By its nature, covering weekly news, this course will feel a bit “on-the-fly.” That’s the nature of the broadcast news business. Please expect and be prepared to go-with-the-flow. Time spent in other classes preparing papers and reading books will be spent in this class preparing the components, or “elements,” of our newscast. Therefore, you should expect to spend considerable time outside class researching, developing and preparing the elements for which you are responsible. Time in class will be spent reviewing your work and collaboratively preparing the newscast, which will be taped during class on Tuesday afternoons. The newscast will be broadcast over UD’s Student Television Network (STN) weekly. There will be numerous assignments outside of class, including researching and gathering television news elements (such as video, photographs, interviews and information) and writing and planning for the broadcast. Classes will take place on Tuesdays in the TV studio, 101C Pearson Hall, and on Wednesdays in the computer lab at 116 Pearson Hall. (Except at the beginning of the semester, when we'll meet for a couple of weeks exclusively in 116 Pearson.) You'll be expected to attend class; it's hard to imagine how learning can take place without your attendance and active participation. If this prospect does not appeal to you, please free your seat for another student. Unexcused absences will result in the automatic lowering of your grade. You may want to obtain one or two MiniDV videotapes to use as your work tapes during the semester and, if you wish, to retain a resume record of your work after the semester concludes. You may also need a few computer floppy disks for saving and transferring your scripts to computers in the studio. Your tapes and disks should be clearly marked with your name and phone number or email address. 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” at the national and international level. Substantial-discount newspaper subscriptions are available at the Newark Newsstand. And the Times is available online with a free subscription at www.nytimes.com. For local and campus news, you’ll want to read The Review and the News Journal (available online) and keep your eyes and ears open during the semester around campus. One textbook is required reading for this course: You will benefit from front-loading your 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 personal reference resource for you, in this class, but more importantly, in a future job in broadcast news. Although a few chapters are not assigned as part of this class, they will be especially useful for students planning to seek entry-level positions in broadcast newsrooms. Other readings may periodically be posted on this course web site, on the Readings page. Unlike many other classes, this one involves extensive collaboration with other students. You will find your own work highly dependent upon the performance of other students. (For instance, newscast anchors might be as good as they can get, but if they have a poorly-written script, or poorly-developed story segments, even good anchors will suffer on the air.) Students will rotate production team assignments weekly (see separate document for details). We will also depend for production of our newscast on help from students of UD’s Student Television Network (STN). The success of your programming will depend, in some cases, on their work. You will also use field camera equipment weekly to capture, write and edit news “packages” for your newscast. There will be a lot of “learning-as-you-go” in the use of this field and editing equipment. Some of your out-of-class and lab time will be spent getting up-to-speed on the use of this equipment. A Teaching Assistant, Ken Barna will assist you with checking-out and using the field and editing equipment. He’s a talented and helpful guy! Take advantage of his expertise and office hours.
Perhaps the single most important skill in television news careers is thoughtful, insightful, analytical, concise, clear, quality writing. Industry professionals repeatedly say college graduates don’t have the writing skills they need for their first industry jobs. Therefore, your writing is highly valued in this course. Your grade will be very heavily influenced by the quality and the content of your writing. The final exam in this class will be a “Dream Team” newscast on Tuesday, December 7. Details and special preparation for this exam will be discussed later in the semester. Assignments submitted after their due date will receive automatically-reduced grades. One of our two weekly class sessions in this course (Wednesdays) will be held in a computer lab (Room 116 Pearson Hall). In this setting, we will work on program rundowns and script content for each week’s show. You will use internet resources to find information and elements for the stories and programs you produce. We will use newsroom software, called “EZ News,” to organize and write your newscasts. It is accessible from the UD Pearson Hall computer lab and in the studio, but not from your home computers. You will be required to use this software to write scripts, prepare program assignments and rundowns and to prepare show-day program elements (such as TelePrompTer scripts and on-screen text). Students are required to communicate with the instructor by email (my email address is here. Students are encouraged to investigate internet sites as sources of information, but must critically evaluate them for content, reliability and timeliness. Some additional readings used in this course may be found on the course Internet site. Please familiarize yourself with using this site. To read some of these electronic documents, you may need to install the Adobe Acrobat Reader program on your computer; it’s a free, easy-to-install download, available through a link on the site. You are expected to
observe and uphold the University's
code of academic integrity
and the rules against plagiarism.
Plagiarism is a major, career-killing offense in the
communication industry. Violations in this course will not be treated lightly and will be referred to University authorities in accordance with established university regulations. Warning: I have a reputation for prosecuting
plagiarism cases. Your written work should have a professional appearance. Even your most creative work will suffer from poor writing, spelling and formatting. You'll discover one of the values of appearance when you stumble over sloppy copy from a TelePrompTer. Likewise, your on-camera performance should have a professional character. Guidelines
for any papers written for this course: Use your spellchecker, but
don't expect it to flag correctly-spelled words used
incorrectly. For that, you must...
Classes
Supplies
Reading
Working
with Others
Writing
Final Exam
Grading
Professionalism
& Integrity
Writing guidelines
Your questions, impressions and discussion are very much encouraged in this class. This is not a “lecture” course. Just as in the real world of television news, independent, analytical, creative and critical thinking is highly valued. So your contribution to class discussion will be reflected in your final grade.
Television news is a highly collaborative profession, not an arena for “soloists” or individualists. You must expect in this class to work effectively in small groups, and our weekly product will be a group achievement, not an individual one. You will feel the thrill of group accomplishment, perhaps even more powerfully than of your own achievements.
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ISBN 0072917385.
Computer Use:
Grading - See the Grading
page
Professionalism
and Integrity
