Reinventing Media

Syllabus: JEM 222 (University of Tennessee)

Page history last edited by laurenspuhler@... 11 mos ago

Syllabus for JEM 222: Online Journalism

Tuesday/Thursday 2:10-3:25, Room 310

Instructor

Lauren Spuhler

laurenspuhler@gmail.com

Office: 4th floor, Suite 426, Room 428

Office hours by email appointment

Professional Adjunct

Peggy Collins

Class website: http://reinventingmedia.pbwiki.com

Blog: http://jem222.blogspot.com/

Tennessee Journalist: http://www.tnjn.com and https://www.tnjn.com/admin

This course introduces students to the concepts and skills necessary for reporting news for an online publication. It is strongly recommended that students take JEM 200: Intro to reporting before enrolling in this class. It is also mandatory that students be proficient with AP style, grammar and spelling.

The major concepts this course will explore:

Reporting for an online publication. You will learn how to think about writing for the web.

Basic HTML. An intro to HTML is important for any budding journalist; we will also learn some basic editing techniques required for publishing online.

Image, audio and video production for the web.

Grades

Final grade for the course is based on the following:

In-class writing assignments (10%)

Blog essays (20%)

Out-of-class assignments(40%)

Final projects (20%)

Attendance and participation (10%)

Basic requirements

Be prepared for class. Do your assignments. No late assignments will be accepted. This class operates with deadlines.
Attend EVERY class. In-class assignments cannot be made up.
Engage. Be prepared to work with your classmates - share your ideas, give and receive critical feedback.

Academic Policy

The university's policies regarding academic conduct can be found in the official Hilltopics Handbook (PDF). Plagiarism, misrepresentation and any form of cheating is unacceptable and is considered a serious offense. Don't push your luck.

Text

Inside Reporting, Tim Harrower, 2007

AP Stylebook and Briefing on Media Law

Week 1: Getting started

Aug. 21

Syllabus review
Introduction to professional adjunct, Peggy Collins
What's news to you? What makes a story?
How the newsroom works, roles today, roles of the future

Week 2: Reporting 101 review

Aug. 26

Go over Q&As of classmates

Newswriting basics
Where does opinion belong?
The five W's (+ H)
The inverted pyramid

In-class Q&A exercise: Partner up with someone you don't know. Ask them questions and write their answers down as accurately as you can. You want to find out information that would be valuable in this class. What are their career aspirations? Why are they interested in online news? Do they even want to go into journalism? Be sure to ask "follow-up" questions in order to get some more details about something you find interesting. Be sure to have 5-6 questions.

Assignment: Type up your questions and answers and bring a print out to class. Watch your spelling, grammar and AP style.

Reading Assignment: Read Harrower, Chapter 2 & 3

Assignment: Start thinking about someone you'd like to interview for a Q and A Assignment.

Read "Linking makes the web go round" and be prepared to start adding links to your assignments.

Aug. 28

Interviewing, quoting, sources.
Blogging - how to's for journalists
Writing Q&A's, quizzes and lists/tips.
Technical training: Blogger.com + HTML basics, class blog

Assignment: Write a Q and A Assignment and take at least one picture. We'll post these on TNJN on Thursday, Sept. 4 so have everything ready to roll in class.

Week 3: Reporting fo the Web

Sept. 2

Writing basic news leads

Reporting for the web
Multimedia storytelling and online story formats
EPIC 2015
Audience, medium, message

Assignment: Finish up Q&A assignments; see class blog for first blog assignment, also due on Thursday.

Sept. 4

DUE: Q&As

Finding story ideas - where do they come from?
LAB: Intro to HTML. Links and linking, styles ands and posting stories to TNJN.com.

Assignment: News brief event/TBA

For Thursday, email 3 photos to yourself as attachments or bring them in on a memory stick. We'll be learning to put together slide shows on Thursday and you'll need something to work with.

Week 4: Writing Web headlines

Sept. 9

Review: Blogs
Lecture: Writing headlines, abstracts for the Web
Go over ideas for news brief event story

IN-CLASS: First headline quiz

Assignment: Write a News brief assignment. Interview 2 sources and strive for 2-3 links. Due in class on Thursday

For Thursday, email 3 photos to yourself or bring them to class on a memory stick. We'll be learning to put together slide shows in class and you'll need something to work with.

Sept. 11

DUE: News brief assignment
Review first headline quizzes
Lecture: Photo storytelling

Week 5: Photos online

Sept. 16

Lecture: Photo storytelling

Return Q&As

Headline quiz

Basic Photoshop exercise

Assignment: Photo slideshow assignment, due Tuesday, Sept. 23.

See instructions for creating a slide show in TNJN.com: creating_slideshows.doc

***Submit a sequence of 10-13 photographs that tell a story. Write headline, summary, introduction (3-4 grafs). Write captions for all photos.

Sept. 18

Return headline quizzes, news event stories
Lab: Creating slide shows, other sidebar content in TNJN.
Work on photo stories

Week 6: Covering the news

Sept. 23

Go over headline quizzes, news stories
Critique photo slideshows together as a class; discuss issues with TNJN

DUE: Photo stories

Blog assignment: See class blog for my latest blog entry. Read it over, figure out Tennessee's policy and offer your own analysis. Due on class blog at the start of class Thursday, Sept. 25

Assignment: Covering Breaking News

Sept. 25 : CLASS CANCELLED - Lauren sick

Lecture: User-generated content (UCG), social media
Blog assignment on UCG and social media
Headline quiz
Assignment: Covering Breaking News, due Tues., Sept. 30

Week 7: Audio/video storytelling

Sept. 30

DUE: Covering Breaking news assignment
Lecture: Audio/video "how to's": Working with sound and B-roll, how to shoot video, things to avoid, examples of effective Web video
ASSIGNMENT: Split into groups of two or three and figure out how to get access to a video camera - either through school library, JEM rental office inside main JEM 333 or personal one. Whichever camera you use, it must operate with Mini DV tapes. Bring to class Thursday for an in-class assignment. If you do not have an account set up on YouTube, set one up. We'll be posting videos on YouTube throughout the semester.

Oct. 2

ASSIGNMENT: Man-on-the-street video assignment

Week 8: Video storytelling (cont.)

Oct. 7

In-class instruction: Editing video using iMovie and FinalCutPro. Edit man-on-street videos, upload to YouTube and post embed code in TNJN article. Include a headline and a brief about what question the subjects are answering. Share videos in class if time permits

Oct. 9 - NO CLASS; FALL BREAK

Week 9: Video storytelling (cont.)

Oct. 14

In-class video review and discussion
Lecture: User-generated content, social media and blogging

Read: Tips on computer efficiency (From NYT's David Pogue - handy tips sheet to brush up with)

The media forgets it is in the being useful business (from Jack Lail, managing editor of Knoxnews.com)

Mainstream News Outlets Start Linking to Other Sites (NY Times)

Oct. 16

Guest speaker: Katie Allison Granju: Project manager with Scripps, local blogger and published author.

Continue lecture on user-generated content, social media and blogging

Blog assignment: Respond to Katie's lecture. What did you learn that was new, interesting? Pick one topic she discussed or offer up a response to the discussion as whole. Due by Tuesday on the blog.