Syllabus: Summer 2011

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JCOM 4100: Hard News Café
Summer 2011

Ted Pease, Grand PooBah, Department of Journalism & Communication
Pease Office: AnSci 310 (although the Editor is Away, and reachable only by email) Classroom: AnSci 312 (JCOM conference room)
Pease Phone: 435-797-3293 or 435-760-1707 (cell).
E-mail: ted.pease@usu.edu (preferred)
Website: Hard News Cafe and HNC 4100 class blog. (You have been invited to join the blog so you can post stuff there—please do it.)

Required Materials: • Brain • AP Stylebook. • Readings as assigned • Camera (iPhone, DSLR, point-and-shoot and/or video?)

Inspiration . . .

“Words are sacred. They deserve respect. If you get the right ones, in the right order,
you can nudge the world a little.”
—Tom Stoppard, playwright

“If it sounds like writing, I rewrite it.”
—Elmore Leonard, novelist

“Always grab the reader by the throat in the first paragraph,
sink your thumbs into his windpipe in the second
and hold him against the wall until the tag line.”
—Paul O’Neil, writer

Writing is more than reopening an old can of worms…

“A cliché, from French clicher, to stereotype, to cast from a mold, is an expression that is trite (from Latin terere to rub, hence worn-out by use), hackneyed (from hackney, a horse for hire, worn-out by service). . . . If you have heard it or read it before, it is a cliché. Remember, today's great writing is tomorrow’s clichés. Write tomorrow’s clichés.”
—John Bremner, journalism professor and writing coach

“Writing is a hellish task, best snuck up on, whacked on the head, robbed and left for dead.”
—Ann-Marie MacDonald, author

“You write and then you erase. You call that a profession?”
—Abram Bellow, exasperated father of future Nobel Prize-winning writer,
Saul Bellow, then in his 20s

“Our admiration of fine writing will always be in proportion to its real difficulty
and its apparent ease.”
—Charles Caleb Colton (1780-1832), author and clergyman

Course Objectives:

This is an advanced reporting and writing course designed to fulfill two coexisting objectives: 1) To feed the yawning maw that is the Hard News Café with a constant and changing diet of news, features and great writing/reporting and art. And 2) To provide a vehicle for advanced students to work on their writing, and to create high-quality clips for their professional portfolios. The instructor, Ted Pease, will act as your editor. You are the HNC staff. We all treat this as a professional engagement, and work independently on regular deadlines.

How It Works: The course is independent and self-directed (especially over the summer, when all interaction w/ Ted will be on email); staffers are invited to meet and collaborate in Logan if you want. Staffers will write a minimum of 10 stories (unless otherwise negotiated), and must pitch stories to the editor as news happens; also plan ahead for more long-range stories. STORIES MUST BE SENT TO THE EDITOR WHEN DUE—no later than 24 hours after events (or sooner). The editor will edit the stories and post them to the Hard News Café.

Deadlines: Generally, news stories are due NO LATER THAN 24 HOURS AFTER THE EVENT. Sooner if possible. In the case of breaking news, within hours of the event. In the case of longer term features, a longer target deadline can be negotiated with the editor. You will be killed if you miss deadline. That’s why we call ’em that.

Minimum Output: In order to achieve a C in the class, staffers are required to file no fewer than 10 substantial stories that are in the editor’s opinion adequate for publication. “Substantial” means at least 350 words or longer, with at least three substantial named sources; accompanying photos are required whenever possible (shoot mugshots w/ your cell if you have to). The editor may assign stories as they occur, and may ask for quick turn-around on breaking news. But coming up with your own story ideas is part of the requirement. In the real world, professionals work on multiple projects but are often interrupted by events.

• 5 & 5: AT LEAST five stories must be filed by mid-summer (June 20), and the other five by August 1. Write more, get a better grade, get better clips….

• Staff Meetings: Because we will be conducting this class via email this summer, we don’t meet, but it is your responsibility to confer with the editor via email weekly to pitch story ideas. A pitch includes a) general topic, b) angle/focus and larger context (so what?), c) central source/character, d) at least two additional quoted sources, e) deadline date. (See below.) Once story ideas are OK’d, it’s up to the staffer to keep the Editor Ted informed about the story‘s progress.

• Pitch Story Ideas: As you come up with story ideas, write them down! Each reporter should maintain a file of story ideas, stories completed, and final clips from HNC (for your portfolio). This file is handed in at the end for final grading.

Where to get ideas?

• Read the newspaper for small briefs or continuing issues!

• Check bulletin boards at Smith’s or across campus.

• Read the Yellow Pages in the bathroom for weird businesses.

• Talk to your friends and neighbors and coworkers.

• Pay attention as you drive/walk around town—what strikes your attention? Might be a lot of trash on 1000 West or a lot of elderly people on the bus.

• Think about issues and how they affect people.

• Summer is also about festivals, concerts, outdoor activities, family time.

• Why is there a yak on Main Street?

• THINK!

• Remember that we cover ALL of Cache Valley and beyond, so stories should not be only about USU.

• Pay attention to global events and think about how to localize them: For example, when the earthquake hit Japan, it had impacts here—talk to people with connections there, talk to foreign policy experts, nuclear experts….

• GRAMA—a decision is supposed to come over the summer about how Utah will rewrite its open meeting law: Watch for that and think about how to cover it.

• If Russia invades Sweden, Jake will cover it, but we’ll need other reporting from here about U.S. response.

• Get it? THINK!

• Many stories also will need context—numbers in the state/county/city/world; governing national bodies have websites;/opinions; USU has faculty experts on just about everything. THINK!!!

Outline of Required Assignments for Writers: (subject to change) • Create and maintain a story idea file. Pitch your best story idea(s) at news huddle every week, or to Ted-Ed outside of staff meeting times. Story pitch requires: 1. General Topic (e.g., pollution, death, babies) 2. Focus/Angle/News Hook (so what?) 3. Potential Sources (minimum three sources; why are they good sources?) 4. Who can shoot pix?

EXAMPLE:
“Yo, Mr. Editor, sir. I want to do a story about the Demolition Derby at the Fairgrounds on Friday.” (Topic)

“I think I’ll focus on first-time demo drivers—how scared are they (diapers?), why they’re doing it (inspiration/insanity), are they big fans? what do they love about seeing junkers slam into each other.” (Angle)

“There’s this guy named Kurt Bumpercrap who I talked to at the Owl. He’s been working on a Chevy he bought at the junkyard for $100. He’s going to Demo this week. I’ll talk to him, his girlfriend (she has a bone in her nose!), his uncle Jake, who got him into this, and maybe his mom, who thinks he’s nuts.” Who else??? (sources)

“I’ll shoot some photos, and my roommate wants to shoot some, too.”

Other stuff: Think about the larger context: Did you know there’s an international Demolition Derby Assn., with chapters all over the country? They say that more than 87,000 junked cars took part in demo derbies in the United States in 2010. They also say that no drivers were killed in 2010, but that five were killed in a big crash in 2009 in Oklahoma. The national spokesman for the DDA is Bob Bondo….

Rules:
• Write minimum of 10 stories during semester, including at least one in-depth feature and one issue story sometime during the semester. (Start thinking about these now!)
• All writers also shoot photos. Please!
• Blow us off and you’re fired. No incompletes in this class.
• Audio/Video? If you have the expertise, we want HNC to go multimedia. Can you edit audio or video? Even cheap pix/video from your smart phone. Get video clips and post them to YouTube; we’ll link them. Example: See Jess Allen’s nice story (May 11) on hand bells at http://hardnewscafe.usu.edu/?p=5244 with video in the story linked to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PII152oaRT4. If you can get decent audio, we can work with Utah Public Radio to get them on radio. Let me know if you’re interested in this.
• Webmaster = Tom Broschinsky
• When sending stories: Plus HNC in the email subject line, and call your attached story (in Word) YourNameSlug (Ex: PeaseDemoDerby). Put your byline on the story (Ex: By Ted Pease).

Types of stories: Stories may be simple breaking news, but staffers should have in-depth stories in the works all the time
1. Breaking news/events (even speeches need multiple sources: audience, organizers, etc.)
2. Features: events, descriptives seasonal stuff/holidays (how to do something for July 4^th?)
3. Profiles/People
4. Issues
5. Localize nat’l news (earthquakes, tornadoes, Israel)
6. Interviews (Who? Why? So what?)
7. Everyone does at least one HSS faculty profile (more…?)

Grades: This class is not an easy-A. This is a senior-level writing class, in which professional standards are expected. That means complete stories, well written and edited, with polished grammar and accurate AP style. The basic expectation is 10 stories, as outlined above. If done well, that will earn a C. For higher grades, go above and beyond. Individual stories will not be handed back with grades, but the editor will email or send back stories that need revision before publication. The Hard News Café is a news site, and the editor will rewrite and fix stories that are close in order to get them published in a timely way. It is your responsibility to compare your original version with the published version, and ask the editor if you want feedback or have questions about editorial changes. Please also read your published stories closely when they are posted and let the editor know if any errors have slipped through, which happens.

Penalties: You will lose points for errors of spelling, grammar, fact and AP style. Deadlines count (hence the term…!). Attendance/preparation/participation/contributions to the class all count.

Final Portfolio: By AUGUST 1, you must file a report on your production with the editor. This report will include:

1. A typed list and dates of all the stories you wrote.

2. A copy of your original story and a printout (link) of the story as it appeared on the website.

3. With each story, a brief discussion on any problems you had with the story and, especially, how the editor changed your story—why? what errors were there in your original? How was the edited version different? How was it improved (if it was)?

Final grades will be awarded based on 1) your output, 2) the quality of your reporting and writing, 3) your reliability/drive/initiative.

Housekeeping & Heads-Ups:

“There is one sacred rule of journalism. The writer must not invent. The legend
on the [journalist’s] license must read: NONE OF THIS WAS MADE UP.”

–John Hersey, author of Hiroshima (1946)

Academic and Professional Honesty: We conform to the SPJ Code of Ethics, and the USU Student Code. Plagiarism includes knowingly “representing, by paraphrase or direct quotation, the published or unpublished work of another person as one’s own in any academic exercise or activity without full and clear acknowledgment. It also includes the unacknowledged use of materials prepared by another person or agency engaged in the selling of term papers or other academic materials” (USU Code of Policies and Procedures for Students, Article V, Section 3A.1). The university’s penalties for plagiarism are severe. They include “#1) warning or reprimand and #2) grade adjustment” (see: Article VI, Section 1A). Other penalties may also be imposed at the Dean’s discretion. These include probation, suspension, expulsion, withholding of transcripts, denial or revocation of degrees, referral to psychological counseling, and other appropriate disciplinary actions. Because public trust and personal credibility are essential to journalists and other professional communicators, the JCOM department observes a zero-tolerance policy regarding academic dishonesty: Any documented form of academic dishonesty—including plagiarism—will result in an automatic F in the course and expulsion from the major, plus a report to the dean of the college and the USU vice president for student services. No double-dipping. Students who hand in work from other classes will receive an “F.” If you have any questions about what’s acceptable work under strict codes of academic honesty, see the USU Code of Policies and Procedures for Students, or consult your professor. Any suspicious work may be submitted to a database that compares student papers to other student and published work in a web database.

Students with Disabilities Statement: The Americans with Disabilities act states: “Reasonable accommodation will be provided for all persons with disabilities in order to ensure equal participation within the program.” If a student has a disability that will likely require some accommodation by the instructor, the student must contact the instructor and document the disability through the Disability Resource Center (797-2444), preferably during the first week of the course. Any request for special consideration relating to attendance, pedagogy, taking of examinations, etc., must be discussed with and approved by the instructor. In cooperation with the Disability Resource Center, course materials can be provided in alternative format, large print, audio, diskette or Braille.

Finally . . . Although writing is a solitary craft, eventually every writer must connect with his/her editor, who is the first gatekeeper for the writer’s work and, hence, God. Please consult God early and often—to discuss your assignment ideas, to discuss your work, for general advice and wise counsel, for course advising or career help. Don’t be a stranger.

Questions? ASK! That’s what reporters do...