Hofstra University

School of Communication
Department of Journalism, Media Studies, and Public Relations

JRNL 10 -- Journalism Tools (3 semester hours).

Instructor Information
Mo Krochmal, Assistant Professor of Journalism, Media Studies, and Public Relations
Hofstra University, School of Communication

Website: http://krochmal.synthasite.com

Office Telephone: 516 463 4338

Hofstra E-mail: maurice.krochmal@hofstra.edu

Personal E-mail: mo.krochmal@gmail.com

Office: 147 Dempster Hall

Fall Semester Office Hours

Tuesday – 10:00 a.m.-11:30

Thursday – 10:00 a.m.-11:30

And, by appointment.

Every student enrolled in this course is responsible for understanding and complying with
the information, requirements and policies contained in this syllabus. Please read this
syllabus thoroughly so that you are familiar with the format, policies, requirements and
any deadlines. You should also have it for reference throughout the rest of the semester.

DISABILITIES

If you have any documented disability-related concerns that may have an impact upon
your performance in this course, please meet with me within the first two weeks of the
semester, so that we can work out the appropriate accommodations. Accommodations are
provided on an individualized, as-needed basis after the needs, circumstances and
documentation have been evaluated by the appropriate office on campus.

For more information on services provided by Hofstra, and for submission of

documentation of your disability, please contact:

Ann Marie Ferro in 101 Memorial Hall at 516 463-5341 (for physical and/or
psychological disabilities) or Dr. Diane Herbert in 202 Roosevelt Hall at 516 463-5761
(for learning disabilities and/or ADHD).

All disability-related information will be kept confidential.

COMMUNICATION

Please make sure that you forward your Hofstra e-mail address to your favored e-mail address.
The professor may send you class or individual information through your official Hofstra e-mail
address.

COURSE DESCRIPTION

Journalism Tools is just what it sounds like. It’s about the tools journalists use. Journalists in the
multimedia age need a variety of skills and tools to effectively tell their stories to the public and
succeed in the profession. This course will introduce students to a number of different tools
journalists use to gather information, audio and pictures/video as well as produce the stories for a
converged media environment.

GOALS

The journalism program aims to make sure students are exposed to the skills they will need in
multimedia journalism early in the program and then go on to master them in later, specialized
classes, which will explore and use the tools more in-depth. This class is an introductory class,
which will set students on that path.

OBJECTIVES

Students who go through the Journalism Tools class will become familiar with a variety of
technical methods of gathering and disseminating news stories. The class is not expected to give
students a mastery of any one tool, but instead will expose them to a variety of tools available for
their use in journalistic storytelling.

Students will learn the basics of gathering information through interviews, covering events,
record searches, computer databases and other online sources. They will also be introduced to
the use of audio recorders, digital still photography and videography and their use in news
gathering. The ethics of their uses will also be explored.

Students will learn how to use computers and software for writing and editing copy, HTML for
online journalism, information graphics, plus simple audio and video editing and digital image
manipulation. They will also learn how to put stories together for the department’s online news
outlet, Nassau News. As part of that, students will be required to work three hours a week in the
department’s multimedia newsroom.

Tests on lectures and graded exercises using the actual equipment will help assess how well
students learn the skills and perform with the journalism tools.

REQUIRED TEXTS/READINGS

Multimedia journalism is a new and growing field. We will use two textbooks to cover the range
of tools that this course addresses.
Available at the student bookstore, this is your official textbook for this course:
"Convergent Journalism, an Introduction." By Stephen Quinn, Vincent F. Filak. 2005, Focal
Press Title, ISBN: 978-0-240-80724-9.

Available for free download is the second required text at

http://www.kcnn.org/resources/journalism_20/, is
“Journalism 2.0: How to Survive and Thrive. A digital literacy guide for the information age”
Download, print out and put in a binder.

In addition to the required readings in the textbooks, you are required to keep up with the news.

GRADING CRITERIA

No letter grades will be given for papers, tests, quizzes or projects during the semester. You will
receive points (based on 100 for each). At the end of the semester I will add up the points and
weight them according to the percentages listed below. Your points then will determine your
grade based on this scale:

A = 95- 100
A- = 90-94
B+ = 88-89
B = 84-87
B- = 80-83
C+ = 78-79
C = 74-77
C- = 70-73
D+ = 68-69
D = 64- 67
F = 0-63

There will be several projects, tests and quizzes during the semester that will determine your
grade.

Assignments 60%
Midterm Exam 10%
Final Exam 10%
Class participation 15%
Quizzes and attendance 15%
TOTAL 100%

ATTENDANCE POLICY

Attending class and arriving on time will be important to your grade. There are no grace days;
every day counts for attendance. Attendance will be taken at the start of class. If you tell me a
few weeks after a class that you were there, I will be sympathetic, but will not excuse the
absence, relying on the attendance as the official attendance roster. Internship/job interviews,
doctor’s appointments, late night at The Chronicle, etc. are not excused absences. You must
provide documentation for funerals, sickness when you return to class. If you miss class, you
must communicate with me via e-mail that day you missed the class to explain why.

ASSIGNMENTS/REQUIREMENTS

See Course Schedule for assignments. Assignments are to be e-mailed to me by the start of
class. Use Microsoft Word without formatting and attach it to an e-mail with the Class and
Assignment in the subject line.

COURSE SCHEDULE

Class 1 -- Introduction: Getting to know each other, overview of the course.

Assignment: Write a 200-word blog post about what you learned about this class and the people
who are in it.
Write a 50-word professional profile of yourself. Include links to a Google search of you and
a link to your public Facebook profile as well as any other Internet references.

Read for Next Class:

Society of Professional Journalists’ Code of Ethics http://www.spj.org/ethicscode.asp
On the Wild, Wooly Internet Old Ethics Rules Do Apply
http://www.ojr.org/ojr/ethics/1092186782.php

Class 2 -- Understanding credibility, attribution, copyright, corrections and foundational ethical

considerations.

Assignment: Write a personal 50-word professional code of ethics based on your readings.

Read for Next Class::

Ch. 3, Ch. 10, Convergent Journalism

Class 3 – Convergence

Assignment: Write a summary of each of the chapters in 200 words. Separately, write a reaction
and set a goal for your learning in this course that reflects an understanding of your reading.

Read for Next Class: J-School: The Right Tools Teach the Right Mindset By Amy Gahran

Class 4 – Content management

Assignment: Access the class Wordpress site and your personal pages. Post your previous
writing in this order (profile, personal ethics, class goal). Make sure you have formatted it
correctly.

Read for Next Class: Ch. 4, Broadcast Writing and Speaking, Convergent Journalism
Class 5 – Reporting

Assignment: Conduct an interview with people not your friends on a current news event. Take
notes.

Read for Next Class: Ch. 7, Journalism 2.0

Class 6 – Audio / Sound

Assignment: Conduct interviews about news event using audio recorder. Gather natural sound.
Save it as an MP3 file.

Class 7 – Audio Editing

Assignment: Download your raw MP3 files and edit into an article using the free tool Audacity.

Read for Next Class: Ch. 7, Digital Still Photography, Convergent Journalism

Class 8 – Photography basics

Assignment: Take at least 72 pictures of a Day in the Life of a Classmate.

Read for Next Class: Ch. 8, Journalism 2.0

Going beyond Facebook pictures. Students will leave this session with knowledge that will
improve their skills in taking journalistically sound still photographs and writing full and
complete captions to accompany them.

Class 9 – Photo editing

Assignment: Edit your photographs into a 5-photo essay with complete captions.

Read for Next Class: Chapter 4: New Reporting Methods, Journalism 2.0

Class 10 – Computer Assisted Reporting

Assignment: Find 5 different verified sources for a news article using Facebook, Twitter,
MySpace, Linkedin, or YouTube.

Read for Next Class: Ch. 6, How to Report News for the Web, Journalism 2.0

Class 11 – Spreadsheets, Databases

Assignment: Find and evaluate 5 databases from public sources and export data to a spreadsheet
for analysis.
Read for Next Class: Ch. 6, Converged Graphics Across All Media, Convergent Journalism

Class 12 – Graphics

Assignment: Create a graph from your database exercise.

Class 13 – Research for Visuals

PROJECT DUE: Using your information from the first project create three separate graphics for
it

Assignment: Gather data, analyze, graph and pitch an article based on this data

Class 14 –Visuals

Assignment: Create an Explanatory Visual

How to do it in 450x450 pixels. Students will gather and prepare a simple visual information
news graphic for online posting.

Class 15 – Review for midterm

Class 16 – Midterm Examination

Read for Next Class: Ch. 8, Digital Video Photography, Convergent Journalism

Class 17 -- Videography techniques for news coverage. Flipcams to class to practice.

Assignment: Pairing up, students will read their profiles for video. These will then be uploaded
to the Internet for archiving.

Read for Next Class: Chapter 9: Shooting Video for News and Feature Stories, Journalism
2.0

Class 18 -- Simple video editing techniques.

Assignment: Go out on campus, take 30 minutes to gather three interviews on a news topic.

MovieMaker. Students will be introduced to editing techniques using Microsoft MovieMaker

software.

Read for Next Class: Ch. 9, Editing for Moving Pictures, Convergent Journalism; Ch. 10, Basic
Video Editing, Journalism 2.0.

Class 19 -- Practice video editing in class.

Assignment: Edit your videos into sound bites and place them on a timeline in MovieMaker.

Read for Next Class: Chapter 11: Writing Scripts, Doing Voice-overs, Journalism 2.0

Class 20 -- Writing a simple television VO/SOT

Assignment: Write a script for the story that goes with the video bites.

Class 21 -- Sound bites, b-roll: Bring to class two sound bites on a newsworthy Hofstra topic
and b-roll that you shot outside of class. Practice editing your VO/SOT.

Assignment: Edit your package, combing voice, video, b-roll, graphics

Read for Next Class: Journalism 2.0 Chapter 5: How to Blog

Class 22 -- Blogging

Assignment: Write a blog post on a news event with links. Write a script for a breaking news
event you are reporting live via stream.

Read for Next Class: Chapter 3: Tools and Toys, Journalism 2.0

Class 23 -- Flash

Assignment: Find and evaluate 5 Flash-based news items.

Class 24 -- Producing Flash slideshows

Assignment: Armed with a camera, gather pictures, audio and create a SoundSlides presentation.

Class 25 -- Podcasting, vlogging, mobilecasting

Assignment: Write a script for a 5-minute newscast for webcast, mobilecast.

Class 26 -- How everything comes together in the world of new media. What’s expected of
today’s multimedia journalists.

Read for Next Class: Journalism 2.0 Epilogue: Putting It All Together

PROJECT DUE: Create an audio slideshow of one of the stories you have previously reported.

Assignment: Evaluate your goal statement and report. Identify and link to 5 job ads.

FINAL EXAM PERIOD: Test covering the readings and lectures since the Midterm Exam.