Journalism 330

News Editing, “Imposing Order on Chaos,” Fall 2009

Instructor: Doug Warren

Unique Numbers: 07430, 07435, 07440

Classes: Monday, Wednesday & Friday, 9-10 a.m., PAR 301

Labs: Tuesday-Thursday, 11 a.m.-1 p.m. (07430), CMA A4.310

Monday-Wednesday, 12-2 p.m. (07435), CMA A4.310

Tuesday-Thursday, 1-3 p.m. (07440), CMA A4.310

Teaching assistants: Amber Willard Hinsley, (818) 359-0193, awillard@mail.utexas.edu; Brian

Baresch (512) 413-4100, bbaresch@mail.utexas.edu; office lab CMA

A4.310, call for appointment

Office: CMA 7.252

Tel.: 471-1967; home, 284-8832; cell, (617) 922-7095.

Email: dmwarren@mail.utexas.edu

Office hours: Monday, Wednesday & Friday, 10 a.m.-noon, or by appointment. Call anytime.

“Some editors are failed writers, but so are most writers.” T. S. Eliot (1888-1965)

Welcome to News Editing, also known as “Imposing Order on Chaos,” which is what editors do. This class is designed to expand and improve your skills while giving you a taste of real life in the ever-shifting world of journalism today. Many of you plan to be writers, but experience shows that opportunities for advancement are greater for those journalists who have a wide range of skills. Newspapers, magazines, broadcast news and new media all reserve top positions for those with impeccable editing abilities. Moreover, being a good editor makes you a better writer. Editors control your copy. If you know what they require, you have more control over the way your writing is published. Finally, for those of you interested in becoming editors, the job market is consistently better -- and the pay higher -- for entry-level editors rather than beginning reporters.

Course Goals

The goal of the course is to develop a level of editing proficiency that will enable you to walk into a newspaper, magazine or online newsroom, sit down and go to work without embarrassing yourself. No editor or writer achieves perfection, which is why we have multiple layers of editorial review, but every competent editor catches all but a few errors in a given piece of copy. An editing student who consistently catches nine out of 10 problems is certainly becoming competent. One who catches eight out of 10 is making progress. Those who operate below that level of proficiency will have trouble progressing professionally.

In this class you will learn how to line edit, concept edit, prepare heads and other graphic elements, rewrite, avoid legal and ethical problems and select and package copy and art. You will also learn how to prepare stories for Web and print publication. You will prepare news budgets and participate in the story-budgeting process. And you will get an opportunity to respond to real-life news situations and ethical quandaries. Learning objectives for each class and lab are presented in the course timetable below.

Prerequisites: Journalism 310, 315 and 320D with a grade of at least C in each; a score of at least 45 on the College of Communication grammar, spelling and punctuation test; a score of at least 29 on the School of Journalism word processing test; and admission to a journalism area of concentration.

The Class

Classes will involve learning the specific skills that help make a successful editor, as well as the broader skills and concepts you will need to grow in the business. Many are practical, but some of the most important are conceptual. Lecture notes will be posted on the class Blackboard site along with handouts, in-class exercises and background readings. Attendance is important, as is class participation, so be there unless you’ve got a compelling reason not to.

The Lab

The lab is our newsroom. Treat your work there as if you were on the job. We will start with editing basics and then begin putting layers on the onion. New skills are generally introduced in lab immediately after we go over them in class. Your teaching assistants are your news editors. They are the bosses of the lab. If you must miss one or have other lab problems, your editor is your point of contact. It’s fine to let me know, too. Newsroom attendance is mandatory. You may miss two labs. Miss three, and you will need a very good reason to remain on the class roll.

Texts & Required Reading

The Associated Press Stylebook

The Art of Editing, by Brooks & Sissors

We will use many handouts during the semester. These readings and class notes will be posted on the Blackboard site. The Brooks & Sissors book’s price has skyrocketed past $100, so it’s not required. If you’re serious about either editing or media management, however, you should buy a copy for use over the coming years. Try Amazon or the bookstore for cheap, used copies.

Before class, you should read the Austin American-Statesman, Daily Texan, The New York Times and at least one other daily paper. Bring the two local papers to class. Both are available outside the building each morning at no cost. Online versions are fine for other media. News magazines are fine. You should also read news on Yahoo, particularly that provided by AP and Reuters. The point is that you must be informed -- generally as well as on subjects of personal interest. My daily reading diet includes the papers mentioned above, The Boston Globe and several other New England papers on the Web, as well as Web sites like the Huffpost, Romenesko, and Gawker. Sadly, the Weekly World News has ceased publication.

Other Useful Texts

Working With Words, Brian Brooks & James Pinson

Grammar for Journalists, E.L. Callihan

When Words Collide, Laura Kessler & Duncan MacDonald

Headlines & Deadlines: A Manual for Copy Editors, R.E. Garst & T.M. Bernstein.

Remember, all you really need is the Stylebook and a little volume called The Elements of Style, by William Strunk and E.B. White. Those two will get you past almost all language problems.

Grades

Component of Grade	Percentage of Grade
Lab performance	40
Tests and quizzes	30
Participation/News knowledge	30

Your lab grade, which represents 40 percent of the final grade, will reflect your ability to perform the skills you have learned in class. In most cases performance is a binary judgment: If you fail to set a byline in the proper typeface, that is an error. If you violate a headline rule, that is an error, too, even if the headline is a good one in other respects. In some cases judgment is subjective, particularly when we get into news judgment exercises and rewriting longer stories toward the end of the term.

The test and quizzes portion of the grading grid includes three tests and five style/grammar quizzes. The style/grammar portion will include the five short quizzes and the first test, all of which will be conducted in class. The other tests will be the midterm and the final project, both of which will be conducted in class and in the lab. The tentative date for the midterm is Oct. 14. The final project will be given on Dec. 2. The combined grammar/style test and five quizzes, the final and midterm will each count for 10 percent of the final grade for a total of 30 percent.

News knowledge and class participation, which I will test in class each day, counts for 30 percent of the final grade. I will regularly query one or two people per class regarding specific “Stories of the Day.” Your ability to respond intelligently will largely determine your news-knowledge grade. I will also conduct story-budgeting and news-judgment exercises designed to teach skills as an assignment editor. Participation in these exercises and engagement in the overall class will factor in the final grade.

I will be using plus/minus grades in the final assessment of your work in the class.

While I will maintain regular office hours, I also plan to meet with each of you for at least one 20-minute session at a mutually convenient time during the semester. It’s important that I get to know each of you and that you understand the information and experience I am trying to share. Finally, improvement counts. At the end of each term, the teaching assistants and I will evaluate how hard you’ve worked and how much you’ve grown.

Newsroom Procedures

Editing demands an eye for detail. You’ll be given written instructions on how to prepare stories. Please follow these meticulously. In the real world, if a copy editor fails to slug a story properly, or sets type in the wrong face, or sends a finished story to the wrong directory, the bosses take serious note. Improperly slugged or formatted stories will always be returned for correction before they are graded. When we start using Web templates and InCopy, room for any procedural errors disappears.

Attendance & Academic Honesty

Please come to class. Students won’t be graded on attendance, per se, but being in class will be essential to understanding key concepts and performing well in the participation/news judgment grading component. Accommodations will be made for students who give advance notice of planned absences for religious observances or military service. If you know you are going to miss a schedule quiz or test, contact me in advance and we can schedule a make-up time. You must attend lab hours as if they were a job. You may not complete lab assignments independently. When you miss your third lab, you’ll be asked if it would be better for you to drop the class. If you must miss lab, clear it in advance with your lab editor. Don't cheat, plagiarize or otherwise take shortcuts.

University of Texas Honor Code

The core values of The University of Texas at Austin are learning, discovery, freedom, leadership, individual opportunity, and responsibility. Each member of the university is expected to uphold these values through integrity, honesty, trust, fairness, and respect toward peers and community.

Documented Disability Statement

The University of Texas at Austin provides upon request appropriate academic accommodations for qualified students with disabilities. For more information, contact Services for Students with Disabilities at 471-6259 (voice) or 232-2937 (video phone).

Your Instructor

Doug Warren is a career journalist with more than 32 years in the newspaper business. He started his career in 1975 as a reporter and editor with the Portland (Maine) Press Herald. He worked as an assistant city editor at the Miami Herald from 1981 to 1986, and helped launch the paper’s expanded Palm Beach County edition. Doug the moved to the Boston Globe, where he spent the next 21 years working in a variety of editing capacities. He served as night editor, weekend city editor, and finally travel editor before leaving the Globe in 2007 and moving to Austin. During his time at the Globe , Doug mentored a generation of college interns, including Jayson Blair. Since arriving in Austin, he has worked as a freelance writer and editor and is very pleased to be filling in for Rusty Todd, who is spending 2009 in Hong Kong launching a business journalism master’s program at Hong Kong University. Doug, a long-time Boston Red Sox fan, got the thrill of his life last summer when he got a chance to play baseball at Fenway Park. He lives with his wife, Pam, and two children in Northwest Austin.

Course Outline

The following grid lays out daily learning objectives, background readings, how you’ll develop the skills you seek, and the way we’ll assess whether you’re achieving your goals. Different shadings indicate related material grouped into learning modules.

Dates	Learning Objectives	Readings	Practice	Assessment
Entire semester	Know the news. Be able to converse about main international, national, state and local topics.	Daily Texan, Austin American-Statesman, designated Web sites.	n/a	News quizzes, daily and on tests
Aug. 26	Understand class objectives and newsroom hierarchy.	Class handouts, Blackboard readings	No labs first week of class.	n/a
Aug. 28	Introduction to lab activities, editing in templates.	Class handouts, Blackboard readings	No labs first week of class.	n/a
Aug. 31	Introduction to style and grammar. In-class style and grammar quiz.	Class handouts, Blackboard readings.	Lab exercises.	Quiz results. News judgment/participation.
Sept. 2	Introduction to headline writing. In-class style and grammar quiz.	Class handouts, Blackboard readings.	Lab exercises.	Quiz results. News judgment/participation.
Sept. 4	More headline writing. In-class style and grammar quiz.	Class handouts, Blackboard readings.	Lab exercises.	Quiz results. News judgment/participation.
Sept. 7	LABOR DAY HOLIDAY
Sept. 9	How a news copy desk functions. What Gabrielle Munoz did on her summer vacation. In-class style and grammar quiz.	Class handouts, Blackboard readings	Lab exercises.	Quiz results. News judgment/participation
Sept. 11	More on copy desk operations. Writing blurbs, refers, etc. In-class style and grammar quiz.	Class handouts, Blackboard readings	Lab exercises.	Quiz results. News judgment/participation.
Sept. 14	Grammar/style test	Stylebook	Previous quizzes.	Test results.
Sept. 16	Editing for content. What is in, what is left out.	Blackboard readings, class handouts.	Lab exercises.	News judgment, lab work. Midterm and final project.
Sept. 18	Editing for content, longer-form stories.	Handouts/class participation.	Lab exercises.	News judgment, lab work. Midterm and final project.
Sept. 21	Doing it on the Web. Websites that work. Headlines/stories for Web.	Handouts, Blackboard readings.	Assessing Web sites, including Christian Science Monitor. Lab exercises.	News judgment, participation, lab work. Midterm and final project.
Sept. 23	Guest speaker John Yemma, editor of CSM	Monitor mag, Web site.	Listen and learn. Lab exercises.	Lab work, midterm and final project. News judgment and participation.
Sept. 25	More on Web headlines, Twittering.	Handouts/Class participation	Lab/class exercises.	Lab work, midterm and final project. News judgment and participation
Sept. 28	Photo editing, picking the right image.	Blackboard readings, handouts.	Lab/class exercises.	Lab work, midterm and final project. News judgment and participation.
Sept. 30	Writing captions. A lost art.	Blackboard readings, handouts..	Lab/class exercises.	Lab work, midterm and final project. News judgment and participation.
Oct. 2	Finding graphics, other elements for stories	Handouts, Blackboard readings.	Lab/class exercises.	Lab work, midterm and final project. News judgment and participation.
Oct. 5	Layouts that work	Blackboard readings, handouts	Examine and assess layouts. Lab exercises.	Lab work, midterm and final project. News judgment and participation.
Oct. 7	Layouts that don’t work.	Specified Web sites.	Class and lab exercises.	Lab work, midterm and final project. News judgment and participation.
Oct. 9	Transferring layouts to the Web. What Web producers do.	Blackboard readings, handouts	Lab assignments.	Labs work, midterm and final project. News judgment, participation.
Oct. 12	Review for midterm	Ask anything you want.	Lab review	Midterm results.
Oct. 14	Midterm	Test in class and labs.	Test in lab.	Midterm results.
Oct. 16	Guest speaker	TBD	Lab assignments.	Lab work, midterm and final project. News judgment and participation.
Oct. 19	Making the tough decisions: wire copy, picking stories.	Blackboard readings, handouts	Lab assignment, class exercise.	Lab work, final project. News judgment and class participation.
Oct. 21	Cutting longer stories. How to keep the flow going.	Blackboard readings, handouts.	Lab assignment, class exercise.	Lab work, final project. News judgment and class participation.
Oct. 23	What gets played where.	Blackboard readings, handouts	Budget meeting exercise in class and lab.	Lab work, final project. News judgment and participation.
Oct. 26	How the city desk operates.	Blackboard readings, handouts	Lab/class exercises.	Lab work, final project. News judgment and participation.
Oct. 28	Emily Ramshaw of the Texas Tribune.	Listen and learn.	Lab assignments.	Lab work, final project. News judgment and participation.
Oct. 30	Breaking news exercise.	Handouts, Blackboard readings.	Class/lab exercise	Lab work, final project. News judgment, class participation.
Nov. 2	Combining, rewriting stories.	Blackboard readings only.	Editing in lab	Lab work, final project. News judgment, class participation.
Nov. 4	More combining rewriting stories.	Blackboard readings only.	Editing in lab.	Lab work, final project. News judgment, class participation.
Nov. 6	Breaking news exercise.	Handouts. Power point.	Class/lab exercises.	Lab work, final project. News judgment, class participation.
Nov. 9	God forbid you make a mistake. How to write a proper correction.	Handouts and Blackboard readings.	In-class exercises, lab assignments.	Lab work, final project. News judgment, class participation.
Nov. 11	Ethics issues for newsroom people.	Handouts and Blackboard readings.	In-class exercises, lab assignments.	Lab work, final project. News judgment, class participation.
Nov. 13	Math for journalists.	Handouts and class instruction.	Lab exercise.	Lab work, final project. News judgment, class participation.
Nov. 16	Future of journalism. Reader comments.	Handouts and class instruction.	Lab exercise.	Lab work, final project. News judgment, class participation.
Nov. 18	Future of journalism, Romenesko, etc.	Websites, contacts.	Lab exercise.	Lab work, final project. News judgment, class participation.
Nov. 20	Austin American-Statesman editor Fred Zipp.	Listen and learn.	Lab exercise.	Lab work, final project. News judgment, class participation.
Nov. 23	Pursuing jobs in editing.	Websites.	Lab exercise.	Employment!
Nov. 25	Exclusive! The new business model for newspapers.	Everything.	Lab exercise.	Lab work, final project. News judgment, class participation.
Nov. 27	THANKSGIVING HOLIDAY
Nov. 30	Review for final project	Class handouts,	Lab exercise	Final project.
Dec. 2	Final project.	n/a	Final project	Final project.
Dec. 4	Wrapup.	What we have learned. Evaluations.	Final project	Final project.