Class Schedule

J356 - In-depth Reporting 

Spring 2008 - M, W: CDE 10:10 a.m.-1 p.m. or so

211 Reid Hall

Prof. Brian Richardson

Reid Hall 201

458-8430

Prof. Phylissa Mitchell

Reid Hall 202

458-8431

Purpose

This capstone course brings together teams of students to report in depth on issues of community importance.  Each team will research and report on one issue and produce it for three platforms:  newspaper, television and the Web.  The group reporting and cross-media experience will prepare students to work on in-depth projects as teams, to hone their medium-specific expertise, and to expand their knowledge of and comfort with converged media reporting.  We encourage you to view this class as the culmination of your professional journalism studies at Washington and Lee and as an opportunity to draw from all that you have learned in your previous classes. Your work will be evaluated from the same perspective.

In this capstone class, you should be presented with opportunities to self-test your knowledge of 11 values and competencies identified by the Accrediting Council on Education in Journalism and Mass Communications and embraced by this department. Many of these values and competencies have been identified and addressed in your previous courses in the department. The list is available at I:\public_html\Curriculum\ACEJMCvalues.html

Textbooks

On reserve in the Reid Hall Green Room:

Houston, B., Bruzzese, L. & Weinberg, S. (2002).  The Investigative Reporter's Handbook:  A Guide to Documents, Databases and Techniques.  Fourth edition. (IRE Handbook)

If you must miss class because of illness, do the same thing you would do to take a sick day at work: Call or email one of your professors -- and your groupmates -- beforehand.   Similarly, remember your obligations to team members when interviews and work sessions are scheduled.

Grading

While your final products will compose a large chunk of the course grade, the process behind the product is also highly valued.  Requirements and their grade values are listed below.

Requirements and their grade values  (I=individual, G=group)

Total Points                                                                        600

Evaluation components:

 General - Applied to all three media:  Truth, accuracy, clarity, fairness, balance, reporting depth, topic focus, organization and flow, quality of writing, teamwork, professionalism, thoroughness.

Medium-specific (in addition to all of the above)

Print:  Structure of project and stories, appropriateness of story organization and tone, ability to attract and hold a reader’s attention.

Broadcast:  Visual/audio storytelling, editing continuity, shot quality (composition, steadiness, lighting, focus), use of scene components, audio quality, memorable moments.

Online:  Appropriate interactive features, organization, user-friendly interface (no clutter), readability, multimedia integration.

A missed deadline in this class on any assignment, including the final project, is a zero. But you know that already.