Multimedia Journalism: August 2006

Journalism 215
Journalism on the Web
Hofstra University
Media Studies and Public Relations

Introduction:

This course covers online journalism -- a relatively new and rapidly evolving part of a traditional craft. It's an exciting time to be a journalist and one filled with opportunities as traditional mainstream news media grapples with how to use the new tools and capabilities of the Internet and still fulfill its traditional role in a free society.

We meet 15 times for two hours – less than an average working week. We will work at a high level, classes will be interactive, and we will be proceeding on various tracks concurrently. You are expected to have done the reading, be aware of current events, and be prepared to ask questions and contribute to the discussion. For every hour in class, I expect you to spend two hours outside. So, class is two hours a week, you can be expected to work an additional four hours each week, at minimum.

This course is designed to provide students with the skills and knowledge needed to be able to critically evaluate and know how to effectively apply a broad and ever-changing array of digital tools to enhance the traditional methods of journalism.

This is not a tools course, but a journalism course. Students will work to master the traditional journalistic skills of clear writing, thorough reporting and editing, and will learn how to apply those core skills to a creative and ethical use of multimedia, producing news articles that are suitable for publication.

You are expected to have a grasp of grammar, style and punctuation and to turn in clean copy. That means after writing, print it out, edit it, and make corrections to your digital copy, turning on edit track.

This course will provide theoretical background, professional instruction and evaluated practice in those judgments and skills. Emphasis will be placed on:

Writing and reporting. Students will learn how to write and report professionally and effectively and how to collect and produce multimedia and critically evaluate it for publication online.

Teamwork and Deadlines: No matter what the medium, today's professional journalism requires the ability to work well with others – editors, artists, producers, photographers, videographers, audio engineers – and most importantly, with readers, who are empowered with the ability to fact-check your work and to respond well beyond the letters-to-the-editor page of the newspaper. Ask Dan Rather.

You will be working in teams and your success in this class will depend on your ability to integrate with each other, support each other, and meet deadlines.

In the real-time world of the Internet, scoops can be measured in milliseconds, putting a premium on the ability to accurately and quickly write and report, and then to turn around and do it all again. Deadlines count. If you don't make your deadline, you don't keep your job. It's just that simple. So, know that deadlines count in this class too.

New media

Students will first learn how to write and report for Web, and then for the emerging channels of blogs, vlogs, and mobile. Students will learn and practice the skills of writing headlines, captions, blurbs, voice-overs, and audio reports to create a click-compelling matrix of reporting that rises to the highest standards of ethical journalism and keeps the user engaged and interacting with the main articles that will be assigned throughout the class. Students will take photographs, collect audio and audio, and create graphics and animation.

The Business of Online Journalism

In this field, while respecting the traditional and inviolable ethical “wall” between editorial and business, students will still need to know about the financial fuel that powers their ability to conduct their journalism. We will look at the search for a successful business model for online journalism, within traditional and startup companies, and well in as solo efforts.

Each week, students will have required readings from the textbook, web research, and writing. The class meetings will include instructor lectures, guest lectures, deadline writing exercises, multimedia production and tests.

Assignments will be turned in electronically, via e-mail or posted in a website.

Students will earn points for attendance, and for contribution in class.

Required Texts:

Rich, Carole. Writing and Reporting News: A Coaching Method. Fifth Edition. Belmont, Calif., Wadsworth Publishing. 2006.

Norm Goldstein. The Associated Press Stylebook. New York, Associated Press. 2006.

Handouts, both electronic and hard copy.

Note: With the exception of the first class meeting, all assigned readings should be completed prior to each class meeting.

Note 2: There will be a number of unannounced quizzes on the reading, asking you to work with ideas from that day's assignment, or to put ideas from that reading into a context developed earlier in the term.

The overall course score will be assigned based on the following criteria:
Class Participation and attendance -- 20 percent
Assignments -- 20 percent
Quizzes, grammar, punctuation, style -- 15 percent
Project -- 45 percent

The Schedule:

Week 1. Introduction, background, history.
We will start off by learning about each other, and then examining the history of online journalism, moving into the present, and then looking toward the future of the craft.

Reading assignment:

Rich, Ch. 12, “Web Journalism”
“Ten Toes in the Multimedia Waters” Rick Edmonds, PoynterOnline
"Who killed the newspaper?" The Economist, Aug. 24, 2006
"Amateur Hour: Journalism without journalists" New Yorker, Nicholas Lemann
"A new Internet network brewing" Chicago Tribune
"Craigslist Traffic Surges" MediaPost
2006 Online Journalism Awards -- Finalists

Writing assignment:

Select five online newspaper segments in either health or business and write a paragraph on each, critically evaluating the multimedia elements used in the reporting, with links. E-mail to instructor before next class meets.

Week 2. Zeroing in on a Topic
Quiz on readings. Discussion of readings. Assignments returned. Students will select a reporting topic that they will explore for the remainder of the semester, culminating in a multimedia website. In-class exercise: Students will locate a press release on their topic of interest and re-write it for a news article.

Reading Assignment:

Writing assignment:

Week 3. Setting up your Sites

With reporting topic selected, students will be grouped into teams and will begin planning their reporting while targeting appropriate multimedia elements to be included on their website project. In-class assignment: Students will write a deadline meta-article, with links to supporting articles.

Reading Assignment:

Writing assignment:

Week 4. Acquiring contextual data.
Students will learn how to locate data and information beyond what is available from a Google search. This class will concentrate on databases, hard-copy data and non-traditional sources of data.

Discussion of previous week's assignment.

Reading Assignment:

Writing Assignment:

Week 5. Introduction to Photography and Graphics
Students will learn how to produce a graphic from the data used for the previous week's writing assignment. Additionally, an in-class workshop on using Flash software.

Reading Assignments:

“Flash journalism: Professional practice today”

Writing Assignments: TBD

Week 6. Digital Photojournalism
Students will become familiar with digital photography, learning how to take successful mug shots, action shots, and scenic post cards, and then how to write captions for them, and then to create photo packages.

Reading Assignment:

website

Writing Assignment:

Week 7. Mapping and Maps
Students will learn how to relate statistical data to geography, and learn how map mashups might be appropriate and useful to their reporting.

Reading Assignment:

Mapping a revolution with 'mashups'

Writing Assignment:

Week 8. Introduction to Podcasts, and Audio

Reading Assignment:

Resources for Web Workers

Writing Assignment:

Week 9. The Business of Online Journalism

Reading Assignment:

The Business of Online Journalism

Writing Assignment:

Week 10. Introduction to Video