JEM 422 - Managing News Web Sites

Instructor
Jim Stovall
School of Journalism and Electronic Media
333 Communications Bldg.
974-5109
stovall@utk.edu

Web site: http://www.jprof.com/courses/jem422/jem422.html

Tuesdays and Thursdays, 11:10 a.m. - 12:25 p.m., 316 Communications Bldg.

Prerequisite: JEM 222 or permission of the instructor

This course examines some of the concepts and issues involved with one of the newest parts of journalism, the news web site. We will look at news sites produced by traditional news organizations (newspapers, television stations, magazines, etc.) and examine some sites tht contain news but do not spring from these traditional sources. We will attempt to look ahead to see what news web sites might be doing when you enter the professional world.

The subject, information and issues covered in this course is highly important because this is where the profession of journalism is headed. Students are expected to approach this course with all of the seriousness with which they approach their professional future.

This course will also expect students to develop and use the skills necessary for producing news and information on news web sites. The major concepts this course will explore are:

Lateral reporting. This means thinking about an event or topic not as a 300-word inverted pyramid story or as a 30-second broadcast piece but rather considering how best to use words, graphics, pictures, audio and video, and many other forms to report and present information to a reader.

Backpack journalism. Journalists in a web environment can no longer focus on a single skill such as writing or photography. They must know how to use words, take pictures, shoot and edit video and audio, create graphics and design and manipulate web pages.

Web packages. This is a form of information presentation that takes advantage of the strengths of the web as a medium: flexibility, capacity, permanence, immediacy and interactivity. The web pack is the produce of lateral reporting and backpack journalism.

Our means of exploring these concepts and developing the skills necessary for a good news web site will be the Tennessee Journalist (www.tnjn.com), the news web site of the School of Journalism and Electronic Media. Students are expected to fully participate in activities associated with the production of the Tennessee Journalist.

Basic requirements

Students bear the basic responsibility for their education. All courses at the University of Tennessee offer some educational experience; it is up to you to take advantage of it. This course will give you experiences that you won't get anywhere else. Your success depends on how well you do the following:

Prepare. You should complete all reading and homework assignments before you get to class. You should come to class ready to raise questions and discuss points that will help you understand what we are doing in this course.

Attend. Be here and be on time. There is no substitute for class attendance.

Engage. During class time, it is your responsibility to actively participate in the discussions and activities of the class. Many students treat their classes as if they were television shows; they simply watch. That approach will not do for this class.

Because this is a senior level journalism course, you will be expected to know the basics of reporting, writing and editing news. You should be able to cover a news story, understand the types of information needed for writing news and the sources for that information -- things you should have learned in JEM 200 and in courses thereafter. If you have doubts about your abilities to do these basic journalistic tasks, you should not be taking this course.

You should also have a digital camera of some kind available for your use. You should be able to use it and should know how to download your photos.

Course requirements

You will be given a variety of assignments throughout the course that will involve both in-class and out-of-class work. These will include reporting and editing assignments. Each student will be responsible for at least two major web packages. You should keep all of your work in a portfolio and prepare it for a grade review three times during the semester.

Two tests over reading, lecture and discussion material will be given during the semester.

Students are expected to prepare for class, attend all class sessions and actively engage in the activities of the class.

Virtual adjunct

This course is one of three in the School of Journalism and Electronic Media that will be assisted by a "virtual adjunct," a professional in the field of web journalism who will be assisting the instructor in a variety ways, such as teleconferenced discussions and critiques. Our virtual adjunct this semester is Staci Martin, <staci@girljournalist.com> a project manager for Scripps New Media.

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Texts and readings

Web Journalism: Practice and Promise of a New Medium (2004, Allyn and Bacon)
AP Stylebook

Also, you should read on a regular basis:
• E-Media Tidbits, Poynter.org (daily readings)
• Online Journalism Review (ojr.org), as assigned

Grading

Final grades for the course will be figured on the following basis:

• Two tests (15 percent each)

• Portfolio review I (What is a portfolio?) (15 percent)

• Portfolio review II (20 percent)

• Portfolio review III (25 percent)

• Attendance and participation (10 percent)

The TennesseeJournalist.com

The Tennessee Journalist (tnjn.com) is the news web site of the School of Journalism and Electronic Media at the University of Tennessee. It serves as a tool for teaching web journalism and as a means of displaying the work of students in a variety of classes. The JEM 422 is a major contributor to the site through class projects and other work. The site has its own editorial staff that works independently of the courses in the School, so students do not have to enroll in a course to practice web journalism.

Academic honesty

University policies regarding honesty can be found in Hilltopics, the official student handbook. You can download this handbook as a PDF file. Go to Current Students and click on Hilltopics on the UT Office of the Dean of Students page. Your rights and responsibilities are explained in detail. In all courses plagiarism, misrepresentation or any form of cheating are serious offenses.

Schedule

Week 1 (Jan. 10) – Introduction to the course

• Writing news for the web; example
• Preview story assignment (PDF)
• Inverted pyramid news story (PDF)

• Reading: Steve Outing, What's Needed in 2008: Serious Newsroom Cultural Change

Week 2 (Jan. 15, 17) – Journalism on the web

Chapters 1, 2
Discussion notes: Development of news web sites
• The art of linking
• Writing for the web I and Writing for the web II -- These are the lecture notes for my JEM 200 lectures on writing for the web; you might want to review them for this week.
• Reporting/writing assignment

Week 3 (Jan. 22, 24) – TennesseeJournalist.com; news web sites

• Introduction to tnjn.com; Satchmo
• Reporting/writing assignment
• Christina Laun, Scientific Web Design: 23 Actionable Lessons from Eye-Tracking Studies (VirtualHosting.com)

Week 4 (Jan. 29, 31) Basic skills review: Reporting, writing, editing for the web

Chapters 3, 5
Discussion notes: Expanding the definition of news
• Writing summaries (short article and examples)
• Writing, editing assignments

Tutorials and handouts: Learning HTML tags; Learning HTML tags-2; Getting started with HTML, Dave Raggett; HTML Cheatsheet, Webmonkey

Week 5 (Feb. 5,7) – Basic skills review: Reporting, writing, editing for the web

Chapter 4
Discussion notes: Editing for the web
Readings:
• Editing for the web example (part 1; part 2) -- Examine this example thoroughly.
• Jonathan Dube: Online Storytelling Forms. This is an excellent summary of the variety of ways in which information can be presented on the web. Dube links to a number of examples when he discusses each form.
• Internet and New Media (WetFeet)
• It's the links, Stupid (Economist.com)
• Writing, editing assignments

Week 6 (Feb. 12, 14) – Basic skills review: Reporting, writing, editing for the web

• Discussion: Lateral reporting
• Five Steps to Multimedia Reporting -- The folks at the grad school of the University of California Berkeley have put together an online course in multimedia reporting. This is an extensive site, so roam around a bit, but pay particular attention to the section on storyboarding.

• Test 1

Week 6 (Feb. 19, 21) – Basic skills review: Reporting, writing, editing for the web

• Portfolio review I (portfolios due Feb. 21; What is a portfolio?)

Week 7 (Feb. 26, 28) – Photojournalism on the web

Chapter 7
• Editing images in Photoshop
• Handout: Preparing images for a web site (This is a one-page PDF handout.) Additional handouts are available on JPROF.com: Beginning Photoshop (a two-page PDF file) and Photoshop Guidelines (a six-page PDF file.)

Week 8 (March 4, 6) – Photojournalism on the web

• Preparing audio slide shows; assignment

Week 9 (March 11, 13) – Using audio

Spring break/recess, March 14-21

Week 10 (March 25, 27) – Blogging, social networks and user engagement

• Portfolio review II (portfolios due Nov. 1)

Week 11 (April 1, 3) - Online advertising

Readings:
• Media Shift: Your Guide to Online Advertising
• IAB ad unit guidelines
• Kiyoshi Martinez: Journalism school graduates: How to increase your chance of finding a job and decrease your chance of having to vent on AngryJournalist.com in Innovation in College Media

Week 12 (April 8, 10) - Measuring the Web audience

Readings:
• Web Analytics Association standards and definitions (pdf file)
• New York Times: How many site hits? Depends on who's counting
• Media Shift: The problem with Web measurement, part 1
• Media Shift: The problem with Web measurement, part 2
• Online Journalism Review: Hits, page views and other garbage we pass off as audience metrics
• New York Times: Nielsen revises its guage of Web page rankings

Week 13 (April 15, 17) - Search engine optimization

Readings:
• SEOmoz.com: A beginner's guide to SEO
• New York Times: This boring headline was written for Google
• CNET News.com: Newspapers search for Web headline magic 

Week 14 (April 22, 24) - Test 2 (from Fall 2007)

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