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Mass Comm 210: Media Writing

Syllabus Fall 2009

Tuesdays & Thursdays
Frick 258

10:30 – 11:45 a.m.

About the instructor

“Bad writing makes bright people look dumb.”
                                                       � William Zinsser
 

All contents of this syllabus are subject to frequent revision based on class progress and external events. Changes will be announced in class. You are responsible for assignments due on the dates given in class; announcements always supercede the written syllabus. If an assignment published here has not been specifically discussed in class, check with the instructor before proceeding.
 

• Media crisis: Dangerous times/ times of opportunity
  (The Chinese word for "crisis" combines elements of "danger" and "opportunity.")
• Core skills for professional media writers
• Why your English teacher isn't working in media
• Pew Research: Who's reading, listening, watching and mousing for news

Format for all stories and essays assigned in Media Writing: DOUBLE-space your text. INDENT paragraphs — do NOT single-space and add an extra line between paragraphs.

Thursday:

• Introduction to Newsroom 101. You'll turn in the final "grade" screen for the exercises you complete at the end of class. The remainder of exercises 1-20 will be due on Tuesday.

Write: Media audit. Assess  your personal media habits for 24 hours. Then compare them with someone at least one generation older. 300-800 words. Due 9/01.

Due 9/08: Newsroom 101 Sets 1 and 2 (exercises 1-20, including those you didn't complete in class on Thursday). Turn in prints of the final screen with your e-mail name and scores only (not entire quizzes!). You must score 80% or higher on each for credit. VIDEO
 

Check out: Pew Research--2008 study of audiences, news and media This is the link for the media news data discussed in class.

Check out: Journalism Online This organizaiton is working on a common pay-per-read plan for online newspapers to replace or supplement online advertising.

Check out: Minnpost

Check out: Media

Due Tuesday: Media audit essay; Newsroom sets 1 and 2 (the balance of 1-20 that you didn't complete in class last week.

Tuesday: writing for today's audiences

• Better writing in seven thoughtful steps
• Fractured! Or, whatever happened to the mass audience?
• Interviews and intros (following 7-step writing process)

Thursday: Who is the AP and why is it giving us orders?

• Bring your AP stylebook to class Thursday
• Newsroom 101 exercises AP-1, AP-2 and AP-3
• AP Style: Overview of essential issues
• AP Style: Days, Dates and Times

Check out: Copy-editing symbols

Due Tuesday: Brief introduction of classmate from last week

Due Tuesday: Newsroom 21-25; AP B

Tools of the trade: spelling, grammar, style and math

• Why your business teacher might flunk this class
• Editing: Copy editing vs. content
• Commas: Don't sprinkle; know the rules! (Newsroom101)
• Life's greatest pleasure: Editing [other people's] writing
• AP: handling the time element: days of the week, dates and years
• AP: Street addresses and state abbreviations
• AP: Courtesy titles, professional titles and capitalization
   
• Bring AP Manual of Style to class
• Language mechanics: Run-on sentences

Guidelines for good writing

• Who's got style?
• Editing for content vs. copy editing
• What's news? Newspaper coverage of Iraq
• The problem of the ongoing story
• Language mechanics: Subject-verb agreement
• Noun-pronoun agreement
• Plurals and possessives

Read:  Yopp 2-3
Also review AP Stylebook table of contents

Write: Brief essay on writing issues that bug you. (In class)

Check out: InForum.com

Tuesday: Quiz--Newsroom 101 exercises 1-25 & AP handouts

Better Writing — suggestions and writing project

• Redundancy and wordiness
• Squeeze the air out
• Pare down wordy sentences -- 12-word target
• Introductory clauses -- TMI. (Start with subject)
• Subtract yourself
• Write: Bad writer/good writer -- First part in class Tuesday:
  • Write no more than one page about coming to school this morning. (This doesn't need to be a minute-by-minute chronological log. You may focus on just one scene or aspect.) In your first draft, write long on purpose: lots of description, wordy, very informal. You'll turn in a copy at the end of Tuesday's class.

Write: Bad writer/good writer #2. Ruthlessly edit the wordy version of your essay to be written in class Tuesday. Your goal is to use the same info but tailor it into a lean, facts-only account NO MORE THAN ONE-HALF the length of the first.  Squeeze out the air using all the guidelines discussed in Yopp 4 (last section).

More tight writing tips

News Values

• What's news? What the news business says is news.
• Eight news values

Read: Yopp 5

Write to discuss: Summarize the first news story you remember. Why did it catch your attention? Due Thursday.

Lead on: Get to the point

• Hard news: Baiting the hook to catch readers
• News elements: W's and an H
• Hard-news lead and variations

AP exercise (distributed in class)

Beyond the Lead

• The inverted pyramid -- recipe for success
• Exercise in class: Fractured fairy tales
  nursery rhymes
  more nursery rhymes

Write: Four- to six- paragraph news story about the I-94 turkey tragedy. Use hard-news recipe. Be sure to focus on most recent element of story as of press time. Due Tuesday, 10/05. Notes

Beyond Simple Formats

• Features and news features
• Subject vs. topic (narrowing your focus)
• The visual element
• Leads -- descriptive and anecdotal
• Corroboration
• Attribution
• Sourcing your story
• Punctuating quotes

Research and Observation

• The public record
• Pleasures and perils of the Web
• The principle of corroboration
• Freedom of Information Act, 1966

Write: News feature on topic related to young adults (18-26) and alcohol. Details here. Three double-spaced pages. Due 10/27.

Write: Personality profile (feature) on media writer of your choice. Length -- 3-4 pages (800-1200 words). Emphasis is on use of quotes and scene-setting. Start planning now! Due 11/05.

Check out: Essential Google tips

Google advanced operators (printable)

Google cheat sheet

20 Great Google Search Tricks

Due Thursday: Newsroom 46-50; AP G

Thursday: Midterm exam

Review for midterm

Due Tuesday:  Newsroom 51-55; AP HI

Interviewing, Quotes and Attribution

• Conducting interviews
• Ethics and techniques -- what can and can't be quoted
• Establishing rapport
• Closed vs. open questions
• The funnel
• Punctuating quotes

Read: Yopp 8

Assignment for Thursday: Review the Q&A interview with Deb Jenkins. Write a short news feature based on this information (500-800 words). You do not have to use all the information in the original interview.

Googling Like a Pro

• Tips for getting more targeted and better results
• Google secrets

Read: Yopp 10

Week 11
11/03-05
 

Recognizing bias and stereotypes (Yopp 10)

• Identifying personal biases and blind spots
• Guidelines for fair writing
• Guidance & standardization from AP style

Check out: How people read on the Web (by Web readability expert Jakob Nielsen)

Read:

Week 12
11/10-12
 

Libel and slander (Yopp 11)

• Right to privacy
• Journalism vs. commercial speech
• "Public figure" vs. private citizen

Intellectual property, copyright, trademark & patent (Yopp 11)

• Law and tradition
• Challenges being raised today by new media
• Plagiarism -- a different beast with different rules
• Weird Al Yankovic on violating copyright
• Weird Al Yankovic vs. James Blunt's record label

Write: Essay on the earliest ads that influenced you ... plus 3 contemporary ads that stand out.

Read: "Cutting through the advertising clutter" on www.cbsnews.com

"How to cut through the advertising clutter" on www.USAtoday.com

Relative effectiveness of channels of communication

Channels of communication compared

Writing for Broadcast

• Print vs. broadcast style
• Bdcst leads and story structure -- hourglass format, the wrap-up
• Broadcast peculiarities -- numbers, quotes

Broadcast media

• Playing to video's strengths
• Composing for the eye and ear
• Throwaway leads -- exercise in class

Write: 45-second TV news story (group). Produce script with visuals. To be presented live in class 12/08; printed script will be turned in.

Prep for final exam