Assignment Details

Due Wednesday, June 4 at the beginning of class

Outdoor (billboard) advertisement
Details are here.

Due Wednesday, May 28 at the beginning of class

Optional rewrite of the speech story. Staple the original and the rewrite together.

Due Wednesday, May 21at the beginning of class

Optional rewrite of the profile story. Staple the original and the rewrite together; we will not be able to regrade the assignment without the original.

Due Wednesday, May 14

News story of a speech. Write a news story based on a speech. This should be a complete news story about two full double-spaced pages. Call this assignment SPEECH.
The best speech to cover is the Ruhl Lecture, sponsored by the School of Journalism and Communication. It will be a speech by Jan Schaffer Thursday, May 8, 2008, at 4 p.m.in Gerlinger Lounge. I will discuss how to write a story about this lecture on Monday, May 12. If you cannot attend the Ruhl Lecture, there will be other lectures on or around campus during that week.

Note: Get there a little early so you can get a good seat. Schaffer, a former business editor for The Philadelphia Inquirer who won a Pulitzer Prize there as a reporter, is executive director of J-Lab: The Institute for Interactive Journalism (www.J-Lab.org) at the University of Maryland College of Journalism and one of the nation's leading thinkers in the journalism reform movement.

I realize that some people might have schedule conflicts, so watch this space for details about several other speeches that you might cover if you have a scheduling conflict that prevents you from covering the Ruhl Lecture.

Due Wednesday, May 7 at the beginning of class

Short profile story. Two-page print story--at least 500 words. The subject is up to you, but it should be someone affiliated with the university. Find someone who has an interesting story. Do not use a friend, relative, roommate or other person you know well. It may be a freshman, a transfer student, a grad student, a professor, an administrator or another employee. It might be possible to profile someone who does not fit that overall category. If you have a different type of person in mind, please check with Russial or your GTF. Do not structure this profile in Q&A (Question and Answer) format. Write it as narrative text.

More details about the assignment
Several examples of profiles
10 interviewing stages From "Creative Interviewing," a book by by Ken Metzler

NEW DUE DATE!! Due Wednesday, May 7 at the beginning of class

One-page proposal for the final feature project.

Due Friday May 2 at the beginning of lab

Optional rewrite of TV news story. Rewrites and original grades are averaged. If you've gotten an A-, for example, and the deductions had to do with typos, punctuation or similar mistakes, it might not make much sense to spend time rewriting. Check the grading page for more details about rewrite policy. Make sure to staple your original version behind the rewritten version. We will not be able to grade the rewrite if you don't. As an example, here's a version of the TV story we worked on in lab.

Due Wednesday, April 23, at the beginning of class

TV news story. Write a 200 to 250-word TV news story based on these notes and video/sound bites. Call this assignment VIRUS.

Due Wednesday 4/16 at the beginning of class

Mock news conference. Write the first four or five paragraphs of a news story (100-150 words) based on notes you took during the lab exercise on 4/11. News paragraphs are short. Call this assignment FIRE.

Due Wednesday, April 9 at the beginning of class

Leads assignment. Write the first two paragraphs of a news story (about 50 words) for each of two sets of facts provided. Do not use all of the information. Call this assignment LEADS.
Details are on this page.

Due Friday 4/4 at the beginning of your lab

Job announcement. This is a short news article of 100-150 words.

Choose an appropriate entry-level professional job and write a short news item announcing that you got the job. The purpose is to tell us a bit about yourself, such as where you're from; what background you have, such as an internship or some work for high school or university media; what your interests are, etc.

For example, a student interested in a magazine career might write that she has been hired as an assistant editor for a specialty magazine or a magazine web site. A student interested in public relations might want to join a small agency or work in marketing for a sports team. A news-editorial student might get a job as an education reporter with the Roseburg News Review.

Here's an example.

Note: This assignment will be graded Pass/Fail. If you do it, it's Pass; if you don't, it's Fail.

Please follow the format for assignments on the web page or the syllabus.