COURSE DESCRIPTION
Professor Katina Paron
Welcome to Neighborhood News, the class that produces a Hunter College student website, the Athenian. This course serves a dual purpose. As reporters, you will learn to develop and pitch story ideas; research, observe and interview for news and feature stories; write with clarity and purpose in a conversational style; and adhere to sound journalistic principles such as balance, objectivity and fairness. This class also serves the Hunter student body by providing coverage of college activities, students, faculty and policies, advancing student opinion and sharing information. As a staff, we will cover the big issues at Hunter, but also try to discover and uncover the people and organizations making a difference on campus. You will also learn what it means to write for an audience and assume that responsibility.
EXPECTED LEARNING OUTCOMES
By the end of the term, you will be able to:
- Write news and feature stories on deadline that are ready for publication
- Research, develop and pitch an idea
- Follow spelling, grammar and AP Style rules
- Take photographs and use a graphics program to produce art for stories
- Use social media to promote stories, break news and engage readers
- Use WordPress to design and develop the paper’s website
- Develop and demonstrate sound news judgment to achieve fairness, balance and diversity in the paper’s coverage.
SYLLABUS OVERVIEW
You will produce a minimum of five stories – three features and two deadline stories – reporting in person using a variety of techniques: observation, interviews, meeting coverage and scrutiny of documents. You may also do video stories or audio slideshows for any of these assignments.
- The three feature stories will be developed through a three-phase “snowball” process: Pitch / Draft / Final. You will have one week to complete each phase of the process. Each assignment will also require photographs or video and social media updates across several platforms. All drafts will be due at 8 a.m. sharp the Tuesday before class, unless otherwise stated.
- The two deadline stories will include coverage of events, meetings, press conferences or sports games/matches. You will pitch those in advance and write them within 24 hours of the event.
Your weekly diet of readings will include exceptional examples of journalistic writing and/or videos. You will also read each other’s work; we will critique each issue as a group.
EXPECTATIONS AND GRADING
I am here to help you succeed as individuals, and as a collective, to help you create a smart, high-quality publication for your fellow students. Anyone who does the work will not fail.
Method of Evaluation
Your grade will be largely based (90 percent) on your five story assignments, following a rubric (see http://bit.ly/HunterNNRubric) with these categories:
- Sources and Reporting
- Story Focus and Organization
- Pre-reporting and Deadlines
- Writing Style
- Spelling, Grammar and Self-editing
- Photographs and Social Media
After a rewrite; grading will reflect these standards:
- A= publishable as is; photos, excerpt, headline completed and posted
- B= publishable with editing; supplemental material might be missing
- C=publishable with a (third) rewrite
- D=major problems with facts, reporting, writing and not publishable
- F=missing key facts, containing gross misspellings, plagiarism or libel and not publishable
The remaining 10 percent of your grade will be based on class participation and social media posts.
Required Readings
- The New York Times. Subscriptions are free to CUNY students. Set up alerts for Hunter and CUNY.
- Associated Press Stylebook. You will be required to follow AP Style, so you should acquire the AP Stylebook either in paper (an old version is fine) or as a subscription online: https://www.apstylebook.com/
- “A NewsHound’s Guide to Student Journalism.” Buy through Amazon (http://bit.ly/AmazonNewsHound) or the publisher (bit.ly/BuyNewsHounds)
- ALSO, each week you will be emailed links for the coming week’s discussion.
The books are available on Akademus and on reservation at the Hunter library.
Class participation
Reporters write alone, but, like students, they learn from one another. Your active participation is essential, and will be considered in grading. You will be asked to submit your stories for class critiques, participate in the critiques of others’ stories and engage with your classmates during pitch meetings. You should be taking notes throughout class discussions, lectures, with guest speakers and on field trips. You will also be expected to ask questions of guests in class or hosts on newsroom tours and participate in those conversations. Participation also means being present and prepared adequately for class by completing required readings and being prepared with questions.
SAMPLE WEEK-BY-WEEK
WEEK 1
The Introductions: To the Class, Your Classmates and the Athenian
Seminar: What is Community Journalism?
READING from best college newspapers around the country + about Hunter
ASSIGNMENT: Five potential story ideas with three potential sources for each one, due next week at start of class
WEEK 2
DUE: Assignment 1
Vox Pop: What does your audience care about?
Seminar: Using Editorial Budget to Create Balance
ASSIGNMENT: Community reporting from NYC dailies
WEEK 3
DUE: Assignment 2
Local News on a college campus
Seminar: Topics to Ideas to Pitches
ASSIGNMENT: Pitch for News Feature
WEEK 4
DUE: Feature 1 Pitch
Story 1 Pitch Meeting
Story Critique
Seminar: Anatomy of a News Story/The Lede
ASSIGNMENT: Draft 1, News Feature
WEEK 5
DUE: Feature 1 Draft
Seminar: Photojournalism and Caption Writing
Seminar: Writing for Social Media
ASSIGNMENT: Final, News Feature
WEEK 6
DUE: Feature 1 Final
Guest Speaker: Sha Sha Feng, Using WordPress
Seminar: Incorporating Sources
In-class critique
READ: Your classmates’ stories
Classroom as Newsroom
We will finish editing final versions, and post stories to WordPress.
WEEK 7
Field Trip: Bronx Documentary Center
ASSIGNMENT: Pitch for News Feature 2
include sources and shot list.
WEEK 8
DUE: Feature 2 Pitch
Story 2 Pitch Meeting
review editorial budget, student update on deadline stories
Seminar: Event Coverage
Classroom as Newsroom
ASSIGNMENT: Draft 1, News Feature 2
WEEK 9
DUE: nothing
Critical Reading activity
Photojournalism activity
Classroom as Newsroom
ASSIGNMENT: continue reporting
WEEK 10
DUE: Feature 2 Draft
Seminar: Write Tight via WSJ
Peer Editing
Classroom as Newsroom
ASSIGNMENT: Final, News Feature 2
WEEK 11
DUE: Feature 2 Final
Guest Speaker: Mikhael Simons, Solutions Journalism
Classroom as Newsroom
We will finish editing final versions, and post stories to WordPress.
ASSIGNMENT: Pitch for News Feature 3
include sources and shot list.
READ AND WATCH: in preparation for guest speaker
WEEK 12
DUE: Feature 3 Pitch
Guest Speaker: TBD
Story 3 Pitch Meeting
ASSIGNMENT: Draft 1, News Feature 3
WEEK 13
DUE: nothing
Field Trip: TBD
ASSIGNMENT: Continue reporting
WEEK 14
DUE: Feature 3 Draft
Guest and Seminar: TBA
Final Critique
ASSIGNMENT: Final, News Feature 3
WEEK 15
DUE: Feature 3 Final
Guest: Committee to Protect Journalists
Final Classroom as Newsroom
