COMM 1020 - Media Writing

3 sem hrs cr

This course is an introduction to print and broadcast journalism with an emphasis on newsgathering methods and the writing of news for print and electronic media.

This course may include proctored exams which must be completed on campus or at an instructor approved proctoring center which may require additional costs to the student. Please consult your instructor for additional details.

  Formerly/Same As (Formerly COM 1120)

Transfer (UT) or Non-Transfer Course (UN): UT

This course will emphasize freedom of expression, history and roles of media, diversity of media audiences, and ethics in media practice. It also will teach students to present information and images well, think creatively and analytically, research by rigorous methods, write clearly and accurately, evaluate content quality, and process information using technology. (Students will need to have an active Twitter account.)

The student will…

• learn the principles of good writing by critiquing a newspaper story.
• review English grammar, spelling, and punctuation.
• learn to write simple, complex, compound, and compound-complex sentences with strong, descriptive action verbs.
• learn how to apply rules from the “Associated Press Stylebook.”
• learn the skill of interviewing by writing a story about a friend or classmate.
• learn how to edit and use editing marks.
• learn how to write leads (opening paragraphs) for stories by analyzing actual leads from various media sources.
• write leads (answering who, what, when, and where) by completing a variety of writing exercises.
• learn how to write full stories by completing a variety of exercises.
• adapt stories they have already written for various online platforms.
• write a timed broadcast story for radio and television.
• write a press release.
• will write a real story for an online educational e-newspaper or blogging platform.
• develop a code of ethics for working in the mass media industry.
• develop a stronger basis for choosing a career in writing for the mass media by means of taking notes on different forms of media writing.
• familiarize themselves with new media technology through independent and group study.

Course Activities

We will immerse ourselves in a variety of activities, including, but not limited to…

• grammar and usage.
• core news values.
• AP style.
• people and places in news of the region, nation and world.
• journalistic writing assignments.
• inverted pyramid structure.
• hard news leads (opening paragraphs answering who, what, when, where, why and how).
• writing news stories, press releases, and tweets.
• difference between news, features, opinions, analysis, and commentary.
• writing for the Web (e.g. Twitter).
• exercises, discussion and quizzes.

Student Learning Outcomes

• Obtain basic introductory writing, interviewing, and editing skills for work in mass media
• Understand the relative newsworthiness of events and facts
• Analyze a variety of types of media journalistic styles
• Examine the ethics of journalism in today’s culture
• Discover how to write and edit for various media platforms
• Demonstrate a proficiency in spelling, grammar, punctuation, attribution, and summarization of facts