News Editing

Journalism 333

Section A03; Index 04370

Winter 2010

Class: 11:10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Tuesdays and Thursdays

Professor Hans K. Meyer

o E-mail: meyerh@ohio.edu

o Phone: (740) 597-3084

o Cell: (573) 864-4949 (please use with discretion)

o Office: Scripps Hall 206

o Office Hours: T, TH from 9:30 to 10:30 a.m. or by appointment

Course Overview:

The story goes that when asked why we rewrote and revised The Sun Also Rises 37 times, Ernest Hemingway said, “Well, it wasn’t right the 36^th.” Whether that’s true or not remains a question, but this quote from Hemingway illustrates his writing process and will serve as a mantra for this class.

“My aim is to put down on paper what I see and what I feel in the best and simplest way.”

I’m not going to ask you to rewrite things 37 times in this class. I’m not going to ask you to write much at all, but I do want you to focus on how you can tell stories in the best and simplest way. Simply put, that is the role of an editor. Editors help sharpen a product. They ensure readers get what they want clearly and efficiently. They guide the process toward completion and ensure the story stays on target.

In today’s changing media environment, good editors are needed more than ever to be able to sift through all the information available, including blogs, Tweets, and discussion board posts to find the truth. But good editing is more than just sorting through facts and proofreading. It starts with a strong command of the language and a love for words and all their connotations. It revolves around the same storytelling impulses that drive good reporting. Editors know what makes a good story even if they are not writing it. They are able to add the organization to make that story shine through.

Course Learning Outcomes

The learning objectives of this course are as follows:

· Understand the role of a the news editor

· Develop an eye for what is news

· Know what facts a news story needs and how to ensure those facts rise to the top

· Glean truth from a sea of error

· Gain an appreciation for words, their entomology, their connotations

· Design a news page that highlights what is more important and accurate

· Apply newspaper design principles and line editing to the Web

Required Texts

· Media Writer’s Handbook (MWH) by George Arnold, fourth or fifth edition

· Don’t Make Me Think (DMMT) by Steve Krug

· The Associated Press Stylebook

· A good dictionary

You can purchase all of these online or in the bookstore.

Required Equipment

We will do a lot of work in the lab. You will have to be able to save your files and bring files that you’ve downloaded at home. To that end, you need …

· A portable data storage device (either a Flash drive that is at least 2 GB or a portable hard drive).

Course Expectations

The main focus of this class is writing as the title implies, and we will try to mix in-class and outside of class projects to ensure students understand the writing concepts and feel confident applying them. So much of the coursework will be completed in class that the attendance is mandatory.

Attendance Policy

Students are expected to attend class regularly and on time, to participate in class discussions, and to complete reading assignments prior to class. Attendance will be taken through in-class writing exercises, pop quizzes or presentations. If you miss class, you miss the points. You will not be allowed to make-up the in-class exercises, unless you missed class because of a death in the family, a university-approved activity or a physician said you were too ill to attend class. All three instances require some form of documentation.

Course Activities

Grades in the class will come from the following activities:

1. In-class exercises: Nearly every week, we will complete an exercise in class. These exercises will account for 25 percent of your grade. Please plan to attend class every Tuesday and Thursday. If you have to miss a class, let the instructor know well before the class period. If you do, he will allow you to make up the assignment on your own time. In addition, if you are sick, you will need to give the instructor a note from your doctor to document your absence, and you will be able to make up assignments. However, you will not be allowed to make up assignments after we have discussed them in class. Plan accordingly.
These exercises will not be graded. As long as students attend class and complete the work, they will receive full credit. The idea behind them is to give students the chance to learn from their mistakes.

2. Homework: Outside of class students will have to complete six homework assignments. Two simply ask them to get on the AP Wire and find photos or stories. The others require them to generate story ideas or an entire story from someone outside the class. I will post a document on Blackboard describing each assignment in greater detail. They are all due before the start of class on the due date. Late assignments will NOT be accepted unless the student has worked out with the instructor before the assignment is due an alternative.

3. Daily Budget: Once during the semester, each student will lead the class a 10-minute discussion about what is going on in the world today. They will prepare a one-page handout of the top stories in the world, the U.S. and the state of Ohio gleaned from the Associated Press wire and will lead the class in a discussion on which stories are the most important and why. A sign-up sheet will be handed out the first day of class.

4. Journals: Starting the third week of class and ending the eighth week, students will be required to submit a one-page journal entry to the class Blackboard site on Monday. The journal entry will consist of the following:

1. Your “word of the week”: Choose a word you either read in a news story or heard during a news broadcast or online. Provide a specific citation for when the word was used and briefly describe how it was used. Provide a dictionary definition and the words etymology (its origin). In one sentence, describe whether you think the usage was correct and why or why not.

2. Your “catch of the week”: Find at least one example of a spelling, vocabulary or grammatical error either in a printed, online or video source. Provide the specific citation. Explain why you think this was an error and how you would correct it. AP Style errors do NOT count.

3. Headline Challenge: Find a headline in a newspaper, magazine or Web site that needs improvement and rewrite it using the same number of letters and spaces (I’ll give you a leeway of two letters.) Include a specific citation for the original headline and a one sentence explanation of how and why you changed it.

5. Final Personal / Group Project: Instead of a final examination, students will be asked to form groups of three to write and report a larger news story. This group project will also give students some experience working with multimedia. A 90-second video is required for this project. Teams will also have to provide at least five hyperlinks. This will be due on the date scheduled for our final exam. This project will be completed on Blackboard.

6. Quizzes: During the quarter the instructor will give eight 10-point quizzes at the start of class on Tuesday. A quiz will not be given on the first Tuesday or last Tuesday. The quizzes will cover current events, the news analysis piece for that day, the AP style presentations and the Monday lectures. You will NOT be allowed to make up quizzes if you miss them. However, you will be able to drop one quiz grade.

The following is a point breakdown of all the assignments for the class.

Projects	Description	Requirements	Points	Total Points
In-class exercises				190
	Budgeting		35
	Line Editing		40
	Headlines		40
	Cutlines		35
	Design		40
Homework				210
	Outside story		50
	Story idea development		50
	Photos		15
	News Stories		15
	Group Project Publication Idea		30
	Web Design Evaluation		50
Final Group Project				300
	Story Selection / Justification		100
	Design (Modular, includes headlines, cutlines, pull out boxes)		100
	Editing		50
	Teamwork		25
	Class Presentation		25
Daily Budget				50
Journals	(6 entries required – 30 points each)			180
Quizzes	(8 quizzes – can drop 1)			70
	Total			1,000

Course Policies

1. Class time: We’ve already discussed attendance, but showing up isn’t enough. Please participate in discussions. In addition, avoid activities that will distract you. This includes the following:

a. Cell Phones: Please turn them off or set them to vibrate.

b. Web surfing: Please pay attention to the instructor and students who are talking. Do not check your Facebook page. We are in a computer lab, so I know this will be a temptation. Please avoid it.

Every time the instructor has to remind students to pay attention or a cell phone rings, I will add a question to the quizzes.

2. Blackboard: This class will extensively use Blackboard. The instructor will make periodic announcements online. He will post additional readings on the site. In addition, all syllabus and schedule materials on the site are the official documents for the course and will be on file with the Journalism School Director’s Office. If you do not have access to Blackboard, please contact the Ohio Instruction Technology Office to get signed up. The instructor will provide some instruction on how to use the site in class, but students are responsible for submitting their own work online.

3. Deadlines: This course is modeled on what working for a real world news organization would be like. Therefore, deadlines are extremely important. Late work will NOT be accepted, unless there is a special circumstance similar to what is described in the attendance policy. Deadlines for assignments are as follows:

a. In-class exercises: Uploaded to Blackboard before the end of the class period

b. Outside of Homework: Uploaded to Blackboard before the START of class on the day they are due

c. Final Team Project: One hour before the final exam date and time.

4. Style / Grammar: All work in this class will follow the AP Style guide and accepted rules of grammar and punctuation. This is an editing class, so I will be strict on mistakes. All style and grammar errors will receive a 2-point deduction from the final grade. If you don’t know the style for a particular phrase, look it up.

5. Academic Dishonesty: Failure to properly identify yourself, making up sources, or downloading and copying any portion of a class assignment from the Internet will be considered academic dishonesty. The Ohio University Student Code of Conduct prohibits all forms of academic dishonesty. If an instructor finds any form of cheating occurring, he will notify the Director of University Judiciaries for further action. In addition, the assignment in question will receive NO points.

Emergency Information

In the event of a major campus emergency (such as an H1N1 influenza outbreak), course schedule, requirements, deadlines and grading percentages are subject to changes that may be necessitated by a revised calendar or other circumstances beyond the instructor's control.

Here are ways to get information about changes in this course:

The CDC has advised universities to instruct students not to attend class if they experience flu symptoms (high fever, combined with a cough, sore throat, body aches, headache, chills or fatigue). Students will be encouraged instead to limit contact with others and may be advised to ask their parents to take them home or to seek assistance from Student Health Services so that they can be cared for in a setting that does not put others at risk (see also below, Attendance Policy).

Please be advised that the CDC may consider asking colleges to suspend classes if flu outbreaks are more severe among college students this fall than they were in the spring and summer.

For current information on the H1N1 flu situation, see http://www.pandemicflu.gov/

For general H1N1 information for this campus, see http://www.ohio.edu/h1n1/index.cfm

For OU emergency messages see http://www.ohio.edu/emergency/