Welcome, young journalist!
In this term, we will be covering the various writing styles that you will practice in creating journalism for CCA's Pulse Magazine and its online version, CCAPulse.com. Whether it’s a hard news story, a sports story, a feature, an editorial or something else, we will discuss and practice each of the aforementioned, and several others, as well as become familiar with 1st Amendment law and issues like libel, privacy, freedom of the press, the role and responsibility of the press, journalistic ethics, etc. Furthermore, you will be expected to keep up with current events and news while becoming familiar with the software (InDesign CS6) that makes it possible for our Advanced Journalism class to produce Pulse Magazine.
Assignments Due This Quarter
Photo Essay (due Wednesday, April 19th)
| journalism--howto--photoessay.docx |
Film Review (due Friday, April 28th)
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Experiential Blog (due Friday, June 2nd)
| journalism--howto--experientialblog.docx |
Mini-Mag (due Thursday, June 15th)
| journalism--howto--mini-mag.docx |
In case you've missed class...
Below are thumbnails of things we have covered in class in the event you were unable to attend.
Obituary
An obituary is a news article that reports the recent death of a person. Typically, this article includes an account of the person’s life and at times, information about the upcoming funeral. Using the examples below, as well as the information from the lecture we had in class, craft an obituary about a person or, as we discussed in class, something more abstract. Your editorials may follow the New York Times formula (Dennis James and Robert Reinhold examples) or be more narrative an anecdotal (Nathaniel Nash example). Should you decide to write your obituary about a thing versus a person, your style should also follow one of the two formats we discussed in class.
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Covering the News
News Judgment
Take a look at some of the hypothetical stories below that could find their way on your news desk. Considering things like importance, interest, taste, ethics, etc., collaborate with your peers, talk through each potential story and decide which are newsworthy and worth sharing with your audience and which are not.
| journalism--newsworthy--newsjudgment.docx |
Charting the News
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Feature Story (due Tuesday, March 29th)
Lead Imitations (due Friday, March 25th)
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Sports Story (due Friday, March 18th)
March Madness contest--click here to compete against fellow students and staff!!!
The password is CCA. (selections due by Wednesday, March 16th at midnight.
Writing the Lead
The lead is the most important part of any piece you will write for Pulse Magazine or CCAPulse.com. It's where you present all the critical information your reader needs to know about the particular story you're covering. We've talked in class about the importance of the five Ws (who, what, where, when, why) and the H (how) and importance of including these in the leads you write. Check out the video below about "How to Write a Lead" and use the files to the right of the video help you with this weekend's homework.
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Classmate Feature Interview
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What makes something newsworthy? |
Charting the News |
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There is a lot that goes into determining whether or not a story should be told or not. When did it happen? Where? How many people does it affect? Are the people involved noteworthy? How will this story make people feel?
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Using the document below, watch a 30-minute national news broadcast and a 30-minute local news broadcast. Chart the stories that are covered and the time devoted to each. Do you see a pattern in what is being presented?
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Ethics and Responsibility
What should you consider when deciding how (or if) a story should be reported at all?
- Who are the stakeholders in the story you are writing? Who will be affected by the story you write?
- What sources should you contact in order to make sure your story is accurate?
- From what angle(s) are you choosing to tell this story?
- What questions are you asking to ensure you are getting the most out of your story?
| journalism--ethics--discussion--thisamericanlife.docx |
Should a reporter be part of the story?
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Notice how NBC's Michelle Kosinski, a former correspondent for the Today Show (and now CNN) inserts herself into this story about flash floods on the East Coast. How do you feel about her reporting? Do you see anything wrong with what she did? Was there another way to tell this story? How might you have told this story? Now, take a look at the video to the right...
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What if the reporter really IS part of the story? The late Larry Himmel, a local news anchor in San Diego for many years, reports here on the loss of his own home during the San Diego fires of 2007. After viewing this, think about the video to the left and how Michelle Kosinski and her producer chose to cover such a serious story versus how Larry Himmel covered his own.
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Reporting the facts vs. presenting one's bias
Look at these two captions posted to the AP Wire in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Notice how the person in the top photograph has reportedly "looted" products from a grocery store while the couple in the caption below "found" their products. Is it possible that it's the other way around? Could all three of them have looted? Could all three of them have found what they're carrying? Does the photographer really know how these products were procured? Do you see a problem with the words that were used to describe their actions? What is the implication of using these words? What conclusions might a reader draw?
The Interview
How can you get the most out of the subject of your interview?
Interviewing is certainly not easy. Often, the subject of an interview may not want to talk, but you know they have a story to tell. How can you create an
environment that makes the interviewee more inclined to share? What sort of questions should you ask to uncover that story? In what order should you ask
them? What about follow-up questions? Is it okay to deviate from your original plan? What if your interview goes in a direction you hadn't expected?
environment that makes the interviewee more inclined to share? What sort of questions should you ask to uncover that story? In what order should you ask
them? What about follow-up questions? Is it okay to deviate from your original plan? What if your interview goes in a direction you hadn't expected?
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Check out these two interviews. The one below features the Icelandic band Sigur Ros and is arguably the worst interview I have ever heard. See if you can figure out what makes it so bad. Twenty questions were asked in this 6-minute interview conducted for NPR's Bryant Park Project. Who's at fault for the failure of this interview? The band? The interviewer? Both? If you were conducting this interview, what might you have done differently to get a better outcome? What do you notice about the questions that were asked?
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This second example shows how an interview can start in one place and end up somewhere else--in this case, a much more compelling place. NBC's Matt Lauer is interviewing film star Tom Cruise about his newest "Mission Impossible" film when the interview takes a sharp left-turn and becomes a discussion about psychiatry, prescription drugs like Ritalin and Adderall, depression, Brooke Shields, and the Church of Scientology. Do you see any differences in the types of questions that were asked in the two examples?
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Some tools to help with your interview process...
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Mini-Mag
(due Thursday, January 21st)
The Mini-Mag is the culminating project for the Introduction to Journalism class. Your 10-page magazine will demonstrate your abilities to write various types of journalistic pieces (feature/editorial/review/news/sports, etc.), as well as your ability to design and craft magazine layouts using our InDesign software. Your magazine should be cohesive in design and have a point of view from an editorial standpoint. Check out the file below for the assignment parameters.
| journalism--howto--mini-mag.docx |
Experiential Blog
(due Tuesday, January 19th)
This is an opportunity for you to try that thing you’ve always wanted to try, but didn’t have the guts to, or explore something new that will expand your way of thinking. You may change your lifestyle, rejecting the things that you deem important or necessary in favor of new ways of looking at things. Try and step outside your comfort zone and live for a week that challenges you in some way--be it physically, socially, intellectually or otherwise. Then blog about it. Click on the file below to see the parameters for the assignment and some examples of blogs past. Notice that some of the blogs, while well written, don't satisfy all the requirements. Make sure you blog has images in each post and hyperlinks to send your reader elsewhere and augment your blog.
| journalism--howto--experientialblog.docx |
Check out A.J. Jacob's TED talk below about his "year of living biblically." Jacobs is known for his experiential journalism pieces which force him to live well outside his comfort zone in the name of journalism, and more often then not, entertainment.
Photo Essay
(due Tuesday, January 12th)
(due Tuesday, January 12th)
As we talked about in class, a photo essay tells a story through a collection of photographs. The example I showed you was of Renee C. Byer's Pulitzer Prize winning essay entitled A Mother's Journey, about a young boy and his valiant fight against pediatric cancer. At their best, photo essays can teach us something we didn't already know before, shed light on an issue in a new way or show the evolution of a process. It can be editorial or objective, but the best photo essays make us feel something when we see them. Your objective is to craft a photo essay and present it to the class.
Click here to see more examples of photo essays for inspiration.
Click here to see more examples of photo essays for inspiration.
| journalism--howto--photoessay.docx |
Sports Story
Craft a sports story based on the parameters we talked about in class. Your piece should be no less than 750 words and no more than 1,250. Pieces must be uploaded to the shared drive (S: Drive) by the end of the day on November 4th.
Editorial
Craft an editorial based on the parameters we talked about in class. Your piece should be no less than 750 words and no more than 1,250. Pieces must be uploaded to the shared drive (S:Drive) by the end of the day on Wednesday, February 25th. Your word doc file must be labeled as follows: lastname.editorial.
| journalism--howto--editorial.pdf |
Travel Writing
As we discussed in class, the most effective travel writing shouldn't chronicle every moment experienced on a trip, nor should it be a laundry list of sites, destinations and experiences. Instead, it should be honest and evocative and inspire your reader to want to board a plane, by a train ticket or jump in the car.
Below are some examples of effective travel writing and resources for travel blogs and other examples.
Below are some examples of effective travel writing and resources for travel blogs and other examples.
| journalism--travel_writing--examples&resources.docx |
"What do you know?" Scavenger Hunt
Answer the following questions as quickly as you can. If you don't know the answer, click on the resources below to help you complete the hunt. Good luck!
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1. What position does this person hold?
Department of Health & Human Services Secretary Commissioner of Major League Baseball Chairman of the Federal Reserve CBS Evening News Anchor |
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2. The national unemployment rate is currently closer to:
5% 9% 15% 21% |
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3. Who is this person?
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4. Who is the Prime Minister of Great Britain?
Angela Merkel Theresa May Tony Hayward Richard Branson |
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5. Which of the following symbols is associated with Islam?
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6. Who is the current Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives?
Mitch McConnell Nancy Pelosi Devin Nunes Paul Ryan |
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7. What political party does this symbol represent?
Democratic Party Green Party Republican Party Libertarian Party |
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8. How old must one be to be the President of the United States?
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9. Which person co-founded Apple?
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10. Name one of California's two senators.
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To find the answers, utilize the following links:
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2018/04/trump-cabinet-tracker/510527/
https://www.federalreserve.gov/aboutthefed/bios/board/default.htm
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_presidential_eligibility_legislation
https://www.house.gov/
https://www.forbes.com/billionaires/#23efbf63251c
https://www.spellbrand.com/top-10-usa-political-party-logos
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religious_symbol
https://www.gov.uk/government/ministers
https://www.supremecourt.gov/
https://data.bls.gov/timeseries/LNS14000000
http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/history/mlb_history_people.jsp
https://www.senate.gov/
