Getting your Script and Piece Together

So you have all, I am sure, been out reporting your audio report.

Now it is time to put it together.

Here is a sample report and script you can use for inspiration and for formatting questions.

Also, here is another editing with audacity tutorial.

Remember, your script and MP3 are due to me BEFORE class on Thursday. We will listen to some of your pieces in class on Thursday and you will receive edits from me no later than Monday morning (hopefully far earlier). You will then turn in your final report to me with a script on Thursday, May 6.

Thanks,
Lee

Roll the tape...

Download Assignment

So based on Jule's lecture --- which if you need her notes, you can read them here -- you are going to write to this tape:

Here is a link to the mp3 of the bite you should write into: Shakespeare quote.

Remember the assignment is due at the beginning of class on Tuesday.

Thanks,
Lee

OK... Ok... I am late

Sorry about this all.

But I wanted to reiterate yesterday's lecture by posting the notes -- here those are.

Also, we have one more week of news headlines -- this one. So get your headlines in and TJ and Heather will report out tomorrow.

Again, sorry about this coming in so late, but hopefully you can get those headlines in. Also remember, we will have a guest lecture and likely another in-class writing assignment tomorrow.

Lastly, remember the rewrite of your feature is due Friday by midnight.

Thanks,
Lee

This Just In...

Hi all,

In case you blacked out over the last few days, your features are due to me by midnight on Thursday night. They should be between 750-1000 words and should be accompanied by a short audio excerpt from your interview (in the 1- to 2-minute range).

Also, remember to submit your headlines for this week. Earl and Devin are on the hook for the news editor job this week. Remember, class on Thursday will recap some of the broadcast writing rules and will have some in-class writing assignments.

See you then,
Lee

The A's and B's -- Or Audio and Blumenstein

Hi all,

So a reminder that I would like you to play with the Audacity tutorial located in my professor folder on campus. You have a week to put it together as a story and all of the elements (and additional tutorials) are in the folder if you need it.

Also, remember to have your headlines in by 4 p.m. on Wednesday do Caitlyn and Seth can report out the top stories on Thursday.

Last, but not least, on Thursday we will be meeting in Room 316 in Anderson Hall (instead of 004) so we can hear from Wall Street Journal editor Rebecca Blumenstein. Here are a couple of pieces about her appointment as ME for WSJ Online and her bio.

Features.... The Final Print Frontier

Hi all,

So here are my full notes for today's lectures -- including the sadly absent examples.

Make sure you have your top story headlines and links in by Wednesday at 4 p.m. attached to this blog post.

Remember, you are free to rewrite your obit. They are due tomorrow night at midnight. Also due at the same time is your one- or two-sentence description of what you are thinking about for your feature story.

Finally, my earlier post links to the Roger Ebert piece. Give it a read and we will be talking about it next time.

See you all Thursday.

Roger Ebert: The Essential Man

Roger Ebert: The Essential Man

Here is a profile/feature you should read. What works about it? What larger issues does it tackle? What about the reporting/writing do you notice?

We will discuss this on Thursday... See you then.

Posted using ShareThis

Vicious Beavers and Larry King Edition

Hi all,

So here are some follow-ups from class today.

First, if you want to see the lecture on interviewing, here it is. Remember that on Thursday we will be interviewing each other for an obit. For class you should read the obit (92-93) and profile (120-121) parts of Harrower so you have some ideas when you come in.

If you want to relive the Sawatsky stuff, you can find the piece here and lower down on the left-hand side you can see the beaver story if you want to find out how it ends.

Remember, your TR Reid stories are due Tuesday (today) at 7 p.m.. Your headlines/links to the top stories should be posted as a comment to this post are due Wednesday by 4 p.m..

See you all on Thursday.

Libel Info...

Hi everyone,

Here are the notes from today's lecture on libel. Again, remember Monday's speech (see earlier post) and that that story is due Tuesday at 7 p.m. emailed to me. I think I got it fixed so you can download this and other earlier notes... but let me know if you still have a problem.

T.R. Reid and Toyota Re-writes...

Hi all,

Sorry for the delay in getting this posted, but I wanted to follow-up with today's assignments.

First, make sure you re-write your Toyota stories for class on Thursday. Make sure you include a paragraph or two explaining what was the weakest part of your story and what you fixed.

Remember your top stories are due this Wednesday at 4 p.m.

Lastly, on Thursday we will be discussing T.R. Reid's appearance on campus on Monday, March 1. He will be speaking at 7:30 p.m. at the University Theater. More information can be found at the J-school Web site and at NPR and PBS.

The T.R. Reid story will be due at 7 p.m. on Tuesday night -- roughly 24 hours after the speech.

Also, start working on ideas for your feature story. We are a week or so away from digging into that, but it is coming up soon and you should be generating a decent pitch in the coming couple of days.

See you Thursday.

Previews and Reviews

A reminder that your preview story for the fictitious press conference is due Wednesday at 4 p.m. MT.

Also, go ahead and list your stories of the week under here and Charlie and Suzie will report out on them first thing Thursday. They are also do at 4 p.m. on Wednesday.

Cheers,
Lee

Of School Buses and Deadlines

I wanted to update you all with the assignments and deadlines for this week.

First comes on Wednesday (I am getting the deadline right this week). By 4 p.m. you should submit your three stories -- international, national and local to this posting so Hosanna and Rachel can report on Thursday.

Your news story will be due at the beginning of class on Thursday. You can only use these facts for your story. Keep a careful eye on your lead and the structure of the piece.

Please email me a copy before class on Thursday and bring a printed copy as well. Stories should be about 400-500 words in length and have your name at the top.

See you Thursday.

Notes and such...

Missed my scintillating lecture? Just want to relive the good old days of a week ago?

The thing is, these notes are up on a Google Documents area. Apparently, you need some sort of Google account (like a Gmail account) to access them. If you sign up for that account, you should be able to get in.

If not, I will put them in my Professor Folder that you can access from the computers at school. There will be a folder in there call Jour270 and these files will be there.

Here are the notes (they are in PDFs) from the first couple weeks of class:

Story Structure (Feb. 9)

Feature Leads (Feb. 4)

Lead Structure (Feb. 2)

Cliche Leads (Feb. 4)

Letters From an Arsonist - Cover Story - Washington City Paper

Letters From an Arsonist - Cover Story - Washington City Paper

Here is the story we read in class.

Beef Bullion and News Gathering

Sorry for having class run a bit long today... guess I was having too much fun.

Anyway, your assignments are as follows:

1) Re-write the lead on your story from last Friday. Re-write only the lead. You can email it to me by 5 p.m. on Wednesday.

2) News round-up, week two. Remember Michael and Allie are on news editor duty. Respond to this post by 4 p.m. on Thursday with your top local, national and international stories. Each story submission should have a link to the article and rewritten news lead about the story.

Your lead re-write will be combined with some in-class lead writing exercises for a final grade.

See you all on Thursday.

Story time

Your first story is due Friday, January 29, 2010 by midnight.

Stories should be emailed to me at lee.banville @ umontana.edu by the deadline. They should be written in Microsoft Word or another compatible word processing program.

Stories should be true. You should have reported this piece and found at least two sources to talk to about your story.

The story cannot be an opinion piece about what you think about Avatar or Wilco. It needs to be a factual, reported piece. (For example, don't report about Hillary Clinton adopting an adorable baby alien.)

The story cannot be about you -- unless you have adopted an adorable baby alien.

Length should be no more than 2 pages, double-spaced (about 500 words).

Top News Roundup: Week One

So, news gatherers, it’s time for your first news wrap. I will post something like this each week and you can respond with your top headlines in the comments below. A few people already put their headlines in, but I copied them into this note, so Week One News Editors, you don’t need to scrounge around looking for everyone’s posts.

Please moving forward, wait for me to post my weekly call for news and then reply to that.

See you all tomorrow.

This Spring's Syllabus

Here is the rough outline of what we are going to tackle this semester. I want to clearly tell you this may change as the semester wears on, but here is what we plan on doing.

Spring 2011 Syllabus

You should assume any assignment listed on here is due at the time listed unless I specifically tell you it is not.