JAMS 320: Integrated Reporting
Instructor: Gina Barton
Course times: 12:30 p.m.-1:45 p.m. Tuesdays and Thursdays
Room: BOL 296
Course dates: 9/2 -12/14
Office hours: Before of after class or by appointment
Contact information: The best way to reach me is through email at
bartong@uwm.edu or via cell phone at 414-550-2868.
This syllabus was developed in cooperation with UWM instructor Jessica McBride,
who teaches the MW section, in hopes that students achieve the same learning
outcomes, regardless of which section they complete.
Required purchases:
•The Associated Press Stylebook and Libel Manual, Associated Press. Note: Older
editions are fine. Use AP style on all print/online news writing assignments in this
class.
•A flash/jump drive. Minimum: 8 gigs
•A digital camera (unless you have an iPhone that takes good quality photos).
I assume most students have access to a digital camera. If this is a cost issue and you
don’t, please see me for assistance.
•STRONGLY RECOMMENDED: iPhone or iPad. A smart phone has become a
requirement for modern-day journalists. Droids do not work as well with apps
needed for in-the-field journalism. If you have this technology, I recommend you
purchase the iMovie 0S7 app. You can check iPads out at the UWM library for use in
this course. THESE CAN BE CHECKED OUT ONLY FOR 48 HOUR TIME PERIOD. In
addition, the JAMS Department has a limited quantity of iPads available for checkout
through Jeff Loomis.
Course Mission:
JAMS 320 is a multimedia reporting class that is designed to advance your learning
beyond JAMS 204. This class is the Media Milwaukee newsroom. You will cover the
campus as a beat. Some of our student stories in the past have won prominent
journalism awards and have been viewed and shared by thousands of people! Do
your best work; it will be read. It will make an impact in the broader community.
In JAMS 320, all students will learn core skills that will make them marketable for
journalism professions (including the modern online world that requires
journalistic skills), with an emphasis on journalistic reporting skills and integrated
training for print, online, and broadcast news environments. Students will write and
produce stories for www.mediamilwaukee.com, the JAMS department’s awardwinning online news platform. Students will be trained in principles of mobile
newsgathering, social media for journalists, SEO, and deadline writing.
Skills you should put on your resume once you complete this class include:
Print/online news writing and reporting
Open records and open meetings laws
Professional social media use
Aggregation
SEO
Interviewing
iMovie video editing
Soundslides
Internet research
MAJOR PROJECTS: All students will cover the UWM campus as a beat this semester.
You will write and report the following stories:
1)
Campus event (such as a speech, election, panel, dance, sports game –
anything scheduled in advance) – print/online (recommended first)
2)
Campus meeting – print/online (recommended second)
3)
Feature profile story or trend story – print/online (recommended third)
4)
One off-campus story at City Hall (such as meeting) or the Milwaukee County
Courthouse (sentencing or other court hearing). (recommended fourth)
5)
Aggregation assignment (online research only)
6)
WordPress portfolio site
Note: Print/online stories can be done in any order as long as you meet deadlines.
Each print/online story must include SEO and at least 2 photos. These elements will
be graded separately.
7)
A mobile journalism video interview produced with an iPhone or iPad. This
video interview can accompany one of the above print/online stories, but it doesn’t
have to. It is not due until the end of the semester, but it can be turned in sooner.
8)
A soundslides project with audio.
SOCIAL MEDIA:
9)
Social media assignment: Each student, as part of a team, will run the Media
Milwaukee professional Facebook and Twitter platforms, including creation of a
Facebook advertisement.
Deadlines:
Print/online story one: Thursday, Oct. 22 at noon
Major audio soundslides: Tuesday, Nov. 3 at noon
Print/online story two: Tuesday, Nov. 17 at noon
Print/online story three: Thursday, Dec. 3 at noon
Aggregation story: Tuesday, Dec. 15 at noon
Print/online story four: Thursday, Dec. 17 at noon
iMovie OS7 video interview story with iPad or iPhone: Thursday, Dec. 17 at noon
*Extra credit if you turn it in with story 1, 2, or 3
WordPress site: Due Tuesday, Dec. 21 at noon
MISSED DEADLINES ARE UNACCEPTABLE AND ASSIGNMENTS WILL NOT BE
ACCEPTED AFTER THE DEADLINE.
Story idea due dates
Story idea for major soundslides: Tuesday, Sept. 24 at noon
Story idea 1 (print/online): Tuesday, Oct. 13 at noon
Story idea 2 (print/online): Thursday, Oct. 29 at noon
Story idea 3 (print/online): Thursday, Nov. 19 at noon
Story idea 4 (print/online): Tuesday, Dec. 8 at noon
No story idea due for iMovie interview only piece
You will also have some technology, writing, and reporting practice assignments.
There will be at least 10 news quizzes. In order to pass them, you will need to read,
watch or listen to the news daily.
GRADING CRITERIA
•
Major projects
•
Quizzes
•
Photos and SEO
•
Social media project
•
In-class and outside assignments, including story ideas
45 percent
7 percent
10 percent
8 percent
30 percent
GRADING SCALE:
93-100 A
90-92 A88-89 B+
83-87 B
80-82 B78-79 C+
73-77 C
70-72 C68-69 D+
63-67 D
60-62 DBelow 60 F
JAMS J/DOC POLICIES
Plagiarism:
Plagiarism can result in an F for the assignment or the class, and/or referral to the
university system for academic misconduct. Copying the words of others from the
Internet or any source without crediting them is plagiarism. If you have a question
about use of any material, contact the instructor. Don’t risk the consequences of
stealing words or ideas belonging to someone else.
University policy on plagiarism and academic misconduct:
http://www4.uwm.edu/secu/SyllabusLinks.pdf
Re-using material:
Re-using stories or assignments from other classes and representing them as
original work for JAMS 204 can result in an F for the assignment or the class.
Sources/Interviewees/Accuracy:
Faking sources can result in an F for the assignment or the class, and/or referral to
the university system for academic misconduct.
Anonymous sources: Not acceptable.
Do not repurpose stories from uwm.edu as your own – that is plagiarism.
Do not present photos taken by others as your own. All photos used in this class
must be taken by the student.
Family members or friends as sources: Not acceptable.
Phone/email interviews: identify as such in story i.e. “County Supervisor Charlie
Jones said in an email…” “…Wendy Smith said in a phone interview.” The best way to
obtain an interview is to talk with your source in person.
Quoting other news media or sources quoted in other media is unacceptable in news
writing and can result in an F for the assignment.
Never mislead an interview source.
Transparency: Tell all sources you are a student reporter for the multimedia news
site Media Milwaukee, and that your story could be published on the Internet.
Incorrect titles or facts: can result in an F for the assignment.
Photo credits: Take your own photos. Turning in photos someone else took is a big
problem and not acceptable.
Failure to credit stock photos or photos from any source other than your camera can
result in an F for the assignment.
Media Milwaukee:
High-quality student work may be eligible for posting on the award-winning JAMS
multimedia news site Media Milwaukee (usually stories with grades above 90%).
Content posted to Media Milwaukee can be used as “clips” or work samples for
internship and job applications. Stories will be considered for publication when all
suggested edits are complete and all print, photo, audio and video elements are
formatted correctly (see formatting requirements below). All elements must be of
professional quality.
Assignment format:
Times New Roman
12 point
single spaced
double space between paragraphs
paragraph spacing, indentation = 0
Use .doc or .docx formats
Professionalism:
Inappropriate/abusive emails or other unprofessional communication will result in
a referral to the department chair.
Distractions:
Use of the Internet, smart phones and cell phones in class is prohibited and can
result in a 0 for the day’s attendance or an F on in-class assignments.
Workload: This class meets twice weekly for 75 minutes, for a total of 37.5 hours of
required lecture time. You should expect to spend 20 hours over the course of the
semester reading required articles and following current events in the news. There are
also nine major projects, which you should expect to require an average of 15 hours each.
Other homework assignments throughout the semester will likely require a total of 15
hours. In total, this class will require approximately 207.5 hours of your time.
UNIVERSITY 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 wellbeing 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://www4.uwm.edu/secu/SyllabusLinks.pdf
ABOUT THE INSTRUCTOR:
Gina Barton is the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel’s law enforcement investigative
reporter. In 2013, she won a George Polk award for her investigation into the death
of Derek Williams in Milwaukee police custody. Her work has won recognition in
several other national contests, including a 2010 Casey Medal for Meritorious
Journalism and a 2009 IRE Award for breaking news investigations. Her narrative
series “Fatal Identity” was followed by charges against a longtime murder suspect.
Her book on the case was published in September 2008. In 2000, Barton spent five
weeks reporting in Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia as a Dart Center Ochberg
Fellow. She has worked at the Indianapolis Star, the South Bend (Ind.) Tribune and
the Huntington (W.Va.) Herald-Dispatch. Barton holds a bachelor’s degree from
Northwestern University and a master’s degree from Indiana University-South
Bend.
SCHEDULE
(Instructor reserves the right to change the schedule if necessary.)
Quizzes and deadline drills at the discretion of the instructor
Week One
Thursday Sept. 3
Introductions
Class overview; syllabus review
Proficiency checklist
Due Tuesday: Photo headshot for Media Milwaukee (not graded)
Week Two
Tuesday Sept. 8
Audio editing review/soundslides review, Jeff Loomis
Due Thursday: News values assignment
Read branding article and LinkedIn chapter in the social media handbook
Thursday Sept. 10
Cover letters and resumes
Branding – what’s your brand?
Week 3
Tuesday Sept. 15
Cover letters and resumes, continued
Read Facebook and Twitter chapters in social media handbook
Assignments due Tuesday: Cover letter and resume
Thursday Sept. 17
Professional Facebook and Twitter pages.
Using Hootsuite. LinkedIn. Jessica McBride
Week 4
Tuesday Sept. 22:
Story ideas
Assignment due Thursday: Soundslides idea
Thursday Sept. 24
Guest speaker: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel photographer Mark Hoffman.
Photojournalism - composition
Photojournalism and video sequencing
Assignment due Tuesday: Turn in a newsworthy campus “wild art” photo that
demonstrates understanding of the Rule of Thirds and other photo composition
rules. The best photos will be posted on the Media Milwaukee social media sites.
Week 5
Tuesday Sept. 29
News story structure – review
Assignment due Thursday: Shoot a sequence with still photography
Thursday Oct. 1
Avoiding process leads/good lead writing
Assignment due Tuesday: Simulated news story
Week 6
Tuesday Oct. 6
Reporting process
Thursday Oct. 8
How to cover a scheduled event – speech, panel, etc.
Due Tuesday: Story idea one
Week 7
Tuesday Oct. 13
How to cover a meeting/City Hall, campus
Assignment for Thursday: Find an agenda
Thursday Oct. 15
Interpreting agendas; covering meetings continued.
Week 8
Tuesday Oct. 20
iMovie training – Jeff Loomis
First print/online story is due Thursday at noon in the D2L dropbox.
Thursday Oct. 22:
SEO – Jessica McBride
Week 9
Tuesday Oct. 27
Covering court hearings and sentencings
Due Thursday: Story idea two
Thursday Oct. 29:
Interviewing
Due Tuesday: Soundslides project
Week 10
Tuesday Nov. 3
Interviewing continued
Thursday Nov. 5
Feature writing
Week 11
Tuesday Nov. 10
Word Press – Jeff Loomis
Thursday Nov. 12
Word press – Jeff Loomis
Due Tuesday: Print/online story two
Week 12
Tuesday Nov. 17
Open records and open meetings laws
Due Thursday: Story idea three
Thursday Nov. 19:
Guest speaker: Storify/online/breaking news reporting
Week 13
24. Tuesday Nov. 24
Basic HTML – Jeff Loomis
THANKSGIVING BREAK- no class Thursday Nov. 26
Week 14
Tuesday Dec.1
Ethics
Due Thursday: Print/online story three
Thursday Dec. 3
Internet reporting sites
Due Tuesday: Story idea four, WordPress rough draft
Week 15
Tuesday Dec. 8: Aggregation – Jessica McBride
Assignment due Thursday: Aggregation story
Thursday Dec. 10:
Wrap up
Final projects:
Fourth major print/online story: Due Thursday, Dec. 17
iMovie video story: Due Thursday, Dec. 17
Final WordPress site due: Tuesday, Dec. 21