Topics in Media Studies

Spring 2006 Semester

The class will run from Jan. 23 to May 6, 2006, and registration will close when the class limit of 20 students is reached.

Course Description: A comprehensive graduate-level online course on the theory and practice of scholastic and student newspapers in the secondary and college environment, including important aspects of advising or publishing a school (student) newspaper. The course will cover the role of student-produced media in a school or college community, basic news writing, interviewing, editing, journalistic ethics, legal issues, censorship, layout using desktop-publishing programs, repurposing for websites, printing, advertising and circulation.

Prerequisites: Four-year degree (BA) from an accredited institution. Teaching certificate is not required.

Enrollment limit: 20
(download application form, pdf format)
Time and location: Off-campus, online distance learning course
Instructor: Ron Miskoff (bio)

Required textbook:
Scholastic Journalism, by Tom E. Rolnicki, C. Dow Tate, and Sherri Taylor. Iowa State Press, 10th ed., 2001. ISBN: 0-8138-2751-5

Recommended textbooks:
The Quark Book, by David Blatner
Learning Photoshop, by David Blatner
Associated Press Stylebook and Briefing on Media Law, Norm Goldstein, editor

Material To Be Covered in the Course:

1. The unique role of student-produced media in the school community. The student media in both high school and college have a unique role in the United States in that they have First Amendment protections and traditions of independence. But they both serve a wide group of stakeholders, from administrators and school board members to deans and boards of trustees — as well as parents, teachers, students and even local advertisers. The course explains how student newspapers of all sorts can serve multiple roles as a means of communication for the community, an educational experience for students and a representation of the institution.

2. News gathering, writing and reporting. How to function as a journalist in a high school setting. Locating stories, generating story ideas, computer-aided reporting, interviewing techniques, how writing for journalistic publications differs from general writing and how to carry out investigative reporting on a high school level. News judgment and newspaper conventional techniques.

3. First Amendment Issues. Freedom of information, organizations that help students, where to get aid, which court cases bear on high school journalism, how to handle complaints both informally and formally. Ethics issues, including ethics codes used by national organizations, such as Gannett and the Society of Professional Journalists. Relationships with the students and with the administration and board of education. How to protect the rights of the students.

4. Desktop Publishing. Fundamentals of QuarkXPress and Adobe Photoshop and description of characteristics of Adobe Illustrator. How to create uncluttered layouts in Quark, understanding printing techniques so that the photos print properly. Use of color and color theory. Types of paper, printing on a web press as compared to a sheet-fed press. Dot issues, halation, tiling, photo formats (tiff, gif, bmp and jpeg ), bitmap vs. vector graphics, clip art, resizing, rotating and .ipping, and the relevant issues. Setting parameters and preferences, measuring, master pages. Use of The Quark Book by David Blatner and Blatner’s Learning Photoshop.

5. Photography. Issues dealing with chemical-based .lms and digital photography. Scanning, use of Adobe Photoshop, half-toning, dot gain, adjustment layers, technical issues that prevent good pictures from printing properly. Cameras and lenses, monopods and tripods, high school sports, events and aesthetic considerations, concept of photojournalism and how it differs from all other photography.

6. Layout techniques. How to build a page, use of headlines, cutlines and art. Modern layouts as opposed to layouts that were designed using hot type. Sectioning, proper use of double trucks and typography. Vertical vs. horizontal layouts. Use of the Newspaper Designer’s Handbook by Tim Harrower.

7. Printing. Theory of lithography (offset printing) vs. xerography. Negatives and plates, types of papers (newsprint, offset, coated), bundling, types of inks (soy vs. traditional), recycling and the environment.

8. Advertising in newspapers. How it works, how to get advertising, how to service advertisers, how to set up rates and packages, where to find prospects, how to set up and proof ads. Billing and collections.

9. Internet publishing. Techniques of building web pages, saving for the web, uploading, servers, programs that create web sites, tour of existing web newspapers. Compatibility issues, color and sound. Issues that will be relevant in the future.

This course is offered by the Rutgers University Journalism Resources Institute in cooperation with the Masters Program in Communications & Information Studies of the university’s School of Communication, Information and Libraries Studies.

For more information, please contact Guy Baehr, Associate Director, Journalism Resources Institute at gbaehr@scils.rutgers.edu or call (732) 932-7500 x 8024.