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basic info | schedule | policies | grading | shifts | resources/story ideas | |||||||||||
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Convergence Reporting: Fall 2008 Course meets MWF from 8-8:50 am in the Futures Lab - Reynolds Journalism Institute Instructors: Mike McKean, 882-3434 (o), 808-5163 (m), McKeanML@missouri.edu Other faculty you'll interact with on a regular basis: Tom Warhover, Exec. Editor, Missourian, 882-5734, WarhoverT@missouri.edu Credits: 3 hrs Prerequisite: Fundamentals of TV, Radio and Photojournalism Recommended Text: The Investigative Reporter's Handbook, 4th Edition by Brant Houston, Len Bruzzese and Steve Weinberg Hours for Futures Lab and Equipment Checkout: Key Phone Numbers: Welcome to your first newsroom experience in the Missouri School of Journalism's Convergence emphasis area. We hope and expect you will rise to a unique challenge: helping report stories for the school's principal media: the Missourian, KBIA, KOMU and their respective Web sites. You will be assigned randomly to work in teams and each of you will bring different skills and interests to the teams. You will be asked to stretch by assuming roles outside your comfort zone or skill level as the semester progresses. The focus of this course is reporting. Reporting includes critical thinking, imagination, and the ability to research, write, and create artwork, still photos, video and audio. Depending on the nature of each assignment, some stories will appear in all media, others may appear in only a few or one of them. The convergence feature stories you work on will have one thing in common: they won't typically involve breaking, spot news. Those will be the purview of newspaper and radio/TV news students working regular, daily shifts at the Missourian, KBIA and KOMU. As a convergence reporter you will produce feature stories, in-depth pieces and other special reports in cooperation with the newsrooms. However, you'll need to be flexible. Objectives Convergence journalism implies and, in fact, depends on teamwork. You'll be assigned to different teams during the course of the semester. You'll also rotate responsibilities within your teams. Good reporters come to work with good story ideas. To help you do that, please consult with your team members and come to class every other Wednesday with three completed story idea forms from the group. We'll collect those ideas and discuss them in class with editors from the Convergence Editing & Producing class. There's no guarantee you'll be assigned your team's first story choice, though the odds are great if you submit an excellent idea. Every other week, you will be assigned to work directly with your 4804-7804 faculty members and 4806-7806 student editors (also known as Project Managers) to complete your assigned stories on deadline. On alternate weeks, you will rotate through a variety of different newsrooms. Where you will also be required to come up with story ideas. Whether you get to do one of those stories, or are assigned to some other story, depends on the quality of your pitch as well as other newsroom priorities that week. In some instances, you may finish your "newsroom" story in a day or two. In others, you may have to work beyond a single week. The deadline for completed stories is Thursday at 5 p.m. during your "convergence feature" rotations. You'll spend a lot of time in the Futures Lab. We're fortunate to have such an impressive space, and we will need your help to keep everything clean, functional and in excellent working condition. Let us know if something is not working right or if you have an idea about ways to improve workflow or organization. Academic Honesty Academic honesty is fundamental to the activities and principles of a university. All members of the academic community must be confident that each person's work has been responsibly and honorably acquired, developed and presented. Any effort to gain an advantage not given to all students is dishonest whether or not the effort is successful. Academic misconduct includes but is not limited to the following: 1.Use of materials from another author without citation or attribution. When in doubt about plagiarism, paraphrasing, quoting or collaboration, consult with us. For closed-book exams and exercises, academic misconduct includes conferring with other class members, copying or reading someone else's test and using notes and materials without prior permission of the instructor. For open-book exams and exercises, academic misconduct includes copying or reading someone else's work. Classroom Misconduct Classroom misconduct includes forgery of class attendance, obstruction or disruption of teaching, failure to turn off cellular telephones leading to disruption of teaching, playing games or surfing the Internet on laptop computers unless instructed to do so, physical abuse or safety threats, theft, property damage, disruptive, lewd or obscene conduct, abuse of computer time, repeated failure to attend class when attendance is required and repeated failure to participate or respond in class when class participation is required. IMPORTANT: Entering a classroom late or leaving a classroom before the end of the period can be extremely disruptive behavior. Students are asked to arrive for class on time and to avoid early departures. Instructors have the right to deny students access to the classroom if they arrive late and have the right to dismiss a student from the class for early departures that result in disruptions. Under MU policy, your instructor has the right to ask for your removal from the course for misconduct or excessive absences. The instructor then has the right to issue a grade of withdraw, withdraw failing or F. The instructor alone is responsible for assigning the grade in such circumstances. A Special Note About Web Access in Class The above language regarding classroom misconduct stems from discussions between MU Faculty Council and the Provost's Office. While Convergence Journalism faculty endorse the intent expressed above, we also tolerate (and actively encourage in many instances) personal web access during class time. Attention to and mastery of content discussed during class is your responsibility. We will alert you if there are specific times during a lecture, training session or class discussion when we intend to limit or prohibit web access. Dishonesty and Misconduct Reporting Procedures MU faculty are required to report all instances of academic or classroom misconduct to the appropriate campus officials. Allegations of classroom misconduct will be forwarded immediately to MU's Vice Chancellor for Student Services. Allegations of academic misconduct will be forwarded immediately to MU's Office of the Provost. In cases of academic misconduct, the student will receive at least a zero for the assignment in question. The School of Journalism is committed to the highest standards of academic and professional ethics and expects its students to adhere to those standards. Students should be familiar with the Code of Ethics of the Society of Professional Journalists and adhere to its restrictions. Students are expected to observe strict honesty in academic programs and as representatives of school-related media. Should any student be guilty of plagiarism, falsification, misrepresentation or other forms of dishonesty in any assigned work, that student may be subject to a failing grade from the instructor and such disciplinary action as may be necessary under University regulations. University of Missouri-Columbia Notice of Nondiscrimination The University of Missouri System is an Equal Opportunity/ Affirmative Action institution and is nondiscriminatory relative to race, religion, color, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, age, disability or status as a Vietnam-era veteran. Any person having inquiries concerning the University of Missouri-Columbia's compliance with implementing Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, the Americans With Disabilities Act of 1990, or other civil rights laws should contact the Assistant Vice Chancellor, Human Resource Services, University of Missouri-Columbia, 130 Heinkel Building, Columbia, Mo. 65211, (573) 882-4256, or the Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights, U.S. Department of Education. ADA Compliance If you have special needs as addressed by the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and need assistance, please notify us and/or the Office of Disability Services, A038 Brady Commons, 882-4696, immediately. Reasonable efforts will be made to accommodate your special needs. Religious Holidays Students are automatically excused for recognized religious holidays. Let us know in advance if you have a conflict. Intellectual Pluralism The University community welcomes intellectual diversity and respects student rights. Students who have questions concerning the quality of instruction in this class may address concerns to either the Departmental Chair or Divisional leader or Director of the Office of Students Rights and Responsibilities (http://osrr.missouri.edu/). All students will have the opportunity to submit an anonymous evaluation of the instructor(s) at the end of the course. |
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Reynolds Institute: new Convergence home in 2008 | ||||||||||||||||
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| Copyright © 2008 The Curators of the University of Missouri | |||||||||||||||||