The Last Class: Bad Grammar Isn't Sexy

Well folks, it's been quite a semester. We've worked hard, done a lot of writing, and shared many laughs. All that's left is the final exam and getting those jobs Professor Eisman promised. 

Today in class we discussed what will be on the final, got our t-shirts, and filled out teacher evaluations. 

NOTE: Remember to check your Black Board to make sure your grades are in order.

As outlined the final will have four parts:

Part One: (60%)

Three writing pieces in different formats we covered this semester.

1. A web article (including text and maybe other stuff)

2. A broadcast report (timed)

3. A press release or PSA (Eisman will decide which at later date, but before the exam)

Part Two: (5%)

-Five news questions (the news could be from any number of days before the exam) 

Part Three: (15%)

-Grammar, Style and Math

-It will be about 15 questions

Part Four: (20%) 

-Two essay questions on any of the following topics:

-Media Law

-Public Service Announcements

-Media Ethics

-Public Communications and Strategy 

Other notes on the exam: 

-To study review the text, past writing assignments, and the online journalist math test.

-We will not be able to use the text book or an AP Stylebook during the exam.

-We will be using the computers in the classroom. 

As a final note, we took a class picture with our new t-shirts.... "Bad grammar isn't sexy." 

See you all Thursday. 

 

Jeopardy: the Penultimate Class

Professor Eisman began class by bringing in bells and telling us we were going to have a good day. But first we talked business. We talked about our Something New assignments, and then moved on to our features. Professor Eisman honored us by saying, on the record, "I'm very proud of you." She read excerpts from Stevia's piece as a particularly fine example (congrats!).

Next we moved on to Jeopardy. After some difficulty deciding on judges and typical lively discussion, the game began. As it turned out, the game we played in fact bore very little resemblance to the real-life Jeopardy. Professor Eisman seems to have found the game guaranteed to cause the most argument among her already argumentative class. After a rousing competition, Stevia and Susan received the prizes: two hats from AU's School of Communication.

After the game, we discussed what we will cover in class on Thursday. We will go over study guides for the final exam, which will be on Thursday, 12/10 from 11:20 to 1:50. The exam will cover current news, grammar, and the ability to write in different formats (broadcast, web, print, PSAs, etc.). It will also cover subjects like libel, legality and ethics, with questions like "Is this particular case an example of libel?" On Thursday we will also receive our T-shirts!

Professor Eisman instructed us to remind her about the evaluation forms. We requested that she give us all A's in the class for our remarkable and commendable involvement. Professor Eisman did not respond, and class was dismissed.

Congrats, writers!

You managed to keep me amused and informed through a variety of feature articles. Some had extremely clear writing. Some had in-depth reporting. The top ones, the most memorable pieces, had both.

Kudos to the authors of the articles about dorm cooking (Jett), triples (Tasha), farmers markets (Carol), costume designers (Franziska), re-learning to walk (Mitchell), culture shock for students from abroad (Jess) and Swine flu in Room 607 (Stevia), which was the very easiest to read in the class.

You may all go on your Thanksgiving holiday without worrying about school. And please know how thankful I am to have such a creative and funny set of students.

Professor Eisman

This may look a lot like Franziska's.... Media Law & Ethics for Monday

Class begin with a lively discussion of the Women's Resource Center (Carmen I saw your response in the Eagle, very well done) and an update on what's ahead in the World of Writing For Mass Comm 200.

1. Grammar Quiz on Thursday - all grammar in the textbook will be fair game, or as Stevia put it "all grammar ever".

2. No class on Monday! - But, the time should be used to work on our "Something New" assignment which is due after break. The piece will cover something that is new this semester on campus (professor, event, class, etc...). You can write up the assignment in any style you want (PSA, feature, press release, broadcast, etc...).

After the above updates, the lesson on Media Law and Ethics began!

Libel -publishing something, on purpose, that is both false and can hurt someone's reputation.

• Living people can sue, dead people can't

• Usually the publication gets sued, not the individual reporter (but in some cases he/she can)

• To be libelous, a statement must be:

-both false, and published (but, simply e-mailing it to a friend counts!
-defamatory - ruins a person's reputation
- you can identify that it is specifically plaintiff who is being talked about
- the defendant is guilty of negligence (being sloppy, not checking over facts)
or malice- intentionally trying to hurt someone's reputation with false information

How do Avoid Libel - ALWAYS CHECK YOUR FACTS! Wait for additiontional information before running a story if you are not sure of something. Also, check with a person before you write something questionable about him or her.

See "Print it or Pull it" examples

Copyright Law - images, music, text all have copyrights establishing who owns the creative work

• The safest way to avoid copyright infringement is to always check with the author/publisher before reprinting something
  

• Remember to not use trademarks when writing (Band -Aids, Xerox etc...) , it's not illegal, but it is sloppy.
  

Privacy -

• Don't intrude - no hidden camera, or trespassing to gain information -you ARE NOT James Bond
  

• Don't portray someone in a false light - no using old pictures for new stories (that have nothing to do with the original context of the picture)
  

• Don't disclose private facts - it really can't get any better than that hemorrhoid example in text.
  

• Don't appropriate - for instance, don't use a picture of me in an ad for a Miley Cyrus concert. I'm not one of her biggest fans, and would be upset that you did not check with me first.
  

Ethics - what you can publish, and what is ethically sound to publish, are two different things.

• Don't assume that people do not want to talk to reporters when there is a tragedy. For
• reporters it is always worth it to seek out new information.
• Show compassion for victims of tragedy
• Don't stereotype or make general assumptions
• Be careful when identifying underage suspects or victims of sexual crimes
• Don't charge someone with a crime before the police have
• Avoid conflicts of interest
• Bring to light ethical violations you may know about

For more information on all of this- see the class hand out sheets!

Media Law and Ethics (Nov. 16, 2009)

Announcements:

1. There will be a grammar quiz this Thursday about all grammar ever covered.
2. There will be no class meeting on Nov. 23.
3. The “Something New” assignment (see syllabus and add press release and speech to the possible formats) will be due after Thanksgiving.
4. Take John Watson’s class! Next semester, he will be teaching COMM-320 Reporting and COMM-504 Journalism Ethics.

After we (more or less successfully) tried to find out what Professor Eisman did during her day off and discussed the new Women’s Resource Center (follow the debate at http://www.theeagleonline.com/opinion/story/feminist-err-womens-center-wastes-money), we started discussing media law and ethics.

1. Media Law

Libel is a false statement that intentionally damages somebody’s reputation, and any alive party can sue for libel. For example, if a journalist accuses someone in his story to be crazy, the person accused can sue for being labeled a mentally ill person.
Usually, it is the publication that will be sued, but in some cases, journalists themselves will get sued. In some cases, it can be difficult for the court to decide whether or not the libel was actually deliberately damaging reputation.
For examples on risky statements that fall into the grey zone of publishing or not publishing, refer to the in-class “Print it or pull it” exercise.

Other important issues in media law are privacy and copyright law. For example, if you want to find pictures online that can be used without paying a royalty or copyright fee, you can use flickr’s creative commons. This application will tell you which images are free, which ones are free if you credit the photographer, which ones you can only use if you pay a fee etc.

For more information on how to avoid legal risks, you can check out the “Top Ten Rules for Limiting Legal Risks” by the Knight Citizen News Network. This link is also on our syllabus:
http://www.kcnn.org/legal_risk

If you are interested in media law, you should also read the brief on media law in the AP stylebook, which can be accessed via the stylebook online (through the AU library’s website or through http://www.apstylebook.com/ if you have a subscription).


2. Ethics

Ethics is a very broad field, that includes many grey areas and has become increasingly concerning with the growth of digital imaging software. Today, it is easier than ever before to alter images and produce text that has little factual bases.
In class, we discussed the New York Times coverage of the 9/11 attacks as an example of ethics. Whereas newspapers around the U.S. as well as international papers published pictures of people falling out of the buildings, the New York Times, as the local newspaper of the New York community, did not publish such pictures until several days after the attacks. This is an example of very ethical behavior.
Also, we talked about the question whether or not it is ethical to interview family members of murder victims: always interview them! It can be difficult and uncomfortable at first, but you never know what they might have to add to the story. As an ethical journalist, you can never assume anything. This is why it is important to talk to people and get as many positions on an issue covered as possible.

Different publications have different codes of ethics.
For example, the New York Times’ code of ethics (that we looked at in class) can be found here:
http://www.nytco.com/press/ethics.html

All:

In case you are wondering, there is no written assignment for Monday. But please be sure to do the reading about media and the law -- libel, slander and more. See you Monday! Professor Eisman

Monday