Pearl Reporters

I recently heard from the woman who is responsible for grading your assignments at Pearl Reporters... Many of you haven't finished the submitted assignments due...

By now you should have submitted Assignments 1 & 3 on the Pearl Website (in the journal)

Assignment 2 is due on Tuesday on the site.

Plus, all the other blog posts for the other modules are past due. While you are at home during this Regents week and Monday, please make an effort to at least make up the work you owe online.
http://www.pearl.iearn.org/course/login/index.php

Assignment 3 - ethics on the Pearl Website

Please complete Assignment 3 on the Pearl Website by tomorrow, 1/27.

In class on Friday, you should have discussed the ethical issue presented on the website. We have just worked on ethical issues in journalism for the last few weeks and I feel that you will be ready and able to discuss what needs to be done after you've read what the Pearl Reporters program offers you and the work we have done in class.

After you submit assignment 3 online, please comment to this blog to let me know that it is done so you can receive credit.

Advice for Students Interested in a Career in Journalism

Bill Kovach, Senior Counselor of the Project for Excellence in Journalism

A curious mind and a broad liberal arts education are by far the best qualifications for a career in journalism.

The best foundation begins with an undergraduate liberal arts education that exposes you to a wide range of disciplines of study and helps you supplement your native curiosity with a habit of critical thinking. Whatever course of study you follow, be sure to include a strong foundation in ethics. Then consider study at a university that offers a graduate degree in journalism.

You can begin to develop your skill in the "craft" of journalism by working on a college newspaper or radio station; a television station that features a college report; or working as a college correspondent for a local, regional or national news organization. As for experience while still in school and immediately after graduation, think about immersing yourself in a local experience. Working in a community in which you must look the people in the eye about whom you report before and AFTER you have reported on them can provide very important lessons.

And, throughout all this, read. Read everything you can, including classics in fiction that can help you begin to understand human nature and the human condition. Develop a habit of critically following the work of other journalists and find models for your own work.Good luck.

Pearl Reporters - Due Friday, 1/30

Read module 6 - News Writing

Comment to this post:

Review as per class and your reading... what is the difference between news and news feature?

Explain the delayed lead and the nut graf - how does it differ from a news lead?

Assignment 2 needs to be submitted online by Tuesday, 2/3 - you may send me your drafts as soon as they are done if you want my feedback... I am not going to require it though.

Children's Press Media

http://www.cplmedia.org/

Pearl Reporters - Due Friday, 1/23

Read module 5 on Tools of reporting.

Comment to this post about tips you've learned about interviewing and citing sources.

Define Beat reporting and list a few WJPS beats that may be of interest for the school paper.

Make sure to comment on this post for all of the above due Friday, 1/23.

Pearl Reporters due Tuesday, 1/20

Read module 4 on Starting principles. Read the whole thing.

Comment on this post about the principles stated... define each one in your words.

Do assignment 1 and read assignment 2

Post your ideas for assignment 2 to this post as well.

Pearl Reporters - Homework due on Friday, 1/16

http://www.pearl.iearn.org/course/login/index.php

Please read module 3 about news.

Comment on the elements discussed in the module - what makes a piece of news newsworthy?
Define each of the elements in your own words.

Layout Design Project

Soft copies of the articles and media you will be using due Friday 1/23, final project due Friday 2/6

Task:
• Compile soft copies (soft copy = computer file, hard copy = printed document) of all briefs and articles written so far this year (Spiderman brief, Yankees brief, Failing Grades brief, Town Hall article, Photojournalism project, Election article, Feature article)
• Compile soft copies of various media (photos, diagrams, charts, maps, etc…) to go along with your articles
• Using some or all of these items, create a minimum four-page layout on 8.5 x 11 inch paper (longer articles will likely span multiple pages, if you haven’t written enough articles to fill four pages, use other classmates’ articles or write new ones yourself)
• Make sure that your newsletter contains a nameplate (name of your publication, date, school’s name, address, volume & issue number)
• Make sure that articles have headlines and bylines and that photos have captions
• Make sure to include at least one sidebar
• In designing your layout keep in mind the concepts from Chapter Ten of the textbook, especially the layout checklist on page 235
• Project is due at the beginning of class on Friday, February 6th. You must hand in both (a) the pages containing your layout design along with this rubric, as well as (b) soft copies of all articles and media either on a usb-drive or emailed to laiernie@gmail.com (hard copies of articles and media may optionally be attached to your layout but are not required)


For example layouts, take a look at these web pages:

http://marian.creighton.edu/~nhspa/2008/nl.html
http://marian.creighton.edu/~nhspa/2007/nl.html
http://marian.creighton.edu/~nhspa/2006/npl06.html
http://marian.creighton.edu/~nhspa/2005/npl05.html
http://marian.creighton.edu/~nhspa/2004/04npl.html
http://marian.creighton.edu/~nhspa/2003/03npl.html
http://marian.creighton.edu/~nhspa/2002/nl.html

Pearl Reporters is here

Your usernames are your first and last names, with a space in between and all in lower case.

Your passwords are their first names.

For instance -
username: bart simpson
password: bart

http://www.pearl.iearn.org/course/login/index.php

Please read modules 1 and 2 tonight - Overview and Journalism: Power with Responsibility
Post comments about your thoughts on the reading here.

This is due tomorrow - Tuesday, 1/13

email your feature articles to Ms. Sackstein

Now that you have finished your feature articles, please forward them to me via email so that I can have them on record for the newspaper.

mssackstein@yahoo.com

Thanks in advance.

In this issue I will be using:
Rosemarie's on homework
Donna's on dreams
Maggie's on astrology

Model assignment for group presentations on ethics

Abortion issues – Ms. Sackstein’s sample assignment

Ethical Issues
The ethical issues in this case have to do with falsely defaming an advocate for a pro-life stance on abortion based on the hearsay of his own support of his daughter’s alleged abortion. How can a man who has been extremely outspoken in the community on this issue, take a different view when it comes to his own family where he should be advocating his feelings the most?

Journalistic Responsibility
Our journalistic responsibility is to cover the issue of abortion, showing all sides and potentially student opinions on the matter.
· How does the issue affect students in a modern community?
· We must report the facts, but we can’t report hearsay about a particular student unless that student steps forward and wants to be a part of the article. It can’t be second hand story. It must come from the source to avoid libel
· Perhaps discuss the 50 year anniversary of Roe Vs. Wade and what it represents.

Stakeholders
The stakeholders are the newspaper itself, the school if the paper is a part of the public-forum, the person or people who may be defamed or outed and the adviser as well as the sources.

Interviews
I would try to get the staff to interview the daughter and also the father because I would want to get the truth from the horse’s mouth. Is there any validity to the allegations set forward by these sources? What were the circumstances? I would imagine that if the father was supporting his daughter and he feels the way he does about abortion, there would have to be a reason.
Perhaps other members of the community who have openly heard Mr. Clear speak in public venues. Perhaps I would seek out public records to see if he has ever been on record speaking his opinion. This way we can have a way to corroborate his story in a legal manner.
If there is a Planned Parenthood in the community, I would want to interview people who work there to get statistics and opinions from people who work with abortions. I would want student, teacher, parent and administrator opinion to round out the discussion.

Alternatives
Perhaps as an alternative we can print a retrospective of the Roe v. Wade decision. What was it? What are the implications of it? How has it changed the world in both positive and negative ways? Who are the greatest supporters of it? Why are people opposed? It can run as an editorial and/or opinion piece showing how this important court case changed women’s rights.

Group assignment - Journalism Ethics

Journalism Ethics - http://journalism.indiana.edu/resources/ethics/

• In groups of 4, you will visit the above link, and as a group will decide which issue they want to cover.
• You will read the link on the issue.
• You will then do research and present a sheet like my abortion model provided. (given out today)
• You will have 2 class periods and they will need to turn in one sheet per group and each student will turn in a reflection.
• You will be presenting on their topic a week from today.

Gearing up for the new year

Happy New Year.

If you haven't turned in your feature stories, please make sure you do ASAP with all work that led up to the final draft. (See earlier posts for the specific)

When we return, we will begin working on sports writing... We will also begin working on the Pearl Reporters program. You will largely be working on this at your own pace in and out of class. It definitely will not suit our purposes to have you reading in class. Instead, once I get your login information, you will have homework assignments that will be due with it.

You will also be assigned a group project by Friday, 1/9 that has to do with Journalism ethics and Freedom the Press... part of the 1st Amendment.

Looking forward to seeing everyone on Tuesday.