Spring 2008
JOHN RUSSIAL
311A Allen 346-3750
Office hours: M-T, 10-11, 1:30-3. Or by appointment, or drop by. I'm around quite a bit.
E-mail: jrussial@uoregon.edu. Note, browsers often need to be set up to use this type of e-mail link. If you're not sure how to do that, you can cut and paste the address into the address field of an e-mail program.
Prerequisites: J461 or permission of instructor
A few copy editing links Some of these have changed--I'm looking for the new URLs.Books
Recommended: The Newspaper Designer's Handbook, 5th ed., Tim Harrower, McGraw-Hill. (Same as in J461)
I will have a copy of the Harrower book available during labs and will put several other other readings on reserve or provide handouts.
We'll be using AP style in this course so you should keep the Associated Press Stylebook and Libel Manual handy. Also, a current dictionary. As in other news sequence courses, it's important to keep up with the news. This means you should be reading at least the Emerald and the Register-Guard. Try to read a major metropolitan paper as well.
Course overview
The course is an intensive workshop in editing, a term that covers copy editing, story selection, page design and other issues in editing, such as working with reporters. Some class sesions will be a mix of brief lectures, exercises and discussion, with the emphasis on the latter. During most class sessions, we'll be producing pages and other projects on deadline. During these "production" sessions, students will work in teams that reflect typical desk positions at newspapers -- copy editor, slot and page designer. As in small newsrooms, some people may do more than one of these jobs on a given day. You will have the opportunity to work in all of the positions.
During production sessions later in the term, we’ll divide into print and web desks, which will work with the same stories and photos. We'll use the Newsedit system, Quark and possibly Photoshop. We'll also work with the web and HTML. This may sound like a lot of technology, but I'd like to assure you that the point of the course is not technology -- it's editing. Besides online producers and editors, copy editors are probably the heaviest users of computer technology in newspapers. Most journalists who work on Web sites are really acting as editors.
Time pressure will be a big part of the course, as it is on any copy desk. Editing is a balancing act. Editors must learn how to manage their time -- to work quickly yet thoroughly. This is a worthwhile skill for any media professional to develop.
Class sessions
Class meets from noon to 3 p.m. each Tuesday.
Attendance is crucial, because if you miss a class, you miss a week. Besides, when one editor is absent or late, others typically have to pick up the extra workload. I'm not suggesting you drag yourself in if you're too ill to work; I just want to make the point that in the real world of a daily newspaper newsroom, absences hurt everybody. If you are going to miss a class, I need to know in advance, because I will have to adjust the lab exercise accordingly. If I do not find out before the class, it will affect your evaluation grade.
Other assignments
There will be several additional assignments.
One standing assignment will be to critique the pages we produce in lab. These can be done in an outline form and should be no more than two pages. I’m interested in quality of criticism. These critiques will be based on printouts of the pages, and they will be due at the end of class during weeks that follow the labs. The purpose is primarily to generate discussion during the critique sessions, but they will be turned in at the end of class and graded. Categories for the critiques will be news judgment, copy editing, headlines and other display-type, design and process. I will explain more about this assignment in class.
In addition, there will be a few outside editing assignments or exercises: Here are a few possibilities:
Grading:
Grading will be based on criteria newspapers use -- similar to criteria in J364. Criteria for editing, headlines and layout are based on publishability. An additional criterion for this class is how well you work with other students. Editing is a combination of individual skill and teamwork.
Grades will be based on the following formula:
|
Workshop sessions |
50 |
|
Outside assignments |
25 |
|
Lab critiques |
15 |
|
Class participation, evaluation * |
10 |
*I'm looking for contributions to discussions and evidence of improvement during the term.
Academic dishonesty.
This is a workshop-type course designed to reflect a newsroom environment, so there will be more discussion of what you're doing with people around you than you're likely to see in other classes. As far as take-home assignments go, you are expected to do your own work, unless I specify otherwise. Tentative schedule
Note the word tentative
Week 1:
Introduction; Overview of systems, desk assignments and operation
Micro issues--line editing, mechanics
Week 2:
Workshop session
Week 3:
Critique Week 2 workshop
Macro issues, organization, focus, type of story
Editing that's appropriate to the type of story.
Week 4:
Workshop session
Week 5:
Critique Week 4 workshop
Clark and Fry, Coaching Writers, chapters 15, 16, on reserve
News selection, layout and photo issues
Grading stories. What criteria? Selecting and determining play
Week 6:
Workshop session
Week 7:
Critique Week 6 workshop
Clark and Fry, Chapters1-5, on reserve
Writing better display type -- the copyeditor's role
Critiquing display type -- the slot's role
New approaches
Week 8:
Workshop session
Week 9:
Workshop session
Week 10:
Critique weeks 8 and 9