Newspaper Courses - Spring 2012
J255: Law and Ethics
An introduction to the legal and ethical conflicts faced by working reporters. Half of the semester will concentrate on First Amendment and media law, including libel and slander, privacy, free press/fair trial conflicts, and civil lawsuits arising from controversial reporting methods. The remainder of the semester will focus on ethical dilemmas faced by reporters and editors. Using case studies, in-class argument, readings and guest lecturers, the course examines some of the murkier conflicts that don?t necessarily make it to court but nevertheless force difficult newsroom decision-making.
J297: Internship Credit
Students receive one or two units of credit for the internships. Documentation required from both the student and from supervisor regarding internship responsibilities, hours, etc.
J201: Community Sites: Covering Oakland and Richmond
We're looking for first and second years to take Oakland North and Richmond Confidential to the next level while using this experience for important training. Each week we'll have a lecture by Kara Platoni that tackles an important journalistic skill, and throughout the week we'll do the reporting that makes Richmond Confidential and Oakland North vibrant, well-read and trusted community news sources. For first-year students, think of J201 as a seminar-like continuation of J200 that will go deeper into more advanced writing and reporting topics, help you improve your print and multimedia skills, and give you the flexibility to take on more ambitious or challenging reporting projects. For second-year students this is an invaluable chance to prepare for employment by working closely with an editor who can help you improve your writing and reporting chops; it’s also an excellent opportunity to build your speed, accuracy and ability to write clean copy on deadline. For everyone, this is a great way to build your online portfolio, showcasing work for future employers/internships and practicing reporting in a variety of media. Past students have said that this class prepares you for the real world because you are constantly producing new work and getting in-depth feedback from your editor. We'll also work on news site invention and development. The beauty of the community sites is that they're infinitely flexible and can accommodate all kinds of experimentation. Throughout the semester we'll talk about community involvement, increasing the sites’ readership, and taking on innovative new class projects. Experimenting with new ways of presenting stories, and mixing up all kinds of media—text, photo, video, audio and interactive—is highly encouraged. Radio and TV students very welcome — we’re looking for students ready to produce awesome work. Richard Koci-Hernandez and Josh Williams also will be assisting students working for the sites. This 4-unit class will meet twice a week—one night class for lecture, and one shorter day class to run the budget and plan for the reporting week ahead. This is an Advanced Reporting course. Students should consider this course about half as time-consuming as J200; you should be able to take two other high-energy courses alongside it. Think about useful overlap with other courses including business or politics reporting, narrative writing, photography, radio, TV or new media.
J201: Community Site: Mission Local
This is a class for first and second year students aimed at capitalizing on what you've learned and taking it to the next level, but engaging in a spirit of experimentation. Irreverence – there’s not enough of it on our site and there’s definitely not enough of it in journalism. We’ll take a look at some serious practitioners – from Hunter S. Thompson to Charlie LeDuff to loosen up your styles and get you to take risks with your copy and multimedia. Students will decide whether they want to focus on one deadline piece a week or medium-form features or investigative pieces reported over two weeks. You will be able to change this option throughout the semester, but we found last spring that this level of commitment worked well and enabled television as well as print students to participate. If you want a higher level of commitment, it can be arranged, but spring in the Mission is designed for experimentation, digging deeper and sanity. You’re taking other classes so we prefer to give you assignments that we know are doable stories in a set time frame. If you want to pitch, that’s fine too. We meet once a week – on Mondays from 6 to 9. Each week at 6 p.m. you will be out in the field on a group reporting exercise that ends back at the office in a writing exercise. Last year this took up the first hour of each class. We will have a GSR here three days a week to help with any multimedia projects you pursue and Jeremy will come in once a week as well. Mimi will consult on multimedia. Look forward to seeing you.
J298: Juicy, Juicy Scandal
Sex, Power, Cash and the Dynamics of Disclosure: Scandals reveal things about us – our values, obsessions, desires. More than any other type of story, scandal pulls back the curtain on the workings of both journalism and the the particular world it purports to cover. During Watergate or Iran Contra or the Monica Lewinsky Scandal, the shifting conventions of journalism, and the press’ relationship to political power, stood revealed as never before. Likewise, the Teapot Dome scandal of the 1920’s, the S&L Crisis of the eighties, and the Housing and Derivatives Bubble of 2008 threw open the window on the practices not only of business but of the journalists supposedly tracking it. Our course will comprise a history of American journalism as viewed through the lens of four types of scandal, those of power, money, sex, and celebrity. Though we focus on the twentieth century, including Watergate, the Pentagon Papers, Iran Contra, Lewinski and the baseball doping scandal, we will also spend a bit of time looking back to America’s formative scandals, including sex and blackmail among the Founding Fathers and corruption and influence peddling during the Grant Administration. In addition to such scandal classics as All the President’s Men, The Starr Report, Walter Winchell, and Larry Flynt’s One Nation Under Sex, readings will include contemporary press accounts of scandals both recent and distant. Finally, students will report on whatever scandal du jour is unfolding as we work – for, when it comes to juicy, juicy scandal, one always is.
J298: Writing Workshop: Short to Mid-Length Narrative
This course is designed for first years wanting to build on J200, second years looking for a chance to sharpen storytelling skills without taking on a long print piece, and anyone interested in writing text for non-print media or words/pictures print projects (provided the text is comprised of more than captions). Masters students finishing long form print pieces also are welcome, but only with my approval. By short to mid-length I mean 500 to 2,000 words. As long as basic narrative principles apply, all forms will be allowed: topical reportage; profiles; reviews; social trend and human interest pieces; serious and humorous commentary; essays and memoirs. Expect lots of critical reading, lots of writing and rewriting, lots of group editorial sessions. Nothing fancy, just repetitive practice, which is the only way to master a craft. As in my long form narrative workshops, we’ll emphasize structure, but scrutinize more closely the sequencing, shaping, and pacing of paragraphs; sentence construction, rhythm, and clarity; word choice; even punctuation. We’ll pay particular attention to the ways basic storytelling elements—ledes, transitions, voice, scenic effects, narrative line—apply to short and mid-length writing. Learning how to be concise will help you write tight, forceful, engaging narratives of any length. We’ll also study how short to mid-length narrative is used in journalism today, looking for opportunities to publish. The advantage of focusing on shorter venues is that it’s the easiest way to get started as a writer. While seasoned long-form journalists wrestle for space in the ever-shrinking feature wells of magazines, editors search for new writers to fill their departments. What’s more, most exclusively online venues prefer brevity (800 to 1,200 words). As websites proliferate, so does sloppy, self-indulgent writing, due largely to a shortage of rigorous editing—all the more reason for working on the craft. Depending on interest and need, we’ll explore how to write more effectively and memorably for new media. Other possible projects include excerpts (carving a short version out of a long story) and adaptations (developing a print version of a story originating in another medium); pitches for stories of various length; and portions of long form narratives, especially the crucial opening section. I also welcome opportunities to contribute to and collaborate with school-related outlets and initiatives—hyperlocals, Brink, The Bay Citizen, projects developed in the Visual Storytelling class, etc. Besides completing several writing assignments (or the equivalent), students will be required to survey print publications, websites, and relevant multimedia projects, then present the results in class. Because we need to report and write quickly, we’ll limit our geographic range to the Bay Area/Northern California (with certain exceptions, when justified). Think globally, write locally. Please come to the first class with three or four stories in mind. Feel free to contact Ed with any questions.
J219: Art of the Start II: Breaking History
Breaking History is a continuation course of last semester's Art of the Start. In this class, students will advance a project idea that came out of last semester's brainstorming. Breaking History is a multimedia news site that provides deeper context to the events of the day by looking back at similar events that happened before. Rather than letting news pass by without too much thought, we will help readers think further about why history keeps repeating itself. This semester will focus on two things: 1) running the project as a regular news site, producing weekly pieces 2) learning how to create a business out of an idea.
J294: Master's Project Seminar
J294 is a 2 semester course (1 unit/Fall, 1 unit/Spring). You must register for both semesters and it must be taken for a grade. ADVISER CCN# Bergman 48234 Bieder 48195 Calo 48237 Chakarova 48239 Chavez 48201 Else 48207 Drummond 48204 Gorney 48210 Grabowicz 48213 Gunnison 48216 Kahn 48231 Koci Hernandez 48306 LIght 48222 Pollan 48225 Rasky 48228 Rue 48198
J298: Crime Writing
Crime stories are a writer’s dream: suspenseful, dramatic, filled with violence, deception, dark personalities, and (in some cases) heroic crusaders – everything that makes a great yarn. Great crime tales include everything from suburban murders to jewel heists; art forgery to computer hacks, and corporate bank fraud. Another pleasure is that these stories can take almost any form. They can be curtain-pullers (a behind-the-scenes look at an identity theft ring), profiles (the undercover agent working to bust counterfeit pharmaceutical distributors), science stories (a cold case solved by a new kind of DNA evidence), human sagas (one family’s struggle to understand the man who killed their son), or deep investigations (the forensic evidence that nailed a death-penalty case – and whether it was as infallible as it seemed). Practically, this class will focus on both writing and skill-building. We’ll get a primer on court records, courtroom access, prison interviews, and how to talk to cops, lawyers, and judges. Because crimes rarely happen when the writer is present, we’ll also study reconstruction: the art of recreating all the elements of a vivid and cinematic scene that you didn’t actually see. Readings will be wide-ranging, eccentric, and sometimes funny. Writing assignments will begin with a formal pitch, and will finish with a 3000-word piece, the subject of which will have to be defended via in-class magazine-style editorial meetings. We’ll edit the original pitch over the semester as the story sharpens, with an eye to magazine submission. Along the way, we’ll meet with writers and editors from The New Yorker, the New York Times Magazine, Mother Jones, Harper’s, Vanity Fair, and others to learn about the complex evolution of real-world stories – including some of the great magazine articles of the past few years – from the people who wrote them. This class may also include a field trip to Richmond’s own DNA lab, and a visit with the cold case expert who mines it.
J298: Entrepreneurial Journalism
While disruptive changes in technology, consumer behavior and economics are challenging the media that traditionally supported journalism, the very same forces have created enormous opportunities to develop innovative new products and technologies to inform the public. This class will help students refine and advance their own ideas for innovative journalistic and other information-delivery projects. Projects may cover any or all media and may be envisioned as either for- profit or not-for-profit ventures. It is essential that students enrolling in the class have at least one concrete idea for a project they want to pursue. The project selected by a student may be something on which she or he already has begun work. Students may pursue projects individually or in small teams. The class will be conducted as a workshop similar to an advanced-reporting class, requiring substantial independent initiative and time from each student. The product produced by students at end of the term will be a thorough, fact-filled narrative describing the idea of the project, its intended audience, how it will be introduced into the marketplace and a financial plan for sustaining the effort (even non-profits need to pay the bills!). In some cases, students may be able to advance as far as creating a mock-up or prototype of their intended projects. If a student finds after thorough investigation that a proposed project would be unlikely to succeed, the final narrative will summarize the research and contain a discussion of the findings that led the author to abandon the project. This outcome is perfectly acceptable and students will be not penalized for not picking a “winner,” because the point of the class is to understand the process and discipline associated with developing a start-up venture. Classes will be held once a week for two hours per class; however, students should plan to spend a considerable amount of time outside the class to properly complete their projects. Here is how the semester will break down: • The first sessions of the class will acquaint students with the fundamental elements that must be covered in any business plan. • The next sessions will be seminars where students describe their projects and help each other think through the issues associated with their respective ideas. (Because confidentiality cannot be assured, students pursuing an idea they do not want to publicly disclose should not enroll in this class.) • The next phase of the class will involve researching the market for the proposed project, developing a pro forma business model, planning a go-to-market strategy and, time permitting, the development of prototypes. As necessary, these sessions will be held as group seminars or broken into a series of counseling sessions for individual projects. • The closing session(s) will be devoted to final presentations of each project to the full class and potentially to other interested members of the School community. Students are welcomed from all disciplines. Participation is encouraged from students in the schools of business, computer science and information. The instructor is Alan Mutter, a former newspaper editor who transitioned into a business career that eventually landed him in Silicon Valley, where he was the CEO of several companies and was an independent investor in others.
J219: The Journalist as Freelancer (9 Weeks)
The first class is January 20. A nine week mini-course that will provide students with basic skills that will help them understand building a freelance career; building a freelance practice, cultivating editors, taxes and insurance, pay, query letters, copyright, grants, accounting and general life questions that freelancers face. Taught by veteran freelancer Andrew Gilbert, a regular contributor to the Boston Globe, San Francisco Chronicle, San Jose Mercury News, Los Angeles Times and Contra Costa Times, the course features guest lecturers discussing real life issues and solutions from the world of writing, documentary film, photography, cultural and magazine reporting and new media. Guest lecturers will be Derk Richardson, a veteran Bay Area food and music writer who edits the travel magazine Afar; documentary filmmakers Jason Cohn and Camille Serven-Schreiber, whose film on designers Charles and Ray Eames “The Painter and the Architect” is in theatrical release; videographer/filmmaker Josiah Hooper, who has shot internationally for Frontline World, various shows for KQED, and independent productions; Reese Erlich, a prolific radio journalist who has written numerous books based on his reporting from international hot spots; and if scheduling allows, award-winning science writer Mary Roach, whose books include “Bonk,” “Stiff,” “Spook” and her latest “Packing For Mars.”
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