JOUR 4850/5550
Principles of Magazine Production: Denton Live
Fall 2016
All emails must be directed to with cc’s to .
Eric Nishimoto, Adjunct Wendy Haun, DL Design Director
(214) 686-0152 cell (940) 382-7895 office
(972) 548-4772 office
Thursdays 3:30 to 6:20 p.m. in GAB 111
Office hours: 1 hour before and after class, in Adjunct Office Rm #110B. Also by appointment. And I am available at any time via email and phone.
REQUIRED READING
All students must read the two most recent issues of Denton Live and thoroughly review the website at dentonlive.com. Stories from various sources will also be assigned during class. As we will be following AP Style, you are also required to have a copy of the 2014 AP Stylebook.
SUGGESTED READING
To write well you must read great writing in The New Yorker, Vanity Fair, Esquire, Outside and Atlantic as well as in National Magazine Award winners such as Texas Monthly. For comparison with Denton Live, look at D Magazine or Texas Highways. Graduate students, actually all students, should read The Art and Craft of Feature Writing by William Blundell.
There are also a plethora of online sources related to journalism and great writing. Here are a few:
Journalism: Poynter www.poynter.org
Journalistics http://blog.journalistics.com
Longform: Gangrey http://www.gangrey.com
Mayborn Magazine www.themayborn.com
Nieman http://niemanstoryboard.org
Center and Main http://centerandmain.org
Media: Epic Creative http://epiccreativeblog.com/
For fun: Stuff Journalists Like http://www.stuffjournalistslike.com
Overheard in the Newsroom http://ohnewsroom.tumblr.com
REQUIRED MATERIALS
You must have access to a computer outside class and an e-mail address with daily access to e-mail. Much of the editing back and forth occurs during the week between classes online. Think of this as a real-world internship, not a turn-in-an-assignment-at-the-last-minute class.
You must also have a USB drive, notebooks for interviews and access to an AP stylebook. You will be expected to have, or borrow, a tape recorder for the interviews, which must be transcribed. Digital recorders are cheap and essential tools.
COURSE DESCRIPTION
This is a real world experience, with a print magazine, publishing and online credits in your hand at the end of the semester. As such, you are expected to earn your bylines. Each and every one of you will do multiple interviews in person, write, fact-check and lay out the magazine. In the process, you will learn how to use Adobe InDesign. You will also take on secondary assignments to complete the magazine, and to maintain content on the Denton Live web site and on social media. Because we have limited the size of the class, you will get expertise in every area. The graduate students will, in addition, take on other jobs, such as photo editor and copy editor.
Did we say that you need to earn your bylines? This is a team effort requiring weekly attendance. We have 14 weeks to get the magazine to the printer before the end of the semester – or there will be financial consequences for the Denton Convention & Visitor Bureau, as well as the Mayborn. Not to mention the damage to each entity’s reputation. Feel the responsibility weighing on your shoulders? You should.
HAPPY NOTE: The fire and brimstone talk is absolutely necessary for you to understand the import of your class output – real money and corporate expectations are riding on your efforts. That said, remember this important fact: this might be the most fun real work you’ll ever do in journalism/strategic communications. Denton Live focuses on all the fun and entertaining aspects of our city, which means that your journalistic immersion will be into things... well, fun and entertaining. So get into it, and let your enjoyment and enthusiasm ooze out of your copy!
COURSE GOALS:
You will use skills from basic reporting, writing and photography classes while learning how editors make choices, create flow in a magazine, edit and lay out stories. You will learn the basics and use Adobe InDesign. In the process, you will learn how to serve a client’s needs while maintaining editorial honesty, fairness and ethics. You will begin to learn how to build narratives with theme, context, strong information and strong characters. The idea is to make you proficient enough so you can produce a magazine of your own someday, whether online or in print.
Students who successfully complete this class should be able to:
· Understand and apply First Amendment principles and the law appropriate to professional practice.
· Understand the role of institutions in shaping communications.
· Understand and demonstrate the fundamentals of magazine pitching, interviewing for narrative, writing magazine narratives, fact checking and layout.
· Work ethically, truthfully and accurately while developing empathy for subjects to tell a story.
· Think critically, creatively and independently.
· Conduct research, find sources and evaluate information by methods appropriate to the magazine industry standard.
· Write correctly and clearly, telling a story while serving a client – a real-world experience in the push-and-pull between editorial and advertising.
· Make deadlines and think creatively when obstacles arise.
· Critically evaluate your own work and that of others for accuracy and fairness, clarity, appropriate style and grammatical correctness. We utilize ongoing workshops for this process.
· Apply tools and technologies appropriate for the communications professions in which you work, such as Adobe InDesign, PhotoShop (just the rudiments) and Dropbox.
COURSE REQUIREMENTS
Students will be involved in every job at the magazine: writing, editing, fact-checking, picking artwork, photography, and finally layout, production and proofing. In addition, you will contribute to Denton Live’s online content.
Work will be done using a team approach: for every story there will be several of you working together to produce the best package possible. Your team will write a story(ies) for Denton Live, design and create the layout, edit, fact check, secure photos, produce social media content and share responsibility for producing the magazine’s standing elements, such as index, calendar, maps and restaurant and nightlife listings.
Attendance is required weekly so we can make our publication date. You must, above all, be professional in both dress and contacting sources. For interviews, no shorts, no T-shirts, no flip-flops, no low-cut tops, no muscle shirts. Look professional.
GRADING & DEADLINES
We have a real deadline, with financial consequences if we fail to meet it. Plus, UNT could lose future work from Denton Live. You blow it and our reputation and the university’s are on the line. There is NO wiggle room on deadlines.
Your main magazine assignment is worth 30% and the layout is 30%, with 30% for secondary assignments, and the final 10% for professionalism, including attendance. Graduate students will be given added editorial responsibility as part of their grade.
Missing the Drop Dead deadline in November for the final version of your story will cause your overall grade to drop by one letter for each day it’s late. It also affects your professionalism grade. Check the course schedule for deadlines. Only I, or someone I appoint, can approve a deadline change. Students who regularly miss deadlines risk being dropped from the course or failing.
Your grade will be based on the quality of your contributions to the magazine staff: whether you completed your assignments by deadline, were helpful in execution of the magazine, participated in class, generated ideas and made a strong contribution to the final product.
The standard is if I, as a magazine editor, would hire you. Is your work high quality? Are you reliable? During the course, did you improve your writing and other magazine production skills?
Meeting deadlines and attending class will be crucial in the final evaluation. Unprofessional and unethical behavior will result in an automatic reduction in your grade, if not worse.
ATTENDANCE and CLASS TIME
We meet once a week. I will drop students who miss two classes without advance permission or acceptable excuses. Coming to class late or leaving early may constitute an absence for that day. Miss more than 2 classes and you risk an F, regardless of prior permissions. In other words, you cannot afford to miss more than one class. If you cannot attend, email me at or call/text me by noon on the day of the class. It’s a job – unpaid, but a job. It’s not just your time; everybody has to pull together to get this magazine out. Bosses do not tolerate employees who are habitually tardy, nor do we. A doctor’s note or a note from another professor is required to miss class.
Cell phones will be turned off during class unless you are expecting a source to call; please advise me in advance if you need to leave it on.
SPECIAL NEEDS
If you require an accommodation based on disability, I would like to meet with you in private during the first week of the semester to ensure that you are properly accommodated. For other information about special accommodations, see “Office of Disability Accommodations” under the “Important Not-So-Fine Print” section at the end of this syllabus.
ETHICS
We may live in the age of the blogger, but until it’s your publication and your reputation, then you must know and abide by the Journalism School’s Code of Ethics (attached). You must always be fair and accurate in reporting, never misrepresent yourself, never plagiarize or make up quotes. If you think you have a conflict of interest or don’t know what is the right thing, talk to me.
DO NOT LIE, CHEAT, COPY OR MAKE STUFF UP. If you have a problem on a story, come to me.
A special warning about plagiarism: Plagiarism is using other people’s written words as your own. At many magazines, using 7-10 words in a row, copied from another source, is considered plagiarism. It’s a firing offense in the professional world. Always be sure to include citations when using other people’s writing. In this department, students face a range of penalties for plagiarism (depending on the importance of the assignment): a grade of “F” on a minor assignment; a request that the student drop the class; withdrawal from the class at the professor’s request; a referral to the UNT Center for Student Rights and Responsibilities; a notation on the student’s transcript; or expulsion from the university. A combination of these penalties may also be used.
HAPPY NOTE #2: None of the above is unreasonable nor onerous. But your sincere efforts will make this class instructive, rewarding and even fun!
JOUR 4850 & 5350 MAGAZINE PRODUCTION SCHEDULE
This schedule is subject to change. If you miss class, it is your responsibility to keep up with schedule and assignment changes.
Assignments are due the night before class, before midnight, usually in a specified Dropbox file, with copies sent to our emails and the Denton Live email. The early deadline is so that we all can read and discuss in class the next day. Getting story assignments in early is even better: we can help you craft even better drafts before class.
Week 1, Sept 1: Course introduction and deadlines. Story list and first lecture on how to write a magazine pitch. Fill out student profiles.
Assignment for Week 2: Read Denton Live from Spring 2016 and Fall 2015 (at least; reviewing more past issues can only help), peruse the dentonlive.com website, and pitch material on Dropbox. Consider what stories you’d like to pitch, and from what angle. If you want to get a head start on assignments, write and submit your pitches to Dropbox. You have until September 13th to change and revise any pitches you submit.
Week 2, Sept 8: Dentoning field trip! Note: we will be meeting at Beth Marie’s on the square for class. This will be an immersion into local culture hosted by the publisher of Denton Live, Kim Phillips of the Denton Convention and Visitor Bureau. Not only would it be very bad form to miss this class, but it’s pretty much the party at the beginning of the semester with free food and drink. Really.
Assignment for Week 3: Write a 500-1,000-word piece on your Dentoning revelations on Denton culture. This will be a travel-writer narrative, a behind-the-scenes tour of Denton, that will be published as one of our articles in our issue of Denton Live. The best story gets the spot in the magazine. Be interesting and creative. It will be due Sept 13 – 2 days before class. As will be your pitches: pitch three stories, two from the list and one that you come up with on your own. Read everyone else’s essays in Dropbox before class. And if I were you, I’d also look over everyone’s pitches too.
Week 3, Sept 15: The Pitch and Research. Review of everyone’s essays. Discussion of pitches that worked. Story conference assigning stories. Essence of magazine research and interviewing techniques. Storytelling vs. storytelling for a client: workshop readings, applying principles of narrative writing.
Assignment for Week 4: Provide research sources and list of interview questions for assigned story on Sept 20 – 2 days before class. Do not contact anyone for your story yet.
Week 4, Sept 22: Reporting. Workshop research approach, sources and interview questions.