News Writing (Fall 2011)

Instead of a full-fledged blog portfolio (in the manner of Portfolios 1-3), this assignment gives you the option instead to post a single reflective blog entry. (You may choose a normal portfolio, but if you do, please ensure that your cover blog entry provides the information I’m requesting below. Feel free to ask me for clarification.)

Format: Use the “Blog Me” button to create, on your blog, a new entry; using Kershner 36 as your launching point, identify the one homework assignment, the one in-class activity, and the one online activity that you found most helpful in your achievement of the goals of EL227.

Length: About 250 words, broken up into several short paragraphs, with links (as appropriate).

Content: In addition to making specific references to Kershner 36, please make specific reference to several of the key points mentioned in the syllabus; for your convenience, I have reproduced the appropriate section of the syllabus below.

As a student in this course, you receive my guidance and feedback, as you work your way towards these specific objectives.

• Learn how to gather news and report it through writing.
• Develop an appreciation for how the news educates the public (which includes you).
• Demonstrate the ability to identify, comprehend, and analyze current events (as reported in the news).
• Examine the role of the journalist in a democratic society.
  • Identify and embrace depth, balance, transparency, and accountability in news coverage.
  • Identify and reject shallowness, bias, opacity, and elitism in news coverage.
• Demonstrate the ability to follow the grammatical and stylistic conventions of writing, according to the Associated Press Stylebook.
• Meet deadlines while producing quality work for a general readership.
• Contribute actively to a positive learning environment.

To achieve these objectives, you will develop your ability to write fair and balanced accounts of important issues, while at the same time cultivating a healthy skepticism of the material widely published as “news.”

The course is intended to help you achieve the following outcomes:

• demonstrate a thorough familiarity with the conventions of journalism (as presented via reputable publications, as spoofed in The Onion, and as presented in your own work)
• speak and write knowledgeably about important issues in journalism and how they interact with the culture at large
• accurately assess the credibility of a potential source (such as a web page, a press release, or an anonymous tip)
• exhibit communications skills and research methods which adhere to the standards and conventions of contemporary journalistic practice