

 
 

Activity

 
 

Homework

 
 

Deadlines

 
 
 
 

One

 
 

1

 
 

T / Sept. 6

 
 

 

What’s NEWS

 

5 W’s + How+ Why

So What?

 

News values

Storytelling

Myths and narratives

A “new objectivity”

 
 

 

Lecture

 

Media bias charts

 

Identifying news values according to the Ws

 

 

 
 

 

Headlines forum


Fact, Analysis, Opinion online activity

 

 
 


Moodle welcome

 

Read syllabus

 
 
 
 

One

 
 

2

 
 

TH / Sept. 8

 
 

 

NEWS dissection

 

Your “type” of BEAT

 

hard and soft news

 

Are features, opinion, and analysis news?

 

Types of journalism

 

 
 

Lecture

 

 

Reading stories

Research

 
 

 

Readings:

Breaking news Pulitzer

 

Feature story

 

Analysis article (why + so what)

 

Opinion NYT video

 

 

 
 


 
 
 
 

Two

 
 

3

 
 

T / Sept. 13

 
 

Where do stories come from?

 

Common sources

And strategies

 
 

RESEARCH

WORKSHOP

 
 

 

Resources andactivities to prepare for news pitch

 
 


 
 
 
 

Two

 
 

4

 
 

TH / Sept. 15

 
 

Story’s:

 

Timeliness (when)

Prominence (who)

Importance (what)

Location (where)

 
 

 

Pitching potential stories according to news values

Newsroom session

 

 
 

Finding your story 


 
 

 

 
 
 
 

Two

 

make up

 
 

5

 
 

F / Sept. 16

 
 

 

Newsroom session- COVERAGE PLAN

 

 
 

 

Strategizing for a successful pitch and story

 

 
 

Preparing for news pitch

 
 

 

 
 
 
 

Three

 
 

6

 
 

T / Sept. 20

 
 

 

THE NEWS PITCH

 

 

 

 

 
 

 

Discussing pitches for approval

 

 
 

Confirming sources are reachable


 
 

 


 
 
 
 

Three

 
 

7

 
 

TH / Sept. 22

 
  PITCH FORUM

 

 

 
 

Research

and contacts

strategies

 
 

 

 

Poynter course

 

 
 

 PITCH DUE

Monday Sept. 26,  before midnight.

 

 
 
 
 

Four

 
 

8

 
 

T / Sept. 27

 
 

Strategizing

COVERAGE: Mapping types of SOURCES

 

 

 
 

Lecture

 

Q & A

 

 
 


Read codes of conduct / public interest

 
 

CONTACT SOURCES for APPOINTMENTS

 
 
 
 

Four

 
 

9

 
 

TH/ Sept. 29

 
 

 

Media Ethics:

 

journalist’s code of conduct

 

 
 

Lecture

 

 
 

Ethics Poynter Course: case studies

 

 
 


 
 
 
 

Five

 
 

10

 
 

T / Oct. 4

 
 

 

NEWS REPORTING

 

Types of interview

Methodology, protocol, etiquette

 

 
 

Consent

 

On and off the record

 

 
 


Map sources

 
 

MAKE APPOINT-

MENTS

 
 
 
 

Five

 
 

11

 
 

TH / Oct. 6

 
 

News story research: backround, precedents,

interviewees

 
 

Workshop

 
 

 

Research sources

news / background

 


 
 

 

 
 
 
 

Six

 
 

12

 
 

T / Oct. 11

 
 

Interviewing

techniques

 
 

 

 
 

 

Research sources

 
 

 

 

 
 
 
 

Six

 
 

13

 
 

TH / Oct. 13

 
 

 

Interviewing

Techniques /

Post interviewing steps

 

 
 

 

 
 

 

 
 


 
 
 
 

Seven

 
 

14

 
 

T / Oct. 18

 
 

On-site coverage

Audio and video, name collecting

 

 
 

 

 
 

 


 
 

Prepare for coverage

 
 
 
 

Seven

 
 

15

 
 

TH / Oct. 20

 
 

NEWS WRITING

 

 
 

Story organization

 

 
 

Inverted pyramid activity


 
 


COVERAGE

 INTERVIEWING

 
 
 
 

 

Seven

 

make

up


 
 

16

 
 

F / Oct. 21

 
 

News writing

 

 
 

 

Associated Press Style (AP)

 

 
 

AP activity

 
 


Coverage

 
 
 
 

Eight

 
 

17

 
 

T / Oct. 25

 
 

 

News writing

 

 

 

 
 

Attribution and quoting

 

 
 

A/Q activity

 


 
 


Coverage

 
 
 
 

Eight

 
 

18

 
 

TH / Oct. 27

 
 

Types of quoting and attribution in news writing

 

 
 

 

Attribution and quoting

 

 

 
 

Drafting

 
 

Coverage

 
 
 
 

Nine

 
 

 

NO

CLASS


 
 

T / Nov. 1

 
 

 

 
 

 

 
 


 
 


 
 
 
 

Nine

 
 


19


 
 

TH /

Nov. 3

 
 

News writing


 
 

VisualsCaptions

 

Copyright

 

 
 

Activity

 


 
 


Writing

 
 
 
 

Ten

 
 

20

 
 

T / Nov. 8

 
 

 

News writing


 
 

Leads & Headlines

 
 

Activity


 
 


Writing


 
 
 
 

Ten

 
 

21

 
 

TH /

Nov. 10

 
 

News writing

 

 
 

 

Leads & Headlines

 

 
 


Drafting

 
 



SUBMIT NEWS

DRAFT

(midterm grade)

 

 
 
 
 

Eleven

 
 

22

 
 

T /

Nov. 15

 
 

Cleaning copy

 

 
 


Fact Checking

 

 

 
 


 
 



 
 
 
 

Eleven

 
 

23

 
 

TH /

Nov. 17

 
 

Cleaning copy

 
 


Fact Checking

 

 

 

 
 

Workshop


 
 


Self-editing

 
 
 
 

Twelve

 
 

24

 
 

T / Nov. 22

 
 

News writing/

Cleaning copy

 
 

 

Hyperlink/ Embedding

Captions

 


 
 

Drafting

 
 

Self-editing

 
 
 
 

Twelve

 
 

NO CLASS

 
 

TH /

Nov. 24

 
 

Digital copy

 
 

 

Simplifying / Spacing

Word count


 
 

Drafting

 
 


FINAL COPY
DUE  (CLOUD) BEFORE MIDNIGHT

 
 
 
 

Thirteen

 
 

25

 
 

T /

Nov. 29

 
 

 

Media Criticism: 

gatekeeping, agenda-setting, news framing and priming, firts-impression bias, mean-world syndrome, hypodermic needle theory

 


 

 

 
 

Lecture

 
 


 
 

 

 
 
 
 

Thirteen

 
 

26

 
 

TH /

Dec. 1

 
 

Media Criticism

A New Objectivity

 

Independent journalism, investigative journalism citizen journalism, advocacy jouranlism

 

 
 

Lecture

 

 
 


Readings

 

 
 


 
 
 
 

Thirteen

make up

 
 

27

 
 

F / Dec. 2

 
 

 

Political economy of Mass Media: Public Relations and the poltics of mass media, Manufacturing consent,               

              CHURNALISM, 

 

 
 

Lecture

 

 
Documentary
 
 


 
 
 
 

Fourteen

 
 

28

 
 

T/ Dec. 6

 

 
 

 

Public Relations: history

 

The other side of the news

Bernay's propaganda

 

 
 

Lecture

 

 

 
 


Discussion

 
 

LAST

SESSION

 
 
 
 

Fourteen

 
 

NO CLASS

 
 

TH /

Dec. 8

 
 

First Amendment,Censorship, Hate SpeechPublic Interest Torts (Privacy, Defamation, Copyright)

 

 

 
 

 

 
 

 

 
 

 

 
 
 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
 


 
 


 
 


 
 


 
 


T/ Dec. 13

noon -

2:30 p.m.

 

REFLECTION

PAPER and DISCUSSION