Maria Burns Ortiz

Sept. 11: What’s important? Developing news judgment, objectivity. Basic copy editing

Reading: Writing and Reporting the News: Chapter 1-2, Appendix A

Powerpoint: News Judgment and Fairness

Assignment: Look at each of the New York Times’ 1A stories for Sept. 12. Write a 1-2 sentence assessment as to why each piece was selected for the front page.

Sept. 13: Types of news stories, 5 Ws (and H), Professional standards and ethics

Readings: Writing and Reporting the News: Appendix E-F
SPJ Code of Ethics
Avoiding Plagiarism in Journalism
Emerson College Policy on Plagiarism

Powerpoints:
Assignment 1 Feedback
Ethics
5Ws and H, Types of stories

Assignment: Look through the Sunday NY Times. Find examples of a straight news story, second-day story, a trend story, a news/spot feature, a profile, a service piece and a column. List the title and page number of the piece. Briefly summarize (one paragraph/piece – the paragraph doesn’t need tobe long) how you can determine the category that best describes the story. For the hard news stories (straight news and second-day), also point out the 5 Ws (and H).