Journalism at Olympic College

Journalism/mass media courses at Olympic College focus on the basic skills and critical thought needed for students to transfer to four-year programs. Courses also expose students to cutting-edge theory and technology in preparation for careers in the growing field of mass communication. Journalism/mass media students apply knowledge learned in JOURN 100/News Writing and Reporting, JOURN 105/Photojournalism, HUMAN 293/Mass Media Law and Ethics and CMST& 102/Introduction to Mass Media to produce the print and online editions of the Olympic College student newspaper, The Olympian. Students working to produce the print and online editions of the student newspaper earn course credit through JOURN 110/120/130 Newspaper Production. Selected journalism students also have an opportunity during their time at Olympic College to earn course credit and valuable professional experience through internships with the Kitsap Sun, the Port Orchard Independent, the Bremerton Patriot, the Shelby County Reporter, the Sea Coast Echo and other newspapers/mass media locally and throughout the country.

Journalism/Mass Media Courses offered at Olympic College:

JOURN 100/New Writing and Reporting students explore the fundamentals of news writing, news value, media law/ethics and Associated Press style.

JOURN 105/Photojournalism students explore the basics of digital photojournalism with special attention to news value and composition.

JOURN 110/120/130/Newspaper Production students contribute to the print and online editions of The Olympian as reporters, photographers, editors, graphic artists, advertising representatives, etc.

CMST& 102/Introduction to Mass Media students explore the ever-changing world of mass media and its impact on American Society.

HUMAN 293/Mass Media Law and Ethics students explore the fundamentals of legal and ethical issues in mass media, including study of landmark cases and theory.

For more information about the journalism/mass media program at Olympic College, please contact: Michael Prince, journalism/mass media professor/The Olympian adviser, mprince@olympic.edu, 360.475.7243, 1600 Chester Ave., Bremerton, Washington 98337-1699, http://faculty.olympic.edu/mprince/.

Fall 2009 Journalism/Mass Media Courses:

JOURN 105/Photojournalism

"So in photography, the first fresh emotion, the feeling for the thing, is captured complete and for all time at the very moment it is seen and felt. Feeling and recording are simultaneous." -Edward Weston, American photographer

Instructor: Michael Prince, Technical Building 101A

Phone: 360-475-7243

E-mail: mprince@olympic.edu

Web site: http://faculty.olympic.edu/mprince/

Office Hours: MWF 9-10 a.m.; TTh noon-1 p.m.; or by appointment.

Description: JOURN 105 stresses recognition, development and creation of photojournalistic images. The course provides experience in shooting digital photographs.

Objectives: This course is designed to provide an introduction to the principles and theories of photojournalism. This course is also designed to increase understanding of photography as a communication tool and to train students to translate ideas and newsworthy information into photographic form.

Required Text: Photojournalism: The Professionals’ Approach by Kobre.

Required Assignments: Students complete seven photo assignments during the quarter. Each assignment requires photos submitted via e-mail (please send a direct link to your photos). Students must include a cutline/caption with each photo submitted. In addition to reading assignments from the text, students are required to read/look at material provided by the instructor. All reading assignments require a short essay (500 words minimum) showing knowledge of the subject and conveying opinion about photos, articles, etc.

Managing Photos: You will need to create a Flickr account (or Photobucket, Picasa, etc.) to manage your photos. Here’s my Flickr account: http://www.flickr.com/photos/professorlonghair/

Composition: Please give this link a look before you start shooting: http://photoinf.com/Golden_Mean/

Note: All photos you submit should include at least one person in the image.

Camera: If you do not have access to a digital SLR (single lens reflex) camera, you might consider using one (free of additional charge) from media services at Olympic College, located in the library. You’ll need a library camera pass from me in order to do so. If interested, just let me know. There is limited availability.

Grading Methods: Grading of photojournalism skill is unavoidably subjective. There may be times when you disagree with an evaluation; please feel free to say so, that we may explore each other’s thinking. But to assist in a clear definition, let us identify what each letter grade means:

A – Superior, outstanding, equal to what should be expected of a new photojournalist on the job in a daily or weekly newspaper.

B – Very good, better-than-average images; evidence of more than average effort in capturing the story in pictures.

C – Acceptable, satisfactory, average; evidence that photos are valid and correctly presented; that with some editing, the photos are at least “publishable.”

D – Less-than-average images, weak.

F – Unsatisfactory, unusable, very weak.

Final Grade Formula: Seven photo assignments, 10 percent each (for a total of 70 percent of the final grade); reading/essay assignments and class participation, 30 percent of the final grade.

Photo Assignments:

#1, mugs, 10 photos of people you do not know, due Sept. 28.

#2, feature, four photos of people doing things, like a day at the park or cruising to Seattle on a ferry, due Oct. 7.

#3, sports, could be people engaged in a sporting event, like a soccer match or a round of golf, but could be a person (or people) kayaking, hiking, throwing a Frisbee, playing horseshoes, etc., due Oct. 19.

#4, news I, four photos of people engaged in a newsworthy event, a war protest in Seattle or a music festival or a Bremerton City Council meeting, etc., due Oct. 28.

#5, news II, see above, due Nov. 9.

#6, environmental portrait, four photos of a person in his/her environment, work, home, whatever it may be, pay close attention to the face and facial expressions, shoot candid (or creatively posed) images, due Nov.18.

#7, final, your four best photos from the quarter NOT previously submitted, can be news, sports, feature or portrait images, due Dec. 2.

Text Reading/Essay Assignments:

-#1, Chapters 1 and 4, 500-word essay, due Sept. 28.

-#2, Chapters 2 and 6, 500-word essay, due Oct. 7.

-#3, Chapters 3 and 11, 500-word essay, due Oct. 19.

-#4, Chapters 10 and 16, 500-word essay, due Oct. 28.

-#5, Chapters 5 and 15, 500-word essay, due Nov. 9.

-#6, Chapters 7 and 13, 500-word essay, due Nov. 18.

-#7, Chapters 17 and 18, 500-word essay, due Dec. 2.

Special Needs: If you require any special assistance or technology in order to fully benefit from the course, please contact Access Services (Humanities 114, Ext. 7540, http://www.olympic.edu/Students/StudentServices/AccessServices/) to get a review of your needs and to make any necessary arrangements. Please e-mail me or speak with me during the first week of class in order to let me know how I may help. All information will be kept private. Under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and other legal provisions, you have the legal right to accessible educational materials and classroom environments.

Campus Alerts: I encourage you to subscribe to the Olympic College alert system for updates to your cell phone and e-mail address regarding school closures, etc. http://www.olympic.edu/alerts/signup.htm

Your E-mail: When communicating with me via e-mail, please use your Olympic College e-mail address.

Facebook and Twitter: Although it’s not a course requirement, you can find me on Facebook (Michael Shelton Prince) and Twitter (bamalonghair). Please use my e-mail address, office phone or face-to-face visit for direct communication related to JOURN 100. Course updates can be found on my faculty Web site.

Links/Resources:

http://newspaper-journalism.suite101.com/article.cfm/how_to_take_photos_for_a_newspaper

http://www.icp.org/site/c.dnJGKJNsFqG/b.886835/k.3CE/Photo_Tips.htm

http://photoinf.com/Golden_Mean/

http://www.afterimagegallery.com/bresson.htm

http://www.utexas.edu/features/2005/photojournalism/photojournalism1.html

http://www.pulitzer.org/works/2008,Feature+Photography

http://photo.net/learn/sports/overview

http://digital-photography-school.com/introduction-to-sports-photography

http://www.nikonians.org/html/resources/guides/sports_101/

http://www.pulitzer.org/works/2009-Breaking-News-Photography

http://digital-photography-school.com/environmental-portraits

http://lens.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/09/04/behind-13/

http://nppa.org/news_and_events/news/2009/10/fairey2.html#

http://picasaweb.google.com/michaelsprince/JOURN105Fall2009MUGS#

http://picasaweb.google.com/michaelsprince/FeaturePhotojournalismFall2009#

http://picasaweb.google.com/michaelsprince/Journ105SPORTSFall2009#

JOURN 100/Reporting and News Writing

“Writing is good, thinking is better.” -Hermann Hesse (journalist, novelist, poet, painter) from his novel Siddhartha.

Instructor: Michael Prince, Technical Building 101A

Phone: 360-475-7243

E-mail: mprince@olympic.edu

Web site: http://faculty.olympic.edu/mprince/

Office Hours: MWF 9-10 a.m. and TTh noon-1 p.m.; or by appointment.

Class Time/Place: TTh 1-3:15 p.m., Bremerton campus, TEC 100

Description: JOURN 100 introduces students to reporting/news writing basics for print and online journalism. Emphasis is placed on news value, sources, Associated Press style, news gathering techniques, interviewing skills and journalistic writing style.

Objectives: The specific objectives of this course include, but are not limited to, the following:

Recognition of news values and legitimate news sources.
Development of writing skills, ability to organize facts for effective reporting.
Familiarization with typical news sources in basic reporting.
Development of interview skills.
Development of critical abilities such as evaluation of sources and perceptive observation.
Development of the ability to locate and use stored sources.
Development of the ability to produce copy under distractions and deadline pressures.
Awareness of current events (a basic tool of the journalist’s trade). You should be reading The Sun daily and each issue of The Olympian.
Development of the ability to write in journalistic style.
Development of the familiarity with The Associated Press Stylebook.

Prerequisite: ENGL& 101 eligibility.

Required Texts: Telling The Story by The Missouri Group; The Associated Press Stylebook; and a dictionary.

Attendance: Attendance is required. No absence will be excused unless notice is given in advance. Missed assignments due to an unexcused absence will be given a grade of 0.

Class Content: A typical class may consist of any or all of the following: (1) brief lecture/discussion on reporting/writing techniques; (2) class writing or rewriting exercise; (3) critique/discussion of previous writing; (4) an AP Stylebook quiz; (5) a guest lecture.

Required Writing: In addition to class writing exercises, you will have two major writing assignments during the quarter. You will also submit brief (500 words or so) essays on chapter reading assignments (more below).

Grading Methods: Grading of reporting/writing skills is unavoidably subjective. There may be times when you disagree with an evaluation; please feel free to say so, that we may explore each other’s thinking. But to assist in a clear definition, let us identify what each letter grade means:

A – Superior, outstanding, equal to what should be expected of a new reporter on the job in a daily or weekly newspaper.

B – Very good, better-than-average copy; evidence of more than average effort in getting the whole story.

C – Acceptable, satisfactory, average; evidence that the information is valid and correctly presented; that with some editing, the story is at least “publishable.”

D – Less-than-average copy, weak; evidence of missing information or missing sources, obvious need of editing for clarity and style.

F – Unsatisfactory, unusable, very weak; major flaws in reporting/writing; factual errors, crucial omissions, need of major rewrite.

Note: Each typo, AP style error and misspelled word counts five points off your grade. A major factual error is minus 50 points.

Chapter Essays: In 500 words or so, you will summarize textbook reading assignments. Please include personal observation/thoughts in your essays.

Chapter Essay Schedule:

Chapters 1 and 2, essay due Sept. 29.

Chapters 6 and 7, essay due Oct. 6.

Chapters 3, 4 and 5, essay due Oct. 20.

Chapters 8, 9 and 10, essay due Nov. 3.

Chapters 13, 14 and 15, essay due Nov. 17.

Chapters 11 and 12, essay due Dec. 1.

Final Grade Formula: Writing exercises 50 percent; stylebook exercises and general class participation 10 percent; essays 20 percent; two major writing assignments 10 percent each (20 percent total).

Copy Form: Type all copy double-space. In upper left corner, put story slug (one or two words easily identifying the topic of your story). Immediately under the slug, put your name, JOURN 100 and date. Under that, leave about two inches blank at the top of the first page only. At the end of the first page, write “more” at the bottom; begin the second page with story slug and name with 2-2-2-2 after the slug. Succeeding pages begin similarly, but with 3-3-3-3, etc. Indicate end of story with -30- at the bottom of the last page. Do not split a paragraph from one page to another. Do not hyphenate a word from one line to another. If you catch minimal typos or other errors in your final edit, feel free to use proofreaders’ marks. If you have multiple errors, please correct on the computer and reprint.

Your E-mail: When communicating with me via e-mail, please use your Olympic College e-mail address.

Facebook and Twitter: Although it’s not a course requirement, you can find me on Facebook (Michael Shelton Prince) and Twitter (@bamalonghair). Please use my e-mail address, office phone or face-to-face visit for direct communication related to JOURN 100. Course updates can be found on my faculty Web site.

Links/Resources:

http://www.firstamendmentcenter.org/sofa_reports/index.aspx

http://www.pbs.org/now/society/bok.html

http://www.abacon.com/stovall/newswriting.html

http://www.mediacollege.com/journalism/news/write-stories.html

http://www.pbs.org/now/society/bok.html

http://www.journalism.org/resources/j_tools

http://www.poynter.org/

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2002/05/31/AR2005111001228.html

The Marketplace of Ideas (A Learning Community combining CMST& 102 and ENGL& 101)

"Our liberty depends on the freedom of the press, and that cannot be limited without being lost." -Thomas Jefferson, 1786

The Marketplace of Ideas is a learning community--that is, a single class that attempts to examine one complex, real-world problem through the eyes of two academic disciplines. In our case, the problem is the overwhelming flow of information available to Americans in the 21st century, and the disciplines are English and Communications Studies.

Instructors: Michael Prince (CMST/JOURN) and Ian Sherman (ENGL)

Michael’s Contact Info:

Email: mprince@olympic.edu

Office: Tech 101A

Web site: faculty.olympic.edu/mprince/

Phone: 360-475-7243

Office Hours: MWF 9-10 a.m. and TTh noon-1 p.m.

Ian’s Contact Info:

Email: isherman@olympic.edu

Office: Eng 112

Phone: 360-475-7658

Office Hours: MW 2:30-4 p.m. and TTh noon-1 p.m.

Class Time: MWF 10 a.m. - 12:50 p.m.

Classroom: ART 103, Bremerton campus

Our Goal: To encourage informed and critical consumption of mass information. Our methods: Divergent. Ian comes with a background in critical theory, rhetoric, and cultural studies. He tends to think a lot about the problems of knowing and the cultural construction of knowledge--that is, the way we as a society decide what is true and what is important. Michael, a recognized journalist in his own right, comes with a background in journalism, photojournalism, and the newspaper industry itself. He tends to think a lot about the Constitutionally-protected freedoms of the Press and the responsibilities of the ethical journalist. Both of them are interested in new media and current events. Because of the central role that mass media plays in our daily lives and in our understanding of ourselves and the outside world, and because of the great changes that new technologies promise (and threaten) to bring, we wish to provide you with a series of tools from our two disciplines. We also challenge you to use them together--to apply the tools of English and Communications in concert to discuss, analyze, and critique the stories circulating around us.

Required Textbooks:

• Dominick, Joseph R. The Dynamics of Mass Communications: Media in the Digital Age.

• Lunsford, Andrea, et al. Everythingʼs an Argument (4th Edition).

• Hacker, Diana. A Pocket Style Manual. (Other MLA style guides also acceptable)

By the end of the quarter, you'll be able to perform the following tasks:

1) Analyze complex academic writing:

-Identify a text’s argument

-Perform a “close reading” to identify the ways in which word choice, grammar, and organization contribute to an argument

-Evaluate that argument in terms of purpose and effectiveness

2) Write an argumentative paper in the academic style:

-Formulate a complex argument using Toulmin Arguments and Stasis Questions

-Locate and utilize evidence for support of arguments

-Cite all evidence using the MLA (Modern Languages Association) style

3) Revise papers to deepen analysis and improve organization:

-Perform argument-focused and mechanics-focused revisions

-Restructure paragraphs according to the Known-New Contract

Assignments:

1. Every Friday, you will participate in Friday Seminar. You will bring in news items, media artifacts, and other tidbits. You and your group will then consider the items brought in, linking them to course concepts and discussing them in depth.

2. You will complete four e-journals--these are short, casual writings that help you to explore the more complex essays we will read in class.

3. You will write three academic papers, as follows:

a. Two shorter papers based on class lecture/discussion, links posted at Michael’s Web site (http://faculty.olymic.edu/mprince/) and text chapters. You’ll submit two drafts of each paper.

b. One research paper on a mass-media subject of your choice. You will submit two drafts of this paper as well, along with some preliminary research and organization steps.

4. Throughout the quarter, you will complete a number of short quizzes and in-class assignments. If you are going to miss a day of class, you may make the assignment up beforehand. They cannot be made up after they are missed, however.

5. Finally, you will hand in a Portfolio on the last day of class, containing a writer’s report, the second draft of the final research paper, and any final revisions of the previous two papers you wish to submit.

Participation includes attendance for and participation in Friday Seminars, in-class discussions, and peer workshops.

Extra Credit on papers can be gained by visiting the Writing Center in Humanities 115.

Special Needs: If you require any special assistance or technology in order to fully benefit from the course, please contact Access Services (Humanities 114, x7540) to get a review of your needs and to make any necessary arrangements. Please email Michael and/or Ian or speak with one or both of us during the first week in order to let us know how we may help. All information will be kept private. Under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and other legal provisions, you have the legal right to accessible educational materials and classroom environments.

Final Grade Formula:

Short Essays (2) 20% each (40% total)

Research Paper 40%

Participation 10%

In-Class Assignments 10%

ASSIGNMENT CALENDAR:

Major assignment due dates and academic holidays are listed below.

Detailed weekly to-do lists will be provided each Friday.

Mon 12 Oct: Columbus Day—No class meeting

Mon 19 Oct: Paper 1 Draft 1 due

Mon 26 Oct: Paper 1 Draft 2 due

Mon 9 Nov: Paper 2 Draft 1 due

Wed 11 Nov: Veterans Day—No class meeting

Mon 16 Nov: Paper 2 Draft 2 Due

Fri 27 Nov: Thanksgiving holiday—No class meeting

Mon 30 Nov: Research Paper draft 1 Due

Fri 4 Dec: Final class meeting

Tue 8 Dec: Final Portfolios and Research Paper Draft 2 due

Campus Alerts: We encourage you to subscribe to the Olympic College alert system for updates to your cell phone and e-mail address regarding school closures, etc. http://www.olympic.edu/alerts/signup.htm

Your E-mail: When communicating with us via e-mail, please use your Olympic College e-mail address.

Facebook and Twitter: Although it’s not a course requirement, you can find Michael on Facebook (Michael Shelton Prince) and Twitter (bamalonghair). Please use our e-mail addresses, office phone or face-to-face visit for direct communication related to the course. Course updates can be found on Michael's faculty Web site.

Links/Resources:

http://www.firstamendmentcenter.org/sofa_reports/index.aspx

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-et-abctwitter16-2009sep16,0,3179288.story

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/09/15/AR2009091503312.html

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090915/ap_on_en_tv/us_tv_obama_tweet

http://lens.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/09/04/behind-13/

http://www.rethinkbreastcancer.com/boobyball-cruise.html

http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/save-boobs-breast-cancer-psas-raise-eyebrows/story?id=8646632

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-ct-neil22-2009sep22,0,4863346.column

http://www.montanameth.org/View_Ads/index.php

http://mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/08/05/newspaper-rolls-out-after-town-waits-166-years/?scp=1&sq=Pelham%20Reporter&st=cse

http://www.wanewscouncil.org/