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. 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.
Texts and readings
Readings 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.
Course topics (tentative list)
Introduction to web journalismHardware and software
- The web is the future of journalism.
Pew Research Center for the People & the Press: "Internet Overtakes Newspapers As News Source"
"The internet, which emerged this year as a leading source for campaign news, has now surpassed all other media except television as a main source for national and international news."- Recent quote: "Going into newspapers is like being a cowboy on a dinosaur ranch."
- Consider the web as a news medium. Is it a newspaper, a television station, a magazine or what?
- What are the characteristics of the web that make it different: capacity, flexibility, immediacy, permanence, interactivity. See James Glen Stovall, Web Journalism: Pactice and Promise of a New Medium (Allyn and Bacon, 2003), chapter 1: "Logging on to the Web."
- Two approaches to web journalism
-- an extension of the journalism we know
-- OR something very different - a different kind of journalism with different rules, customs, protocols and considerations
EXAMPLE: Deadlines- The changing environment of news and information requires a new metaphor: News as conversation (rather than the old "news as product").
See: Katie King, "Journalism as Conversation," Nieman Reports
See also: Chris O'Brien, "What does 'online first' mean in your newsroom," Knight Digital Media CenterBasic understandings our students need to have about the web
- Hardware: computer/connectivity; digital camera; digital recorder; video camera; blackberry, iPhone (something hand-held)
Take an inventory of what the students have on the first day of class.- Software: HTML tags; Photoshop; Audacity (sound editing); iMovie/FinalCut; Skype and anything that makes reporting easier
Take an inventory of what the students know on the first day of class.- Anything that helps the journalist gather information and connect with an audience
And don't assume they have them already.Journalism on the web, starting with just journalism
- HTML, general concepts, a few specifics, such as linking tags, boldface, lists, etc.
- web site -- basics; what it is, what makes it up, how it's organized, where it is
- URL -- uniform resource locator
- networking -- email and beyond, way beyond
- gathering an audience -- understanding the audience is an integral part of journalism now; you cannot practice web journalism without considering how you are going to interact with the audience. THINK: Communities of Interest. REMEMBER: News as conversation.
Teach the basics of journalism -- reporting, writing, presentation; they're much the same on the web as they are in any other medium, but there are important differences that you should introduce:Audience
- lateral reporting
- backpack journalism
- web packages
An important consideration for the web journalist: what is the best way to present the information I have gathered.- blogging
- new story forms: tipsheet journalism (Mahalo.com)
- linking and link journalism
- crowdsourcing
- transparency
-- The journalist and the news organization can no longer afford to ignore the audience. Instead, they must be prepare to build, cultivate, engage and respond to the audience.
-- People on the web have plenty of places to go besides your site. As Jakob Nielson says, visitors to a web site are "selfish, lazy and ruthless."
-- Audiences value what THEY think is important and interesting; they also want the opportunity to engage.
Writing and reporting for the web
- building a following
- finding, creating communities of interest
Geography doesn't matter much anymore.- finding a unique voice
- engaging: starting the conversation and keeping it going
-- Words above everything else (technology, pictures, design, everything); words are far more important than anything else on the web.
-- The web (and audiences) values original information -- information that cannot be found elsewhere.
Editing
- conciseness
- linking
The art of linking
Publish2 -- architect and advocate of link journalism; See also Publishing2- lists
- microcontent -- headlines, summaries, subheads, tags
The little things mean a lot.- scripts -- audio and video
More than ever, journalists have to be versatile in their ability to write in various forms.- SEO - search engine optimization
- writing for an audience
Photojournalism
- understanding the many aspects of the web and its possibilities
- language skills
Skill number 1: Making it concise; boiling it down to its essence and making it interesting- technical acuity
- Editing example: original version; edited version
Audio
- the importance of the single image
- basics of good photography (focus, framing, composition, etc.)
- rules for student photojournalists
- editing -- Photoshop
- preparing images for the web
- writing cutlines
- slide shows
Video
- basics of recording and editing; quality matters but not as much as it used to
- Audacity and other software
- formats -- .mp3, .wav, etc.
- using audio -- the One-Question Clip
- Internet radio -- TalkShoe.com, BlogTalkRadio.com
Advertising
- basics of recording and editing; quality matters but not that much
- iMovie; FinalCutPro
- video hosting services -- YouTube, Vimeo -- and embedding
- Internet broadcasting -- Mogulus.com
Online advertising is the primary vehicle for news Web site revenue currently. And in the case of media with legacy products, such as a print newspaper or television broadcast, online advertising is potentially the savior, or at least a method of slowing losses, of traditional revenue streams.
- Sizes and construction
- Management
- How they're sold
- How they're priced
- How it works
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