Journalism 101
Collecting and Writing the News
Los Angeles Valley College
Fall 2016; Section 8175
Monday-Wednesday 9:40 a.m. to 11:05 p.m.
Room: BJ-114
Instructor: William Dauber
Telephone: (818) 947-2574; e-mail:
Office Hours: Monday/Wednesday 12 p.m. to 3 p.m. – Tuesdays 10 a.m. to 12 p.m.Thursdays by appointment.
Required Texts: “Writing and Reporting the News,’’ by Carole Rich (eighth edition). Chapters are assigned to supplement class lectures and writing assignments. The Los Angeles Times (bring to class every Wednesday). Students must read Tuesday’s edition of the Los Angeles Times, focusing on the front page. We will discuss the content and structure of the stories in class and use the paper for our news quizzes.
Course Description: This introductory course will teach students how to report news and take a critical look at newspapers. Topics include interview techniques, writing structure (inverted pyramid), developing sources, style development and lead writing. Accuracy, AP style, grammar, compelling leads, libel and fairness will be major themes of this course. The bulk of the class will be dedicated to writing news articles such as spot-news stories, meetings, crime and courts. There will also be a few feature-writing assignments.
Assignments: Students will be required to write a news story each day generated from the textbook, a video and other sources. Some classes will begin with a news quiz and a critical analysis of the Los Angeles Times. There will be take-home assignments that include news and feature stories.
Deadlines: Since this course is designed to immerse students in the world of journalism, we will replicate the tight and unbending deadlines of a real-life newsroom. Stories handed in one day, one hour or one minute late will not be counted. There are no exceptions.
GRADES:
Writing assignments 10 x 50 points each = 500 points
Exams 3 x 100 points each = 300 points
Newspaper quizzes 10 x 10 points each = 100 points
Final exam = 100 points. Total points = 1,000
1,000-900 = A
899-800 = B
799-700 = C
699-600 = D
599-0 = F
Note: Make a few friends in class and exchange telephone numbers and e-mail addresses to find out about missed assignments. Turn off cellular telephones in the classroom. Students who disrupt class with cellular telephones will be asked to leave class and earn a zero for the day’s work.
Below you will find the grading rubric for all complete stories
/ Woodward(10 points per category) / It Prints
(7 points per category) / Blair
(5 points or fewer per category)
LEAD / A good lead grabs a reader’s attention while getting across vital information and matches the tone of the article / A passable lead gets the primary information across, but it doesn’t grab the readers’ attention / A failing lead is missing essential information and is not attention grabbing
ORGANIZATION / A good article is well organized with like information together and quotes from each source grouped / A passable article might jump around a bit but maintains overall organization with its information and quotes / A failing article is choppy and unorganized with no cohesion of information or quotes
SOURCES / A good article has a minimum of three sources, the sources are relevant to the article / A passing article has at least two sources of relevance to the story being covered / A failing article has one or no sources or has sources that are not of relevance to the article
AP STYLE/
GRAMMAR / A good article contains correct grammar and AP and shows effort was put into spellchecking and referencing your AP Stylebook / A passing article contains moderately correct grammar and AP and shows effort was put into spellchecking and referencing your AP Stylebook / A failing article contains numerous grammar and AP mistakes and shows no effort was put into spellchecking and referencing your AP Stylebook
WORD COUNT / A good article meets the assigned word count without being under or over / A passable article comes close to the assigned word count, going just over or coming just under / A failing article is significantly under or over the assigned word count
DEADLINE / The story came in by 6 p.m. Thursday. / The story came in within 24 hours on the assigned deadline / The story came in past 24 hours after the assigned deadline
Statement for Plagiarism and Student Conduct
Plagiarism is the use of others’ words and/or ideas without clearly acknowledging their source. When you incorporate those words and ideas into your own work, you must give credit where credit is due. Plagiarism, intentional or unintentional, is considered academic dishonesty and is not tolerated. Anyone found to be plagiarizing or cheating on assignments (e.g., copying or giving answers, using ‘crib’ sheets, etc.) will (1) receive a zero (fail) on the assignment, and (2) be referred to the Vice President of Student Services for further disciplinary action, following due process. For further information on plagiarism, go to the Writing Center website ( and refer to the STANDARDS OF STUDENT CONDUCT AND DISCIPLINARY ACTION in the current Schedule of Classes and Catalog.
Drop Dates: The college policy states that it is the student’s responsibility to drop a class no longer being attended. Your failure to drop a class in accordinance to the school deadline may result in a “W” or “F” on your academic record. Deadlines are listed in the schedule of classes.
SSD Assistance: If you are a student with a disability requring classrom accommodations, and have not contactd SSD, do so in a timely manner. SSD is located in the Student Services Annex, Room 175 or call SSD at (818) 947-2618 or TTD (818) 947-2680 to meet with a SSD councelor. If SSD has already sent the memo to your instructor confimring accommodations required by a student for this class, please meet with me to discuss arrangements.