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Course Objective: Students will learn the fundamentals of print journalism. Practical, historical and ethical aspects of journalism are also studied.

Text: Rolnicki, Tom E., C. Dow Tate and Sherri Taylor. Scholastic Journalism. 10th Edition. Ames, Iowa: Iowa State Press, 2001.

Specific Target Skills:

• evaluating and determining news value
• interviewing and questioning
• writing leads, headlines, effective articles
• editing and revising
• teamwork

Assignments:

• learn fundamental journalism terms and skills
• chapter questions
• chapter tests (see below)
• various assignments related to chapter skills
• students will research and report on the life of a famous American journalist
• students will research and report on The Press and the World
• students will memorize and recite the 1st Amendment
• students will develop a plan for a new magazine and present it to the class
• List of assignments and point values

Course Outline:

Weeks 1-9: What is a newspaper?
Memorize vocabulary all journalists know
Cut out examples and label in scrapbook
Terms quiz
Ch. 1 Understanding News
Ch. 2 Gathering news: questioning and interviewing skills & strategies
Covering a beat: three beat reports due for three consecutive weeks
Ch. 3 Writing news leads
Ch. 4 Writing the news story
Ch. 12 & 13 Using Journalism Style
Test, Ch. 1-4, and 12 & 13
Ch. 5 Writing specialty stories
Ch. 6 Writing feature stories
Ch. 7 Sportswriting
Ch. 8 Writing Editorials and Opinion Columns
Ch. 9 In-Depth reporting
Ch. 14 Writing headlines
Test, Ch. 5-9, and 14

News Friday: what's in the news? (there will be 10 News Fridays over the semester)

News Online a list of links to online newspapers and other online sources of news
 

Weeks 10-11: Blazing the Trail
A&E Biography of Joseph Pulitzer
Students research and report (via a PowerPoint presentation) on the life of a famous American journalist
 

Weeks 12-16: The Free Press and The World
Development of a free press in America
Ch. 22 Ethics for Student Journalists
Memorize and recite the 1st Amendment
Ch. 23 Student journalists and the law: two cases and free speech
Read the play about the Hazelwood case
Protected vs. Unprotected speech
Research and report on the dangers journalists face outside the U.S.   
Video: Dying to Tell the Story
Watch the movie All the President's Men to see investigative journalism, importance of confirming sources, as well as the changes in technology just since the 1970's

Weeks 17-19: Magazine Journalism
Planning a magazine from the ground up
Preparing and submitting a proposal

Semester Exam:
The exam, worth 10% of the semester grade is a cumulative test of knowledge.

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