(Journalism 608)
Fall 2010
Journalism Department
San Francisco State University
Roland De Wolk, Senior Lecturer

This is an experiment. In other words, not the formulaic, formalized, prescriptive stuff of the American school machine. From the bureaucracy’s standpoint, there are prerequisites described below. From my perspective there are only three: Integrity, energy, brains. That will get you a C. Bring some imagination, adventure and lack of selfishness and you are up to a B. Add a true work ethic and sense of humor and you can own this place.

I am not interested in teaching you how to be newspaper reporters. I am very interested in getting you the know-how of top-shelf reporting newspapers remain best at. I am not interested in training the next generation of droids for a flailing and failing news media industry. I am very interested in immersing you in the basic high-skill set of enterprise reporting you can take a whole new level in a world where journalism and democracy desperately need your individual creative fire. I am not interested in concentrating on one or two routines you can master. I am very interested in watching you help create the next, wholly original new journalism of your generation.

If this interests you, let’s get to it.

Prescribed Prerequisites

Journalism 609 with grade of C or better or consent of instructor. The university also requires you to be a journalism major or minor. If any of these might cause you problems but you are truly interested in this experiment, talk to me.

Department Summary

This is what they write in the university catalog: “Planning, reporting, editing, and fact-checking; shooting photos for publication in San Francisco area newspapers. May be repeated for 6 units for degree credit. Plus-minus letter grade only.”

It is assumed students in this course already have learned basics in previous classes and real world experience: Accuracy, attribution, multiple sourcing, news judgment, clear and graceful writing, photo skills, multimedia abilities, use of quotes, use of transitions, listening, use of basic research tools, interviewing, editing and rewriting, deadline production, note-taking, research planning, current events knowledge, libel knowledge, use of statistics. And more.

Instructional Methods

We will run this class as if it is the small newsroom that it is and will be.

That means a mandatory news meeting each Monday where you will pitch and respond to story ideas. We will come prepared with professional grade budget lines, including production (story telling) outlines.

Writing students will be expected to produce at least four breaking news stories, and five enterprise stories during the semester. Photographers will be expected to complete at least 12 assignments, consisting of a mix of breaking news and enterprise work.

In past News Bureau courses, instructors have found most students produced more than the required number of stories or photographs. Those, no doubt, were the ones who did not settle for being average and got better than average grades.

Those of you who can get past simple written or still picture journalism and can get their ambitious work posted online will have fewer assignments but will have an infinitely more valuable portfolio, better grades, and a better future.

I will schedule individual meeting with students around mid-semester. Other private sessions are encouraged.

Photographers & More

If you take pictures, we want you. If you have even a vague understanding of video, we especially want you. If you know how to say ‘audio,’ we want you. If you know anything about posting online beyond Facebook, we want you. If you have any interest in learning something about the future of journalism, this is the place for you.

Advising

(More university stuff): All journalism majors and minors are required to have an adviser and should meet with their adviser at least once each semester. Students may choose any full-time instructor as their adviser or may ask the department office manager (located in HUM 305) to assign them an adviser. Advising folders are filed there and should be picked up by the student before each appointment and returned to the file.

Each student is required to place copies of their academic transcripts or grade reports for their entire academic career in their advising folders. Students also are required to place an updated resume, sample internship or job application letter and most recent best clips in their advising folder at the end of each semester they are on the laboratory publication.

Grading Policy

To grade someone’s writing is a difficult and inexact task. This is how we will try to do it:

While each instructor’s grading policy on issues such as spelling may be unique, the Journalism faculty has agreed on and enforces one thing: “Any story with a misspelled name receives an automatic ‘F’.” Beyond that, grading criteria are:

A — The news story is exceptionally well written and free of errors. The lede is clear, concise and interesting. The story is well organized and contains effective transitions, quotations, descriptions and anecdotes. Because of the story’s obvious merit, any newspaper would be eager to publish it.

B — a newspaper could publish the news story after minimal editing. The story contains only a few minor errors of style. The lede clearly summarizes the story, and the following paragraphs present all the information necessary for a comprehensive news story. The information is presented in a cohesive, well-organized manner. The story is not as detailed, descriptive or interesting as an “A” story.

C — The news story is superficial or could be published only after heavy editing. The lede may be too wordy and fail to clearly emphasize the latest, most interesting or most important aspects of the story. The story tends to be disorganized and contains many minor errors. A few sentences or paragraphs may have to be rewritten because they are repetitious, awkward or confusing.

D — The news story contains all the necessary facts, but those facts are presented so ineffectively that they would have to be rewritten before the story could be published. The story also may contain an unacceptable number of stylistic, spelling or grammatical errors.

F — The news story could not be published by a newspaper and is so incomplete, confusing or erroneous that the facts in the story could not be rewritten and published.

The university’s grading policy:

A = Outstanding work (“… truly unusual accomplishment…”)

B = Above average work (“… exceptional accomplishment…”)

C = Average performance (“…successful completion of all course requirements, no significant weaknesses…”)

D = Below average (“… completion of course requirements but with significant weaknesses…”)

F = Failure (“Course requirement not met.”)

As to the question, “Should grades represent quality and a level of accomplishment? Or effort? Or progress?” Here is what the university states:

• “Grades are assumed to reflect the instructor’s judgment of the quality of the student’s performance. Grades should not merely be awarded for effort, attendance, native ability, etc., notwithstanding the fact that all of these may effect performance and become part of the evaluation.

• “Students who elect the CR/NC system are not to be given fewer or easier assignments than those who are on the A-F systems; such practice makes grades reflective of the quantity rather than the quality of the student’s performance.

• “Students may not be guaranteed ‘at least a “C” or “B,”’ etc. in advance or by a contract related solely to the quality of assignments completed, an evaluation is a post-performance function rather than a pre-performance contract.”

Plagiarism

It is, of course, permissible to use material from other sources, but those sources must be fully identified or cited. Here is the department policy on plagiarism:

Plagiarism, the passing off of someone else’s work as your own, is a serious offense against scholarship, journalism and honesty. The university, and this department of journalism punish it harshly.

As Professor John Burks wrote a long time ago:

“In journalism, the object is to develop one’s own original body of work, based on one’s own reporting and research, and delivered in one’s own ‘voice’ — in one’s own writing — in an effort to give the reader as faithful a rendition of the truth of things as we are capable.
By contrast, plagiarism delivers what someone else has researched and written under the pretense that it is one’s own work. The plagiarist lies to the reader by pretending the stolen writing is original, deprives the real
author of credit, and denies readers the right to form an opinion based on
the real source of information.
To call this a disservice to journalism is putting it in mildest terms.
When a journalist steals someone else’s work, it damages the credibility
of all of his or her associates, and calls into question the integrity of the
newspaper or magazine in which the plagiarized work is published.
Plagiarists fail their readers, their profession, and themselves.”

San Francisco State University calls plagiarism “literary theft,” and treats it as a disciplinary issue punishable under state law. Students accused of plagiarism are called before the Student Discipline Officer for a hearing. Punishment can be as severe as expulsion.

The Journalism Department treats plagiarism as one of the most serious breaches of professional journalistic ethics. For that reason, journalism professors may give a “F” for the course.

Here are my own first and last words on this subject: Plagiarize and I will do everything I can to have you expelled from the university.

‘Nuff said.

Important Stuff

Aside from the standardized departmental guidelines, books and reporting assignments required of you by the department, I will also expect you to:

• Be familiar with the news on a daily basis. That means reading AT LEAST two newspapers each day (I suggest the San Francisco Chronicle and the New York Times), watch a TV news broadcast at least three times a week (A local show and a network broadcast), listen to radio news daily (NPR, KCBS, etc.) and be online very regularly.

• Be familiar with this Web site. Here you will find this syllabus, course assignments and other vital materials on it. Use it — or wish you had.

• You MUST have email and you MUST read it daily. Assignments and other vital messages will come to you via the Internet and you will be responsible for reading, understanding and executing them. Your email address must be professional grade.

• Have a phone. You will need voice mail or an answering machine with a professional-grade recording.

• Meet all story deadlines. I will give an F grade to any story – complete or not – that does not meet its deadline.

• Meet minimal quality standards. Those standards will be described in detail here and throughout the course. Factual errors will, from the start, prompt an F grade on any assignment. Factual errors include misspelled names.

• There will be a strong emphasis on developing professional competence. We will regularly examine – and you will be expected to understand – issues such as ethical and legal standards, freedoms and responsibilities. We will hold up the highest and best standards of our cultures and history.

All written assignments will be written either on paper or through Microsoft Word and emailed to me. All will be at least double-spaced. All will have this format at top:

Slug

Byline

Date

Course/Instructor data

Word count

• Punctuation, grammar, spelling and adherence to the Associated Press Stylebook will be emphasized. Making the same stylebook or syntactical mistake twice or more will spark some polite unpleasantness. After that, I will take off a half grade for every mistake.

• Grades will come after final edits. Source sheets, with full names, titles and contact data, will accompany all stories. Stories failing this vital accompaniment will earn the story a failing grade.

• Class attendance and promptness, as always, will be mandatory. Unfortunately, for some of you, this will be no joke. I will give an F grade on attendance to anyone who is late twice or more by five minutes without my express advance permission. If you miss class, YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR FINDING OUT WHAT WE COVERED THAT EVENING, INCLUDING OBTAINING THE ASSIGNMENT FROM A CLASSMATE.

I will demand a great deal from you. I will expect you to demand at least equally high standards from me:

• I am accessible. My regular office hour will be every Monday before class. If it’s important, make an appointment with me first. If not, it’s first-come-first serve. My email is RolandDeWolk@gmail.com. Use it. If you have an emergency –professional or personal — my cell number is 510 220 2217. It has voice mail on duty 24 hours a day. A word of caution about my home number: Although I will expect you call sources at home when necessary, I prefer not to be called at non-work numbers. I will NOT be impressed that you found my home number. Unless it’s a real emergency, I will be annoyed.

• I am accountable. You can expect the highest-grade professional instruction from me. Moreover, you can expect respect from me throughout the course. If you feel any of my teaching is not meeting your individual needs, I expect to hear from you. Since I do not (yet) read minds, THIS IS YOUR RESPONSIBILITY.

• I reward enterprise. Successful journalists are no different than most successful people in any other vocation: They seek success by consistently doing more than expected, finding solutions not excuses, restlessly looking for the next accomplishment. I am keenly interested in observing and measuring these traits and guarantee they will significantly boost what you will take home from this course — and your grade. On the other hand, those of you who exhibit natural gifts that may lead you to acting as if enterprise is not necessary will suffer the opposite experience — here and beyond.

• I am goal-oriented. Although many newsroom managers will expect you to be a bulldog outside and a lapdog inside, I will demand you carry out all your work – inside and outside – with courtesy and persistence; professionalism and independence; compassion and skepticism. One can sum up my teaching attitude quite simply: When you succeed, I succeed. When you fail, I fail

And I truly hate to fail.

Grades are private but transparent to each individual student. I will provide each of you with a private progress report towards the middle of the term. ANY STUDENT INTERESTED IN THEIR GRADE AND THEIR GRADE PROGRESS IS INVITED TO ASK AT ANY TIME FOR AN ACCURATE UPDATE. INDIVIDUAL MEETINGS ON THIS AND OTHER COURSE MATTERS ARE STRONGLY ENCOURAGED. THIS IS YOUR RESPONSIBILITY.

Aside from the detailed grades explanation in the department-produced syllabus, here are the critical points directly regarding grades awarded in this course:

• Fulfillment of assignments count for 80 percent of your grade. The final grade on each story, image, or production comes from the final product.

• Attendance, professionalism, ability to work cooperatively with others — and your pure work ethic — will count for the remaining 20 percent of your final grade.

The Schedule

Unlike some classes, we do not have a published week-by-week task list. We will meet promptly at 7pm each Monday evening and we will have a story conference each week.

Among the key topics we will explore are:

• Accuracy

• Attribution

• Multiple Sourcing

• Bias

• The Lede , The Nut Graph, The Point

• Getting Way Past Print

• Images & Audio

• The Basic Hard News Story v. Features

• Interviewing

• Libel

• Beats

• Pitching Stories

• Active v. Passive voice

• Shooting Video

• Editing Video

• Audio

• Inviting the Audience to Participate

• Anti-Social News Media

There will be a quiz the second week of class about this syllabus. Take it seriously.