JOUR3410
Intro to
News ReportingDr. Barry Hollander
Room 229 Journalism
barry@uga.edu
706.542.50279:05 - 9:55 a.m.
Mondays and Wednesdays
Labs at other times
Please do the course evals. Go HERE.
Also, tests are scored. I've still got to go pick them up to double check 'em, but so far the range is 58 to 100. Again, I'll want to go get them, check for any issues before I finalize them. I'm around my office a lot (room 229 Journalism) if you want to come by and see what I have (so far).
In JOUR3410 we focus on three skills: recognizing what is news, learning how to gather it, then finding the best way to tell true stories. Journalism is storytelling with a purpose.
This is a lecture-lab format. I run the lecture and teach a lab; others also teach labs. Two-thirds of your grade comes from the lab, one-third from the lecture. Lectures are largely about reporting, how to find information or interview people, labs are more about writing, but expect ocassional overlap.
Also, I give lots of leeway to the labs, so what we talk about in lecture may not (and often will not) necessarily dovetail with what you talk about in lab. It's okay. Don't panic.
TEXTS
* Carole Rich's Writing and Reporting News, 7th Edition. Buy it now. Make sure you get the right edition.
* An Associated Press stylebook. You will need it in later classes in journalism AND public relations. Get the latest version and keep it.
Your lab instructor may require you bring both to lab. Assume so unless told otherwise.
For you obsessive-compulsive types, the tentative weights in the lecture are as follows: 45% from Exam 1, 45% from Exam 2, and 10% derived from other stuff. Stuff may be quizzes, may be exercises, may be almost anything. I reserve the right to quiz you on chapters you should have read for that week, so when I have on the calendar that you should read the text, I mean it. By Monday. If we fail to have enough "stuff" in the semester, I'll shift weight back to the exams and make them something else, like 49.655%. Or the square root of Pi. Math is fun.
What's an overall A? 93 and up. 90-92 is A-. 87-89 is B+. 83-86 is B. And so on. UGA doesn't have an F- but, dammit, it ought to.
You may make up an exam only if you arrange for it in advance. Let me say this again but use all my various typographic options to make it stand out -- only in advance. If you miss an exam and don't communicate with me -- either by email or my office phone before the end of the class period in which the exam is given -- you may NOT take a makeup. All approved make ups are essay exams. Yes, essays, as in 5-10 questions that require long, profound answers. Feel profound? Here's your chance.
My advice? Be there on test day and don't come with any sad stories. Just drop.
DO NOT at the end of the semester email me whining about your grade. This is not high school or a private school where you can intimidate an underpaid teacher into changing a grade because mumsy and dadsy paid loads of money for overindulged BMW-driving yuppie larvae to hang out with other overindulged BMW-driving yuppie larvae. I am indifferent to your plight when it comes to grades. I get paid regardless.
Policies
The web page is the syllabus. Check here often for changes, random thoughts, schedules, and updates. Here are a few important rules to remember: No cheating, no stealing, no spitting or public scratching, no calling me at home, no begging, no bribes, and no mentioning Hope Scholarship.
When class begins, neither laptops nor cell phones are to be visible. No checking messages, no texting, no receiving calls. No Facebook, no Twitter. Survive 50 minutes disconnected from the collective. Exceptions only if you have a UGA-approved notetaking disability counter-signed by the University president and the Pope, otherwise it's important for you to know how to take notes on paper.
You get three free misses in lecture. That's 10 percent of the course. That's a week-and-a-half of class. On the fourth miss it's a drop of 5 points from your lecture numeric grade. There are no excused absences, no unexcused misses. I don't want to hear why you did not attend class, so don't email me to say why you missed unless it's something extraordinary, like Ebola. On your fifth miss, it's 10 more points off. On your sixth miss, 15 points. I can keep going if you like, all the way to an F for the lecture. Unfortunately I can't go any lower than that (don't think I haven't tried!).
Here's some advice: save up your absences for that sudden illness or unexpected family death or family trip and spend them wisely. Attendance is expected; a lack of attendance hurts your grade. If tardiness becomes an issue, such as people walking in late, I will use the Tardy Roll in which each tardy counts as a half-absence. And you may also get to wear the dreaded Tardy Sorting Hat during class -- it spends most of class time insulting the wearer.
Never ever ask me if I did a roll the previous class or how many classes you've missed. I don't compute this until the end of the semester, often long after you've left campus. Save your absences for emergencies, illnesses, the deaths of multiple grandmothers, or for those lousy Monday mornings where it's raining and you can't get out of bed. Do the counting of misses yourself. C'mon, you're in college. And yes, 9:05 a.m. is early, but it's not THAT early. Jeez.
Boilerplate Stuff: Read It! Live it!
* All academic work must meet the standards contained in "A Culture of Honesty." Each student is responsible for reading these lengthy, verbose, carefully crafted standards. Basically, know the rules and follow them -- or else.
* The syllabus is a general plan for the course; deviations announced to the class by the instructor may be necessary, which is a fancy way of saying the instructor reserves the right to change things whenever he damn well pleases. He's that kind of guy. The web page trumps the syllabus, either in a game of Spades, Rook, or in real life. Check here often. Make it your home page. Tell your friends.
* Cheating may be harmful to your health. Hollander ignores the official university process for cheaters and dreams up his own awful things to do to those he catches. Do not tempt his imagination. He is a sick man.
* Any cell phones or laptops being used during class will be confiscated and Hollander will do terrible things with them behind the podium. Do you really want to touch it afterward? No, I didn't think so.
* Don't break the rules because we write them. You can't win. We own you.