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Lower Division Student Media Practicum I (JOUR 130)

Writing and presentation of intermediate level journalistic articles for print, online or broadcast

Storytelling through written, visual, audio, video or other multimedia formats

Copy editing

Working under deadline

Reporting and writing

Photojournalism

Broadcast journalism

Online and multimedia journalism

Legal issues

Media ethics

The business side of the publication (advertising, sales, distribution)

Intermediate level storytelling skills and/or leadership/management involvement

Production of a regular news or feature non-fiction product with a journalism emphasis by and for students and distributed to a campus or community audience. Must include weekly newsgathering activities; regardless of publication frequency.

At the conclusion of this course, the student should be able to:

Define relevant news content

Gather news information weekly

Edit basic and advanced news and information into publishable form, with attention to accuracy, clarity, thoroughness, fairness, AP style, and media law and ethics

Assess legal issues affecting media 

Assess ethical issues affecting media

Develop leadership and management skills as an editor

Develop effective design/layout for story presentation

Develop news and feature stories through written, visual, audio, video or other multimedia formats

Determine the best format –print, multimedia, visual, etc.—for telling basic news stories

Build a portfolio of completed projects for student media that demonstrates a range of storytelling formats/styles that are more advanced than in JOUR 130.

Note: Equivalent courses should incorporate a wide range of these objectives for ALL students, especially frequent and regular newsgathering assignments, regardless of publication/production schedules; design/layout skill development; and experience developing a range of storytelling formats. Outlines should reflect the universality of these objectives.

Reporting and writing assignments across multiple platforms

Critiques; peer critiques

Professional protocols (meeting deadlines, attendance, adherence to ethics)

Harrower, Tim. The Newspaper Designer’s Handbook. McGraw-Hill

Kanigel, Rachele. The Student Newspaper Survival Guide. Wiley-Blackwell

Associated Press. Associate Press Stylebook and Briefing on Media Law. Basic Books

Kessler, Lauren. When Words Collide. Wadsworth Publishing.

Strunk, William. The Elements of Style. Tribecka Books