---

Introduction to JEM 200 from Jim Stovall on Vimeo.

This is a video introduction to JEM 200 Introduction to media writing, a journalism course at the University of Tennessee. The video tells a little about what is covered in the course and what instructors try to teach. The course website can be found here on JPROF.

---

JPROF marks its 6th anniversary

JPROF, the website, turns six today (Dec. 31). The site was launched from a small home office in Emory, Va., with the idea that it would support some of the textbooks that I had written. My initial thought was that it would be a big electronic filing cabinet housing all of the things I hadn't put into the books and a place to gather things I might put in subsequent editions. It has since become a site with nearly 500 pages of material and one that attracted nearly 12,000 visitors in 2010. I continue to hear from people all over the world about this site and how it has helped them in conducting their journalism classes. For that I am humbled and gratified. So, my usual New Year's greeting to you all: Party on!

More about the site and its history is on the About JPROF page.

Intercollegiate Online News Network (ICONN)

The Intercollegiate Online News Network (ICONN) will hold its third annual conference on Jan. 13-14, 2011, in Athens, Ga. Mark Johnson, journalism professor at the University of Georgia and faculty adviser to the GradyJournal, is the conference chair. ICONN is an association of campus news websites that was formed at the University of Tennessee in 2008. Academic programs, campus news websites, professional organizations and individuals are welcome to join ICONN at no cost. If you are wanting to start a news website for your course or program, ICONN can help you do that with its JeffersonNet content management system. More information can be found at the ICONN website.

The development of newswriting

Development of newswriting from Jim Stovall on Vimeo.

Dr. Ed Caudill of the University of Tennessee gives a short preview of his talk on the development of our current newswriting style (scheduled for Aug. 31, 2010, lecture of JEM 230). Caudill uses the news coverage of the wars in which America has fought as examples of the changing style of newswriting that journalists have used. Audience and technology, he says, have been the driving forces in the development of these styles of writing. An extended version of this preview can be found on Vimeo.

JEM students (and others): Here are the lecture notes.

Recently posted: Seven steps to the audio slideshow

Students in JEM 230 (University of Tennessee) have to put together an audio as their first assignment for the fall semester. Here are the seven steps they need to complete to handle this assignment successfully.

And here are some additional resources:

• Audio slideshows (a short article)
• Practice assignment for audio slideshows (complete with pictures and information for a script.

Course websites

Websites for University of Tennessee courses JEM 230 Media reporting and JEM 200 Introduction to newswriting can now be found on JPROF.

Crowdsourcing during the Civil War. In the video below, George Rable, University of Alabama history professor, discusses the sources of information that newspaper editors during the Civil War used for their reports about battles and the war in general. One important source was letters from soldiers -- a form of what we could call today "crowdsourcing." This means using the accounts of participants at an event to construct an account of that event.

Principles and guidelines for writing for the web. When talking with writing section instructors about what we should teach out students about writing, I lay out four principles:

• The writing should be tighter - more concise.
  
  
• Writers should use words and phrases that are information rich.
  
  
• Writing should be shorter but with no loss of information.
  
  
• Writers must learn to write quickly and with confidence.

You can read my discussion notes on the JPROF blog.

New on JPROF. This site has addded two new features for journalism profs and students: a six-part series on photojournalism and a five-part series on graphics journalism.

The photojournalism series includes short tutorials on basic photojournalism concepts such as the rule of thirds, composition and framing, writing cutlines, photojournalism ethics, shooting picture stories and producing audio slide shows.

The graphics journalism series explains the basic concepts of informational graphics and the three types of charts (bar, line, and pie) most used by journalists. Another section talks about the standard conventions of maps, and still another introduces students to some of the great names in the history of graphics.

Each of these series of tutorials will have added features in the coming days. If there is something you would like to see in this regard, let us know. Write to JPROF (Jim Stovall) at jgstovall at gmail.com.

BOOKS for the journalist
and the journalism educator

Writing for the Mass Media (7th edition)

James Glen Stovall. Allyn and Bacon, 2009
For more than 20 years, Writing for the Mass Media has been introducing students to all of the basic forms of media writing: the inverted pyramid for print, the drama unity form for broadcasting, summaries and other specialized writing for the web, copy platforms and storyboards for advertising. and news releases and other forms of witing for public relations. Used by more than 450 colleges and universities, this book gives students an excellent introduction to media writing and teachers the convenience of a clear, concise text with ample writing exercises at the end of each chapter.
Go to the book's web site here at JPROF.
Order the book from Amazon, Barnes and Noble.

Journalism: Who, What, When, Where, Why and How

James Glen Stovall. Allyn and Bacon, 2005
This introductory text is covered with lively writing, up-to-date examples and an inviting layout that will have students reading, wondering, asking and practicing. Just published by Allyn and Bacon, this text is a must for any journalist's shelf and any journalism teacher's classroom.
Learn more.
Go to the book's web site at Allyn and Bacon.
Order the book from Amazon, Barnes and Noble.
Nice review of JN5W (and full disclosure). My good friend and colleague (that's the full disclosure part) Herb Thompson has written a very kind and complimentary review of the book for SecondaryEnglish.com. Along with it is an interview that Herb conducted with me.

James Glen Stovall. Allyn and Bacon, 2004
How will the web change journalism? And what should you be teaching your students about the future of journalism in this digital age? This book explores those questions and offers some practical answers based on years of experience in the field of journalism. The web bring to journalism qualities present in no other medium: the combination of capacity, immediacy, flexibility, permanence and interactivity. These qualities will have a profound effect on the journalism of the future. Give your students some real insight as to the future of journalism and the way it will be practiced.
Learn more.
Order the book from Amazon (where it is incorrectedly titled Journalism on the Web), Barnes and Noble.

James Glen Stovall and Edward Mullins. Allyn and Bacon, 2006
This basic editing text began its life in the early 1980s as Online Editing, the first text to teach editing from the persepctive of the computer technology that was taking over the field of journalism. Today it has been completely revised to cover not just the developing technology but also to deal with what it means to be an editor in a digital world. The book contains tightly written chapters and exercise material designed to get students into the mindset of being editors.
Learn more on this web site; go to the book's page on the Allyn and Bacon web site.
Order the current edition from Barnes and Noble.

James Glen Stovall. Allyn and Bacon, 1997
This practical guide teaches students what infographics are and how they can be created. It is the only text that delves specifically into the forms of graphics and the kind of information that is appropriate for those forms. The book also discusses the modern development of graphics and the issues that surround them, such as the difficulty in creating them and the ways for journalists to avoid errors in graphics.
Learn more.
Order the book from Amazon, Barnes and Noble.

---

About JPROF.com | Who is JPROF? | Contact us
All of the words and images on this site are copyrighted and may not be used without the permission.
Copyright (c) Jim Stovall 2009-2010
FreeFind.com provides search technology for this website.