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584-544: TELEVISION NEWS MANAGEMENT Spring 2015

Sec. 001 8:00 am – 10:50 am M/F

Senior Lecturer Mark Zoromski

562 Johnston Hall

Office Hours: Tuesdays, 2:00 – 3:00 pm

Thursdays, 5:00 – 7:00 pm

Phone Numbers:

Dept. Office:414-229-4436

Cell:414-403-9994

E-mail:

OVERVIEW:

JAMS 544 Television News Management covers newscast producing, writing, assignment editing, and ethical decision-making under deadline.

Even in a tough economy, good television news producers are in demand. Producing jobs can lead to top newsroom management jobs. Producers must be excellent writers, skilled storytellers, thoughtful journalists, creative problem-solvers, and savvy users of technology.

We’ll learn television news management through lectures, textbook readings, and most important, practical experience in the UWM PantherVision newsroom.

SKILLS:

Producing. Producers in JAMS 544 manage the reporters and photojournalists in JAMS 342. They share producing duties for seven newscasts created in partnership with Milwaukee Area Technical College (MATC). We’ll learn about choosing lead stories, researching “readers” and “vo/sots” and deciding which stories deserve precious airtime. On the technical side, we’ll create rundowns, back-time shows, and develop good relationships with the technical crew. Newscast producing also demands artistic skills: creating flow, writing powerful headlines and teases, and using graphics to clarify stories.

Writing. Producers are responsible for ensuring that every story, every tease, every sentence in the newscast is clearly, skillfully and intelligently written. Good writers are indispensable in a newsroom. In 342, you learned to write television news packages. In this class, you’ll write succinct readers, voice-overs, voice-over-to-sound, bumpers, headlines and teases.

Assignment editing. The best assignment editors are well informed and organized, able to react quickly to changes and make instant editorial decisions. They help decide which stories should be covered and which should be ignored, sort through the huge volume of information that flows into a newsroom, and communicate directions to everyone in the newsroom, fast.

Personnel management. Managing people is one of the hardest jobs for producers, executive producers and news directors. In this class, you’ll manage the reporters and photojournalists from 342, as well as your 544 classmates. Successful managers listen and respect others’ opinions, but have the fortitude to enforce unpopular decisions.

Ethical decision-making. Journalists face difficult decisions every day. There often are no “right” answers. We’ll learn about journalistic ethics and how they guide decision makers.

Deadline pressure: In broadcasting, deadline pressure is intense. In this class, there’s pressure to pull together dozens of newscast elements on deadline, just as journalists do in newsrooms across the country. Your team’s grade each week will be based, in large part, on your ability to make deadline.

Digital editing. We’ll build on the beginning Final Cut Pro editing skills learned in JAMS 342 so that by the end of this class, you will be an expert FCP editor.

Reporting. We’ll continue working on reporting, editing, writing and photojournalism skills by reporting stories shot on digital cameras and edited digitally. In 544, producers are expected to build on their reporting skills and produce professional-quality packages.

Manager responsibility. Television news managers are responsible for meeting deadlines and getting newscasts on the air. If stories fall through, managers must come up with new ideas. If reporters or writers turn in stories with factual errors, managers must get the facts.

ATTENDANCE:

Class attendance is mandatory. On newscast production Fridays, expect to be in the newsroom from 6:00 a.m. until 3 p.m. On Mondays, expect to be at Milwaukee Area Technical College from 8:00 a.m. until 11:30 a.m. If these times conflict with your class schedule, see me.

GRADING:

You will be graded on your overall skills as a television news producers, assignment editors, managers, writers, and reporters. Each student will be on the producing team for a minimum of three newscasts; the actual distribution of opportunities depends on enrollment.

Your fin grade will be based on your individual performance as well as your team performance.

Team Performance: Successfully getting a quality newscast on the air requires that everyone involved work together as a cohesive unit, so, accordingly, part of your grade will be based on how your producing team performs on weeks when your team is assigned to produce PantherVision.

Both your producing and reporting grades will be team grades. Every member of the producing team will receive the same grade for a given newscast. When you are reporting, you and your photojournalist will receive the same grade for your story, just like you did in 342.

Individual Performance: You’ll also earn individual grades as part of your producing team. Each member of the team will write stories for the newscast, and your grade will be based on writing quality, accuracy, AP style and proper scripting style, and effort. Each student is expected to learn digital editing to complete the PantherVision dub reel on Fridays and successfully edit producer packages.

Specifically, your final grade will be determined as follows:

Team performance: 40 %

Individual performance40 %

Reporting/photojournalism20 %

Late assignments.Newsroom employees must meet deadlines. Late assignments are not accepted, and may receive a grade of “0.”

TIME INVESTMENT:

To achieve the learning outcomes of this 3-credit course, an average student should expect to invest about 144 hours over the course of the semester. We’ll spend about 50 hours in class, and until October 15th, you’ll have very little coursework outside the classroom (perhaps 1 hour of reading per week, for 5 hours total). Once we begin our newscasts, though, expect to devote about 12 hours a week outside scheduled class time.

EQUIPMENT AND SUPPLIES:

The equipment we use in this class is expensive. You must sign an equipment agreement specifying that you are financially responsible for damage to the equipment or lost/stolen parts.

REQUIRED TEXTS:

Power Producer: A Practical Guide to TV News Producing, Dow Smith, latest edition (distributed by instructor on first day of class)

The Associated Press Stylebook and Libel Manual, Associated Press. (new copy is not necessary if you already have one)

SEMESTER OUTLINE:

The projected outline of the semester can be found later in this syllabus. The schedule, as well as this syllabus, are subject to change if warranted according to the instructor’s judgment and for the benefit of the class.

IMPORTANT CLASS POLICIES:

1. Students with disabilities: If you will need accommodations in order to meet any of the requirements of this course, please contact the instructor as soon as possible.

2. Religious observances: Students will be permitted to make up assignments when (a) There is a scheduling conflict between the student's sincerely held religious beliefs and taking the examination or meeting the academic requirements; and (b) The student has notified the instructor, within the first three weeks of the beginning of classes of the specific days or dates on which he or she will request relief from an examination or academic requirement.

3. Incompletes: A notation of "incomplete" may be given in lieu of a final grade to a student who has carried a subject successfully until the end of a semester but who, because of illness or other unusual and substantiated cause beyond the student' s control, has been unable to take or complete the final examination or to complete some limited amount of term work.

4. Discriminatory conduct (such as sexual harassment): The University will not tolerate discriminatory conduct. It poisons the work and learning environment of the University and threatens the careers, educational experience, and well -being of students, faculty, and staff.

5. Academic misconduct: Cheating on exams or plagiarism are violations of the academic honor code and carry severe sanctions, including failing a course or even suspension or dismissal from the University.

For more information, see: