Multiplatform Reporting
Journalism 2311
Spring 2012-13
Class:
Mondays 11:50 to 12:45 p.m., and W and F from 12:10 a.m. to 1:50 p.m. in Scripps 211
Professor Hans K. Meyer
o E-mail: meyerh@ohio.edu
o Phone: (740) 597-3084
o Office: 104 Scripps
o Office Hours: Tuesdays and Thursdays from 1 to 3 p.m. or by appointment
Books
o The Associated Press Stylebook, (2012) Required. ISBN: 9780917360565 You can purchase
this online or in the bookstore. Bring your copy for open-book quizzes.
o News Reporting and Writing Workbook. Required. ISBN: 9780312618117 Bedford, St.
Martin’s Press. $15.
o Inside Reporting (1st or 2nd ed.) Recommended. ISBN: 9780073526140
Course Overview:
The media landscape is rapidly changing, and everyone is scrambling to keep up. Traditional media
outlets, such as newspapers and televisions stations, have switched much of their focus to the Internet. Online,
they compete against upstart bloggers and citizen journalists who have created their own outlets and their own
news brands.
Even as the Internet has changed media structures and job duties for journalists, the content and
structure of a good news story remains the same. One of the goals of this course is to teach strong news writing
skills that will translate to any medium. First, we need to learn the basics. Next, we’ll focus on applying these
basic tools in print, video, multimedia and advocacy writing formats. Finally, we’ll learn a few tricks to engage
our readers and tell a good story. Throughout this class we will practice writing clean stories that read quickly
and communicate clearly no matter which audience we’re writing for.
Course Learning Outcomes
At the end of this course, students should be able to do the following:
 Define news and understand how this definition applies across different media, especially online.
 Identify the basic elements of a news story, including the who, what, where, when, why, how and
what’s next.
 Develop a personal instinct for news values, and use this instinct to discover stories, imagine
news angles, and distill a news story or event into a readable story for your audience.
 Write news stories using basic formats, such as the inverted pyramid with a summary lede.
 Understand the strengths and weaknesses of different story forms across media platforms.
 Shoot and edit short videos.
 Use multimedia tools such as photos, videos, or infographics to add value to your printed story,
and employ social media and SEO tactics to promote that story to your audience.
 Learn the outlines of libel and privacy laws to protect yourself from legal actions while reporting
or photographing a story.
 Understand basic investigative techniques—where to seek information for a story when covering
crime or breaking news in your community or state.
 Learn and employ correct news writing style using the AP Stylebook, which is the bible (lower
case!) of the journalism industry.
Required Texts
 The Associated Press Stylebook, (2012)
You can purchase this online or in the bookstore. Although it is possible to subscribe online for
electronic access to the Stylebook, you may be best served with a physical copy of the book for openbook quizzes.
Recommended text
 Inside Reporting, by Tim Harrower 1st or 2nd ed. This book is particularly recommended if you are
interested in print or magazine journalism. Mr. Harrower has a talent for bringing together interesting
content in a newspaper-like format. The book contains lots of great “war stories” from inside the newsroom,
plus a “morgue” of sample stories you can use for inspiration and direction.
Required Equipment
During the semester, students will complete at least two video assignments. The Scripps school will
supply the cameras and lab computers for editing. Students, however, will need to buy the following:
 An SD memory card (at least 8 GB, Class 10 read/write speed recommended)
 An SD card reader. Bring it to class on video editing days. The Mac computers in our classroom do not have
SD card readers.
 A portable hard drive (preferably one that does NOT require an extra power source)
Course Expectations
The main focus of this class is writing, and we will try to mix in-class and outside-of-class projects to
ensure students understand the writing concepts and feel confident applying them in the real world. You will be
expected to meet all story deadlines, even if sources fail to contact you. You are expected to attend all classes,
including Monday sessions. You must subscribe to The New York Times online.
Attendance Policy
Students are expected to attend class regularly and on time, to participate in class discussions,
and to complete reading assignments prior to class. Attendance will be taken through in-class writing
exercises, student presentations, and AP style quizzes. If you miss class, you miss the points. YOU
WILL NOT BE ALLOWED TO MAKE-UP THE IN-CLASS EXERCISES. I may make an exception if
you miss class because of a death in the family, a doctor-attested illness, or a university-approved
activity. All three instances require some form of documentation.
In addition, this course will meet Monday with the other sections in a large group setting. These
Monday lectures will supplement the class by providing insight on the changing nature of journalism
and its integration on the Web. Attendance at all of these presentations is expected. To check attendance,
the instructor will base part of the weekly AP style quizzes on Monday lectures.
Course Activities
1. Beat Memo: At the start of the second week of class, students will be required to select and
defend an area they would like to cover. This will be their beat. Students will use this beat to
complete the outside-of-class writing and multimedia assignments. When writing the beat memo,
they should be sure to identify events that will fall within the deadline periods, as well as locate
sources they can rely on for information. They must also justify why this area and these stories
are worth covering. I will read beat proposals carefully and provide feedback to help you identify
possible story pitches. You are responsible, however, for identifying and completing all the
stories. This beat memo is a good way to get you started early. Students who complete the beat
memo according to the grading criteria will receive full credit for this assignment.
2. In-class writing assignments: Basic news writing is a craft, and like any craft, you get better
with practice. Knowing this, we will polish our chops by doing MANY in-class writing
assignments. This gives you a chance to learn by doing, so you’ll avoid the basic mistakes when
you go out to research and write larger projects. These in-class assignments are credit/no-credit
and are worth 20 points. You will upload most of your in-class writing to Blackboard so we can
do group critiques of each other’s stories. Occasionally I will ask you to print a story out for
more in-depth written reviews.
3. News Writing Projects: For this class, students will be asked to complete three common types of
stories every reporter faces: the breaking news story using inverted pyramid style, covering an
event while advancing an issue, and a longer issue or profile story with multimedia elements. A
grading rubric for each of these stories will be posted on Blackboard. Five points will be docked
for every day they are late. Deadlines are important, but if you are having problems, please
communicate with me about your work.
4. AP Style presentations: Once during the semester, each student will lead the class in a 10-minute
discussion about a section in the AP Stylebook. I will supply lists of useful stylebook entries for
each section to guide you. I will also add to the presentations when necessary.
5. Two News Videos/Final Cut Pro X practice: Students will create at least two videos in this
class; one early in the semester as an in-class assignment, and another as a graded outside-class
project. For the first video, we will focus on learning to use the camera and editing software, and
we will do all the editing during class. The second video will require more time and skill, and
you will have limited class time to work on it. You may NOT use your own computer or camera
for these projects. We will be learning to use Final Cut Pro X, and using different cameras
complicates this process. More information will accompany the grading rubric for each project.
6. Final Project: The final project will represent a culmination of the activities in the course. This
will be a well-researched issue, focus, or news story on a topic of your choice. It will be at least
750 words and will have at least five people quoted as sources. You will be required to submit a
rough draft of the story, which you will review with one or two of your peers. You must also
include two multimedia elements with your story. You must choose the best ones for your
project. One element must be a 90-second video with at least two sources. The others can be a
sidebar story, an infographic, an audio story, a set of photographs and captions, a magazine or
newspaper layout. The requirements for these multimedia elements will be described in more
detail in the assignment rubric. You must upload your story onto Blackboard. You must also
publish it to our class blog and use social media and SEO strategies to promote it to your
audience.
7. No Final Exam: There is no formal final exam for this class. We will use the final exam meeting
time to present our final projects to each other to give critical feedback and kudos.
8. AP Style and News Quizzes: During the semester, students will take AP style quizzes during the
first 12 minutes of some classes. Be sure to get here on time so you have all 12 minutes to finish.
These quizzes are open book, so bring your AP Stylebook to class. The 15 or so questions will
cover AP style entries from that week, as well as a few bonus questions from the week’s top
news stories and the content of the Monday lectures. You will NOT be allowed to make up
quizzes if you miss them.
9. Extra Credit: There is no formal extra credit for this course. However, your lowest AP quiz
score and one of your in-class assignment scores will be dropped. If you miss an assignment or
quiz, the zero will count for the dropped score. You may not miss the first video assignment.
Course Policies
 Class time: We’ve already discussed attendance, but showing up isn’t enough. Bring your AP stylebook
and your textbook to each class. Please participate in discussions. In addition, avoid activities that will
distract you. This includes the following:
 Cell Phones: Please turn them off or set them to vibrate. Don’t text during lectures or
presentations. It’s rude. If I see you texting in class, I will ask you to leave.
 Web surfing: Please pay attention. Do not check your Facebook page. We are in a
computer lab, so I know this will be a temptation. Please avoid it. There will be times
when surfing is perfectly acceptable. These times will be apparent.

Camera checkout: Panasonic Lumix cameras will be available in RTV 371A. These cameras shoot 12
megapixel still photos and HD video. Here’s the rules about camera checkout:
o Students can check out cameras for a 48-hour period. If they are not returned within that time
frame, the student will be charged a $10 late penalty. When students check out a camera, they
receive and must return the following:
 A Lumix camera with an identification number
 A battery
 A battery charger
 A fabric case
Cables or SD cards are NOT provided. A card reader for editing is also NOT provided.

Blackboard: We use Blackboard extensively in this class. I send group emails, make grading rubric
available, and sometimes post additional readings on the site. If you do not have access to Blackboard,
please contact the Ohio Instruction Technology Office to get signed up. I will provide some instruction
on how to use Blackboard and associated technology in class.

Deadlines: In a real-world news organization, deadlines are extremely important, and journalists and
writers must learn to use the pressure to churn out a story on time. I want you to get some experience
writing under pressure. Therefore, late work will NOT be accepted unless you’ve spoken to me
beforehand, and even with permission, your grade will decline by 5 points each day it is late. This
represents the same process by which you’d clear a late story with your editor at a professional news
organization, and the resulting heat you’d take for being late. Don’t make a habit of this—it reflects
poorly upon you as a reporter. Deadlines for assignments are as follows:
o In-class writing: Posted to Blackboard before the end of class, unless otherwise noted.
o Outside-of-class writing: Printed copy in my hands and digital copy uploaded to Blackboard at
the beginning of class on due date.

Style / Grammar: All written work in this class should follow AP style and accepted rules of grammar
and punctuation for American English. All style and grammar errors in your stories will receive a 1point deduction from the final grade. If you don’t know the style for a particular phrase or word, look it
up. That’s part of the AP stylebook process—you don’t need to memorize the whole book, but you
should know where to find an entry you’re not sure about. We’ll talk about the main AP style points
each week as we work our way through the AP Stylebook. You won’t be penalized for obscure AP style
entries until we’ve talked about them, but you’re expected to know basic grammar and punctuation.

Video Uploads: All students will create a short video early in the semester. Later, you will do a second
video, and you may choose to do a third as part of your final project’s multimedia requirement. You
must upload your videos to the class YouTube account. The login in meyerh@ohio.edu, and the
password is ScrippsNews. Follow each project rubric closely for tagging and naming videos so that we
can easily organize our class work.

Source Identification: All names of people or places must be correctly spelled. Any error of this nature
will receive an automatic 5-point deduction. In addition, for all outside-of-class exercises students
provide an email address link for EACH source. The instructor will randomly contact some of these
sources to ensure students are being honest. You should not use friends or roommates as sources unless
the assignment explicitly calls for this.

Your Identification: When talking with sources, you should be careful when identifying yourselves. Do
NOT identify yourselves as reporters for the Post, News, or Athens Messenger. On the other hand, you
don’t have to tell your subject that you’re “only doing this for a class.” Just say, “Hi, I’m a student at the
Scripps School of Journalism and I’m writing a story about X. Can I ask you a few questions, please?”

Academic Dishonesty: Failure to properly identify yourself, making up sources, or downloading and
copying any portion of a class assignment from the Internet will be considered academic dishonesty. The
Ohio University Student Code of Conduct prohibits all forms of academic dishonesty. If I discover any
form of cheating, I will notify the Director of University Judiciaries for further action. In addition, the
assignment in question will receive NO points. More egregious issues such as plagiarism may result in
an F for the class. If you’re unsure of how to quote a source or use a previous writer’s work, talk to me
about it or do some research on your own to figure it out.