JOURN 4740- News for Telecommunications
Friday 9am- – 11:30
Spring 2009
Instructor: Doug Richards
Office Hours: By appointment
Office: 662 One Park Place
Telephone: 404.775.7140 cell, before 10pm please
e-mail: apartmentfire@gmail.com
Course objectives: As a college student, you already know how to write a coherent sentence. This class will show you how to do it as a news professional. This course will emphasize deadline writing and reporting, as well as production for broadcast media.
Expectations: You will be treated the way a broadcast professional would be treated. Deadlines are absolute. On-time class attendance is expected. Class discussions will enhance learning. The instructor will take attendance and note tardiness. Attendance and participation will be part of your grade. Each student is expected to know the day’s local and national headlines.
Course goals: After taking this course you will
• become proficient in broadcast news writing;
• know how to find and develop newsworthy stories;
• produce news stories that could be presented in television or radio newscasts, with an understanding for the production elements of sound, pictures and interviews.
• develop interviewing skills, including persuading subjects to be interviewed, and negotiating of confidentiality of source identity;
• develop critical skills to effectively evaluate the quality of contemporary broadcast news stories, and apply them to your own projects.
Text: A Broadcast News Manual of Style, by RH McDonald. ISBN 0-582-99865-4. Emphasis on Part II, with part IV as a style guide.
Lab Use, Supply cards, etc. The GSU Communications department requires all students enrolled in this course to purchase $100 worth of supply cards early in the semester to use video and recording equipment, and the Multimedia Lab (307-CS). Revenue from these cards is used toward the cost of supplies and maintenance.
Students will be allowed access to these resources only after they have
• Registered for the course
• Purchased and turned in the supply cards to the Instructor and
• Signed and submitted an Equipment Use Agreement to the instructor. The initialed supply cards, as well as the signed Equipment Use Agreement will be turned in to the instructor Friday January 16.
Supplies and Information
• Cameras and video accessories have been assigned to this class. There isn’t enough equipment for all course students to use at the same time. It is critical that you plan ahead for your equipment needs. The instructor will be the manager of the equipment inventory and have the final say in resource allocation.
• Equipment checkout schedules are posted at http://communications.gsu.edu/checkout/. We will be using Final Cut Pro, which is editing software embedded in the Media Lab’s Apple computers.
• The required forms are available to download and sign at http://communication.gsu.edu/undergradforms/
• Students will be responsible for purchasing their own external hard drive and a set of headphones / earbuds. An external hard drive will cost about $100. Students will also have to purchase thumb drives, which will be used to submit assignments.
• Students are not allowed to consume any food or beverages in the classroom / Media Lab.
• The instructor will maintain a blog at dougrichards.wordpress.com, posting video and class notes.
Class Schedule
Week 1, January 9: Introduction to class, syllabus, text and course materials. Instructor’s background. Will play one investigative piece, one feature, and show scripts. Basics of news writing. First in-class writing assignment.
Week 2, January 16: Broadcast newswriting. Raw video exercise. Collaborative writing assignment. Critique Monday January 19 NBC Nightly News 6:30pm on WXIA, and 7pm Evening News with Brenda Wood on WXIA. Submit by noon January 21.
Week 3, January 23: In-depth discussion of January 19 newscasts. Second in-class writing assignment.
Week 4, January 30– TV photography and editing. Guest speaker—longtime TV news photographer Mike Daly. Show raw video in class. Assignment: Write story based on raw video, turn it in by February 4.
Week 5, February 6: Discuss January 30 assignment. Story ideas for first TV project. Doug shows some feature pieces. Assignment: Submit 5 story ideas in February 6 class. Guest: Julie Wolfe, WXIA reporter.
Week 6, February 13– Class discussion of story ideas, finalize story idea for first TV assignment, due March 9. Digging for stories, conducting interviews. In-class writing assignment. Assignment: Watch WAGA’s 6pm news February 16, Submit critique by noon February 18.
Week 7, February 20 – Interviewing and news conferences. News conference with DeKalb Co. Sheriff Thomas Brown. Submit thirty-second story by end of class, longer-format piece by noon February 25.
Week 8, February 27—Visual storytelling, telling stories through people. Deadline for submitting script for project number one.
Spring Break
Week 9, March 13. Turn in project. Play projects in class. Guest critics.
Week 10, March 20. Submit story ideas for second project. Begin production of project #2, due April 10. Radio reporting. Guest speaker: WABE radio reporters Jim Burress and Odette Yusef. Write :30 story on their presentation by end of class.
Week 11, March 27. Mainstream media and the web. Guest – Chris Sweigart, WXIA. Write a :30 story about Sweigart’s presentation. Turn in by end of class. Submit script for project #2.
Week 12, April 3. Investigative reporting, the care and feeding of sources. Guest – Dana Fowle, WAGA. Write a :30 story about Fowle’s presentation. Turn in at end of class.
Week 13, April 10. Review project #2.
Week 14, April 17. Producing a newscast. Guest: Beth Black, WAGA. Watch and critique WSB’s 6pm news April 20. Turn in critique by noon April 22.
Week 15, April 24. The future of the news media. Guest speaker: Bud Veazey, former VP news, WAGA.
Week 16, May 1. Presentation of final TV project. Guest critics in house.
Grading:
Jan 9 in-class writing assignment: 1 percent
Jan 16 in-class writing assignment: 2 percent
Jan 19 critique of WXIA newscast: 2 percent – extra credit
Jan 30 Story based on raw video, 3 percent
Feb 6 Five story ideas: 2 percent
Feb 13 in-class writing assignment: 3 percent
Feb 16 WAGA critique: 3 percent- extra credit
Feb 20: :30 story on Thomas Brown newser, 2 percent
Feb 20: longer-format story on Brown newser, 3 percent
March 13 video project: 15 percent
March 20 Waters :30 story, 3 percent
March 27 Sweigart :30 story, 3 percent
April 3 Fowle story, 3 percent
April 10, video project, 20 percent
April 20 WSB newscast critique, 3 percent – extra credit
May 1 final project: 30 percent
Textbook quizzes: 2 percent
Attendance: 4 percent
Class participation: 4 percent
Unauthorized use of Twitter, Facebook, text messaging in class: minus five per infraction
Grading rubric for writing assignments:
Submitted on time: 100 points.
Missed deadline: Minus 100 points.
Lead sentence fails to deliver essence of story, or appropriately build story: minus 5
Use of jargon or non-conversational English: minus 5
Wordiness: minus 1 – 5
Spelling error: minus 5
Name misspelled: minus 10
Fact error: minus 10
Inappropriate source: minus 5
Confusing writing: minus 3
Improper / lack of attribution: minus 5
Overall absence of concision: minus 5 – 15
Overall absence of interesting writing: minus 5 – 15
Subjective assessment by instructor: plus or minus 5 – 20
Grading rubric for video assignments:
Submitted on time: 100 points
Missed deadline: Minus 100 points
Technical flaws (black holes, dead air etc): Minus 10
Visuals fail to support copy: minus 2 -5
Fact error: minus 10
Unattributed opinion: minus 10
Use of jargon: Minus 5
Subjective assessment by instructor: plus or minus 5 – 20
We bought some digital voice recorders for another class and they are available. I think there are 8 total. They are digital so the files can be moved to the Mac Pro’s. We were using transfer software but it was a pain so I’d like to see if I can get the file to transfer just by hooking up a cable to the recorder and the mac pro. We can probably have something ready for you by the middle of next week?