Syllabus – JNL 1102, Reporting and Writing I Professor Linda Austin | National Management College | June 2015 | laustin.nmc@gmail.com

Learning objectives: What you will be able to do after successfully completing this course:

Identify stories that possess the attributes of good journalism: accurate, clear, audience-focused, newsworthy, objective, fair, as well as reported ethically and without libel.

Demonstrate basic news writing skills, including writing summary news leads and inverted-pyramid stories, using attribution and quotes correctly, as well as including context and background.

Demonstrate basic reporting skills, including interviewing diverse individuals, showing a command of basic math, and using traditional reference materials, the Internet, social media and databases as sources.

Course description: This introductory news reporting course will teach you the basic reporting and writing skills that you will need for further study in reporting for multiple platforms -- print, broadcasting, online and mobile -- or for practicing public relations. Required texts and other materials:

Writing and Reporting News: A Basic Handbook, second edition, by Peter Eng and Jeff Hodson, 2009, for the Indochina Media Memorial Foundation. The Burmese-language version will be distributed in class. Burmese- and English-language versions can also be downloaded as PDFs at the first two links near the bottom of this Web page: http://bit.ly/1GC1bKP

Accuracy Checklist for Journalists, which will be provided.

Follow the news: You cannot be a successful journalist if you don’t keep up with the news. The BBC has a Facebook page of news in Burmese: https://www.facebook.com/bbcburmese The Irrawaddy also has a Facebook page of news in Burmese: https://www.facebook.com/IrrawaddyBurmese

Read both, and come prepared to discuss current events in class. There will be a news quiz most weeks based on these two sources. You can also get a daily email in English of links to news about Burma from a variety of sources by subscribing at Burmanet.org.

Reporter’s notebooks, steno pads or legal pads and at least two pens are required to take notes for assignments.

A digital audio recorder is highly recommended but not required. If you have an Android smartphone, you can use it as a recorder by downloading either of these free apps: Easy Voice Recorder by Digipom -- http://bit.ly/1JOB3N5 -- or Sound Recorder by Needom Studio: http://bit.ly/1GsQojp

The above apps do not work to record phone calls; try the free Automatic Call Recorder by Appliqato for recording phone calls: http://bit.ly/1FuC79C. Despite its name, you can chose which calls you record. Always ask permission of the other party before recording a phone call.

If you have a smartphone, download the free Quizlet app: http://bit.ly/1AbndiE Then, search for: “Vocabulary Words from ‘Writing and Reporting the News: A Basic Handbook,’ by Peter Eng and Jeff Hodson”: https://quizlet.com/_19v9g1 You will find several ways to learn the 23 vocabulary words including flash cards and games. After you’ve accessed the vocabulary-word set once, you can use the Quizlet app without being connected to the Internet. There will be a vocabulary quiz on June 22 based on these 23 words, which form the glossary on page xiv of Writing and Reporting the News: A Basic Handbook.

Other useful books include a dictionary and a thesaurus.

Attendance: You are expected to be in every class, and you are expected to arrive on time. There are no excused absences or lateness, and no makeup work will be given. If you are not present for a

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quiz or in-class assignment, you will not receive credit. This includes homework with an in-class component assigned when you are absent. The dropped-grade (below) is designed to account for missed assignments due to illnesses and emergencies. Assignments: You will do most of your reporting and much of your writing in the classroom. Generally, your instructor will be the source for your story – he/she will provide you with basic information, and you will report the story by asking questions. At other times, the instructor will bring someone into the classroom for you to interview, or you will watch a news conference or other event and then write about it. You will write a number of your stories in class on tight deadlines. At other times, you will begin writing your assigned story in class, where you can get feedback from the instructor on your lead, structure, etc., and then you will take your story home to complete by a designated deadline. Outside writing assignment: As part of the final exam, you will produce an out-of-class enterprise assignment. You will pitch a simple enterprise story idea to your instructor, who must approve the assignment. Then, once your instructor approves the idea, you will go out and report the story, doing real interviews with at least three sources, and turn in a story of 600-800 words. You must submit a draft for your instructor’s review before turning in the final story. The story pitch is due July 27; the draft is due Aug. 21, and the final story is due Sept. 4. The outside writing assignment cannot be dropped. Quizzes and tests: During the first class period of most weeks, there will be a graded quiz covering current news events, lectures and textbook readings from the previous week. While there is no traditional midterm or final exam, you will be given midterm and final writing assignments that must be completed in class during the exam time without consultation with the instructor; the midterm and final writing assignments cannot be dropped. The outside writing assignment will be considered the take-home portion of the final exam. Class participation: I strongly encourage you to ask questions and participate in class discussions. We are all learning together, and your questions may well help others. Accuracy: Since accuracy is the most important aspect of journalism, we will adhere to rigid standards. Any major error of fact – a misspelled proper name, an erroneous phone number, an incorrect address, a libelous statement or a misstatement of a major fact (in other words, anything that would require a printed correction if the story were to appear in a newspaper) – will result in a zero on that assignment. Deadlines: Since this course is designed to immerse students in the world of journalism, we will replicate the tight and unbending deadlines of a real newsroom. That means assignments must be submitted by the designated time. No late assignments will be accepted; you will receive a zero. Dropped-grades policy: Your two lowest grades on in-class writing assignments and your two lowest quiz grades will be dropped. This means that if you must miss a class and you receive a “zero” on that assignment or quiz, the grade may be dropped. The outside writing assignment and midterm and final writing assignments cannot be dropped, and your instructor may decide that other assignments or quizzes throughout the semester also may not be dropped. You will be told ahead of time which assignments these are.

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Grading of stories: Stories that have no factual errors and are submitted on time will be evaluated on the following criteria: lead (intro), content, attribution, organization and writing. Here is a chart that describes how stories will be graded; the highest score for a story is 100 points: Scoring criteria: how many points

Excellent: 20 to 16 points

Good: 15 to 11 points

Fair: 10 to 6 points

Poor: 5 to 0 points

Lead (intro): Draws readers into the story; is concise yet complete.

Content: Contains fair, accurate, objective, timely information that is relevant to the audience.

Attribution: Uses multiple sources; includes all relevant viewpoints; use quotations and identifies sources properly.

Organization: Has the impact before the details, the new info before the background. The story is complete, has context and answers most readers’ questions.

Writing: Is clear, concise and easy to understand. Follows spelling, punctuation and grammar rules.

Your final grade will be determined as follows:

Tutorial #1 6 marks

Quizzes

In-class writing assignments

Class participation

Tutorial #2 8 marks

Midterm in-class writing assignment

Tutorial #3 6 marks

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Quizzes

In-class writing assignments

Class participation

Final exam 80 marks

In-class writing assignment on final exam day Outside writing assignment based on story pitch

TOTAL 100 marks

Scale for final course grades: GP 5=75 marks and above; GP 4=74 to 64 marks; GP 3=64-50 marks; GP 2=49-35 marks; GP 1=34 to 0 marks Classroom etiquette: Cell phones and all other mobile devices must be turned off during class. Please do not interrupt others when they are speaking. Academic integrity: If any student is found to have engaged in academic dishonesty in any form – including but not limited to cheating, plagiarizing and fabricating – that student shall receive a GP 1 for the class. Plagiarism consists of using someone else’s words, phrases, sentences or ideas without giving credit. This is true whether you do it intentionally or inadvertently. Course schedule: Be sure to read textbook assignments before the week dedicated to that topic so you can contribute to the discussion. All chapters are from Writing and Reporting News: A Basic Handbook by Peter Eng and Jeff Hodson. This schedule is subject to change.

Week Dates Chapter title and subject for the week

Chapter to read BEFORE week starts Quiz/exam dates

Due dates for important assignments

1 June 1-5 Journalists and the news 1 June 5: Syllabus quiz

June 3: Return student questionnaire

2 June 8-12 Basic requirements of good stories

4 June 8: Quiz on news, lectures and readings from previous week

3 June 15-19 Basic story structure 3 June 15: Quiz on news, lectures and readings from previous week

4 June 22-26 The lead 8 June 22: Vocabulary quiz

5 June 29-July 3

Organizing the story 9 June 29: Quiz on news, lectures and readings from previous week

6 July 6-10 Using quotations 10 July 6: Quiz on news, lectures and readings from previous week

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7 July 13-17 Tips on good writing 11 July 13: Quiz on news, lectures and readings from previous week

8 July 20-24 Finding sources and story ideas

2 July 20: In-class midterm writing assignment

9 July 27-30 Observation 5 July 27: Quiz on news, lectures and readings from previous week

July 27: Story pitch due

July 31 HOLIDAY – No class

10 Aug. 3-7 Interviewing techniques 6 Aug. 3: Quiz on news, lectures and readings from previous week

11 Aug. 10-14 Using documents and the Internet

7 Aug. 10: Quiz on news, lectures and readings from previous week

12 Aug. 17-21 News releases 12 Aug. 17: Quiz on news, lectures and readings from previous week

Aug. 21: Draft story due

13 Aug. 24-28 Covering meetings, speeches, news conferences

13 Aug. 24: Quiz on basic math

14 Aug. 31-Sept. 4

Writing for digital media 16 Aug. 31: Quiz on news, lectures and readings from previous week

Sept. 4: Final story due

15 Sept. 7-11 Ethics 15 Sept. 7: Quiz on news, lectures and readings from previous week

16 Sept. 14-18 Final exam In-class final exam writing assignment