Journalism 4984/7484, Magazine Staff
Summer 2010
Rob Weir
207 Lee Hills Hall
573-882-5057 (office)
WeirR(at)missouri(dot)edu
twitter: @robweir
AIM: jschooltiger
Office Hours
By appointment.
Magazine Office Phone Numbers
Reception desk (Kim Townlain): 884-1869
Fax: 884-1870
Vox: 884-6432
Magazine Office Address
320 Lee Hills Hall
Columbia, MO 65211
Objective
This class will give you experience as a member of a magazine editorial staff, specifically on Vox magazine.
You will exercise, develop and improve on all the journalism skills you’ve practiced in previous classes: reporting, interviewing, writing stories, writing display type (headlines, blurbs, captions and subheads), editing, proofreading, photo editing, and design (through your work with designers). You will practice editorial management, editorial planning and packaging, and teamwork skills. You will also get a crash course in digital reporting and publishing, with the goal of becoming acquainted with new media tools including blogging, visual storytelling, audio, video and data-driven journalism.
Course Requirements
This course will require anywhere from 12-20 hours of lab work, possibly even more, depending upon your own current skill and efficiency level.
Vox editors must be available for some portion of Monday and Tuesday nights and during scheduled class time on Wednesday mornings and early afternoons for final proofing steps.
There will be many short reading assignments, occasional homework or in-class assignments that will directly relate to your work as a magazine staff member. These responsibilities will be explained specifically in class. You as the staff member will be held responsible for your departments, pages or features. In fact, ownership and fulfillment of your responsibilities is a major factor in your grade.
We will be using the books The Layers of Magazine Editing and Journalism Next as required texts. See the attached reading schedule for specific assignments.
Grades
A grading session is held halfway through the semester, at approximately 6 weeks, and again at the end of the semester. Grades are based on:
• Deadline performance
• Professionalism (includes problem-solving ability, teamwork, and attitude as well as class and meeting attendance).
• Journalism quality (includes all aspects of your editorial pages: story, artwork, design, display type, which will be presented through your portfolio).
• Attention to packaging (titles, decks, subheads, sidebars, boxes)
• Feature editing performance
• Innovation and ideas
• Professionalism
There will not be a midterm or final in this class. Instead, you are expected to continue your staff position during breaks and finals week. The goal is to give everyone time off, but you must work ahead to meet deadlines or arrange coverage of your responsibilities.
In-class participation is vital and can rarely be made up. ATTENDANCE IS MANDATORY AND TAKEN EACH DAY. DO NOT ASK MYSELF OR THE TA’S TO SUPPLY YOU WITH WHAT YOU MISSED.
LAPTOPS, CELL PHONES, PDAS, IPODS (AND ANY OTHER SIMILAR DEVICE BEYOND A PEN AND PAPER) ARE TO BE TURNED OFF DURING LECTURE AND CRITIQUE HOURS UNLESS SPECIFICALLY REQUIRED FOR THE LECTURE OR ASSIGNMENT.
Please feel free to meet with me at any time to discuss grades or any other issue. Part of professionalism is seeking advice when needed to handle special concerns or problems or to propose new ideas or innovations.
Portfolio
You must keep a weekly log of your contributions to the magazine. This may be done in the form of a weekly memorandum, or you may simply keep copies of the work you do. When an issue is published, you may attach neatly written post-it notes outlining your contributions to different parts of the magazine.
You will find this portfolio useful to you and interviewers during a job hunt, as it will showcase your extensive participation much better than unmarked issues, and the notes will serve as reminders to you of the depth of your own role on many stories and pages that are perhaps not your primary responsibility. Your notes will give interviewers more confidence in your actual role than merely seeing your name on the masthead.
You will turn in your memos and/or portfolio of issues on the dates noted. Then individual conferences will be scheduled for the following week to review your portfolio. Preparing your portfolio will be easiest if you take a few minutes to do it weekly rather that waiting until it is due. Please see your orientation packet for additional information.
Deadlines
Students in magazine editing and other classes have certain class assignments that relate to our magazines. In order for those students to complete their required course work and also for each magazine to meet its publication schedule, you MUST meet your deadlines. We assume you will meet all deadlines for copy and art.
Working with Writing Classes
Frequently, you will be working with reporters at the Columbia Missourian. Use common sense and courtesy when editing work that may have already been edited by another faculty member. This doesn’t mean you don’t edit those stories; you do. Most of those faculty members have coached the writer only through a second and rarely a third draft. Magazine editors frequently work through even more revisions and edits with writers, as they take more time to polish stories. However, please do ask your student contributors how much a faculty member has edited. If you’re asking for a major overhaul, it’s a courtesy to the faculty member and great experience for you to explain why you think there’s a problem and what improvements you’re asking for.
Teaching Assistants
The editors, managing editors, and art directors are also the teaching assistants for this class. You will work closely with them, and they will be giving regular feedback that will contribute to your grade.
Your Home Away From Home
You’ll spend much time in the Magazine Office. We’ve tried to equip it properly and make it comfortable. We need your help in maintaining it well. Let us know if something is not working right. Also, please help us keep it clean and organized.
Academic Honesty and Integrity
The School of Journalism is committed to the highest standards of academic and professional ethics and expects its students to adhere to those standards. Students are expected to observe strict honesty in academic programs and as representatives of school-related media. Should any student be guilty of plagiarism, falsification, misrepresentation or other forms of dishonesty in any assigned works, they may be subject to a failing grade from the course teacher and such disciplinary action as may be recommended pursuant to University regulations.”
Academic misconduct includes some of the following: extensive use of materials from another author without citation/attribution, extensive use of verbatim materials from another author with citation/attribution, extensive use of materials from past assignments, extensive use of materials from assignments in other, current classes. For in-class exams, academic misconduct includes conferring with classmates, copying/reading someone else’s test and using notes and materials without prior permission.
Classroom misconduct includes forgery, obstruction or disruption of teaching, physical abuse or safety threats, theft, property damage, disruptive, lewd or obscene conduct, abuse of computer time, repeated failure to attend class when attendance is required and repeated failure to participate or respond in class when class participation is required.
The University’s M Book Rules and Regulations regarding student classroom conduct and
deportment, academic misconduct including plagiarism and falsification will be followed. Classroom misconduct will be reported immediately to the Graduate School or the office of the Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs. Academic misconduct allegations will be reported immediately to the Provost’s office.
In addition, if Vox must print a correction in a story for which you were editor, your grade for that grading period will be dropped by one letter. Additional action may be taken if you fail to accurately report a story or perform an accuracy check. If you plagiarize any portion of a story printed in Vox, you will fail the course.
If You Have a Disability
If you have special needs as addressed by the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and need assistance, please notify me immediately. A reasonable effort will be met to accommodate your needs.
Recent Comments