Dr. Christopher Anderson
Class Time / Room: Monday, 10:10 –2:15, 5N / Room 103
My Office: 1P / Room 232A
Office Hours:    Monday, 2:30 – 4:00; Thursday, 1:00 – 2:30

Required Texts

•    Bill Kovach and Tom Rosenstiel. The Elements of Journalism: What Newspeople Should Know and the Public Should Expect
•    Clay Shirky. Here Comes Everybody: The Power of Organizing Without Organizations
•    Online course reader of collected texts.

Course Learning Objectives

•    To understand the current state of the journalism industry: its economic difficulties, the rise of DIY media, and prospects for reinvention.
•    To produce an entrepreneurial journalism “project plan” that will meet an existing media market need.
•    To have a keener sense of how to get a job in the current journalism job market.
•    To become a more intelligent consumer and producer of media content.

Course Description

The world of journalism as we know it is undergoing a fundamental transformation. Many of the stylistic conventions, technologies, and media business models that were common in the industry only a few years ago have changed completely. No one knows, actually, what the future of journalism—as either a job or an industry—will be, including your professor.

All anyone does seem to know is that we are entering a period of flux and experimentation in the journalism industry, and that many people – especially young people—are coming up with new companies, products, and ideas for what the future of journalism will be. We call these people “journalism entrepreneurs,” and you will be assuming the role of a journalism entrepreneur in this class. In short, you are going to be coming up with a new journalism business, based on an understanding of both journalism and business.

Course Requirements

This is the grading breakdown for the course. To receive a passing grade for the class, students must meet all requirements. Missed assignments will automatically result in a failing grade.

Because this is both an upper-level college class and a practically oriented classes designed to help students produce an entrepreneurial “project plan” to meet an existing media-market need, you will have both practically oriented assignments and scholarly readings. If you are confused by any of the readings, or are having trouble keeping up, please be certain to come see me during my office hours right away.

Participation (15%)
In Class Drill Assignments (20%)
Quizzes (10%)
Midterm (20%)
Final Project (35%)

General Class Structure

If you look ahead to your schedule of classes, you’ll see that this class consists of three basic elements: readings, lectures, and drills and discussion.

Readings: You will be expected to complete a number of readings over the course of the semester, and your knowledge of these readings will be tested on the midterm as well as on in-class quizzes. Some of the readings will be found in The Elements of Journalism, by Bill Kovach and Tom Rosenstiel, and Here Comes Everybody, by Clay Shirky. The rest of your readings can be found online as part of your online course packet. You many want to print these readings out, so make sure you have access to a good printer when you download them.

Lectures: At least the early part of most classes will consist of a lecture and some general discussion of the topic at hand.  These lectures are not a substitute for the readings, but rather compliment and expand upon them.

Drills and Discussion: On many weeks, you will be given either an in-class work assignment that you will complete, or will be given a longer assignment as homework that you will then discuss in small groups. Most of these assignments will be geared toward preparing you to complete your final assignment: an entrepreneurial journalism “project plan”

Media Consumption: You will expected to read, on a daily basis, the following websites:

* Romenesko < http://www.poynter.org/column.asp?id=45>
* Nieman Lab (to which I occasionally contribute)  < http://www.niemanlab.org/>

This is not an optional assignment; the future of journalism is a continual “work in progress,” and the only way to know what is going to happen in the media industry is to stay continually informed. You should take weekly notes on your readings, because you will need to go back and refer to them often.

Midterm Test

You will have a midterm that will test your knowledge of both the assigned readings and your regular consumption of online content (discussed above).

Final Project

The completion of a large final project is the primary purpose of this class, and will thus count for 35% of your final grade.

The project will be the description of a new journalism business that you want to create, and that you need money in order to build. You will be pretending that you are trying to raise money for the project, and are making a presentation to a group of funders who may or may not give you money, depending on the quality of your project.

You will be working on various parts of this project over the course of the entire semester, but ultimately, you will be responsible for putting together the entire package at the conclusion of the term. The parts of the project will include:

•    A project description
•    An elevator pitch
•    A need statement
•    A rough operating plan
•    A funding request

Quizzes

Students will be given randomly assigned quizzes during the course of the semester. These quizzes will count for 15% of your final grade, and will cover both the assigned readings and your consumption of online “news about the news.”

Attendance

Students are expected to attend every session of “Entrepreneurial Journalism.” According to college policy, unexcused absences exceeding 15% of course hours can result in a WU grade. 15% of the classes in this class would be two sessions or more. Bottom line: don’t miss class.

In the event that a student must miss a class due to religious observance or family emergency, students must provide advance notice, in writing, of days missed. In the event of class missed due to illness, students must provide the instructor with a doctors’ note. No exceptions.
Plagiarism

Plagiarism is a major—perhaps the major—academic offense a student can commit as an undergraduate, graduate student, or as a scholar. Plagiarism is defined as either (1) failure to acknowledge the source of ideas not one’s own or (2) failure to indicate verbatim expressions not one’s own through quotation marks and footnotes. Plagiarism is a growing problem on college campuses across the nation, largely due to growing technological ease in accessing already composed papers and sources of information. For this reason, I personally will be relentlessly unforgiving regarding any suspected cases of plagiarism this semester—and I will check. There will probably not be a second chance in this regard, and I will recommend the strict enforce university policy for all cases of plagiarism. Bottom line: don’t do it. If you have any questions, please talk to me before you write rather than afterward. For more information, see the CUNY Policy on Academic Integrity: http://www1.cuny.edu/academics/info-central/policies.html. For a guide on how to cite your sources well, see http://www.library.csi.cuny.edu/?option=com_content&view=article&id=130

In order to ensure a respectful and attentive classroom environment, electronic devices (mobile phones, PDAs, digital music players, etc.) must be turned off and stored during class. Use of such devices during class time is prohibited without permission granted by the professor, in cases of real emergency. Unapproved use of such devices (web-surfing, text-messaging, etc.) in class will count as unexcused lateness.

That said, there will be times when we use the internet for in-class assignments, so you should make sure you are prepared.

Schedule of Classes

February 1
Class Introduction.
IN CLASS READING: Shirky, “Newspapers and Thinking the Unthinkable.”
DRILL: My journalistic future.

February 8
READING DUE: Kovatch and Rosenstiel, “Introduction,” and “Chapter One,” from The Elements of Journalism.
LECTURE:  What is journalism?
SCREENING: His Girl Friday / All the Presidents Men

February 18
READING DUE: Shirky, “It Takes a Village to Find a Phone,” and “Everyone is a Media Outlet,” from Here Comes Everybody.
LECTURE: Here comes everybody?
DRILL: Blog reading summary: current issues, conundrums, prospects.
HOMEWORK: Initial write-up of project proposal.

*** NOTE: CLASS THIS WEEK IS ON A THURSDAY ***

February 22
READING DUE: Downie and Schudson, Reconstruction of Journalism (pg 1-72)
LECTURE: The breakdown of journalism
DRILL: Group discussion of proposal, feedback, and revision
HOMEWORK: Revised project proposal

March 1
READING DUE: The Media Consortium, The Big Thaw: Charting a New Future For Journalism (Volume II only!!, pgs 1-31)
LECTURE: The rebuilding of journalism
DRILL: From proposal to elevator pitch.
HOMEWORK: Revise elevator pitch.

March 8
READING DUE: “2005 Report: The Rise of the Freelance Class.”
GUEST LECTURE: Michael Ventura: Freelance Journalism
DRILL: Journalistic goals.

March 15
READING DUE: Shirky, “Personal Motivation Meets Collaborative Production,” “Collective Action and Institutional Challenges,” and “Faster and Faster,” from Here Comes Everybody
GUEST LECTURE: Nathalie Roudriguez: New collaborative media, new institutions
DRILL:  Factoring in the social

March 22
*** IN CLASS MIDTERM ***

*** SPRING BREAK: MARCH 29 – APRIL 5 ***

April 12
READING DUE: Jurnos: Case Studies
< http://jurnos.wikispaces.com/Case+studies>
GUEST LECTURE: Renee Feltz: New journalism, new journalists
SCREENING (tbd)

April 19
READING DUE: McQuarrie, “Nature and Characteristics of Market Research,” from The Market Research Toolbox: A Concise Guide for Beginners
GUEST LECTURE: What do people need? Market research
and journalism
DRILL: Initial project need statement
HOMEWORK: Revise community need statement and conduct needs research

April 26
READING DUE: Jurnos: Anatomy of a Launch
< http://jurnos.wikispaces.com/Anatomy+of+a+Launch> and Jurnos: Business Assessment
< http://jurnos.wikispaces.com/Business+Assessment>
GUEST LECTURE: The business of journalism
DRILL: Initial business plan
HOMEWORK: Revise initial business plan statement

May 3
DRILL: Out of class work on completing final presentations and one-on-one meeting with instructor

May 10
Final presentations, part one

May 17
Final presentations, part two