How much you gain from this class will depend in large measure on how well you prepare yourself for the content of the weekly program we will produce. The course textbook has been chosen to help you understand the process of creating television news. But the content of our weekly newscast depends on your ability to see and read about what is occurring in the world around you and to present a concise summary of that information to your viewers.
Observation and reading of "the news" will be a critical part of this course. Naturally, you will be expected to keep abreast of "the news." Although a variety of media are suitable for this purpose, I direct you to The New York Times, either in hard copy or on the Internet, as a consistent, high-quality source of "what's going on." Substantial-discount newspaper subscriptions are available at the Newark Newsstand. And the Times is available online with a free subscription at www.nytimes.com.
One textbook is required reading for this course:
• Keller, Teresa and Hawkins, Stephen A. Television News: A Handbook for Writing, Reporting, Shooting & Editing. Holcomb Hathaway Publishers, 2002. ISBN 1-890871-35-4
You will benefit from "front-loading" the reading of this text, because you'll discover the value of the reading in your everyday work on our newscast.
This text has also been chosen because it will make an excellent reference resource for you, in this class, but more importantly, in a future job in broadcast news. Although not assigned as part of this class, chapters 4 and 12 will be especially useful for students planning to seek entry-level positions in broadcast newsrooms.
See News Teams page for readings relevant to your weekly newscast assignments.
Other readings may periodically be posted on this course web page.
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