Assignment #5: Ethics Group Project

Assignment 5: Ethics Project

 

This assignment is designed to further your understandings and critical thinking on journalistic ethics from both theoretical and practical perspectives. Everyone will be looking at the Top 10 Media Ethics Issues of 2016 from iMediaEthics (http://www.imediaethics.org/imediaethics-top-10-media-ethics-issues-2016/) and choose one to report. This list covers a variety of topics, and you should be able to find some that interest you, especially when most of the issues are still relevant and ongoing. Some of these issues are relatively broad; there are external links within the cases for you to further read on the background of the case.

 

In groups, you will create a 10-15 minute presentation to share with the class. Apply ethics tools and information we’ve discussed in class. Things to include in your presentation:

 

• What is the subject matter of the case? (Who is involved? What happened? What has been discussed on the issue?)
• What are the ethical dilemmas in the case? (Are there multiple or is there only one in the case? What are they/is it? What is the main dilemma driving the case?)
• Choose one specific dilemma within your case and debunk the ethical issue within? (Why is it an ethical dilemma for journalists? Possible solutions/paths to take?)
• Personal position on the dilemma you choose? (What would you do? How do you make your choice and why? Is your group divided?)
• 5(ish) minutes of the presentation time will be devoted to discussion. Prepare questions for the class to dissect, analyze, and offer input to your group and other classmates.

 

 

Submit a 1-2 page informal write-up on the assignment to D2L. Include information you learned, how your group worked together, and so forth. At the end of the write-up, assess the work of your group-mates and tell me what grade you think they (personally) earned — this will be your chance to make up for/explain any unfairness that you may have perceived in their group work.

 

There is no formal rubric for the presentation. I will be looking at how well you researched the issue, how much critical thinking was applied to the case and presentation, discussion, and peer feedback. The presentation is worth 5 points overall.

 

Presentations will take place Friday April 28^th and May 5^th. Email me if you have a specific date you cannot present due to reasonable absence, however all presenters should be prepared for the 28^th. All write-ups on the assignment are due to D2L by midnight on the day you present. You may turn these in early, but you might want to include something pertaining to the day you present, so keep this in mind.

 

 

 

 

 

Assignment #4: CWA Reporting

Assignment #4: Reporting

 

For this assignment, you will be writing an article on a panel you attend at the Conference of World Affairs Week. The Conference of World Affairs Week is “a festival of ideas featuring 200 panels, 100 speakers and performers, over 5 days, attracting more than 70,000 attendees annually” (http://www.colorado.edu/cwa/about-cwa). Starting April 10^th and lasting through the 14^th, CU will host a variety of panels on a plethora of subjects, including politics, climate, writing, media, feminist issues, and more. You are required to attend one panel and write an article about the event.

 

Here is the link to the event schedule. I have no doubt you should be able to find one that you both have time to attend and is interesting to you! http://www.colorado.edu/cwa/attend/cwa-week-resources/schedule

 

For your article, you will need to note the title of the panel, who spoke on it, and what it was about. More importantly, you will need to include background information on the topic of your panel and relevant quotations from three (3) interviews you conduct with other people at the panel. You may interview someone you attended with, but at least two of your interviews must be from people you don’t know, ideally not peers. I know this can take you out of your comfort zone, but as a journalist you will need interview skills. You might ask your interviewees questions before about what they’re expecting from the panel, get their thoughts after it, or ask other relevant questions that pertain to the topic the speakers are addressing. You do not have to interview someone on the panel, but kudos if you do. It will not count as part of the interview, but you should include one or more quotes that the panelists say while they are speaking.

 

Your story should be at least 600 words long, double spaced with several quotes from at least three different people (try to get some variety of ages, gender). Your story should have a strong lead and headline. The main body of the story should clearly and concisely describe what people are most concerned about/interested in, and your conclusion should wrap it up. The interviewee’s name should come after the quote. Example: “… thinks the current administration’s stance on climate change is worrisome,” said John Smith, a 60-year-old plumber from Longmont. Make sure to put their age, profession and where they are from, or any other relevant contextual information. You can put it after the quote or mention it in an earlier sentence.

 

Check out other news sites like The Denver Post, The New York Times, or even The Daily Camera for examples of how to tie in quotes and relevant information journalistically.

 

I will be applying the following rubric, 1 points for each item, out of 5 points total:

1. shows clear engagement with and reflection of the journalistic material
2. includes relevant quotations from solid interviews
3. clearly unpacks and engages with background information and material
4. article is interesting, well-written, and flows like a newstory
5. the work was free of spelling and grammatical errors.

 

Assignment is due to the D2L dropbox no later than Friday, April 21^st at 11:59pm.

 

 

 

 

 

Book List (Assignment 3)

Assignment #5 Book List

• It’s What I Do: A Photographer’s Life of Love and War by Lynsey Addario
• Behind the Beautiful Forevers by Katherine Boo
• Moving Violations: War Zones, Wheelchairs and Declarations of Independence by John Hockenberry
• Boys on the Bus by Timothy Crouse
• The Journalist and the Murderer by Janet Malcolm
• True Story by Michael Finkel
• Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail by Hunter S. Thompson
• The Band Played On by Randy Shilts
• February House by Sherill Tippins
• Salvador by Joan Didion
• The While Album by Joan Didion
• Tender at the Bone by Ruth Reichl
• Comfort Me with Apples by Ruth Reichl
• Remembering Denny by Calvin Trillin
• Whiteout: Lost in Aspen by Ted Conover
• A Reporters Life by Walter Cronkite
• All the President’s Men by Woodward and Bernstein
• Encounters with the Archdruid by John McPhee
• The Orchid Thief by Susan Orlean
• The Bullfighter Checks Her Makeup by Susan Orlean
• Personal History by Katherine Graham
• The Dead Beat: Lost Souls, Lucky Stiffs and the Perverse Pleasures of the Obituary by Marilyn Johnson
• Young Men and Fire by Norman Maclean
• Fire on the Mountain: The True Story of the South Canyon Fire by John N. Maclean
• This Cold Heaven by Gretel Ehrlich
• The Right Stuff by Tom Wolfe
• The White Death: Tragedy and Heroism in the Avalanche Zone by Mckay Jenkins
• The Trouble With Islam Today by Irshad Manji
• Buried by the Times: The Holocaust and America’s Most Important Newspaper by Laurel Leff
• Emma’s War: An Aid Worker, a Warlord, Radical Islam, and the Politics of Oil–A True
• Story of Love and Death in Sudan by Deborah Scroggins
• The American Way of Death by Jessica Mitford
• Woodward and Bernstein: Life in the Shadow of Watergate by Alicia Shepard
• Song of the Dodo by David Quammen
• Flight of the Iguana by David Quammen
• I is for Infidel… J is for Jihan, K is for Kalashnikov by Kathy Gannon
• A Russian Diary: A Journalist’s Final Account of Life, Corruption and Death in Putin’s Russia by Anna Politkovskaya
• A Mighty Heart by Mariane Pearl and Sarah Crichton
• Richard M. Nixon by Elizabeth Drew
• Buried in the Bitter Waters: The Hidden History of Racial Cleansing in America by Elliot Jaspin
• The Race Beat by Gene Roberts and Hank Klibanoff
• True Enough by Farhad Manjoo
• The Bronx is Burning by Jonathan Mahler
• The Teapot Dome Scandal by Laton McCartney
• Corners: A Journey into the Heart of Papua New Guinea by Kira Salak
• Obit by Jim Sheeler
• Final Salute by Jim Sheeler
• Death of Innocence by Christopher Benson
• The Night of the Gun by David Carr
• Just Like Us by Helen Thorpe
• Enemies of the People by Kati Marton
• The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot
• When Everything Changed: The Amazing Journey of American Women from 1960 to the Present by Gail Collins
• The Forever War by Dexter Filkins
• They Fought for Each Other by Kelly Kennedy
• Packing for Mars by Mary Roach
• Poisoning of the Press: Richard Nixon, Jack Anderson and the Rise of Washington’s
• Scandal Culture by Mark Feldstein
• Out of the Vinyl Deeps by Ellen Willis
• Demon Fish by Juliet Eilperin
• Emus Loose in Egnar by Judy Muller
• Fair Game by Valerie Plame
• Homage to Catalonia by George Orwell
• In the Garden of Beasts by Erik Larson
• The Sixth Extinction by Elizabeth Kolbert
• Blur: How to Know What’s True in the Age of Information Overload by Bill Kovach and Tom Rosenstiel
• Deciding What’s True: The Rise of Political Fact-Checking in American Journalism by Lucas Graves
• Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers by Mary Roach

More details will be coming shortly in regards to the grading of the assignment, but to get an idea of what we will be looking for, you should refer to the New York Times book reviews.

Assignment #3: Journalistic Book Review

For Assignment #3, you will be reading a book and completing a book review (note, not book report). A list of available books has been posted to the class blog. If there is another book you are interested in reading for the assignment, it will need to be either by a journalist or written about journalism, and it will need to be run by me in order to count. As well, examples of what I am looking for with the book reviews have also been posted to the class blog.

For overall content, I’m interested in what the book does well, and then not so great. I’m interested that you examine and/or include the following content at the bare minimum:

• Your opinion on the book (this is important to include as it differentiates it away from a book report), and what you would rate it out of five. You then need to back up that rating with what the book did well and not so well (including the below categories).
• An original synopsis/summary of the book – or, what is the story about?
• Background Information of the Material – What is important to know in order to understand the material? Is there anything?
• Writing Style – Was it done well? Was the writing hard to understand? Was it too easy? Does it change your relationship to the text?
• Plot – how was the narrative? Did it flow? Did it feel disjointed?
• Journalism – What journalism was included? How does it relate to the material we’ve discussed in class?

The assignment needs to be 900 words, and it needs to have the publication details of the book written at the bottom. As well, this assignment does not need to be written in the standard essay format, e.g., it does not need to have a thesis or conclusion. What it does need, however, is a rating (out of five), and publication details.

I will be grading on a scale of 0-1 for 5 points total on the following categories: Shows clear engagement with and reflection of the journalistic material, provided sufficient background information about the story and journalist/author, applied class material to your analysis of the text, work was free of spelling and grammatical errors, and assignment meets stylistic requirements, including providing a rating and sufficient explanation as to why, and meeting the word limit.

Finally, as mentioned in class, I want to stress that I will be able to tell if you did not read your book and instead just used summaries online. You are required to read the book cover to cover and engage with the text, and it will be obvious if you have not. As part of this, while I encourage the inclusion of outside sources, I am not allowing any reference to any online summaries.

The assignment is due to the D2L dropbox “Assignment 5” by 11:59 p.m. on April 1st. 

Please let me know if you have any questions and have a great Spring break!

Assignment #2: Pulitzer Prize

ASSIGNMENT #2: PULITZER PRIZE

For the second assignment, you will be looking at the past and present Pulitzer Prize winners. You will be looking at one story in particular, and analyzing it for content (what is the story trying to say?), context (why is the story important?), and how it applies to the class material.

You can find a list of winners here: http://www.pulitzer.org/prize-winners-categories. Anything from the journalism category is fair game, but it might be harder to find outside information sources for the older winners.

Things to include in the assignment:

• What is the story? (What is the story’s name? Who is the author? Where was it published?)
• What is the background behind the story or the author? (ex: If you are writing about Ebola, provide a paragraph describing Ebola and what we know about it, such as where the outbreak happened, how many were killed, how long the outbreak lasted, etc.)
• What makes this story newsworthy?
• What makes this story good journalism?
• Analyze the story: why is this story important? What does this story contribute to the discussion of the topic? (For this, you might want to look at reviews of the story, interviews with the author, or other stories about the topic.)
• Personal reflection on the story.

This assignment needs to be a minimum of 600 words, and written in traditional essay format (e.g., opening with a general thesis or position; providing evidence and arguments to support your position; and drawing conclusions from the evidence presented).

Grading: The categories I will be grading from are:

1. shows clear engagement with and reflection of the journalistic material
2. provides sufficient background information about the story and journalist
3. applies class material to your analysis of the text
4. the thesis statement and conclusion were clearly made and easy to understand
5. the work was free of spelling and grammatical errors.

Like Assignment 1, I will be grading on a 1 point scale for each category, totaling 5 points.

Assignment 2 is due to the D2L dropbox labeled “Assignment 2” by 11:59 on March 3^rd.

 

Assignment #1: Newspaper Review

Assignment #1: Newspaper Cover-to-Cover

For your first assignment, you will need to read a reputable daily newspaper cover-to-cover and then compare it to its digital counterpart. This compare/contrast will be done in two ways: first, look at the overall content of both the digital and physical copies, and then second, look at an individual news story.

That being said, not all newspapers count towards this assignment. The newspaper must cover categories such as both domestic and international news, entertainment, and sports, and have a website. THE BOULDER WEEKLY AND THE COLORADO DAILY ARE NOT ACCEPTABLE FOR THIS ASSIGNMENT. However, some newspapers you can use include The Daily Camera, The Denver Post, USA Today, The New York Times, and The Wall Street Journal just to name a few. You can find these newspapers at any gas station, coffee shop, or grocery store.

The assignment will need to be written in standard essay format (such as what we discussed in class), and it needs to be 500 words.

Here are some factors that you could consider discussing:

1. Compare the print coverage to the online coverage. What types of stories do they run on their front page and how do they compare to the stories that appear on their homepage online? What sections do they have? What kind of columns and opinion pieces do they focus on/what issues do they address (these appear on the Op/Ed pages and opinion sections of the website)? Do those pieces focus on international, national, regional or local issues?
2. What interactive or multimedia elements do they have on their website, how do they use photos (and videos online)? Are the stories the same length in print and online? Are the headlines the same?
3. Pick one story and summarize it briefly. How was the story told? How many people are in the story? Who is quoted, and do they use documents and, if so, what kind? Do you consider the story investigative? A feature? A personality profile? What did you find compelling about the story?
4. Have you read an entire newspaper before? What was the experience like? How did it compare to how you usually get your news?

In particular, for this assignment I will be grading five categories on a 0 to 5 scale, totaling five points (or five percent), with 0-1 being non-compliant, 2 being below expectations, 3 being Meets Expectations, 4 being Proficient, and 5 being excellent. The categories I will be grading on are:

1. Shows clear engagement with and reflection of the journalistic material.
2. Compares and Contrasts the coverage of a specific news story in a daily newspaper to one in an online newspaper source.
3. Compares and Contrasts the overall content of a daily newspaper to an online newspaper source.
4. Thesis statement and conclusion are clearly made and easy to understand.
5. Work is free of spelling and grammatical errors.

 

Assignment will be due to the D2L DROPBOX no later than 11:59 on February 10th, 2017. For every day the assignment is late, I will deduct 1 (one) point.  

 

 

First blog post

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