DS Learning: SPECIALIST JOURNALISM

COURSE OVERVIEW

The challenge for today’s journalists working in specialist areas, is to develop sources and content that is timely, informative and compelling. While the primary audience may themselves be highly knowledgeable, to sell newspapers, magazines, and web content also requires the writer to expand the audience, balancing the appeal to the niche audience and growing a new audience.

Through this unit, students will explore the research, writing and presentation skills necessary to produce content (for different media formats) related to a selected specialist subject area. They will develop a style that meets the expectations of a specialist audience and provide avenues for new readers to engage and expand their understanding of the topic. (PEARSON)

COURSE TEXTS:

Specialist Journalism by Barry Turner, Richard Orange. Routledge, 2013

The News Manual excerpts

SCHEDULE:

WEEK 1
JUNE 09 Course overview. Assignment overview. Introduction to Journalism. What is expected of you in this unit? What is journalism? Basic types of journalism.
Lecture A: Course introduction
Lecture B: What is Specialist Journalism

JUNE 11 Purpose & Styles of Journalism. Journalistic intent. Target audience I.
Lecture A: What is news?
Lecture B: Writing Styles & Target Audience
Lecture C: Journalistic Intent

Discussion Exercise:
For each story in the links below:
i) Identify the journalistic intent of the story and justify your answer. Pay attention to the writing style, presentation style and content of the story.
ii) Into which area of specialist journalism would your classify each and who do you think is the story's target audience.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E1B-s8UgpOE

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p05w80qd

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p00q876m

https://www.newyorker.com/humor/daily-shouts/additions-to-the-five-journalistic-ws

WEEK 2
JUNE 16 Journalistic writing. Writing styles. Story structure - inverted pyramid, leads, etc.
LECTURE A: Hard News vs Soft News

LECTURE B: Structure of a News Story

JUNE 18 Research for Journalists I. Primary Sources: Professional/Industry contacts, interviews. Secondary sources: Books, archives, reports, online sources.
Research for Journalists II. Analysing and validating research sources. Timeliness. Cross-checking.
LECTURE A: Sources in Journalism
LECTURE B: Validating Sources
LECTURE C: Writing Leads & Discussion Ex

WEEK 3
JUNE 23 Areas of Specialist Journalism. Travel Journalism. Food/Cooking Journalism. Exploring trends, media formats and audience expectations in these areas.
LECTURE INTRODUCTION
LECTURE A: Travel Journalism
LECTURE B: Food Journalism

JUNE 25 Areas of Specialist Journalism. Science & Technology Journalism.
LECTURE: Science & Technology Journalism

WEEK 4
JUNE 30 Areas of Specialist Journalism. Sports journalism. Exploring trends, media formats and audience expectations in these areas.
LECTURE PRESENTATION & EXERCISE

JULY 02 Areas of Specialist Journalism. Arts, Music & Entertainment Journalism. Exploring trends, media formats and audience expectations in these areas.
LECTURE PRESENTATION & EXERCISES

WEEK 5
JULY 07 Areas of Specialist Journalism. Education journalism. Health Journalism. Exploring trends, media formats and audience expectations in these areas.
LECTURE PRESENTATION & EXERCISE

JULY 09 Media Formats. Choosing an appropriate media format for a work of journalism. Target audience II.
LECTURE PRESENTATION & EXERCISE

WEEK 6
July 14 Online Format Journalism. Writing for the web. Social media concerns. Technical considerations. Codes & Conventions.
LECTURE PRESENTATION

JULY 16 Radio & Television Format Journalism. Writing scripts for radio/television. Technical considerations. Codes & Convention I. Referencing, citation, image rights/credits. Editing.
LECTURE PRESENTATION

WEEK 7
JULY 21 Film & Video & Podcast Format Journalism. Writing film/video/podcast scripts. How these formats differ from television and radio.Technical considerations. Codes & Conventions.
LECTURE: FILM & VIDEO JOURNALISM
LECTURE: PODCAST JOURNALISM

JULY 23 Magazine Format Journalism. Layout, formatting, placement of images, etc. Codes & Convention.
LECTURE PRESENTATION

WEEK 8
JULY 28 Presenting a Journalism project. Guidelines and strategies for presenting a work of journalism to an audience.
LECTURE PRESENTATION

JULY 30 Working on journalism project. First drafts.

WEEK 9
AUG 04 Working on journalism project. Revisions to first drafts.

AUG 06 Finalise journalism project. Development blog & Final article due.

WEEK 10

AUG 11 Presentation & Viva due.

AUG. 13 Feedback on unit.