News-reporting events calendar

Goal: Everyone in COMS104 should cover at least two live events (Communication Week speeches and panels highly recommended) -- ideally covering them in time to turn in first drafts, get comments, and revise the stories before the last class. (If you have an event the last week of class, a single draft will be accepted, but talk to the professor about it in advance.)

Events DO NOT have to be on this calendar to be eligible, but contact the professor with a story proposal if you have an unlisted-event story idea.

Off-limits ideas: Do NOT write a story about an organization you are part of. Reporters are outsiders. That is, if you are in the RU Garden Club, its spring plant-a-thon is a good idea for someone else to cover. DO tell us about it so we can list it here!

Breaking news: If you witness an unexpected hard-news event -- a house fire, a train wreck, a flood in the parking lot, a campus protest demonstration, etc., you may cover it for class without advance notice. Also offer it to The Tartan or WHIM! Take good notes, interview officials, get names and quotes from people involved and/or witnesses, get call-back numbers so you can double-check with your sources. Identify yourself, truthfully, as a journalism student getting a story for a class assignment and possibly for publication in the school paper. Write the story as soon after the event as possible.

Tartan and Whim assignments ARE acceptable, but turn in your draft the way you wrote it before any editing, not the published version polished by your student editors.

Help expand this list: Watch RU News, Next Three Days (although that would be short notice) and even VT News, campus bulletin boards, Twitter feeds, kiosks and email for newsworthy events that are not on this calendar. Tell the professor early so he can add them here! For instance, Earth Day and related activities should turn up at the end of April, but I haven't seen specifics yet.

Story deadlines: Pretend you are working for a daily or twice-weekly newspaper; get your first draft written the night of the event while your memory and notes are still clear. Review everything the next morning -- go online to double-check facts, confirm spellings of names in the RU directory, etc. Try to submit the finished draft via Desire2Learn within 48 hours of the event. Name it yourlastname-topic.doc If you file the story later than that, include a note explaining why. If you know you have problems with basic grammar and sentence structure, you may review your draft with the LARC writing coaches, but include a note saying what help you received.

Reporting Process: Take great notes. Describe people and places. Use an audio recorder if you have one, but don't trust it. Does someone have distinctive mannerisms or clothing that might be relevant to the story? Snap pictures with your phone to help your memory. Get details. Count the number of people in an audience. Talk to speakers and audience members at the end. When you hear public speakers or interview people, get their names and identifier-information ("Sue Jones, a Radford economics major from Staunton," etc.) Politely ask for their phone numbers or email addresses so you can double-check your notes or call back for more information.

Identify the people you quote. Avoid anonymous sources; they usually can't be trusted.

("This was just boring, but I had to attend for class," said a disgruntled young man in a red hoodie, who walked out after 20 minutes and said he didn't want to be identified because he thought his professor might be offended and give him a bad grade.) -- Who knows whether he's telling the truth?

Don't make up anyone or any quotes. That's cheating. You'll get an "F" for the course.

If you know in advance that you will have to wait before finishing the story because of your class schedule or other conflicts, then take even MORE and BETTER notes.

Final exams

Check your exam schedule early. If you have three exams on one day, ask whether you can take the 104 exam with the other class. If you are scheduled for the Tuesday exam and miss it for any reason, contact the professor to see if there is room in the Thursday exam classroom.

Revised stories or make-up work should be submitted by the last class meeting, May 2, or (with permission) by Saturday, May 4.

The exam will consist of writing a story during the two hour session, using facts (an interview transcript, etc.) provided to you.

To Bob Stepno's COMS104 page