LOCAL MEDIA: CREATING A LOCAL NEWS PRODUCT:



COURSE DESCRIPTION:

In this optional 4th year Journalism course, students create a local news product in print, broadcast or digital format (a blog or website). This means students will discover and experience the creation of this local product from beginning to end, step by step. Students will be able to apply the theoretical and practical knowledge that they have acquired during the course in the same way that they would do in the real world of local journalism.

This course will be taught in the classroom, online, or with a combination of classroom and online formats.

COURSE GOALS AND RESULTS:

1- Apply the main news genres and formats to local news products.

2- Search, select, and analyze different news sources, adapting local news content to specific narrative forms and strategies.

3- Develop skills and apply techniques, technologies and resources to local communication and information processes.

4- Design the formal and aesthetic aspects of local news content in accordance with different media formats.

5- Think up, plan, execute and manage new local communication projects.

6- Use different argumentative and linguistic resources to achieve the type of message suited to the target audience of a local media format.

7- Implement the different stages of development of a business organization in the creation of a local media outlet.

COURSE CONTENTS:

1-Hyperlocal news in context

2-The withdrawal of local and regional news journalism

3-Coverage in hyperlocal news

4-Inside the hyperlocal newsroom

5-Stages of development in the creation of a local news product

5.1- Design of the local news media: group members, objectives and target audience

5.2- Design of the company: production process, organization chart, infrastructures, financial planning, type of company

5.3- Production of the local news media: database with sources, reporting and writing process for each story

5.4- Distribution and marketing campaign: planning, social media strategies

5.5- Tasks performed by each member of the group

5.6- A sample of the local news media: screenshots for online media, a pilot program for radio or television, a number zero for print media

The course will be taught in person in the classroom, in an online format, or in a mixed (in person and online) format, through the eGela platform. Theoretical and practical assignments will be done in groups.



CLASS TIME: THEORY AND PRACTICE:

The subject is divided into four-hour weekly sessions.The students will be divided into subgroups for the practical assignments, which will be done inside and outside the classroom. Students will have to prepare a topic to present in class as well as produce and distribute a local news product.



GRADING SYSTEMS AND CRITERIA:

-Ongoing evaluation system (continuous evaluation for theory and practice during the semester in groups).

-Final evaluation system (individual one-time evaluation for theory and practice in the first call exam for those who do not follow the ongoing evaluation)



The final score is divided into three parts:

1-Development and presentation of a topic: 30 points

2-Creation of a local news product: 70 points





To pass the course in the ongoing evaluation system, students must develop and present a topic in groups, and each student must attend 75% of the practical classes. Students must pass both the theory and the practical parts separately in order to pass the course. The passing grade for the theory is 15 out of 30 points, and the passing grade for the practical part is 42 out of 70 points.



As part of the ongoing evaluation system, students will be able to keep the passing grade for either the theory or the practice for the recall exam in June. This means that they will have failed the course in January.However, they will have to retake only the failed part (theory, practice or both) in the recall exam in June.



STUDENTS ARE ENCOURAGED TO BRING THEIR COMPUTERS TO THE CLASSROOM IN ORDER TO COMPLETE THE REQUIRED THEORETICAL AND PRACTICAL ASSIGNMENTS.

• Continuous Assessment System
• Final Assessment System
• Tools and qualification percentages:
  • Realization of Practical Work (exercises, cases or problems) (%): 70
  • Team projects (problem solving, project design)) (%): 30

Warning:

The evaluation system will be used both in face-to-face and distance learning.



The final score of the course is divided into three parts. The grades will be the same for all group members.

1-Development and presentation of a theoretical topic: 30 points.

2-Creation of a local news product: 50 points.

3- Class exercises: 20 points (minutes of practical classes, progress reports, conferences).



FIRST CALL EXAM IN JANUARY:

Those students who choose not to do the ongoing class evaluation during the semester will have to do the final evaluation. The final evaluation will have a theoretical and a practical part. For the theoretical part, students will have to prepare an oral presentation and a written analysis of a local mass media outlet (30 points). For the practical part, students will have to write and produce an original local news product and prepare and oral presentation about it (70 points). Both the theoretical and the practical parts of the final evaluation will be done individually, and they will have to be followed up and supervised by the professor before their final delivery and oral presentation.



Students who have failed the course but passed either the theory or the practical part in the first call exam in January will only have to take the failed part (theory, practice or both) in the recall exam in June. In that case, the final grade in January will be a fail.



Students can waive their rights to the ongoing evaluation system during the semester as long as they communicate their decision to the course professor in writing by November 5, 2021. Students can also waive their rights to the final evaluation system (first call exam) if they communicate their decision to the course professor in writing by November 19, 2021.



Students must pass both the theory and the practical parts separately in order to pass the course.

RECALL EXAM IN JUNE:

Students who have failed the course in the first call in January will have to retake the failed part (theory, practice or both) in the recall exam in June.



The recall exam in June replicates the structure of the first call exam in January both in the theory and in the practical part, as well as in the passing grading criteria.



Students must pass both the theory and the practical parts separately in

order to pass the course.

Basic bibliography

HARTE, D.; HOWELLS, R.; WILLIAMS, A. (2019): Hyperlocal Journalism. The decline of local newspapers and the rise of online community news. Oxon: Routledge.

In-depth bibliography

AIESTARAN, A. (2009): “Herriko informazioa: kazetarion probaleku eta eskola”. En: Ramirez de la Piscina, Txema (ed) Kazetari aditua unibertso digitalean. Bilbao: Udako Euskal Unibertsitatea.
CEBRIÁN ENRIQUE, B. y MIRÓN, L. M. (2013): Áreas del periodismo. Sevilla: Comunicación Social Ediciones y Publicaciones.
CHICAIZA CAJAS, K. (2018): Las redes sociales y sus efectos en el periodismo local: Las redes sociales Facebook y Twitter y sus efectos en el Periodismo Local. Madrid: Editorial académica española.
FRANCO, G. (2008): Cómo escribir para la web. Bases para la discusión y construcción de manuales de redacción ´online´. Austin: Centro Knight para Periodismo en las Américas, Universidad de Texas.
GALÁN, E.; RODRÍGUEZ SERRANO, A.; MARZAL FELICI, J. (2018): Contenidos transmedia para la radiotelevisión de proximidad. Pamplona: Universidad de Navarra.
LÓPEZ GARCÍA, X. (2004): Desafíos de la Comunicación Local. Guía para la práctica de la información en los ámbitos de proximidad. Sevilla: Comunicación Social Ediciones y Publicaciones.
LÓPEZ GARCÍA, X. (2008): Ciberperiodismo en la proximidad. Sevilla: Comunicación Social Ediciones y Publicaciones.
SANAGUSTÍN, E. (2017): Plan de contenidos para medios sociales. Barcelona: Editorial UOC.

Journals

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

Web addresses

-http://www.somosmalasana.com
-http://www.vilaweb.cat
-http://www.zonaretiro.com
-http://www.granadaimedia.com
-http://www.tualbacete.com
-La comunicación local por Internet: http://books.google.es/books?id=UOrmLV_GyOYC&dq=comunicacion+local&printsec=frontcover&source=bl&ots=59iY-6hCWs&sig=8-_BXTHinTM5Y1FBaqjSaUzIY20&hl=es&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=5&ct=result#PPA15,M1
-http://www.euskaltzaindia.net/arauak/
-Vademécum de Español Urgente: http://www.agenciaefe.com/esurgente/lenguaes/
-Gramática y ortografía española: http://www.indiana.edu%7Ecall/lengua.html
-Guía de la comunicación de Euskadi: http://www.lehendakaritza.ejgv.euskadi.net/r48-2629/es/contenidos/informacion/es_kom_gida/es_es_kom/es_kom_gida.html
-http://topagunea.eus/
-http://goiena.eus/
-http://hitza.eus/
- http://anboto.org/
-http://www.herrikolore.org