Guidelines for Assignments
Assume that an assignment will be given just about every class day. Some assignments will be done in-class, some outside of class. If you miss a class - find out what you missed asap!
Assignments are expected to conform to the broadcast writing guidelines that we go over in class. For example, if the assignment is to write a 30 second story, the story should not only be 30 seconds long (no more, no less) it should also follow all guidelines such as treating numbers, phonetic spelling etc. Any other specific criteria will be given at the time of the assignment.
Pitch meeting Assignments
In a typical newsroom, each day begins with a pitch meeting. At this meeting the news director solicits stories. The aim is to figure out what news to cover and who to assign particular stories. Reporters are expected to be on top of what is happening that might be newsworthy and pitch their ideas to the news director. Through give and take, the news director then chooses the stories and assigns coverage. Reporters want to be assigned to the biggest stories possible - as a result they pitch what they think are the biggest stories. Those who don't come up with newsworthy stories or aren't passionate about the stories they pitch often get assigned to the "leftovers." You don't want to be assigned to the leftovers!
Unless otherwise specified, we will hold a pitch meeting at the start of each class. As the news director I will run the meeting. Here's what I expect from reporters:
Reporters will come prepared with four story ideas, one each for international, national, regional/state and local news. Not only will reporters pitch the story (explaining what it's about) they will justify it based on the newsworthiness criteria discussed in class (timeliness, proximity, significance, conflict, prominence, human interest). In other words, a reporter might say "I propose we do a story on Iran's reaction to President Obama's Inauguration. (then describe the story in two or three sentences). It's newsworthy based on timeliness and conflict." The reporter's four stories will be turned in in hard copy at the end of the pitch meeting.
Pitch meeting stories should meet the standard formatting rules for broadcast journalism. These include one inch margins, 12 point type, double spacing, and times or times new roman font.
Group Project
Information on the group project will be given out later in the semester.