Collecting and Writing News
Journalism 101
3 units
Tuesdays and Thursdays 11:10 to 12:35 p.m.
Ed Bond
Los Angeles Valley College
Office: BJ114-A
(818) 947-2574
edbond@mediaone.net
Ed_Bond@laccd.cc.ca.us
http://people.we.mediaone.net/edbond/home.html
Office hours:
Mondays 4-5 p.m.
Tuesdays 4-5 p.m.
Wednesdays 1-3 p.m.
Textbook: News Reporting and Writing by Melvin
Mencher.
The Associated Press Libel and Style manual is also required.
Recommended: Any daily newspaper, Los Angeles Times,
Los Angeles Daily News, or other local publication. Get into the habit
of reading. I also strongly encourage everyone to sign up for email and
seek out Internet access through the Valley College L.A.I.R. computer lab
in the library. Free email accounts are easy to acquire through sites like
hotmail.com, nbci.com or yahoo.com. Get an email account.
Course description/objectives:
An introduction to journalism focusing on practical guidance
and instruction to prepare students to work as reporters and news writers.
Students will learn how to work a beat, develop sources, recognize news,
gather information and meet deadlines. An emphasis will be placed on becoming
fair, accurate and responsible journalists. Assignments will combine in-class
exercises, tests and role playing with outside work that will begin with
the simplest of stories and build toward the final project, the news feature.
Basic concepts in ethics and the law in journalism will also be explored.
Your final grade will be based on a point system, which
is explained below. But since this is a writing class, the determining
factor will be your writing assignments. Roughly one third of your final
grade will be based on completion of assignments, class participation and
writing exercises. The midterm and final exam, combined, will count for
another third. The last third will be solely from your final project.
Each assignment will receive a letter grade such as A,
B, C, D or F. Spelling and grammatical errors will cost one point. Ten
points will equal one letter grade. For example, a "B" paper with ten errors
would get a "C."
Since journalism is a profession where meeting a deadline
is critical, assignments must be turned in on time. Missing deadline may
cost you any number of serious penalties such as reduction of grade, penalty
points to your final grade or I may simply refuse to accept the assignment.
So, donĖt take any chances. Meet your deadlines.
NOTE: You are warned that it is the STUDENTĖS responsibility
to drop if you choose to not continue in this class. If you are still on
the roster after the final drop date of May 12, I have no choice but to
give you a grade. |
Your final grade will be determined
by a point system. Each grade will earn you the following points:
A+ 4.25 A 4 A- 3.75
B+ 3.25 B 3 B- 2.75
C+ 2.25 C 2 C- 1.75
D+ 1.25 D 1 D- 0.75
Then, you multiply those points from each assignment
according to this formula:
Regular assignments: Grade X 5 = _________
Midterm
Grade X 12.5 =_________
Final Exam:
Grade X 12.5 =_________
Final Project:
Grade X 25 =_________
You will also get other quizzes, in-class and take home
exercises that will be worth points toward your final grade. Also, you
will get one point for each week you have perfect attendance, meaning that
you are present when I call roll each day.
Total up your points and see where you fall according
to the chart below.
350+ A
250-349 B
150-249 C
50-149 D
Also I will give up to 20 extra points for students who
complete a two-page paper about one of these movies that deal with journalism:
Broadcast News
The Year of Living Dangerously
The Paper
All The President's Men
Absence of Malice
Welcome to Sarajevo
Some free advice: I am a former newspaper reporter
and for this class I will consider you all to be fellow reporters. That
means in order to succeed, you should expect to WRITE A LOT AND WRITE WELL.
Also, reporters are self-reliant, self-motivated and independent creatures.
They can find out what they need when they need to and get the job done
no matter what. So, if you want to learn a lot and get a good grade, prove
to me that you are a reporter. To succeed in this class you must be here
every day, paying attention and taking notes. You should also be reading
a newspaper every day. Even if itĖs only a couple of stories, or just the
sports or lifestyle section, just READ! |
