MULTIMEDIA
JOURNALISM
Course Description:
Driven by
competition, deregulation and the Internet, the traditional boundaries between
media are becoming much less distinct and the pace of change within each medium
is accelerating. This course will help you develop the skills and understanding
needed to succeed in this fast-evolving media environment. The focus is on the
skills needed to produce news stories in each medium and the social, technological
and competitive imperatives that are driving changes in U.S. media.
This annual
study by the Project
for Excellence in Journalism serves will serve as a starting point for much
of our discussion. You will need to become very familiar with it.
Prerequisites:
- News
and news reporting
- Basic
Journalism survey course
What
you will need
This is a writing-intensive
course with a tight focus on the practical application of your journalism skills
in each major medium. Each session will require:
- That
you be in class on time. Tests cannot be "made up"
except for reasons outlined in the Undergraduate Catalog. I must be told if
you are unable to attend a class due to sickness. Two unexcused absences
means your final class grade will be knocked down one level.
- That
you be an inquisitive consumer of news and information from varied sources
in each medium
- An
awareness of local news events
- The
ability to report and write newspaper stories
- Active
participation and discussion
- Comparative
analysis of storytelling techniques
- Equipment:
radio, television and Internet access
Required Texts and Materials:
There
is no required textbook for this course. However, there will be great deal of
reading. You will be required to:
- monitor
newscasts on television and radio
- read
a daily newspaper
- use
many websites (see reading list in lesson outline).
Final projects
will be finished and presented in class before the end of the semester.
Grading
Classroom Participation |
10% |
Attendance
and active involvement |
Blog |
40% |
Updated at least three
times weekly, including links and pictures |
Tests |
30% |
Three writing tests |
Final Project |
20% |
The story pitch is
20% of this grade |
|
|
|
Course Structure:
Class One
(January 12)
- --Start your class blog.
Click here
for details.
- --News Flow: Map
1, Map
2
- -- State
of the newspaper industry
- --Broadcast news writing
primer
- --Writing drill
- --Audio editing
with Audacity. You can download a free version of Audacity for Windows or
Macs here.
Easy to
follow instructions are here.
The manual is here.
And best of all,
a tutorial complete with video, is here.
Assignments for the next class:
Resources
Class Two
(January
19)
- --State of the radio
industry
- --South Florida media
markets
- --Storytelling with sound
- --Broadcast
writing boot camp
- --Prepare story pitch
Resources
Class Three
(January
26 )
- --Radio news formats
- --Audio editing continued
- --Broadcast writing
- --Voice
- --First Story conference
Class
Four (February 2)
- --Radio newscast
- --Economics
of TV News
- --Television formats:
VO, VOSOT
and another form of VOSOT
Class
Five (February
9)
- --Evolution
of TV News
- --South Florida
markets
- --Television
newswriting and production
- --TEST
1: Radio News Writing/the Radio News Business
-
Assignments:
Class
Six (February
16)
- --Television news production
- --Second Story Conference
Assignments:
Class
Seven (February
23)
- --TEST
2: Television News Writing
- --The evolution
of the web as a news medium
- --The
basic structure of HTML
Class
Eight (March
2)
- --Final
Project Story selection
- --Web design
basics
- --Using Dreamweaver
Assignments:
Class
Nine (March
16)
- --The Web as a visual
medium (inc. Photoshop refresher)
- --News website structures
- --Infographics with Flash
- --RSS
Resources
Class
Ten (March
23)
- --Dreamweaver:tables and stylesheets
- --A comparison
of front pages to home pages
- --"Community
Journalism"
- --Podcasts
- --Trendism in online
journalism
Resources
Class
Eleven (March
30)
- --The convergent news
environment
- --projects
- --Getting
a Job (some good news)
Assignments:
Class
12 (April 6)
- --Project status review
- --Test
3: Web news Production -- Here are the files you need: Information.
Photos: 1,
2,
3,
4,
5,
6,
7,
8.
Class
13 (April 13)
Class
14 (April 20)
- --projects
- --Click here to see a sample television pkg script
Class
15 (April
27 or May 4)