Contacts:
Office: COM Room 200
Office phone: 353-4295
Home office phone: 558-5335
E-mail: cdaly@bu.edu
Required reading:
Course Description:
This writing-intensive course introduces the essential elements of
journalism, with an emphasis on writing "hard news" for newspapers. We
will create a place where students can learn the craft and read each
other's work in a friendly arena. Students will write and re-write
regularly to master key types of news stories.
Terms:
We will simulate a newsroom environment. You will be expected to:
Deadlines:
All deadlines must be met without fail. Do not request extensions.
Grades:
Grades will depend on written work and on class participation. Attendance
is essential. There will be regular assignments but no final exam.
Plagiarism:
All work must be original. The copying or stealing of others' work is
illegal, immoral, degrading and harmful to our craft. Do not do it, and do
not tolerate it in others.
Conferences:
Students will meet individually with instructor in private conferences to
discuss writing techniques and problems.
Goals:
Newswriting and Reporting I is the core course for all Journalism
majors. Its goal is to train you in basic news-gathering and writing
skills so that you can thrive as working journalists in all media. The
course is based in the classroom, but you are expected to learn and adhere
to professional newsroom standards. The course focuses on essential
practices and principles that apply to reporters and editors at
newspapers, magazines, radio, television and electronic media.
Your instructor:
Chris Daly is a veteran print journalist with experience in wire
services, newspapers, magazines and books. A Harvard graduate, he spent
10 years at The Associated Press. Since 1989, he has covered New
England for The Washington Post. He holds a master's degree in
history from the University of North Carolina, where he was a co-author
of Like a Family, a social history of the South's
industrialization. His writing has appeared in Atlantic Monthly,
Columbia Journalism Review, Parents, New England
Monthly, Boston and other magazines. He has also taught
journalism at Harvard and Brandeis, and he is an active free-lance
writer for newspapers and magazines.
Schedule:
WEEK 1: How to Read a Newspaper
Getting acquainted. My background and biases. Deadlines and expectations.
Why newspapers look the way they do, and where you fit in. Producing
"copy." Doing journalism: in-class profiles.
To read: Fedler, chaps 1+2/ Appendix E. AP Stylebook, pp. 1-50.
WEEK 2: What is a news story?
Defining journalism. The five W's and how they grew: Who, what, when,
where, why. And how. Tools of the trade.
To read: Fedler, chaps 3-5. AP Stylebook, pp. 51-100.
WEEK 3: Ledes and nuts
The first graf. Hard and soft ledes. Pyramids, narratives, buried ledes.
Types of ledes: Anecdotal, paradoxical, Homeric, superlatives and more.
When to use which. The "nut graf."
To read: Fedler, chaps 6-7. Strunk & White, Part V AP Stylebook, pp. 101-150.
WEEK 4: Story Structure
The body of a story. Organizing longer pieces. Endings.
To read: Fedler, chap. 8. Strunk & White, Part I. AP Stylebook, pp. 151-200.
WEEK 5: Quotes
Choosing quotes. Handling quotes in the body of the story.
To read: Strunk & White, Part III.
WEEK 6: Reporting
Special reporting assignment. Individual conferences.
To read: Fedler, chap. 9
WEEK 7: Interviewing
Talking with a purpose. The formal and informal interview. What to do
before, during and after. Friendly and hostile interviews. Public people
and private people. The telephone interview.
To read: Fedler, chap. 10-11. Strunk & White, Part II. AP Stylebook, pp. 201-222.
WEEK 8: Research fundamentals
Note-taking and taping. "Off the record." Checking and re-checking.
To read: Fedler, chap 12. Strunk & White, Part IV.
SEMESTER BREAK
WEEK 9: Obituaries
Getting the facts straight. Telling a life story.
To read: Fedler, chap 15-16.
WEEK 10: News Releases
Handling documents. Consider the source.
To read: Fedler, chap 14.
WEEK 11: Speeches
Turning a speech into a story. Covering politics.
To read: Fedler, chap 13.
WEEK 12: Fires, Accidents and Big Weather.
Covering the scene. Supplementing with other sources. How far is too far?
WEEK 13: Crime
Covering crime and cops. The "allegedly" defense.
WEEK 14: Courts
Covering trials. (Set-up, first day, verdicts, sentencing.)
To read: Fedler, chap. 21.
WEEK 15: Ethics
What is fair, honest and professional? A reader-based ethics. Submit
portfolios.