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M.S. Fall Curriculum 2011

Reporting & Writing (RWI), 6 points

Note: We will assign you to an RWI section and instructors

This is the core course in reporting and writing on which much student work is built. Using metropolitan New York as a laboratory, students cover a variety of news events and issues. Street reporting is supplemented by regular deadline writing exercises under the supervision of the faculty, and by assignments designed to familiarize students with material they will encounter in professional work. Classes build and develop Web sites where many -- but not all -- students' stories will be published.

RWI seeks to blend instruction in the craft and substance of journalism so students will know how to write in an accurate, clear and compelling fashion; meet deadlines; gather and verify data, evidence and other material; and understand certain subject areas that are essential to reporting. They also will hone and deploy digital-media techniques learned in August and gain experience in incorporating those skills in the reporting and publishing process.

Students will generally get at least one reporting assignment each week. Some assignments may be stories to be reported and written that day; others may require deeper coverage for a longer period of time. Later in the term, instructors will ask students to execute more complex pieces, often requiring reporting and writing spanning several weeks.

Accuracy is essential. Errors in punctuation, spelling and grammar may be grounds for failing a paper. Students will be expected to redo assignments that don’t meet instructors’ standards.

At the same time, instructors highly prize ideas that are original, thoughtful and viable. Students are trained and encouraged to think conceptually as well as literally, and to report on communities and issues with empathy, intelligence and transparency.

Reporting & Writing for Broadcasting (Broadcast RWI), 8 points

Several sections of RWI are tailored for broadcast concentrators and taught jointly by print and broadcast professors. The course will cover the same reporting techniques as other sections, plus reporting for radio and television. Because Broadcast RWI is an eight-credit course, broadcast students DO NOT take any of the Specialized Reporting/Writing Electives listed below.

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Reporting & Writing for Digital Media ("Digital Media RWI"), 8 points

Several sections of RWI are tailored for digital media concentrators and taught jointly by print and digital media professors. The course will cover the same reporting techniques as other sections, plus reporting in digital media. Because Digital Media RWI is an eight-credit course, digital media students DO NOT take any of the Specialized Reporting/Writing Electives listed below.

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Essentials of Journalism

This program includes four required courses, each half a semester long. Full-time M.S. students will take two the first half and two the second half, in varying order. All courses will be taught in morning and afternoon sessions on Fridays. Students will be automatically assigned to these courses.

Law of Journalism, 1 point
Instructors: George Freeman, Stuart Karle, John Zucker
This course provides students with a practical understanding of legal issues that most affect journalists today. Students will get a basic understanding of the First Amendment, and will move from there to learning about privacy, defamation, libel, copyright and fair use of content, agreements with sources, and rules governing liability and torts for journalists. Many of these issues will be addressed within the changing contexts brought on by the Internet.

Business of Journalism, 1 point
Instructors: Adam Klein, Jeff Klein
This course will give students a basic understanding of the business of gathering and publishing news. Students will learn about models that have historically supported print and broadcast outlets, and then will examine the disruption in those models caused by the digital transformation. Students will learn about new news organizations, as well as business models for stand-alone journalists. At the end, they will be challenged to make presentations about business models for the future.

Ethics of Journalism, 1 point
Instructors: Alisa Solomon, Richard Wald
In this course, students will deal with ethical issues that often arise in the practice of journalism. Those include verification of information, the relationship between personal morality and journalistic decisions, issues brought up by competition and the ubiquity of news, and the impact the Internet has on forcing decisions within narrow time frames or with differing audiences. The class will rely heavily on case studies developed at the Journalism School.

History of Journalism, 1 point
Instructors: Richard John, Andie Tucher
How has the role of the journalist changed over the decades? This course will look at the influence of partisanship, technological change and varying definitions of objectivity to examine how journalism has been transformed. It will include an examination of several factors, including important court cases, major news events and significant changes in delivery systems, including radio, television and online.

Note: Part-time M.S. students are permitted to enroll in Journalism Essentials on Friday mornings with the full-time students in lieu of taking evening sections of Critical Issues and Journalism, the Law & Society for two points each; see Fall 2010 Courses for Part-time M.S. Students, below.

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Master's Project

3 points in fall semester; 3 points in spring semester

In its scope and duration, the master’s project is a student’s most sustained effort. In terms of credits and priority, however, it should be kept in perspective with the rest of the curriculum. The project is not a thesis in the traditional academic sense, but rather an in-depth exploration of a topic as a journalist would pursue it.

Master’s projects can take a variety of forms, including print, digital media or broadcast (radio or video).

There are two types of video projects -- a documentary done by a team of two or three, requiring a third semester (see below); and a hybrid, done by an individual student, that combines a video of six to eight minutes with a print story of around 2,500 words.

All students are eligible to do print projects. Digital-media and broadcast projects, including hybrids, are limited to students within those concentrations.

Students work on radio, hybrid and print projects individually; students doing video or digital-media projects typically work with one or two partners. Students wishing to do a digital-media, hybrid or video project must submit a proposal early in the fall semester. That proposal is then examined by faculty, whose approval depends on a variety of factors, including the strength of the proposal, the appropriateness of the story for the proposed medium, and a student's ability to execute the project, including aptitude with required equipment and software, and access to necessary sources. Approval for digital, hybrid and video projects is not guaranteed. Students whose video, hybrid or digital pitches are not accepted will either do a print project or, in some cases, join another digital or video team.

Regardless of medium, students will be assigned an adviser who will help them select a topic, fix its focus and structure the interviews and research. The adviser(s) also will provide guidance in terms of organizing, writing, rewriting (and re-recording, where appropriate) the various versions. Students begin meeting with their adviser(s) in early October, and continue to do so through the completion of the project in late March of the second semester.

If you are a full-time student, or are a part-time student planning to undertake the project in the next two semesters,* and you already have an idea of the subject area on which you’d like to focus your project, please indicate this on your fall ballot. You should do this even if your preferences are tentative. We will attempt to match advisers with students according to their mutual interest areas, when possible. If you don’t have a topic in mind yet, that’s fine, too. You’ll get plenty of advice here. Many of our best projects are conceived of after students arrive at Columbia.

* Please note that part-time students opting to do their master’s project over during the academic year (fall/spring), must be available on Friday afternoons for group meetings.

Master’s Project Requirements
Every student carrying out a print project must meet the minimum requirements of 1) a proposal; 2) an early outline; and 3) three drafts or edits. Some variations are permitted at the discretion of advisers. The broadcast (see below) and digital-media faculty have slightly different requirements.

Students must meet with their advisers early during the fall to develop a topic. That topic must be fixed by Nov. 11. Serious work on the project will proceed during the fall as well as over the winter break. A “billboard” or brief description, preliminary outline and list of likely sources must be submitted to your adviser by Dec. 1. The results of your initial reporting and interviews are due by Dec. 16. The first draft is due on Jan. 17, 2012. The second draft is due Feb. 20, 2012. The third and final draft must be turned in no later than the end of the spring break, March 20, 2012.

You should stay in close and frequent contact with your adviser(s), who will explain the school’s expectations and requirements for completion of the project.

Choosing a Topic
You should consider a topic that is significant, interesting, and feasible and will sustain your interest over months of research. You don’t have to already be an expert on the subject; indeed, a good reporter becomes an expert. You should also choose something that has sources who are able and willing to be interviewed.

For both logistical and educational reasons, the topic must focus on the New York area — that is, the student must collect most of the necessary information, and interview characters in person, in the city or its nearby environs. You may need to do phone or email interviews with people outside of New York, and collect information online, but that should be a lesser part of your overall reporting effort. Projects that need reporting in a foreign country will not be approved. Projects needing substantial reporting outside of the New York region are discouraged.

Print projects should run between 5,000 and 7,000 words; in rare cases, they may go longer if the material requires it and if the adviser so recommends. With approval of advisers, print projects can include digital elements, such as slide shows, photo galleries and/or audio clips. Projects executed in broadcast or digital media vary according to the complexity of the material involved.

Required Third Semester for Video Master’s Project
Students who were admitted to the video documentary master's project will be staying for an additional semester — either the summer or fall of 2012 — to complete their work. The faculty believes that high-quality, 30-minute documentaries need more time than our standard program permits.

Students admitted for the third semester should be aware that they will not have completed their graduation requirements by the end of the second semester and will therefore not be eligible to participate in graduation ceremonies until May 2013. They will not be marching with most of the students with whom they began the program.

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Specialized Reporting/Writing Electives (RWII), 3 points

These 10-week courses focus on news beats, such as international reporting or business reporting, or writing techniques, such as feature or profile writing. Faculty assign an average of three writing assignments during the semester, along with regular reading assignments, though that varies depending on the class and instructor. Most electives begin in October and include a weekly 2- to 3-hour class meeting on Monday, Wednesday, Thursday or Saturday.

Specialization is continued and expanded in the spring term in the Advanced Reporting/Writing Seminars.

Print students should ballot for one of the classes below. Broadcast and Digital Media students do not take an elective.


RWII: Course Descriptions

Argumentative Journalism
Instructor: Todd Gitlin
Mon., 5 to 7 p.m.
This course is concerned with how well and how badly journalists do at making a case, and how to cultivate the art of making it better.  Each week, we will conduct a close reading of articles of varying lengths that make more or less explicit arguments.  We will probe for their strengths and weaknesses and give reasons for our judgments.  We will examine rhetorical strategies and conflicts between logic and persuasiveness. We will investigate how weak arguments can be combated and strong arguments improved. We will frequently consider the differences between arguments and opinions, and explore how it came to pass that attitude substituted for argument.

The Art of the Profile
Instructor: John Bennet
Mon., 7 to 9 p.m.
This elective offers an in-depth chance to read, study and write profiles. The reading list includes such authors as John McPhee, Jane Kramer, Calvin Trillin, Gay Talese, Susan Orlean and Joan Didion. Students will write two short profiles and one long one. Your work will be critiqued in class and edited in detail. (A version of this class will be offered in the spring.)

Business and Financial Reporting
Instructor: Tom Herman
Mon., 6:30 to 9 p.m.
This course is an introduction to the basic concepts and tools of business reporting, designed for students interested in the field as well as those planning to specialize in other areas. The dynamics of business are at the heart of many journalistic subjects, so learning how to make sense of business news and bring it to life are invaluable skills. We will study these subjects both through readings, by following and discussing news stories throughout the semester, and by analyzing classic business articles. Several short features, as well as in-class writing exercises, will be assigned. We will cover effective methods for conceiving and pitching stories, identifying and interviewing sources, story structure, and writing. Several class sessions will feature guest speakers from major business and general-interest publications. (A more in-depth version of this course will be offered in the spring.)

Cost and Effect of Digital Media Journalism
Instructor: Emily Bell
Mon., 5 to 7 p.m.
The purpose of this course is to introduce students to the current and evolving challenges facing journalists in the digital newsroom, challenges that go well beyond reporting, writing and production. The modes of story construction, presentation, distribution, curation, and monetization have all radically changed, and journalists must be adept at understanding these issues and how they ultimately affect the success of their stories and their news organizations. Students will learn about the multiple pressues and resource decisions facing digital journalists in newsrooms and how this can inform their reporting and editing decisions. For those with an entrepreneurial bent, it will give them an insight into how to build a story, project or start-up and how to budget and make decisions in terms of both content and delivery. The course will be a balance of lectures and practical workshops. Through the semester, students will be presented with up-to-date case studies of how digital newsrooms are dealing with the issues of audience and interaction, data and design, changing business models, and the development of the new news story. Using this information, students will identify problems or opportunities in the journalism industry. They will present a plan for a product, project or business which will serve a journalistic purpose. Students must demonstrate an understanding of scale, sustainability and real-world costs of media production. Students will be given a hypothetical cash limit, to be used to prototype their projects. This final project will be aimed at a general audience, but it can show knowledge of specialty areas.

Covering Conflict
Instructor: Judith Matloff
Thurs., 5 to 8 p.m.
Covering overseas conflict poses unique challenges to reporters and is one of the trickiest ethical areas to navigate.Your reporting and writing can get someone killed — including yourself. The aim of this course is to prepare you to think critically and to help you know how to work effectively in volatile situations. We will also discuss such practical matters as how to find fixers, use satellite technology, and navigate mined roads. We will examine how technology and the globalization of 24-hour news have changed the nature of war reporting; how to be a patriot and maintain objectivity; what the pitfalls are of embedding; and how to get beyond spin. Each student will “adopt” a crisis and track coverage through the semester. The first assignment will prepare students to parachute into a strange country. Then, two news analyses will train you to think about the implications of breaking news, with particular focus on the causes of fighting and possible solutions. (A version of this course will be offered in the spring.)

Covering Immigration
Instructor: Teresa Puente
Weds., 5 to 8 p.m.
There are few issues in the world today that are as crucial and defining as immigration.  Even the war against terrorism is often framed as an immigration challenge -- that is, who gets to enter the country, and who is refused entry.  Students will work in print, video and audio to examine immigration-policy issues -- from statewide legislation such as Arizona's SB1070 to the national debate over the DREAM Act -- and their impact on immigrants in the New York area.  Students also will use digital formats to track national and local immigration news and showcase their work.  No video experience necessary.

Cultural Affairs Reporting and Writing
Instructor: Troy Patterson
Mon. 6 to 9 p.m.
This course deals with a broad range of culture -- film and literature, folk and pop, museum shows and reality shows and onward. Our aim is to begin mastering both the craft of arts reporting and the practice of critical writing. As reporters, students will work to understand the news values and questions particular to this sphere; as critics, to develop talents for analysis, argumentation, and charm. We will closely read classic profiles, recent reviews, influential essays, and the like, and we will also study big-picture theoretical texts by way of developing a historical and conceptual grounding. The reading list will include such authors as Joan Acocella, Martin Amis, Manohla Dargis, Clement Greenberg, Clive James, Pauline Kael, Robert Hughes, George Orwell, Lillian Ross, Gilbert Selses, Susan Sontag, George W.S. Trow, David Foster Wallace, and Oscar Wilde. Writing assignments will range from a 150-word capsule review to a 3,000 word profile. Students will receive detailed responses to these assignments and, in discussion, from their classmates. (A more in-depth version of this class will be offered in the spring.)

Destination Out: Foreign Reporting Off the Beaten Path
Instructor: Howard French
Weds., 6 to 8 p.m.
Foreign correspondents enjoy an image as the most seasoned and trusted of reporters.  This class will take a close look at what happens when reporters are thrust, most often by crisis or emergency, into coverage of places that receive at best only episodic attention from the world's media, focusing on examples drawn from Africa, Asia and Latin America.  It will examine some of the pitfalls of working in places that tend to be unfamiliar to reporters and editors.  The aim of the course is building better reporters: people who can ramp up quickly, for sure, but also who take seriously the need to study history, appreciate the nuances of culture and keep up their guard against cliché and conventional wisdom.  Students will be expected to participate in in-depth discussions of weekly readings on individual countries or crises aimed at raising their cultural awareness and appreciation for the use and misuse of history in journalism. Working foreign correspondents will be guests on occasion. During the course of the semester, students will be required to write three papers, including two criticisms of current foreign newspaper or magazine coverage and a longer, heavily reported essay on a foreign topic of the student's choice.

Eight Hundred Words
Instructor: Kevin Coyne
Thurs., 7 to 9 p.m.
The column – 800 words of story, voice, idea and opinion, in varying proportions  – has always been the three-minute pop song of our business, and it has become an essential building block of the Web: the blog, the posting, the musing, the reflection, the anecdote, the kind of brief essay that requires minimal scrolling. So how can we get better at this form, regardless of the medium? In this class, we’ll read a wide range of work, from the earliest newspaper columnists to the latest bloggers. We’ll bring more reporting and substance to a form that now often strays from the ethics and practices of its roots in print. Through four assignments – four 800-word stories of varying subject, tone and purpose – you’ll work on making your voice more rigorous, fluent and persuasive, and always concise.

Narrative Writing
Instructor: Jonathan Weiner
Wed. 7 to 8:30 p.m.
All of the best stories in journalism, whether as short as a column or as long as a book, share the same basic narrative principles, and the aim of this course is to master those principles, to study them in the work of others, and to apply them to your own.  The first few sessions are spent in an overview of the narrative form, discussing how to recognize, report, structure and write stories that move confidently though time, place and character.  The remaining weeks proceed through a series of more specific technical issues using dialogue, choosing and depicting characters, compressing and expanding time, managing transitions, providing historical context, establishing a voice.

News Editing
Instructor: Robin Reisig
Thurs., 6-8 p.m.
This class teaches future editors how to make stories more accurate, engaging, informative and richly textured. It should also help writers to hone their language skills and make stories flow and sing. In addition to copy and line editing, the class discusses creating new websites, sections or publications, and how to come up with story ideas. For a key assignment, you watch an editor at work, in news meetings and editing stories. (The instructor can help you find willing editors.)

Personal and Professional Style
Instructor: Judith Crist
Tues., 1:30 to 5:30 p.m.
The nature and demands of this course make it necessary to limit the class size. It is offered to students who have mastered the basic mechanics and techniques of journalistic prose and are interested in developing and refining a personal literary style within a journalistic framework, appropriate to editorials, columns and reviews. The emphasis is on form, structure and semantics for effective and original approaches to specialized writing. There are basic assignments and free-choice exercises, with concentration on self- and intra-group criticism. Prospective students must submit one sample of their best writing and, in no more than 350 words, a statement of their interest in the course. These are submitted via this application form.  More information available here. Applications are due by 10 a.m. on Monday, July 11.

Photojournalism
Instructor: Howard French
Mon., 6 to 8 p.m.
This is a course for aspiring photojournalists and for students who wish to include photography among their reportorial skills. Students will gain experience by shooting news and feature stories, and will develop individual photo essays and professional portfolios. This class addresses both the technical aspects of photography and the practical and ethical issues faced by the working photojournalist. Students must ballot for a photo skills class in the beginning of the fall semester or demonstrate to the instructor (with short note in the notes section of the ballot) agility in dealing with SLR cameras and relevant software. (A version of this class will be offered in the spring.)

Science Writing
Instructor: Jonathan Weiner
Thurs., 7 to 8:30 p.m.
This course will instruct students on the art and craft of writing about science for a general audience. Students will learn how to extract information from the scientific literature, interview scientists, analyze the importance of newly reporting research, report on scientific controversies, and unearth compelling human narratives from the mass of published scientific data. Particular emphasis will be placed on the importance of critical thinking in assessing and characterizing new scientific developments. In addition, there will be a significant emphasis on developing the kind of prose skills that are essential for the unique burdens of science writing, which include explanatory journalism and translating the social implications of technical information into the broader cultural idiom.

Social Impact of Mass Media
Instructor: Andie Tucher
Weds., 6 to 8 p.m.
In this course we explore the social consequences of what journalists do and the complex relationships between the press and the public. Through readings, class discussions, and close observations of media past and present, we locate the work of journalism in its social, historical, and theoretical context, focusing on such topics as the media’s obligation to society; relationships between the press and the theory and practice of democracy; the media and storytelling; social ramifications of new technologies and new economic structures; and how the media are implicated in our perceptions of time, space, memory, and identity. This is a 13-week course that begins the first week of the semester.

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Skills of the Journalist

1 point per class (These are 5-week mini-courses.)
Please see the Fall 2011 schedule for class times and dates.

Aggregation
Anyone who works in a newsroom today -- reporters, web producers, researchers -- needs to understand the fundamentals of aggregation. From the Huffington Post to the Washington Post, aggregation is used to serve readers' immense appetites and create new narrative forms. It's also become the go-to reporting method when journalists' access is restricted. Students will learn how to assess and assimilate information, using Twitter and YouTube, and new tools like Storify. The course will also cover the doctrine of fair use and the legal limits of aggregation.

Audio Storytelling
This course is open to all full-time students and those part-time students who began the program Summer of 2009 or thereafter, except for full-time students in the broadcast concentration. It provides more advanced training in interviewing, writing, and producing audio reports for radio and other platforms. Students will work in the digital audio libary. Each student will select one assignment for this class to post as a podcast online.

Investigative Skills (not for Stabile students)
Students will learn advanced applications of computer-assisted reporting, and will be able to find a variety of hidden documents useful to good journalism: court records, pollution and safety studies, campaign contributions, filings of tax-exempt organizations, child abuse and industrial safety statistics, corporate records, etc. 

Photojournalism (Print and broadcast concentrators only)
This class builds upon photo instruction that students receive in August; they will begin working with digital SLR cameras, using manual settings. Students will also use Photoshop's advanced image and color-correction tools. Photojournalism skills classes are open to broadcast and print students only; digital concentrators will cover these skills in Digital Media Newsroom. This skills class is required for students planning to take the photojournalism elective in the fall or spring unless they can already demonstrate agility in dealing with cameras and relevant software.

Social-media Skills for Journalists
This course will help journalists use social media (including Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn) to find story ideas, trends and sources; connect with readers and viewers; and promote their own work to new audiences. The students will learn best practices as well as what to avoid in this fast-changing world. Many journalists already use these tools, but the course will take that knowledge to new levels with practical, actionable lessons in how best to navigate social media. Topics covered will include ethics; etiquette; new third-party tools; the changing journalist-source relationship and more.

Stabile Investigative Skills (Stabile Students Only)
This is a 10-week course on the tools that investigative journalists use for their research and reporting. The course will focus on the skills that watchdog journalists need: interviewing, document and database searching, data analysis, data visualization and computer-assisted reporting. It will also help students conceptualize investigative projects and run them through the process that journalists go through in the course of their investigations. All Stabile students will be automatically registered for this class.

On-Air Reporting Skills (Broadcast Students Only)
This skills class is designed for broadcast concentrators considering a career in front of the camera. This is not a class about how to look your best on air. While strong delivery is certainly a component of effective broadcast reporting, all the presentation skills in the world won't cover weak reporting or a weak script. Students in this class will hone skills they'll already be working on in RW1: structuring stories for broadcast; writing to picture; figuring out whether the presence of a reporter helps to advance a given video story; voicing; and doing standups and live interviews.

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Internship

0.5 credit
A student who, with the prior approval of the Assistant Dean of Students and the Office of Career Services, undertakes an internship at a media organization can earn 0.5 credit if the work consists of serious journalistic enterprise. At the conclusion of the internship, the student must submit a written description of what he or she has accomplished and learned, and an official of the media company must send a separate letter corroborating that and evaluating the student’s performance. You do not request this class via the ballot. More information on internships is available via the internship link on the Career Services page.

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Fall 2011 Courses for Part-Time M.S. Students Only

The following courses are not open to full-time M.S. students.

Covering National Politics, 6-point seminar
Instructor: Thomas Edsall
Mon., 6 to 9 p.m.
This course will focus on politics and policy-making in the 2011 session of Congress, looking through the lens of resource competition at a time of scarcity. The course will examine in detail the partisan forces at work in the drafting, committee work, and ultimate outcome of major pieces of legislation. Students will write about the progress of legislation, explore interest-group rivalry, and the reasons for the success or failure of legislative initiatives. The course will make use of lobbying and campaign finance reports; will track the activities of trade associations and other stakeholders; and observe the actions of members of Congress, constituents, organized pressure groups, the media, and the executive branch. A version of this course will be offered to all M.S. students in the spring semester.

TV Reporting and Writing, 3 points
Instructor: Marquita Pool-Eckert
Sat., 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
This class will introduce TV News production -- shooting, editing, interviewing, writing and reporting for video journalists. The course builds upon the skills already acquired in RWI. It emphasizes storytelling based on accurate reporting, clear concise writing and good visuals. Students will learn to edit video on Final Cut Pro and shoot their own video with school cameras: JVC HM GY-100. Students will be expected to pitch story ideas and to complete them on deadline.

Critical Issues in Journalism, 2 points
Instructors: Richard Wald
Weds., 6:30 to 8:30 p.m.
This required course explores the social role of journalism and the journalist from legal, historical, ethical, and economic perspectives. This course begins Sept. 14. It is open to part-time students only.

Journalism, the Law & Society, 2 points
Instructor: George Freeman
Tues., 6 to 9 p.m.
Class meets on the following dates: 9/20, 9/27, 10/4, 10/11, 10/18, 10/25; 11/8, 11/15, 11/22 and 12/6. The course examines the current and historic conflicts between journalists and jurists over fundamental First Amendment issues such as libel, privacy, prior restraint against publishing the news, protection of sources, the right to gather news, and national security. Broadcast regulations, including the Fairness Doctrine and questions of equal time and access, are also explored. Reading includes texts of landmark cases. Sessions at the end of the course concentrate on practical aspects of libel and invasion of privacy. This course is open to part-time students only.

Note: Part-time M.S. students are permitted to enroll in Journalism Essentials on Friday mornings with the full-time students in lieu of taking evening sections of Critical Issues  and Journalism, the Law & Society for two points each; see Fall 2011 Curriculum, above.

Digital Media Newsroom, 3 points
Instructors: Kenan Davis, Betsy West
Mon., 5:30 to 8:30 p.m.
This course, which is restricted to and mandatory for digital-media concentrators in the Part-time Program, is the prerequisite for all digital-media workshops in the spring semester as well as digital-media master's projects. It will introduce students to multimedia storytelling and newsroom work flow. Students will work with several digital-media tools, including Web page production; photography and image editing; audio and video editing; blogging; data analysis, etc. This course will help students understand how newsrooms are combining the best of traditional reporting and editing with the latest digital storytelling techniques. This course is open to part-time students only.

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