This course is geared to students majoring in Journalism, Advertising & Public Relations and Broadcasting as a gateway to learning the techniques of Newswriting for the Media. On the one hand, lab assignments are intended to teach students the basic elements to write a news story (headline, lead, nut graph, body…). On the other hand, theory classes introduce students to journalistic genres, news routines, and journalistic ethics involving news sources, selection of stories, and the different legal and economic contexts in which media professionals develop their work.

A1- Learn the main features of the language and structure of news stories.

2- Learn to write news stories using a basic narrative structure.

3- Value the journalistic relevance of facts and sources.

4- Become acquainted with the journalistic and socioeconomic conditions that surround mass media and media professionals.



Students are expected to:

1- Distinguish the textual features of news stories.

2- Write news stories using the inverted pyramid structure.

3- Express the value of the main elements of a news event.

4- Describe the rights, legal boundaries and media management context involving the practice of journalism.

1- Journalism and the interpretation of facts.

2- News language and features. Textual, visual and mixed news genres.

3- Writing a news story. The concept of a news story. False events. Quotations and attributions. Types of news stories.

4- News headlines. Types and features of headlines. Elements of headlines.

5- News leads. The first paragraph. History and types of news leads. The 5 Ws.

6- The body of a news story. The nutgraph. The inverted pyramid. Other textual structures.

7- News values. The concept and effects of agenda setting and gatekeeping. Criteria for news selection.

8- News sources. Definition and types of news sources. Source attribution.

9- The legal context in the practice of journalism. Freedom of information and its legal boundaries. Professional secrecy and conscience clause. Codes of ethics.





10- Media monopolies in Spain. From the state quasi-monopoly to the multimedia companies. The main media corporations. Circulation and audiences.

11- Online journalism. Origins and evolution of online journalism in Spain. Online journalism features. Online news genres.



NEWS ASSIGNMENTS (14 weeks):



Each student shall bring to class their laptop computer. Laptops shall be previously charged, to work with autonomy during lectures.



The following news assignments are done weekly in the school´s classrooms (not in the multimedia labs) and each assignment session takes two hours:



1- Traffic accident with deadly victims

2- Crime story with deadly victims and additional elements

3- Crime story with deadly victims, additional elements and quotes

4- Crime story with deadly victims, additional elements and quotes (2)

5- Crime story with deadly victims, additional elements, quotes and background

6- Crime story without deadly victims, additional elements and quotes (1)

7- Crime story without deadly victims, additional elements and quotes (2)

8- Crime story without deadly victims, additional elements, quotes and background

9- Turning a simple feature story into a news story

10- Turning a simple feature story with quotes and background into a news story (1)

11- Turning a simple feature story with quotes and background into a news story (2)

12- Turning a simple feature story with quotes and background into a news story (3)

13- In-depth rewriting of any story written during the semester (1)

14- In-depth rewriting of any story written during the semester (2)

The subject is divided into four-hour weekly sessions: two hours for master lessons and two hours for lab assignments. Master lessons will be given in the lecture room assigned to the group. The teaching of these lessons will be reinforced with multimedia resources. The students will be divided into subgroups for the lab assignments, which will be done in the lab and outside the classroom. Students will have to write and rewrite news stories, and use quotations and attributions properly.

• Continuous Assessment System
• Final Assessment System
• Tools and qualification percentages:
  • Written test to be taken (%): 40
  • Realization of Practical Work (exercises, cases or problems) (%): 60

ORDINARY CALL FOR EXAMINATION



Students will have the choice to take either a final exam or an ongoing evaluation, but not both. That said, it's therefore clear that students who take ongoing evaluation will not be allowed to take the final exam in January. They will have to take the recall exam in June.



a) Ongoing evaluation



Practice. The student will take two exams (practical exercises) during the semester.



Theory. The student will take one exam during the semester.





In order to have the right to take the ongoing evaluation, the student will have to prove a class attendance of at least 80%.



b) Final exam:



In January, students will have to pass an exam that covers both theory and practice, including the lessons and the news assignments taught in class. The exam will last around 3 hours.

The theory exam will consist of a set of questions about the topics discussed in class. Students will have to answer these questions concisely. The weight of the theory exam in the final grade will be 40%.



The practical exam will consist of a practical case: students will have to write a news story about an event using the information given in the exam. This practice exam will include similar story types to those done in class. The weight of the practical exam in the final grade will be 60%.



A requisite for passing the subject is to take both parts (theory and practice) and pass each one of them.



Students will have to obtain at least 2 points out of 4 in the theory exam and 3 points out of 6 in the practical exam. Once both parts (theory and practice) are passed, the grades will be added in order to obtain the final grade.



In case students pass one part of the course in the ordinary exam, the mark of the exam will be saved for the extraordinary call in June.







RESIGNATION:



The last day to resign the continuous assessment is 11th November. The student who decides to resign, will send the refusal to the lecturer.

Students who have failed the final exam in January –either the theory, the practice or both– will have to take the recall exam in June. The recall exam replicates the structure of the first call exam in January both in the theory and in the practical part.



In case students pass one part of the course in the ordinary exam, the mark of the exam will be saved for the extraordinary call in June.

Basic bibliography

RECOMMENDED TEXTBOOK:



HARROWER, T. (2013). Inside Reporting. A Practical Guide to the Craft of Journalism. New York: McGraw-Hill.



KEY BIBLIOGRAPHY:



Rich, C. (2015). Writing and reporting news: A coaching method. Cengage Learning.



Gillan, C., & Evans, H. (2010). Essential English for journalists, editors and writers. Random House



Spencer, L. (2004). A Step-by-step Guide to Informative Writing. The Rosen Publishing Group, Inc.

In-depth bibliography

IN DEPTH BIBLIOGRAPHY

Froke, P., Bratton, A. J., McMillan, J., Sarkar, P., Schwartz, J., & Vadarevu, R. (2020). The Associated Press Stylebook 2020-2022 and briefing on media law. The Associated Press.

Puckett, T. (2010). The National Geographic Style Manual. National Geographic Society.

Wroe, A. (2018). The Economist Style Guide. Profile Books

Reah, D. (2002). The language of newspapers. Psychology Press.

Graham, S., MacArthur, C. A., & Fitzgerald, J. (Eds.). (2013). Best practices in writing instruction. Guilford Press.

Barton, D., & Papen, U. (Eds.). (2010). The anthropology of writing: Understanding textually mediated worlds. A&C Black.

Conboy, M. (2013). Journalism studies. Routledge

Journals

AdComunica
Ámbitos
Estudios sobre Mensaje Periodístico.
Comunicación y Sociedad.
Comunicar
Doxa.
Jakin
Palabra Clave.
Revista Latina de Comunicación.
Telos
Textual and Visual Media
Trípodos
Uztaro
Zer. Revista de Estudios de Comunicación.

Web addresses

NEWS AGENCIES

Associated Press. https://apnews.com/

EFE (English edition). https://www.efe.com/efe/english/4

Reuters. https://www.reuters.com/

United Press International. https://www.upi.com/