Course Outline of Record

Item	Value
Curriculum Committee Approval Date	12/02/2020
Top Code	060200 - Journalism
Units	3 Total Units
Hours	54 Total Hours (Lecture Hours 54)
Total Outside of Class Hours	0
Course Credit Status	Credit: Degree Applicable (D)
Material Fee	No
Basic Skills	Not Basic Skills (N)
Repeatable	No
Grading Policy	Standard Letter (S),  Pass/No Pass (B)

Course Description

This course offers students insight and background into covering public affairs for print and online news environments. The course guides students through the process of community news reporting and writing, including coverage of student government, local and regional governments, city boards, police, courts and school boards. The course also covers legal and ethical issues in the news media as it pertains to public access, California's open meetings law, and other news gathering specifics. The course is designed for students pursuing media-related majors and for those seeking employment in the field. PREREQUISITE: ENGL C1000 and JOUR A110. Transfer Credit: CSU.

Course Level Student Learning Outcome(s)

1. Report and write public affairs news stories on topics such as local or regional governments, public safety, courts and education.
2. Identify and utilize principles of news media ethics and law.

Course Objectives

• 1. Report and write public affairs news stories.
• 2. Identify types of public affairs topics.
• 3. Understand open meetings and public records.
• 4. Employ research methods in journalistic stories.
• 5. Identify and apply freedom of information tools including public records and open meetings laws.
• 6. Write under deadline pressure.
• 7. Identify and utilize a more advanced newswriting style.
• 8. Employ various research methods in developing journalistic stories.
• 9. Utilize Associated Press style.
• 10. Write stories under deadline pressure.

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Lecture Content

Students will be introduced to the variety of governmental bodies covered by journalists and receive background in each of them. The following are included in the framework of the course but are not intended as limits on content: 1. Public affairs news topics A. Government 1. Student government 2. City councils 3. Board of supervisors 4. City boards 5. City and county boards B. Law enforcement 1. Campus Public Safety 2. City police department 3. Fire departments 4. State and regional agencies 5. Local and regional impact of federal agencies C. Courts D. Education 1. College district board 2. School district boards 3. Campus coverage 4. Federal, state and local laws and issues regarding education 2. Newswriting review A. News gathering process B. Research methods C. Beats D. Sourcing E. Interviewing F. Quotations and attribution G. Fairness and objectivity H. Inverted pyramid style I. Types of news ledes  3. Media ethics A. Historic and present d ay ethical principles B. Professional codes of ethics 1. Society of Professional Journalists 2. American Society of Newspaper Editors 3. Poynter Institute C. Ethics in both print and online D. Invasion of privacy E. Avoiding sensationalism in writing F. Conflicts of interest G. Competing with checkbook journalism H. Plagiarism 4. Federal, state and local freedom of information statutes A. Process of filing a freedom of information request B. Legal decisions C. Current and future challenges 5. Story idea development A. Using public meeting agendas to find stories B. Using sources for story ideas C. Determining newsworthiness D. Developing news judgment E. Interpreting and analyzing information F. Covering beats 6. Understanding how to research for stories A. Political and civic organizations B. Private sources C. Government sources D. Reading and understanding agendas E. Finding, analyzing and reporting statistics and other data F. Online research tools – uses and pitfalls G. Incorporating research into interviews and final articles H. Library and historical archives  7. Attending meetings A. Attend student government meetings and write accurate articles B. Attend district board meetings and write accurate articles C. Attend at least one meeting of city council and one board of supervisors. D. Complete at least one police/campus safety story E. Attend one court trial and write an accurate article  8. Associated Press style review A. Capitalization B. Abbreviations and acronyms C. Punctuation D. Numerals E. Titles F. Changes and updates G. Pass a series of style quizzes

Method(s) of Instruction

• Lecture (02)
• DE Live Online Lecture (02S)

Instructional Techniques

Classroom discussions and in-class writing with one-on-one instructor input and supervision. Students will be required to attend meetings, court cases and other public events with discussion and analysis of newsworthiness to follow.

Reading Assignments

Reading a daily newspaper and assigned textbook will be expected.

Writing Assignments

Several written stories will be produced in a lab environment under newsroom-style conditions and with time constraints. Students will write at least six complete news stories based on public meetings throughout the semester. Stories must be at least 1,000 words and publication-ready. Students will also write stories following meetings with strict deadlines.

Out-of-class Assignments

Attendance at various city, county and school meetings is expected in addition to attendance at student government and district board meetings. Students will be expected to attend at least one courtroom trial and conduct interviews with police and campus safety officers. Students will also be expected to conduct interviews and research for assigned stories as well as write some stories under evening deadline constraints.

Demonstration of Critical Thinking

Students will demonstrate critical thinking by: 1. Analysing and summarizing assigned reading 2. Evaluating and critiquing published news articles regarding public affairs 3. Evaluating newsworthiness, sources and information garnered from research 4. Writing stories covering civic meetings and community news

Required Writing, Problem Solving, Skills Demonstration

1. Reporting assignments and projects 2. Evaluation of assignments, analysis and critiques 3. Associated Press style quizzes 4. Current events quizzes 5. Exams 6. Meeting deadlines, class attendance, adherence to ethics

Eligible Disciplines

Journalism: Masters degree in journalism or communication with a specialization in journalism OR bachelors degree in either of the above AND masters degree in English, history, communication, literature, composition, comparative literature, any social science, business, business administration, marketing, graphics, or photography OR the equivalent. Masters degree required.

Textbooks Resources

1. Required Christian, D., Froke, P., Minthorn, D., Jacobsen, S.. The Associated Press Stylebook and Briefing on Media Law 2014, ed. New York: Basic Books, 2014 2. Required Bender, J.R., Davenport, L.D., Drager, M.W., Fedler, F.. Reporting for the Media, ed. New York: Oxford University Press, 2012

Periodicals Resources

1. . The Los Angeles Times, Volume 2015 2. . The Orange County Register, Volume 2015