News writing: You will write two stories (Investigative and Profile) from actual sources and several in-class from provided facts. A number of these stories, including the Investigative and profile stories, will go through two drafts. It’s important to remember that you must check facts and spelling of names in your stories. Mistakes happen, but they should be avoided at all costs. These assignments that must be typed must be turned in on time or your grade will suffer. No handwritten assignments – ever. I will ONLY accept late assignments the class after they are due, and if there is no solid reason for the absence, the assignment will be marked down. Source lists: All stories you hand in must have a list of sources and their contact information.

Investigative Story

Pick an interesting student as the subject of your investigation or a John Cabot academic department. You should not be intimately related to your subject. I You may write about a department in which you are a major or minor. Again, I will approve your subject.

Background information and description should be worked gracefully into the story where appropriate. Don’t just dump the information or description in one section.

Quizzes/Assignments

You will have news/ quizzes. The quizzes will test whether you have been following the news.

Final Exam: You will take a final exam that covers information you have absorbed from lectures and your own hard work.

Class Participation: You should take active part in the class discussions and have exercises, reading and stories done on time. You, as a reporter, should be curious and you should ask questions - there are no stupid questions.

News writing: You will write two stories (Investigative and Profile) from actual sources and several in-class from provided facts. A number of these stories, including the Investigative and profile stories, will go through two drafts. It’s important to remember that you must check facts and spelling of names in your stories. Mistakes happen, but they should be avoided at all costs. These assignments that must be typed must be turned in on time or your grade will suffer. No handwritten assignments – ever. I will ONLY accept late assignments the class after they are due, and if there is no solid reason for the absence, the assignment will be marked down. Source lists: All stories you hand in must have a list of sources and their contact information.

Profile Story

Pick an interesting student as the subject of your profile, or a John Cabot academic department. You should not be intimately related to your subject. I You may write about a department in which you are a major or minor. Again, I will approve your subject.

A profile is not a biography or history. It focuses on news or some point of interest. For a person profile, you must interview the subject plus at least three people who know him or her. Gather background information as appropriate – biographical dates, personal statistics, club budget, number of majors and faculty in a department.

The profile should state the interesting quality of the person in the lead, perhaps through a scene or anecdote. Background information and description should be worked gracefully into the story where appropriate. Don’t just dump the information or description in one section.

Quizzes/Assignments

You will have news/ quizzes. The quizzes will test whether you have been following the news.

Final Exam: You will take a final exam that covers information you have absorbed from lectures and your own hard work.

ASSESSMENT CRITERIA:
Attendance: More than THREE absences makes “B” your maximum grade. This policy should cover most emergencies during the semester – please contact me via e-mail or on my cell phone if you will be out. Journalism is a deadline field.  If you find you will be missing more classes, you must contact me during the emergency and outline your plans for keeping up. It is not acceptable to miss additional classes and hand in work at the end of the semester. Please be on time, I will take attendance each class and if you are late it’s your responsibility to tell me that you’re present.

Class Participation: You should take active part in the class discussions and have exercises, reading and stories done on time. You, as a reporter, should be curious and you should ask questions - there are no stupid questions.

Attendance/Class Participation 
20 percent

INVESTIGATIVE STORY 
15 percent

Profile Story 
20 percent

Assignments/Quizzes 
20 percent

Final Exam 
25 percent

-ASSESSMENT CRITERIA:
Attendance: More than THREE absences makes “B” your maximum grade. This policy should cover most emergencies during the semester – please contact me via e-mail or on my cell phone if you will be out. Journalism is a deadline field.  If you find you will be missing more classes, you must contact me during the emergency and outline your plans for keeping up. It is not acceptable to miss additional classes and hand in work at the end of the semester. Please be on time, I will take attendance each class and if you are late it’s your responsibility to tell me that you’re present.

Class Participation: You should take active part in the class discussions and have exercises, reading and stories done on time. You, as a reporter, should be curious and you should ask questions - there are no stupid questions.

News writing: You will write two stories (Investigative and Profile) from actual sources and several in-class from provided facts. A number of these stories, including the Investigative and profile stories, will go through two drafts. It’s important to remember that you must check facts and spelling of names in your stories. Mistakes happen, but they should be avoided at all costs. These assignments that must be typed must be turned in on time or your grade will suffer. No handwritten assignments – ever. I will ONLY accept late assignments the class after they are due, and if there is no solid reason for the absence, the assignment will be marked down. Source lists: All stories you hand in must have a list of sources and their contact information.

Profile Story

Pick an interesting student as the subject of your profile, or a John Cabot academic department. You should not be intimately related to your subject. I You may write about a department in which you are a major or minor. Again, I will approve your subject.

A profile is not a biography or history. It focuses on news or some point of interest. For a person profile, you must interview the subject plus at least three people who know him or her. Gather background information as appropriate – biographical dates, personal statistics, club budget, number of majors and faculty in a department.

The profile should state the interesting quality of the person in the lead, perhaps through a scene or anecdote. Background information and description should be worked gracefully into the story where appropriate. Don’t just dump the information or description in one section.

Quizzes/Assignments

You will have news/ quizzes. The quizzes will test whether you have been following the news.

Final Exam: You will take a final exam that covers information you have absorbed from lectures and your own hard work.

CLASS SCHEDULE and ASSIGNMENTS

Week 1
Course Introduction :  Take a stab, Interview the Professor, Try to Catch Her Lies. Intro to the First Amendment: Freedom of Speech and its History in the US; Freedom of Speech in Italy, France, the UK, Russia, China.

Reading: Rich, Chap. 1 

Basic news story and story ideas:. Libel, Slander, Differences and Similarities. What you can and cannot write. What you can and cannot say. NY Times Vs Sullivan. Roman Polanski vs. Vanity Fair. The UK vs the US: why it’s important to publish mainly in America.. Defamation in Italy: a scary subject!

Analysis of INVESTIGATIVE story
Reading: Rich, Chap. 2 and 3

Week 2
Sources and interviewing techniques
Hand in an idea for an investigative piece. Please write a few paragraphs describing the news issue, why it is newsworthy and what angles you would pursue. 
Reading: Rich, Chap. 4 and 5

Leads and nut graphs
Clip a hard news lead and an anecdotal lead. 
Reading: Rich, Chap. 6 and 7

Week 3
Story structure
Reading: Rich, Chap. 8 

INVESTIGATIVE story, draft 1, due

Week 4
Storytelling and features

Reading: Rich, Chap. 9

Accuracy and media law
Reading: Rich Chap. 13

Week 5 
Ethics: Rupert Murdoch; Phone-hacking; Pretexting.
Reading: Rich, Chap. 14 

Week 6
Lab 

INVESTIGATIVE story, final draft, due

Global journalism
Reading: Rich, Chap. 16

Week 7
Profiles
Profile assignment
Analysis of a profile
Reading: Rich, Chap. 22

Prepare two ideas for a profile. Please write a few paragraphs describing why the person is interesting and what would be your news peg. Be ready to discuss in class, a decision on your subject will be made today. Clip a profile from a newspaper or magazine.

Week 8
Web journalism
Reading: Rich, Chap. 12

Week 9
Lab
Profile assignment, draft 1, due [NO EXCEPTIONS]

Week 10
Beat reporting
Reading: Rich, Chap. 17

Government/Crime stories 
Reading: Rich, Chap. 19 and 20

Week 11
Business News

Outside Reporting Assignment

Week 12
Lab 
Profile

Profile assignment, final draft, due [NO EXCEPTIONS]

Week 13
Broadcast writing
Reading: Rich, Chap. 11

Public Relations
Reading: Rich, Chap. 10

Week 14
Media jobs, internships and resumes
Reading: Rich, Chap. 23