Welcome to JOUR 498C, Arizona Cat’s Eye!

(formerly Reporting for Broadcast News)

 

 

 

Syllabus (Spring 2007)

Monday, 4:00-6:50 p.m.

Rooms 350/Pulliam and 360/Video Lab

 

 

 

 

Professor Celeste González de Bustamante, Ph.D.

Office Hours: Monday, 12-2 p.m. in Room 336; Wednesday, 2:00-4:00 p.m. in Room 360; and by appointment.

Telephone: (520) 621-3189; Email: celesteg@email.arizona.edu

 

Martin Rubio, Instructor

Office Hours: Monday after class, 6:50-8:30 p.m., or by appointment

Telephone: (520) 621-5330; Email: rubiom@email.arizona.edu 

 

Mark Poepsel, Lab Assistant/Executive Producer

Email: mpoepsel@email.arizona.edu

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Table of Contents

 

 

Title page, Professors, Office Hours, page 1

 

Table of Contents, page 2

 

Class/Lab Time, Course Description, Goals, Design, page 3

 

Requirements, Assignments, and Deadlines, pages 4-6

 

Reports, borderlands report, historical document, script approval, story length, first story, online stories, airing stories, pages 6-8

 

Time Commitment and Equipment, News Team Positions, Frontera 360°, pages 8-9

 

Grading Policy, pages 9-11

 

Missed Deadlines and Assignments, Attendance Policy, page 11

 

Required and Suggested Readings, pages 11-12

 

Building Access, page 13

 

Class Schedule, pages 14-16

 

Newsroom Positions and Application, pages 17-22

 

Writing for Arizona Cat’s Eye, pages 23-28

 

Videotapes, page 29

 

Syllabus statement of understanding and agreement, page 30

 

 

 

 

Class/Lab Time

 

Course Description

This course is designed as a capstone to your student career. Through extensive hands-on experiences you will learn how to write, report, shoot, produce, and edit hard news and feature stories for broadcast.  The best stories of the semester will air as part of a news magazine on KUAT-TV (PBS), Channel 6.  Ideally, by the end of the semester you will have produced “air” quality news reports that you can include on your résumé tape.  This course may be repeated once for credit.  Prerequisites for this course are: 205, 206, 208, and 380.

 

Course Goals

 

Class Design

The classroom is designed to function like a television news room.  Your professors act as your news directors and coaches.  You serve as producers, assignment editors, reporters, and videographers.  We meet once a week for; lectures, viewings, critical discussions, story critiques, coaching, workshops.  Occasionally, normal class will be cancelled and instead you will need to attend video workshops.  Just as in any newsroom, you are expected to be professional inside and outside the classroom.

 

Red and Blue Teams

The class divides in half, with half of its members on a Red Team and the other half on a Blue Team.  The word team reflects the importance of collaboration in a video news gathering setting and is not intended to pit one group against the other.   Each team will comprise ten news crews (one reporter and one videographer).  Crew members must, we repeat, MUST work together to achieve success.  While one person on the crew bears primary responsibility for the editorial content, and the other has primary responsibility for the production and visual elements of a story, both members of the crew will share equal responsibility for meeting deadlines.  Obviously this places an equal burden on each crew member and is designed to reflect broadcast journalism “real-world” circumstances.

 

Class Requirements, Assignments, and Deadlines

1.    The first week of class, January 22, 2007, you are required to turn in a typed list of six possible story ideas.  The story ideas should be specific.  One line is sufficient per story idea.  If your list includes, “underage drinking” or “university faculty” you should know that these are not story ideas. They are topics.  There is a difference.

 

2.    Produce one video exercise and four final cut “ready-to-air” news stories.  The focus of your stories will be local, state, national, and international (w/ a local angle) issues, and/or events.  Stories must be approved by one of the professors or executive producer prior to shooting.  See course schedule for specific story deadlines.  Stories must be turned in at the beginning of class with: report printed on tape, printed copy of script, including anchor intros and super names and times, and TRT.

 

3.    Re-write all video news stories for online website.     

 

4.    Actively participate in; class discussions, critique sessions, workshops, quizzes, and all other class activities.

 

5.    Read from textbooks, Wayne Freedman, It Takes More Than Good Looks: To Succeed at Television News Reporting, (Chicago: Bonus Books, 2003); and Frederick Shook, Television Field Production and Reporting, 3rd ed. (New York: Longman, 2000); Kalfeld, Associated Press Broadcast News Handbook.  Occasionally, articles that will be handed out or you will be asked to access them via electronic reserve.

 

6.    Submit assignments according to deadlines.  This also includes sending scripts to instructor for approval with adequate time for revision. (See: Script Approval, p. 2-3.)

 

7.    You are required to handle and use all video and editing equipment with extreme care.  Treat video and editing equipment as if it came out of your own pocket, because in a sense, it has.  Any damaged or stolen equipment will be reported immediately to the Journalism Department Head.  In cases of neglect and abuse of video or editing equipment, your grade may suffer.  Moreover, when equipment is damaged mid-semester this means that the rest of the class will suffer, because less equipment will be available.

 

8.    You are required to abide by the University of Arizona Code of Academic Integrity.  All provisions of the Code are incorporated into this syllabus.  It is strongly recommended that you read the Code to understand the rights and responsibilities of all members of the university community. 

     The Code states, in part, “Conduct prohibited by the Code consists of all forms of academic dishonesty, including, but not limited to: cheating, fabrication, facilitating academic dishonesty, and plagiarism as set out and defined in the Code of Conduct, ABOR Policy 5-308-E.10 and F.1; submitting an item of academic work that has previously been submitted without fair citation of the original work or authorization by the faculty member supervising the work; modifying any academic work to obtain additional credit in the same class unless approved in advance by the faculty member; failure to observe rules of academic integrity established by a faculty member for a particular course; and attempting to commit an act prohibited by this Code.  Any attempt to commit an act prohibited by these rules shall be subject to sanctions to the same extent as completed acts.” 

 

Under Arizona Board of Regents policy, “fabrication” means falsification or invention of any information or citation.  “Plagiarism” means representing the words or ideas of another as one’s own.  The following are some examples of code violations, as they would apply to journalism classes: making up sources for a story; making up quotes for a story; copying sentences or paragraphs from another person’s story and submitting them as one’s own work; submitting the same story to fulfill assignments in two different classes, without obtaining prior permission from the instructor of the second class in which the work would be submitted.

 

Possible sanctions for violations of the code include; a warning, a reduction in grade for the assignment or the class involved, a failing grade for the class, or a recommendation of suspension or expulsion from the university.  The code provides procedures to assure the integrity in matters arising under the code. 

 

The Code of Academic Integrity may be accessed on-line at:

http://w3.arizona.edu/~studpubs/policies/cacint.htm

 

The Student Code of Conduct is online at:

http://info-center.ccit.arizona.edu/~studpubs/policies/studcofc.htm

 

The Student Disruptive Behavior Guidelines are online at:

http://info-center.ccit.arizona.edu/~dos/Assets/pdffiles/disrupbehav.pdf

 

A Note on Disruptive Behavior: (from: Guidelines for University of Arizona Faculty and Staff) As defined by the University of Arizona Student Code of Conduct, disruptive behavior, “interferes with university or university-sponsored activities, including but not limited to classroom related activities, studying, teaching, research, intellectual or creative endeavors, administration, service or the provision of communication, computing or emergency services.  Examples of minimally disruptive behavior are, being late to class, beepers and cell phones going off during class, reading the newspaper (except as part of an in-class assignment), packing up and leaving early.”

 

 

Reports

By the end of the semester you will have submitted four “ready for air” reports.  You are responsible for generating your own story ideas.  We want to give you the most flexibility as possible to pursue stories that interest you and that challenge your abilities as reporters/photographers.  Any newsworthy topic is fair game.  Keep in mind that if you want your story to air you should cover a story that will still be a story by airtime.  Arizona Cat’s Eye usually airs about a week after the semester ends.  Sometimes keeping a story fresh is more about how approach and write the story than the story itself.

 

Arizona-Sonora/U.S.-Mexico Borderlands Report

Each crew must produce at least one report on the subject of the U.S-Mexico borderlands.  The U.S.-Mexico borderlands is a geopolitical and cultural concept that roughly applies to the area of the southwestern United States and Northern Mexico. The concept and region will be defined further during the course of the semester.  This report could cover a wide-variety of political, cultural, historical, and economical issues related to the borderlands.

(If you choose to and are selected as a member of the Frontera 360°  multi-media project, then most or all of your stories will focus on the border.) 

 

  1. Border Stories can cover a wide-range of topics including; politics, environment, education, health, economics, culture, history, immigration

 

  1. Goals of the assignment: 1. To get you to think about the cultural, historical, economic, environmental, political ties that bind Arizona and Sonora.  There is more that ties the two states than divides them; 2. To help you develop a better understanding of the issue of migration (and undocumented migration); 3. To help you understand that there is more to the U.S.-Mexico borderlands than the issue of migration.

 

  1. Ideas for story possibilities; Chinese in Arizona; The first Spanish language newspaper in Tucson; Tohono O’odham Indian reservation on both sides of the  border; border stereotypes; Latino population in Tombstone and other small rural communities in Southern Arizona; South Tucson; border reporters, how they discuss undocumented migration; Spanish language radio in Tucson; first Spanish language radio station in Tucson.  These are merely ideas to get you thinking.  You are not obligated to cover all or any of these suggestions.

 

 

Historical document

At some point in the semester we will take a “behind-the-scenes” tour of the Arizona Historical Society library, located across the street from the Marshall building on Second Street.  Because history is one of the ways to add important context to news reports, you are required to include at least one historical document into at least one of your four news reports. 

 

  1. Examples of historical documents are: historic photographs (at least 30 years old), maps, artists’ drawings, and ephemera.   

 

 

  1. Because some of the issues that you may be covering for your U.S.-Mexico borderlands assignment have been on-going for centuries, many of you may find that a historic document fits best into this story.  Incorporating a historical document into your U.S.-Mexico borderlands story will allow you to put an issue into broader historical context.  Some may find that a historical document is not appropriate for U.S.-Mexico borderlands story.  In these cases, you do not have to include your historic document into your U.S.-Mexico borderlands story.

 

  1. Guidelines for including the historical document: the document must be included in the story on tape and referred to in audio track.  For example, if you were to include a still photograph, you must 1. shoot the photograph on videotape; 2. edit the shot in your story; 3. your VO  must make reference to the shot; 4. you must credit the AHS in super, i.e. S/Courtesy Arizona Historical Society

 

 

  Script Approval

You are responsible for submitting your stories for script approval with ample time BEFORE you can begin editing.  For example, if it takes you one day to edit your story, you will have to submit your script for approval at least two days prior to the story deadline.  Once the script is submitted, the instructor will return it to you within 24 hours.  For example, if you submit your story at 6 p.m. on Thursday, do not expect it back until 6 p.m. on Friday.  Scripts should be emailed to Professor González de Bustamante celesteg@email.arizona.edu or Mark Poepsel mpoepsel@email.arizona.edu.  It is strongly recommended that you arrange a script revision session with Professor González de Bustamante or Mark Poepsel for all reports.  This is especially helpful to the student and will give you an idea of what reporters go through on a daily basis with news editors and producers.  Stories that do not receive prior approval will be graded down one grade.  

 

Story Length

While the standard format for commercial broadcast PKGs ranges from approximately 1:10-1:30, you have SOME flexibility with respect to story length.  The length should range from 1:10-3:00, depending on content (visual and editorial) and newsworthiness.  All, we repeat, ALL stories over 1:45 seconds MUST receive prior approval from either Professor González de Bustamante or Professor Rubio or Executive Producer, Mark Poepsel.  Stories over 1:45 that have not received prior approval will be graded down one grade.      

 

Your First Story

The first story you produce will not include any voice-overs.   This type of story is referred to as a NAT PKG (a natural sound package).  This is to: 1. give you a chance to focus on video and all types of sound, including interviews; 2. to help you tell the story through pictures and sound, without relying on a script with narration. 

Online stories

In an effort to get you up to speed for the real world of television news, you will get experience re-writing an online version of your news report.  This will not be a mere academic exercise.  Stories that are good enough will be placed on the online capstone website, The Cat Scan.  You will also have the opportunity to upload your video news story to the web version, provided that the report meets standards. Online versions of reports are due 24 hours after your video news report deadline.  

 

How to get your stories on air

Just because you have turned in your story, your work is not done.  All stories can be improved.  You may receive a decent grade for a report, but that does not necessarily mean it will air on Arizona Cat’s Eye.  It is up to the reporter and videographer to meet with the instructors and show producers to find out how they can improve their work.  Only the best stories (usually about 12-13) will be included in the program.

 

Time Commitment and Equipment

Reporting, field production, and editing are time consuming.  Be prepared to work ten to 15 hours/week outside of the classroom.  This is true especially at the beginning of the semester because you will be learning how to use the camera equipment as well as the video editing software.

 

Most of your course work will be completed outside of class.  You will be given directions on where and how to checkout and signup for necessary equipment for story production.  Your reports will be graded (see below for grading policy).  Please keep track of the work you did on each story, e.g.; writing, editing, shooting, reporting, and interviewing.  You will need to turn in a written log of your participation with each story at the end of the semester.

 

News Team Positions

At the beginning of the semester you will be given the opportunity to apply for important news team positions (see pages 13-17 for more details).  The deadline to apply for these positions is at the beginning of class on January 29, 2007.

 

Frontera 360°- Special Project Option

For those with a keen interest in the borderlands, a special project has been devised. Students selected will work closely with staff from the three other capstones to develop a multi-media/online project focusing on the U.S.-Mexico border (see pages 14-15 for more details).  Students selected will receive one unit of additional credit for work on this project.  You must enroll in a one-unit practicum at the start of the semester to receive credit.

 

 

Grading Policy

Seventy-five percent of your grade will be based on a portfolio of four final-cut (“ready-to-air”) stories.  This will be a professional-style résumé tape made up of the four stories you and your partner(s) produced during the semester.  The lowest grade among the four stories will be tossed out.  You will receive an editorial content and a video production grade for each story.  Each of those grades will be averaged for one combined grade per story.  Grading criteria for your reports are split into two basic categories; editorial content and video production.     

 

 

Editorial grading criteria

Reporting: accuracy, balance, fairness, news value, depth, quality of interviews, creativity, and originality. Fact errors result in an Auto “E.”

Writing: grammar, story structure, word choice, clarity, flow, ability to write to video, creativity, and originality. Misspellings are treated as fact errors and result in an Auto “E.”

 

Editorial points per report, 25

 

Video production criteria

Videography: composition, audio, color balance, storytelling w/ pictures, use of sequences, lighting, use of tripod, and quality of interview video.

Editing: choice and placement of shots, storytelling w/ pictures, continuity w/ script, use of audio (including natural sound), and pace.

 

Video production points per report, 25

 

Editorial Content grade/Video production grade=Averaged grade/report

Total points/report=25

 

Total points for reports=75

 

Twenty-five percent of your grade will be based on Professionalism/Class participation: This includes; attendance, meeting deadlines, contributing to class discussions, taking part in class discussion, textbook quizzes, current events quizzes, and your ability to work in a professional manner with classmates and instructors in the classroom and out in the field.

 

How to get an “A” in professionalism/participation:

  1. Do not read in-class, unless it is part of an in-class assignment.
  2. Do not text message or consult email while the instructor or another student has the class’s attention.
  3. Do not “visit,” “chat,” or otherwise be disruptive when the instructor or another student has the class’s attention.
  4. Do treat everyone in class with respect.
  5. Do come to class, labs and workshops on time.
  6. Do inform the instructor and your crew member when you will not be on time or when you will be absent (before class starts).
  7. Do meet all deadlines, including online quizzes.
  8. Conduct yourself in a professional manner.  The following is a definition of the word professional from Merriam-Webster’s online dictionary, Function: adjective
    1 a     : of, relating to, or characteristic of a profession b : engaged in one of the learned professions c (1) : characterized by or conforming to the technical or ethical standards of a profession (2) : exhibiting a courteous, conscientious, and generally businesslike manner in the workplace

 

Professionalism/Class participation total points possible=25

 

Grand Total points possible for the Course=100

 

100-90 pts.= A

89-80 pts.  = B

79-70 pts.  = C

69-60 pts.  = D

59-below   = E

 

Missed Deadlines, Late Assignments

NO LATE ASSIGNMENTS WILL BE ACCEPTED.  At the same time, we understand that unforeseen circumstances occur during the course of the semester.  Given that, the lowest grade among your four reports will be dropped.

 

A student may receive a failing grade for the semester if there is proof that his/her unprofessional behavior or actions caused another student to miss a deadline.  In other words, if you cannot show up for an assignment you must notify your partner as soon as possible so that he/she can reschedule shoot, interview, or editing times.

Using work from other classes

A student may use work from another class ONLY WITH PRIOR PERMISSION.  This includes the use of video shot from another class or from any source other than this class.  We strongly discourage the use of video from another source in the stories produced for Arizona Cat’s Eye.


Attendance Policy

Because this class only meets once a week, only two unexcused absences will be permitted. Three unexcused absences will result in the student being dropped from the class.  If the drop deadline has passed, the third unexcused absence will result in the student receiving a failing grade. If you miss a class, whether or not your absence is excused, you are responsible for: 1) letting the professor know of your absence prior to the beginning of class via telephone, email, or in person; 2) finding out what you missed in class. 

 

Required Reading and Viewing

Freedman, Wayne.  It Takes More Than Good Looks: To Succeed at Television News Reporting.  Chicago: Bonus Books, 2003.

 

Kalbfeld.  Associated Press Broadcast Handbook.

 

Shook, Frederick.  Television Field Production and Reporting.  3rd ed.  New York: Longman, 2000.

 

NPR Radio, 89.1 on the radio (NPR.org)

 

At least one national and local newscast a day

 

At least one national and local newspaper a day

 

Once a week you should read: Border coverage: Arizona Daily Star website: http://www.azstarnet.com/sn/border/

Tucson Citizen website: http://www.tucsoncitizen.com/ss/border/

 

Suggested Readings/Listening/Viewing

Broadcasting and Cable

Columbia Journalism Review

American Journalism Review

Newsmagazines on CBS-60 minutes, 60 minutes II, CBS Sunday Morning, 48 Hours, on ABC-20/20 and Nightline, NBC-Dateline.

Documentary programs such as PBS-Frontline, American Experience, Nova, P.O.V.

DOC (on Cable)

Websites for all of the above

Building Access and Security Rules

You will have the privilege of 24-hour access to the video lab.  To ensure the highest level of security, DO NOT: 1. let “tailgaters” enter the building behind you; 2. leave doors propped open or ajar to allow other students inside.  DO lock lab carrel doors before you leave.  These measures will help to ensure your personal safety and reduce the risk of theft.  Disregarding these rules may result in the revocation of lab privileges.

 

A Final Thought

Video news serves an important function in a democratic society, and it happens to be a personally enriching activity.  Consider this class as an opportunity for you to explore challenging themes and topics.  We hope that in the process you will learn a great deal and have lots of fun!