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584-544: TELEVISION NEWS MANAGEMENT Spring 2016
Sec. 001 8:00 am – 10:50 am M/F
Senior Lecturer Mark Zoromski
562 Johnston Hall
Office Hours:
Tuesdays 11:00 – 1:00
Thursdays 5:00 – 7:00
Phone Numbers:
Dept. Office: 414-229-4436
Cell:
414-403-9994
E-mail:
zoromski@uwm.edu
OVERVIEW:
JAMS 544 Television News Management covers newscast producing, writing, assignment
editing, and ethical decision-making under deadline.
Even in a tough economy, good television news producers are in demand. Producing jobs
can lead to top newsroom management jobs. Producers must be excellent writers, skilled
storytellers, thoughtful journalists, creative problem-solvers, and savvy users of
technology.
We’ll learn television news management through lectures, textbook readings, and most
important, practical experience in the UWM PantherVision newsroom.
SKILLS:
Producing. Producers in JAMS 544 manage the reporters and photojournalists in JAMS
342. They share producing duties for seven newscasts created in partnership with
Milwaukee Area Technical College (MATC). We’ll learn about choosing lead stories,
researching “readers” and “vo/sots” and deciding which stories deserve precious airtime.
On the technical side, we’ll create rundowns, back-time shows, and develop good
relationships with the technical crew. Newscast producing also demands artistic skills:
creating flow, writing powerful headlines and teases, and using graphics to clarify stories.
Writing. Producers are responsible for ensuring that every story, every tease, every
sentence in the newscast is clearly, skillfully and intelligently written. Good writers are
indispensable in a newsroom. In 342, you learned to write television news packages. In
this class, you’ll write succinct readers, voice-overs, voice-over-to-sound, bumpers,
headlines and teases.
Assignment editing. The best assignment editors are well informed and organized, able to
react quickly to changes and make instant editorial decisions. They help decide which
stories should be covered and which should be ignored, sort through the huge volume of
information that flows into a newsroom, and communicate directions to everyone in the
newsroom, fast.
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Personnel management. Managing people is one of the hardest jobs for producers,
executive producers and news directors. In this class, you’ll manage the reporters and
photojournalists from 342, as well as your 544 classmates. Successful managers listen
and respect others’ opinions, but have the fortitude to enforce unpopular decisions.
Ethical decision-making. Journalists face difficult decisions every day. There often are no
“right” answers. We’ll learn about journalistic ethics and how they guide decision
makers.
Deadline pressure: In broadcasting, deadline pressure is intense. In this class, there’s
pressure to pull together dozens of newscast elements on deadline, just as journalists do
in newsrooms across the country. Your team’s grade each week will be based, in large
part, on your ability to make deadline.
Digital editing. We’ll build on the beginning Adobe Premiere editing skills learned in
JAMS 342 so that by the end of this class, you will be an expert editor.
Reporting. We’ll continue working on reporting, editing, writing and photojournalism
skills by reporting stories shot on digital cameras and edited digitally. In 544, producers
are expected to build on their reporting skills and produce professional-quality packages.
Manager responsibility. Television news managers are responsible for meeting deadlines
and getting newscasts on the air. If stories fall through, managers must come up with new
ideas. If reporters or writers turn in stories with factual errors, managers must get the
facts.
ATTENDANCE:
Class attendance is mandatory. On newscast production Fridays, expect to be in the
newsroom from 6:00 a.m. until 3 p.m. On Mondays, expect to be at Milwaukee Area
Technical College from 8:00 a.m. until 11:30 a.m. If these times conflict with your class
schedule, see me.
GRADING:
You will be graded on your overall skills as a television news producers, assignment
editors, managers, writers, and reporters. Each student will be on the producing team for
a minimum of three newscasts; the actual distribution of opportunities depends on
enrollment.
Your final grade will be based on your individual performance as well as your team
performance.
Team Performance: Successfully getting a quality newscast on the air requires that
everyone involved work together as a cohesive unit, so, accordingly, part of your grade
will be based on how your producing team performs on weeks when your team is
assigned to produce PantherVision.
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Both your producing and reporting grades will be team grades. Every member of the
producing team will receive the same grade for a given newscast. When you are
reporting, you and your photojournalist will receive the same grade for your story, just
like you did in 342.
Individual Performance: You’ll also earn individual grades as part of your producing
team. Each member of the team will write stories for the newscast, and your grade will
be based on writing quality, accuracy, AP style and proper scripting style, and effort.
Each student is expected to learn digital editing to complete the PantherVision dub reel
on Fridays and successfully edit producer packages.
Specifically, your final grade will be determined as follows:
Team performance:
Individual performance
Reporting/photojournalism
40 %
40 %
20 %
Late assignments. Newsroom employees must meet deadlines. Late assignments are not
accepted, and may receive a grade of “0.”
TIME INVESTMENT:
To achieve the learning outcomes of this 3-credit course, an average student should
expect to invest about 144 hours over the course of the semester. We’ll spend about 50
hours in class, and until about the end of February, you’ll have very little coursework
outside the classroom (perhaps 1 hour of reading per week, for 5 hours total). Once we
begin our newscasts, though, expect to devote about 12 hours a week outside scheduled
class time.
EQUIPMENT AND SUPPLIES:
The equipment we use in this class is expensive. You must sign an equipment agreement
specifying that you are financially responsible for damage to the equipment or lost/stolen
parts.
REQUIRED TEXTS:
Power Producer: A Practical Guide to TV News Producing, Dow Smith, latest edition
(distributed first day of class)
The Associated Press Stylebook and Libel Manual, Associated Press. (new copy is not
necessary if you already have one)
SEMESTER OUTLINE:
The projected outline of the semester can be found later in this syllabus. The schedule, as
well as this syllabus, are subject to change if warranted according to the instructor’s
judgment and for the benefit of the class.
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IMPORTANT CLASS POLICIES:
1. Students with disabilities: If you will need accommodations in order to meet any of
the requirements of this course, please contact the instructor as soon as possible.
2. Religious observances: Students will be permitted to make up assignments when (a)
There is a scheduling conflict between the student's sincerely held religious beliefs and
taking the examination or meeting the academic requirements; and
(b) The student
has notified the instructor, within the first three weeks of the beginning of classes of the
specific days or dates on which he or she will request relief from an examination or
academic requirement.
3. Incompletes: A notation of "incomplete" may be given in lieu of a final grade to a
student who has carried a subject successfully until the end of a semester but who,
because of illness or other unusual and substantiated cause beyond the student' s control,
has been unable to take or complete the final examination or to complete some limited
amount of term work.
4. Discriminatory conduct (such as sexual harassment): The University will not
tolerate discriminatory conduct. It poisons the work and learning environment of the
University and threatens the careers, educational experience, and well -being of students,
faculty, and staff.
5. Academic misconduct: Cheating on exams or plagiarism are violations of the
academic honor code and carry severe sanctions, including failing a course or even
suspension or dismissal from the University.
For more information, see: http://www.uwm.edu/Dept/SecU/SyllabusLinks.pdf