Spring 2007
(and TV studio in Atlas building)
Friday 1-2:50, Armory 218
Professors Lee Hood and Paul Daugherty, Staff Contact Information
Teaching Assistants Tara Kurtz and Ambree Garrett
NewsTeam web site:
¨ Course Objectives
This class will function as a television newsroom. You will gather information, write, shoot and edit stories, and organize and produce a live half-hour newscast. We will also maintain our web site, www.newsteamboulder.com, as a news resource for the community. As much as possible, we will contribute to daily newsgathering operations for the Campus Press web site, www.thecampuspress.com. Our goal is to cover news, not just produce a “show,” to be a journalistic organization rather than just stenographers or repeaters of information from other news organizations. You will be expected to represent diverse perspectives in our community and avoid misrepresentation or harm to individuals, groups, or alternative points of view. The course is also designed to help advance your professional skills. If your goal is to work in news, there is no better experience than working on a live newscast and with a daily web news operation. If your goal is some other aspect of broadcast production or communication, the writing, presentation and video skills you receive here, as well as the experience of working on a deadline, will prove valuable.
¨ Class Organization
For the first three weeks of the semester we will all meet on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays. This will be a refresher course on writing and reporting, digital editing equipment and cameras, exposure to web basics, and a chance to practice on-air performance in the ATLAS studio. Those who will be producing newscasts will receive training in that aspect of live newscasts.
The last week before we start live newscasts, we will have dress rehearsals to make sure we're ready to go. Once we start rehearsals and newscasts, you will be assigned to either Tuesday or Thursday mornings and will have the alternating morning off.
On Friday afternoons, we will review the week, plan upcoming newscasts, and discuss contemporary issues in broadcast news. Everyone is expected to attend the Friday afternoon class.
NewsTeam does not operate like a traditional class. There will be no mid-term or final exam. For most of the semester, your time will be devoted to producing material for your newscasts and for our web site as well as occasionally for The Campus Press. This class demands a fairly big time commitment, but we hope you will find the investment pays off!
¨ Required Materials
Three mini-DV videotapes (JVC works best)
Stopwatch or other timing device
¨ Texts
There are no required texts. However, we recommend three that we think you would find helpful:
Broadcast News Handbook: Writing, Reporting & Producing in a Converging Media World, C.A. Tuggle, Forrest Carr, Suzanne Huffman, McGraw-Hill (2nd edition 2004; 3rd edition 2006).
The Broadcast Journalism Handbook: A Television News Survival Guide, Robert Thompson and Cindy Malone, 2004, Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group.
It Takes More Than Good Looks To Succeed at Television News Reporting, Wayne Freedman, 2003, Bonus Books.
¨¨ Read, Watch and Listen
Besides assigned readings from the textbook, you are required to keep up with the news. Read the newspapers or on-line news sources, listen to radio news (such as KOA-850AM, campus radio 1190AM, or NPR), and watch television news. You will greatly enhance your newscasts and sportscasts when you come to class informed.
¨¨ Grading
Grades will be based on portfolios of your best work, along with your performance in the weekly newscasts, and other assignments/quizzes throughout the semester. You can earn extra credit for original copy stories, extra packages, VO/SOT's or VO's to the newscasts*, as well as contributing video or stories to Campus Press. Spot news, exceptional enterprise reporting, or breaking a story will be rewarded accordingly. Points will be deducted for not doing your share of work on joint projects, as well as for tardiness and unexcused absences. (See more on punctuality and absences below.)
Grades will be divided as follows:
Portfolios 60%
Weekly newscasts 25%
Other assignments 15%
*For vo's and vo/sot's, original work means something you or a classmate has shot, not something taken off CNN or another source (including CU student live coverage of sporting events). Original copy stories are ones for which you have gathered all the information, not ones that originated in the newspaper or from a story on a web site.
¨ ¨ Script Review on Packages
To help you improve your stories before they air, script review with Lee or Paul is required on all packages, both news and sports. You may do this in person, by phone, or by e-mail. Plan ahead to allow enough time to shoot additional elements, if necessary. It is imperative that you get script review before editing. Failing to get script review will result in a deduction from your weekly grade. We also encourage you to talk over your story ideas with us before you even shoot them, so we can help you in the process of developing well-balanced, well-sourced stories.
¨ ¨ Other Important Notes
Attendance/Punctuality: You are expected to attend every class, and unexcused absences will impact your grade. Reliable attendance and punctuality are imperative not only in TV News but in any profession. We expect you to be in class and on time. Punctuality and attendance points will count as part of your grade. Please note that poor punctuality and lack of positive participation in class can make the difference of a letter grade or more.
If you have a genuine emergency, please notify us prior to class, if possible. Any assignments missed due to unexcused absences may not be made up. If you will miss class due to religious observances, please notify us beforehand.
Deadlines: Meeting deadlines is a fact of life in broadcast news. Assignments not turned in on time will receive an automatic reduction in grade.
Academic Honesty: CU has adopted an honor code to promote a culture of academic integrity within the University. The code can be found at http://www.colorado.edu/academics/honorcode/
A word of warning: Turning in work that is not your own will result in failure on the assignment, possible dismissal from the class and/or other actions provided for in the honor code. You are not allowed to have people outside of NewsTeam do any of the work on your stories without prior approval, including shooting, editing and any other creative/editorial work. Plagiarism also includes turning in written assignments in which you represent someone else's work as your own and/or do not properly attribute source material.
In addition, you may not turn in work from another class for credit on NewsTeam.
Special Accommodations: If you qualify for academic accommodations because of a disability, please submit a letter from Disability Services (DS) early in the semester so that your needs may be addressed. DS determines accommodations based on documented disabilities. For more information, contact 303-492-8671, Willard 322, www.colorado.edu/sacs/disabilityservices.
¨ ¨ About Our Newscasts
NewsTeam will air on Tuesdays and Thursdays, live at noon and replayed at 6 and 10 p.m. on Boulder cable channel 63 and campus channel 22. Newscast dates will be Feb. 13-Apr. 26. Our newscasts will also be replayed on BTV – Boulder TV – cable channel 54. We cover primarily Boulder news -- what happens on campus, in this city or county, or news that impacts the people at CU and the surrounding community. Viewers have other options for national news, and even for Denver news. We are their best option for truly local television news.
We also offer streaming video on our web site, newsteamboulder.com, when our newscasts are on, and reporter packages are uploaded to the web site, so friends and family can watch your stories!
¨ ¨ About the Teaching Staff
Lee Hood
Lee has almost 20 years of experience in TV news producing and writing, many of them in Denver. She produced the 10 p.m. newscast at KUSA (Channel 9), where her shows won regional Emmys in hard news and spot news reporting. She has also worked at KCNC (Channel 4), KMGH (Channel 7) and KWGN (Channel 2) in Denver. Before returning to her home state of Colorado, she produced and anchored newscasts in Huntsville, Alabama. She also has experience in reporting (both news and sports), photography and editing, and worked in radio and newspapers before starting in television. Lee holds a Ph.D. and MA from CU and a bachelor’s degree from the University of Missouri.
Paul Daugherty
Paul is an award-winning producer and founder of Doghouse Productions in Boulder. He has a master’s degree in broadcast journalism from CU. He has 15 years of television experience, having worked a majority of his career with PBS, producing numerous documentaries and public affairs shows. He continues to produce original documentaries, including the current series Zoo Keeper Journal, shot in Africa, Australia, and New Zealand. Paul is a Colorado native with family in New Zealand and Australia. He has an adopted koala named Belvedere, who lives in Australia's Ballarat Wildlife Sanctuary.
Teaching Assistants:
Tara Kurtz (Web Editor, Video Editing)
Tara is pursuing a master’s degree in broadcast journalism. She is originally from Corpus Christi, Texas, and received her undergraduate degree from Southwestern University in Georgetown, Texas, in English and Communication Studies. She has had internships with KMGH and KUSA in Denver, as well as with Women’s Magazine in Boulder. She took NewsTeam in the fall and is now back in a new capacity.
Ambree Garrett (Executive Producer)
Ambree is a senior Broadcast News major who will be graduating in May. She is originally from Monument, Colorado, and is interested in pursuing a career as a television producer, either in news or entertainment. She was a producing intern at the CBS affiliate in Colorado Springs last summer and was also a producer for last semester's NewsTeam.
Back to course home page