This subject aims to provide the fundamentals specific for reporting in online media. With this purpose, it pays attention to the reporting skills according to the characteristics of online journalism (hypertextuality, multimediality and interactivity). The subject also examines the concept of online genres, their style, use and categorization.



As part of an educational innovation project run by the IKD3 laboratory at the University of the Basque Country (Educational Advice Service), the subject aims to implement six of the Transversal Skills (TSs) indicated by the university (2019):

- Innovation and Entrepreneurship

- Social Commitment

- Ethics and Professional Responsibility

- Information Management and Digital Citizenship

- Critical Thought

- Teamwork

These skills will be achieved by means of one of the students’ main practical and cooperative tasks: the creation of special multimedia reports with an entrepreneurial vision regarding matters linked to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Theoretical syllabus:



1. Introduction to online journalistic writing

2. Media system on Internet and working in online editorial offices. Trends in the sector: multimedia convergence.

3. The message on the web media.

3.1. Essential features of journalistic language on Internet.

-Hypertext and hypermedia: concept; hypertextual writing techniques (composition, structure and narrative strategy).

-Multimedia: concept; content convergence and crossmedia.

-Interactivity: concept and typology.

3.2. Web journalistic genres: style, features, uses and classification.

-News

-Report

-Chronicle

-Interview

-Infograph

-Opinion genres

3.3. Writing for search engines

-Basic SEO and web analysis

3.4. Content verification

3.5. Personal branding in Communication



Practical work consists of the development of a journalistic Project. It includes, at least, the following contents:



- Two journalistic basic contents (piece of news, interviews, chronicle…)

- One multimedia coverage and/or one multimedia report



Groups of students will work individually, collaboratively and cooperatively within and outside the classroom in order to design, plan and create in-depth news reports or websites offering a thorough coverage of areas linked to the SDGs. Each sub-workgroup must undertake the following tasks in these stages:

1. Preparation stage/Hackathon (group innovation). Subgroups work in order to think together and identify opportunities for entrepreneurship, innovation and the creation of public interest projects with different approaches (hyperspecialization in SDGs, microtargeting, etc.).

2. Analysis and market research stage. Each sub-group will evaluate the interest of the project in relation to the current media business and market, viability, etc. creating a multiplatform brand of its own (website and social media) and justifying the importance of the brand strategy used.

3. Product development stage (report, web documentary, special website, etc.) Each in-depth news product (special report or website) will be taken across to other media or communications sphere (transmedia approach) by means of public presentations, classroom debates, creation of podcasts, etc.



To pass the practical part and to support the aforementioned Works, complementary practical work is required:

- Promotion of contents through social networks.

-Use of different tools to create, among other possibilities, informative timelines, infographs and interactive pictures.



*All the practical Works will be handed in the established deadline. To pass the practical part of the subject, students have to hand in a detailed report that includes: the works developed during the quarter, their personal vision and assessment of the learning process, highlighting the challenges and achievements.

On-site tasks: attendance in lectures; lab practical works; presentations in classes; theoretical works



Off-site tasks: study of topics and exam; search of information and preparation of works/projects/practical tasks; readings and essays.



The project includes the SDGs and the development of complex skills through already known and implemented methodologies (Case Method, Problem- and Project-based Learning, and Cooperative Learning), incorporating Inquiry-based Learning (IBL) and Research-based Learning (RBL). All the tasks proposed in this section involve individual and cooperative working strategies. Furthermore, these are classroom-based tasks that are compulsory for the continuous assessment of the subjects.

Students that choose continuous assessment:



Theoretical part will be assessed with an exam that can be a multiple choice test or a written test (30% of the final mark). In case of being a multiple choice test, wrong answers can be penalized.



Current affair’s knowledge can be included in the exam.



To pass the practical part, students have to complete practical works in computer room (a minimum of seven exercises and a maximum of 14). Most of them will be individual, although some of them will be collaborative and require teamwork. The weight of each exercise in the final mark varies according to its degree of complexity. Plagiarism results in failing grade of the subject.



General factors about ordinary call:



To pass separately theoretical and practical parts is required to pass the subject.

Current affairs knowledge value: 10% of the final grade.

Practical part: 60% of the final grade.

Theoretical part: 30% of the final grade.

All the practical works are obligatory.



Students that choose final assessment:



* Students that cannot participate in the continuous assessment system have to follow article 8 of Regulatory rules for the assessment of students in Official Bachelor’s degrees. To renounce the continuous assessment, students have to follow article 8.3 of the aforementioned rules.





Students that choose final assessment have to hand in a journalistic web project with the practical works described in the section about ordinary call. This project represents 70% of the final grade. The rest, 30%, is related to a theoretical exam. This exam can include current affairs knowledge assessment. The exam can be oral or written.



In case of failing one of the two parts of the subject, passed part’s grade will be maintained only until extraordinary call.

Basic bibliography

ABRAMSON, Jill (2018): Merchants of truth. New York: Simon & Schuster.

CARR, Nicholas (2010). The shallows. What the Internet is doing to our brains. New York: WW Norton.

DE WOLK, Roland (2001): Introduction to on‐line Journalism. Boston: Allyn and Bacon.

HALL, Jim (2001). Online journalism: a critical primer. London: Pluto Press.

KAWAMOTO, Kevin (ed.) (2003). Digital journalism: emerging media and the changing horizons of journal. Lanham, Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield.

PARISER, Eli (2011). The filter bubble. What the Internet is hiding from you. London: Penguin books.

ROSALES, Rey G. (1998). The elements of online journalism.

RUSBRIDGER, Allan (2018). Breaking news. The remaking of journalism and why it matters now. London: Cannongate books.

In-depth bibliography

BASS, F. (2001). The Associated Press guide to Internet research and reporting. Cambridge Perseus. BOCZKOWSKI, P. J. (2004). Digitizing the news. Cambridge: MIT Press.
CRAWFORD, K.; (2000) Writing for the Web: Writers’ Edition; Self Counsel Press, USA
GUNTER, B. (2003). News and the Net. Mahwah, New Jersey: Erlbaum.
HERBERT, J. (2000): Journalism in the Digital Age. Theory and Practice for Broadcast, print and on‐line media. Oxford: Focal Press.
LORIMER, R. (2004). Online journal publishing. Waterloo: Wilfrid Laurier University Press.
MARTIN, S.; HANSEN, K. (1998). Newspapers of record in a digital age: from hot type to hot link. Westport, Conn.: Praeger. PAVLIK, J. (2001). Journalism and new media. New York: Columbia University Press.
RODZVILLA, J. (2002). We’ve got a blog: how weblogs are changing our culture. Cambridge: Perseus.

Journals

ZER
Estudios del Mensaje Periodístico
Comunicación y Sociedad
Textual & Visual Media
Análisi
Revista Latina
Trípodos
Ámbitos