JOUR 592: Specialized Journalism: Reporting the Arts
2.0 units
Fall 2015 – Wednesday – 2:00 to 4:40 pm
Section: 21675D
Location:
Instructor: Sasha Anawalt
Office:
Office Hours: after class or by appointment
Contact Info:
I. Course Description
This course relies on you to take the upper hand in shaping, organizing and staffing the Annenberg Media Center’s Culture Desk and its principal online arts and culture podcast and website, Ampersand. You’ll be called upon to be endlessly creative, inventive and playful, while using the tools and skills you learned in the summer digital immersion course. The direction of this course is informed by Slow Journalism principles, meaning I want you to take your time connecting in a human way to the people who make and receive the art and entertainment you are covering. You will be working in collaboration with Annenberg Radio News (ARN) dominantly, but also with Annenberg Television News (ATVN) and Neon Tommy (NT) in a converged newsroom. Multimedia and technology-enhanced learning are stressed in concert with your need to tell stories about living artists. Finally, this is an arts and entertainment reporting course that focuses on Los Angeles often through the lens of USC’s Visions & Voices series. This is where you strengthen your voice and, it is hoped, are marked as journalism agents of change. Bring your entrepreneurial hat! Connect economic and social realities to the “how-tos,” and to your passion and vision for the future that is yours as an arts reporter who tells stories that genuinely enlighten people.
II. Overall Learning Objectives and Assessment
You have the opportunity in this course to determine what a Culture Desk, covering arts and entertainment in Los Angeles, should look like. You will be instrumental in setting the agenda, planning the coverage and determining work flow and hierarchy. Tone, voice, intensity of coverage, philosophy and style will be constant subject matters for your discussion and debate; you will be expected to write, produce radio, shoot photos, take video, and design web elements in service to the Culture Desk. You may also be part of the social media and marketing team for your media outlet, Ampersand, asking such questions as, how do we build an audience and keep it? You are required to have a role on the Culture Desk, one that counts for 10 percent of your final grade.
The collaborative ethos of this summer’s Jour 528 will carry over and it is hoped that you will hang out at least two hours a week in the Media Center’s Culture Desk and respect it as an operation that puts your work and that of your colleagues into the real world, while working together. Yes, this is a training ground and laboratory for experimentation, but our standards are professional and your work for this course will be public and, thus, evaluated for its professionalism.
If you cannot be physically and actively present during the week on the Culture Desk, and give at least two hours of your week to a well-defined role, we will work out responsibilities that can be done principally in absentia. Class attendance is, of course, mandatory; exceptions are for extreme situations and with only with my consent.
Your participation in this class counts for 15 percent of the grade; your fullest engagement is desirable and will be evaluated by me. I confess I have a low tolerance (as in possibly zero) for lateness. Don’t be late to class. It throws us all off and is unfair to your on-time colleagues. Each class has a designed beginning, middle and end. You won’t get the goods, if you come late.
For 40 percent of your final grade, you must produce for Ampersand either one significant audio piece that is at least 5 minutes-long or a 1000-word webtext piece or two shorter -- but no less substantial – pieces (2.5” audio or 500-word webtext) that could be part of a series spread over Ampersand I and II. Video is also welcomed. The exact length and nature of the pieces for this course will be decided in conjunction with your colleagues who are in editorial and producer roles at Ampersand, and with me.
In addition, every student must produce four shorter “daily” pieces that can be aired on ARN or another media outlet across the duration of the semester for 20 percent of your final grade.
In sum, you are required to produce no fewer than five pieces that the public can find over the course of the semester, which can be of almost any nature (opinion, interview, feature, profile, or critical review etc.).
While producing relevant and newsworthy stories, you will be reading texts that inspire and bolster adventuresome journalism tactics; you will be introduced to radical artists and journalism-thinkers; you will be expected to see performances and festivals and art exhibits on a weekly basis and to use L.A as your culture lab; and you will be encouraged to spend a lot of time observing one specific artist of your choosing and following his or her process.
You’ll also be asked to consider the economic and social context of L.A.’s arts ecosystem. How can you affect the system? Help people? Is empathy a pre-requisite? How do you put yourself in others’ shoes without buying into their agenda or taking advantage?
You will be given a number of in-class exercises and homework assignments that stimulate unusual responses to art. I look at this course as a place to gain practice and training to be a leader in a field that is in desperate need of reinvention. Where you start and where you end up as an arts reporter will be taken into account. I’ll be paying attention to your growth and individual contribution. I want you to get good at change. This means you won’t always be comfortable. Change takes practice. In this course, I want you to make the time for practicing change.
III. Description of Assignments
Each assignment in the chart below represents one for which you are responsible, and that will have an impact on your grade. Some are for credit/no credit (meaning they will not be graded with a letter or numerical grade, but must be completed by you in order to receive credit). Others are for letter and numerical grades, and those will be handed back to you with a rubric that will show you how points were allocated. You will receive the rubric in advance of doing the project.
Deadlines matter. If you cannot hit yours, you are expected to let me know and make arrangements with the Culture Desk.
The main focus of this course is on Ampersand and producing one or two significant and polished works of arts journalism out of the Culture Desk. Since this course also emphasizes experimentation, you will produce no fewer than four pieces for ARN’s magazine show that is about USC’s Visions & Voices series. Use these to play.
Your big-deal assignments are:
1. One long-form piece that is polished and up to professional snuff for Ampersand I or II (equivalent to 40 percent of your grade) or two shorter pieces, one for Ampersand I and one for Ampersand II, that delve deliciously into the arts and are perhaps NPR-worthy or NYT-worthy (20 percent each or 40 percent of your final grade). Expect to do multiple re-writes or edits and to spend time on these. The resulting work may be one large piece or it could be a set of “series pieces.”
2. Four short pieces for ARN’s weekly magazine show, most probably tied to Visions & Voices.
3. Writing and completing your contract and meeting with me one-on-one once this semester.
There are several assignments that are for credit/no credit, and they include:
1. A list of stories you want and hope to do.
2. A 400 to 750- word personal essay based on Mary Gordon’s “Still Life” piece.
3. A proposal for how to make arts journalism relevant, that you pitch in class.
4. A role on the Culture Desk (producer, editor, reporter, critic, host, social media manager, website content director, etc.) that you enthusiastically uphold throughout the semester and for which you meet deadlines. This should add up to a minimum of two hours per week in the MC.
IV. Grading
a. Breakdown of Grades
Assignment / Deadline / % of Grade /Story list (credit/no credit) / 2 p.m. on 9/10 / 2.5%
Contract completion and one-on-one meeting (credit/no credit) / 2 p.m. on 9/08 / 7.5%
Mary Gordon essay (credit/no credit) / 2 p.m. on 9/15 / 2.5%
“Relevant Journalism” proposal (credit/no credit) / 2 p.m. on 9/22 / 2.5%
Role on the Culture Desk (credit/no credit) / N/A / 10%
Either one major piece for Ampersand (40%) or two shorter (20% each) / 2 p.m. on 10/20 and/or 12/2 / 40%
Four 1” pieces for ARN / N/A / 20%
Participation / N/A / 15%
TOTAL / 100%
There is no final exam or paper in this course. Each student is responsible for helping Ampersand I and II meet professional standards. I expect the final podcast and website publication to be produced by Exam Week or earlier.
Any assignment accompanied by a rubric will be graded on a scale of 1-100, and then translated into traditional letter grades.
Please note that specific assignments, readings and weekly subjects may be revised as the course progresses.
As a general rule, your written assignments are due 2 p.m. the day before class and should be sent to .
Every student is required to schedule at least one meeting with me mid-term or soon thereafter to discuss your contract and progress. You should, however, feel free to talk to me at any point during the semester, if you have concerns.
b. Grading Scale + Standards
In all assignments, you will be judged first on the accuracy and fairness (and where appropriate, the objectivity) of your stories. You will be then evaluated for Chicago style, grammar, broadcast style, editing, production value, originality and ability to meet deadlines. Writing will also be graded on correct punctuation and spelling.
Any indication that a student has fabricated or plagiarized information will result in an “F” in the course and possible expulsion from the School of Journalism and USC. Be aware that stories will be randomly checked to verify sourcing and attribution.
I will be happy to discuss the content of your work. I will not, however, discuss the grade you have received. If you wish to appeal a grade, a formal process is available.
In grading your work, I consider quality of research and clarity of expression. Good writing needs to be backed up by good research, and involves good organization. Additionally, I look for evidence of insight into the topic – do you seem to really grasp the subject matter and say something interesting and original about it? Have you supported your opinion with evidence, no matter how passionately you may feel about the topic? For this class and your future endeavors, you want your work to be compelling and convincing. Achieving that balanced combination is always difficult but always possible.
Projects earning an A are professional and ready to publish; they are accurate, clear and comprehensive, and probably include multiple online elements. Headlines and text are well written and require only minor editing for Chicago style, grammar/punctuation/spelling and consistency. Headlines have been crafted with an eye toward analytics and audience building. Visual or audio elements are relevant (e.g., no video just for the sake of having video), and edited or cropped effectively and appropriately. A = 95-100. A- = 90-94.
Projects earning a B require more than minor editing, and have a few style or spelling errors. There is at least one significant online element omitted (can be as minor as a link). B+ = 87-89. B = 84-86. B- = 80-83.
Projects earning a C need considerable editing or rewriting. There are online elements missing or incomplete. C+= 77-79. C = 74-76. C- = 70-73.
Projects earning a D require excessive rewriting and have numerous errors. They likely go little beyond the original print or broadcast story (if there is one), or are sloppy and/or unprofessional. They are not publishable and should not have been submitted. D+ = 67=69. D = 64-66. D- = 63-65
Projects earning an F have failed to meet the major criteria of the assignment, have numerous errors or both. They may be misleading or contain content from third parties used without attribution. They are not publishable and should not have been submitted. A story that has a factual error that is material to the story merits an F. There should be no exceptions. Excessive occurrences of misspelled proper names also merit an F. Assignments and projects will be judged on elements including text, visuals (photos, graphics, video), interactivity, navigation and adherence to assignment specifics. Design and color decisions will be judged on appropriateness and usage of concepts discussed in class. Because the class is cumulative, students should demonstrate an understanding of all previously covered concepts in each assignment, even if the assignment does not specifically address those issues. 63 and below.
The following are some other circumstances that would warrant a grade of “F”:
● Plagiarizing any content.
● Plagiarizing a script, portions of a script, or information from any source – wire copy, feed packages, another reporter’s package or story script.
● Staging video or audio: When the reporter tells or asks someone to do something specific, unless that is revealed or made obvious in the context of the story. (Gray areas will be discussed in class.)