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Mass Comm 210: Media Writing

Syllabus Spring 2010

Tuesdays & Thursdays
Frick 258

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.")
• Changes in the media: Confusion, convergence and consternation
• Changes in the audiences and society
• Why your English teacher isn't working in media

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

Writing for today's audiences

• Better writing in seven thoughtful steps
• Fractured! Or, whatever happened to the mass audience?
• Core skills for professional media writers
   
• 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

Read: Yopp 1 before class 01/14.

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 01/19.

Due 01/19: 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 exercise to receive credit.

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, nonprofit online newspaper staffed by veteran journalists. It's free -- go ahead and sign up.

Check out: Media is a plural word and needs plural verbs.
 

Due Tuesday-Thursday: Newsroom sets 1 and 2 (exercises 1-20)

Tools for writers

• Spelling and homonyms
• Grammar issues
• Punctuation issues ... commas
  Commas: Don't sprinkle; know the rules! (Newsroom101)
• Worksheets to be handed out in class. (See links to PDFs at right)

In class Tuesday: Interviews for writing exercise

Write:  Brief story about the partner assigned in class Tuesday (about 30 lines in length). Follow the 7-step writing process described in Yopp 1, also available here. Due 01/26.

Worksheets:

• Yopp diagnostic exercise
• Yopp grammar slammer 1 (commas)
• Yopp grammar slammer 2 (subject-verb agreement)
• Homonym exercise
• Overview of rules for commas
• Comma exercise

Due Tuesday: Stories based on last week's interviews

Due Tuesday: Newsroom 21-25; AP B

Tools of the trade (continued as needed):

• Spelling, grammar, punctuation and math

Editing for Audiences

• Why your business teacher might flunk this class
• Editing: Copy editing vs. content
• 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
• Newsroom 101 exercises AP-1, AP-2 and AP-3
• 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 3
Also review AP Stylebook table of contents

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

Check out: Copy-editing symbols

AP Style: Overview of essential issues

AP Style: Days, Dates and Times

Check out: InForum.com

• AP Style: Days, Dates and Times

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

Worksheets: (distributed in class Thursday)

• Yopp 4-1 Incorrect words
• Yopp 4-2 Shorten-tighten
• Yopp 4-3 Redundancy

News Values

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

News elements

• Baiting the hook
• Hard news: Baiting the hook to catch readers
• News elements: W's and an H
• Hard-news lead and variations
• Where news comes from
  • General assignment
  • Beat reporters
  • The role of public relations (PR subsidy)
  • Enterprise stories (ideas developed by reporters)

Read: Yopp 5

Write: Inverted pyramid hard-news story leads.

Worksheet: (distributed in class Thursday)

• AP Addresses & States.pdf
• Yopp 5-1 News elements
• Yopp 5-2 News story

Beyond the Lead

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

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, 2/23. Raw information for story.

Beyond Breaking News — Features & 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 03/11.

Check out: Essential Google tips

Google advanced operators (printable)

Google cheat sheet

20 Great Google Search Tricks

Due Thursday: Newsroom 46-50; AP G

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 10

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. Due 3/30.

Review for midterm exam

Producing online content

• What's different online?
• Components of a news site
• Structuring the story

Thursday: Midterm exam

Read: Yopp 9 and 11 (for week of March 23)

Midterm review

Producing online content

• What's different online?
• Components of a news site
• Structuring the story

Recognizing bias and stereotypes

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

Read: Yopp 12

Week 12
03/30 – 04/01
 

Libel and slander (Yopp 11)

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

Intellectual property, copyright, trademark & patent

• 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

Read: Yopp 13

Week 13
04/06-08
 

Broadcast Media

• Different strengths and different styles
• Passive vs. active audiences
• Broadcast story structure
• Writing for radio
• Broadcast stories and packages

Broadcast Media

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

Write: Your choice of assignments on libel and slander or copyright. Details here.

Strategic Communications

Relative effectiveness of channels of communication

Channels of communication compared

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

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

Writing for Broadcast

Strategic Communications

Prep for final exam

1:30 section: Friday, May 7, noon