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News 201 |
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Course Format The course includes weekly lectures and assignments, class discussions and lab writing assignments, weekly quizzes and a final project. Workshops Students are also required to attend convergence skills workshops scheduled outside of regular class time. Workshop topics include:
Some instruction will be during class, but some will be outside of regular class time. Some guidance is available online. You can click on Photoshop and GoLive for a short overview of what you'll need to know for each program. Instructions for the new Marantz PMD 670 Digitial audio recorder are available on the Integrated Media Lab Web site: www.bsu.edu/web/ilab/ For ElementK, students would link to: www.bsu.edu/techtrain/online/ For assistance with GoLive, students would link to: www.studio.adobe.com/expertcenter/main.golive/html Media Experience Starting in week four of the term, you will spend at least six hours observing the news process at a daily newspaper (the Daily News) and a television station (“NewsLink”). You'll spend three hours with the DN and three hours with NLI. You'll arrange for the three hours at the DN when you're studying print and three hours at NLI when you're studying broadcast. We want you to learn about assignments, reporting, editing and copy editing/design in print and assignments, reporting, editing/packaging and newscast production in broadcast. Our hope, of course, is that you'll go beyond observation and actually get involved with one or both media. On Tuesday, November 21 (of week 14), you are required to turn in a 500-word, double-spaced paper analyzing your composite media experience. Your grade on this assignment will contribute significantly to your overall class participation/instructor evaluation grade. This assignment will require you to compare and contrast the news operations you have observed. You need to demonstrate a clear understanding of how the two media outlets approach the assigning of news coverage, the gathering of information, the writing/editing/production of news, and the dissemination of that news in print and broadcast formats. Your job on this paper is to detail similarities and differences, explaining why you think each media operation functions in a particular way. Focus on the news values that you believe matter most to each operation in terms of the news reporting/writing process and the finished product. Simply describing what you saw and/or experienced is not sufficient for this assignment. You will be graded primarily on your analysis of the composite media experience. Quizzes & Exams There are no midterm or final exams; we'll be too busy with writing and special projects. However, expect a timed quiz at the start of class every Thursday. You're responsible for assigned readings since the previous quiz (regardless of whether we've gone over the material in class), class discussion since the previous quiz, and current events in the news. Current events (international, national, state and local) will all come from the Wednesday The Muncie Star Press and The Daily News. |
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