SAMPLE SYLLABUS

CONTEMPORARY JOURNALISM

 

Instructor:                  Dr. James Simon   www.faculty.fairfield.edu/jsimon

Class meets:            

My office:                  Donnarumma 106                    

My office phone:       203 254 4000, x2792

E-mail:                       jsimon@mail.fairfield.edu

Office hours:           

 

 

Welcome to Contemporary Journalism. This intermediate course will allow you to 1) build on skills you learned in the introductory News Writing course and to 2) gain the skills and experience needed to do well in a competitive internship or entry-level job in journalism or related fields. You will emerge with a more sophisticated sense of how journalists succeed -- and fail – in providing citizens with the information they need to make informed choices in our democracy. 

 

By the end of the course, you will:

  • Deepen your understanding of reporting basics like ethics, story design and quotations
  • Gain exposure to such story types and journalism essentials as news releases, press conferences, speeches, police and fire, math tools, and in-depth / investigative reporting
  • Gain experience addressing off-campus issues as part of a team reporting effort
  • Generate a publishable in-depth article on an issue of your choice
  • As part of a team effort, design a Code of Ethics for a college newspaper and investigative Freedom Of Information compliance
  • Develop your own web page and post at least two stories
  • Understand “the elements of journalism”

 

You will have a chance to show how much you learned  through varied activities:

v      Passing tests on the readings and AP stylebook

v      Writing stories on in-class press conferences

v      Take part in a Freedom of Information exercise that will result in a story

v      Writing an investigative or in-depth article

v      Creating a web page and rewriting your own stories in a style that takes advantage of the web

 

Prerequisites: ENW220 News Writing or permission of instructor; college-level skills in spelling, punctuation, grammar, writing and typing (projected 40 wpm). Familiarity with computer word processing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Required Materials:

v      Itule, B. D. & Anderson, D. A. (2003). News writing and reporting for today's media. (6th Ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill.

v      Itule, B. D. & Anderson, D. A. (2003). Workbook for news writing and reporting for today's media. (6th Ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill.

v      Goldstein, N. (Ed.)  AP Stylebook & Libel Manual.

v      Harris, Frank III(1999). The craft of quoting. Hamden, CT: FH3.

v      Kovach, B. & Rosensteil, T. (2001). The elements of journalism. New York: Three Rivers  Press.

v      Wickham, K.W. (2002). Math tools for journalists. Oak Park, IL: Marion Street Press.

v      Download Nieman Narrative Journalism Conference magazine:

                       http://www.nieman.harvard.edu/reports/02-1NRspring/02-1NRspring.pdf

v      one ream of inexpensive paper for downloading readings and making copies of your draft stories

 

Recommended: any pocket dictionary         

 

 

Class format.

 

  1. We will start by looking at recent ethical lapses in journalism and the need for journalists, young and old, to develop standards that can help guide their work. The class will take a Model Code of Ethics for college newspapers and shape it in a way that it could be applicable for Fairfield University.
  2. We then will review and expand on such journalism basics as story design, quoting, and math skills. Here we will focus on the Harris book, “The craft of quoting,” and Wickham’s “Math tools for journalists.”
  3. We will move to bring in experts to conduct in-class news conferences to deepen your understanding of the issues
  4. We will conduct a class project, checking whether the Freedom of Information Act is alive and well in Fairfield County. You will investigate two towns, help compute county-wide statistics, listen to an FOI expert and write a story
  5. You will learn The Elements of Journalism
  6. You will apply some of those elements in beginning work on an in-depth or investigative piece
  7. Finally, you will  take stories done for this class and adapt them for your own web page (which we will show you how to design).

 

 

Reflective Essays. For major stories, you will include a cover memo that gives you a chance to step back from the story and discuss your intent. In three to four paragraphs, discuss:

ü      The names of specific classmates, friends, others who have read this story and what  they contributed to this version

ü      What textbook/classroom lessons have been relevant (or misleading).

ü      How the story compared to others you may have done.

ü      What went right, what went wrong. What was easy, challenging, surprising.  

ü      What lessons you learned. What skills you still need to sharpen.

ü      Were my comments on the draft useful?

 

Grading Summary.

 

Two press conference stories @ 10 pts                    20 points

AP quiz                                                                          7 points

Test                                                                             10 points

FOI project                                                                  10 points

Elements chapter discussions                                   10 points

In-depth article                                                            23 points

            Budget line      10 percent

            Draft                40 percent

            Graded            50 percent

Web page                                                                   10 points

Class participation                                                      10 points

 

There is no formal mid-term exam, final exam or term paper.  Most students like this arrangement. But in return, you are expected to put extra time into this course throughout the 14 weeks of class.

 

 

Late assignments.  Deadlines are important in news writing. Students will suffer a loss of 10 points for each day a story is late, up to a maximum 20 points. After two days, the professor has the right not to accept a late story.

 

 

Grading guide. Here is the standard I use in grading your writing:

 

“A” – Outstanding achievement. Publishable as is. No significant style errors. Shows superior command of facts, judgment, organization and writing. On some level, extra-ordinary.

 

“B” – Superior; better than average. Handled assignment very well. Very few style errors. Copy only needs a bit of rewriting and polishing before it could be published.

 

“C” – Acceptable; average job. Not a story someone would read unless the information was really needed. Several style errors. Some basic organizational or writing problems. Needs significant rewriting.

 

“D” – Minimal achievement but passing. Poor piece. Lacks fundamental judgment and/or writing skills. Frequent style errors. Important facts omitted.

 

“F” – Failure of news writing assignment. This rarely occurs because constant rewriting and revision will catch most grievous errors.

 

 

Academic Honesty. Academic honesty is the foundation of academic life. You must do all of the work that you submit as your own and for which you receive credit. Anything less constitutes academic dishonesty. As the Fairfield Student Handbook states: “Any violation of academic integrity wounds the entire community and undermines the trust upon which the discovery and communication of knowledge depends.”

 

Examples of academic dishonesty in this class include, but are not limited to,:

 

  • Stealing answers off a classmate’s test or quiz
  • Submitting someone else’s writing or reporting as your own. Such plagiarism may consist of a single word, a block of background from an Internet source, or an entire story. We will discuss the ground rules in class.
  • Fabricating an interview or eyewitness account or failing to observe journalism conventions for handling quoted material (to be discussed in class).
  • Destruction or alteration of another student’s work.
  • Libeling an individual or committing an indefensible ethical violation.
  • Failing to tell a source that you are using their information for a class story that has the potential to be published
  • Providing so much assistance to a classmate that the classmate’s work reflects your effort as much as his/her work.
  • Asking me to comment on a story without my knowing you will submit the story for another class and use my comments to better your grade.

 

One of the most common violations of academic honesty is plagiarism. Plagiarism is the appropriation of ideas, data, work, or language of others and submitting them as one’s own to satisfy the requirements of a course.  Plagiarism constitutes theft and deceit. 

A student who commits academic dishonesty may be penalized with failure of the assignment or failure of the course. All violations must be reported in writing to the CAS dean’s office. The student also may be reprimanded or suspended from the University.

 

Dr. Simon adds: Let me underscore: do not pass off someone else's work as your own. It will be especially obvious in this class if you have a friend write your major news stories, then find yourself unable to write in class on your own.  But I feel it is desirable to have a roommate or friend read your news story and make suggestions for improving it before you submit it to me. But they cannot do the actual writing.

Fairfield’s W