Course Description
Students will report, write, and edit various journalistic story types for digital, print, and broadcast platforms that adhere to professional and ethical standards of journalism in this experiential learning course.
Athena Title
Reporting I
Prerequisite
Permission of department
Semester Course Offered
Offered fall and spring
Grading System
A - F (Traditional)
Course Objectives
-Students will learn the essentials of news gathering and writing for digital, print, and broadcast platforms. -Students will learn to determine newsworthiness and the importance of timeliness, information, and impact in storytelling. -Students will learn the basic framing of stories for different audiences. -Students will learn to make ethical judgments in their journalistic endeavors. -Students will learn the mechanics of covering a beat — a specialized area of focus — in our community by developing primary sources, generating ideas, interviewing people, fact-checking, writing, and editing. -Students will learn the importance of verification and accuracy. -Students will write on deadline key essential journalistic stories — such as event and meeting coverage, a news conference story, and a profile of an individual. -Students will learn to use the AP Stylebook and a local style guide for consistent writing across platforms. -Students will demonstrate competency as writers as they structure stories based on the audience, time frame, and platform. -Students will be adaptable and flexible due to the demands of a fast-changing industry. -Students will start a professional digital portfolio that they will update throughout their major.
Topical Outline
Elements of newsworthiness Verifying information Identifying and using primary sources Interviewing sources Mechanics of writing, including AP Style, grammar, and punctuation Copyediting Covering a beat Fact-checking News story structures Basic local stories Reporting and writing for digital media Reporting and writing for print media Reporting and writing for video Reporting and writing for audio Writing headlines, keywords, and tags Building a digital portfolio
Syllabus