Day-by-day*

(** Class schedule is subject to change at discretion of instructor)

WEEK I:

Sept. 2: Review syllabus. Introductions and begin Overview. Rule No. 1 of political journalism — No Cheering in the Press Box.

Assignment: Write a 1-2 page short essay of your thoughts on the developments with Sarah Palin. If you were covering the story, what would you do differently? Or, the same?

DEADLINE: Start of Thurs. class.

READINGS:

* “Media Cheers Obama Speech,” The Hill’s Briefing Room.

* “Politics and the New Media: An Introduction,” Melissa Ludtke, Nieman Reports

* “New Media Battles Old to Define Internet-Era Politics,” John McQuaid.

* “Storm Scrambles GOP Convention,” Mike Allen and Jonathan Martin, Politico

Sept. 4: Finish introductions, syllabus review. Current events quiz #1.

DISCUSSION: Palin coverage: When is it ok to delve into the private lives of candidates? How about the private lives of family members? And, the role of political journalists in society.

Assignment: Please write a short analysis (three pages maximum, double-spaced) on the state of the presidential campaign. Please cite at least three news sources. Please pay particular attention to the role of the media so far. DEADLINE: Start of class on Sept. 9.

WEEK 2:

Sept. 9: Current events quiz #2. DISCUSSION: Continued discussion of role of political journalists in society and the state of the race. Divide up into small groups and outline five bullet points on role of journalists: Have roles changed? Role of political conventions and journalists?

READINGS:

* “Don’t Fear Twitter,” John Dickerson, Nieman Reports.

* “Overloads Slows Texts Announcing the No. 2,” Jose Antonio Vargas, The Washington Post.

* “Obama’s Speech and the DNC: Online Experiences,” Amy Gahran.

Sept. 11: Guest lecture (I’ll be at a conference.) Watch movie and write short two-page review. Attendance will be taken.

DEADLINE: Start of next class.

ASSIGNMENT: Review convention coverage.

WEEK 3:

Sept. 16: Current events Quiz #3.

DISCUSSION: How did we get here? What has changed in political journalism?

Sept 17: Last day to Add or Drop with no record

READINGS:

* “Dot-com Journalists: This Year’s ‘Men From Mars,’” Steve Fox, Aug. 1, 2000.

* “Convention Coverage Is a Failed Regime and Bloggers Have Their Credentials,” Jay Rosen.

* “Shifting Influence: From Institution to Individual,” John Harris, Neiman Reports.

* Preface and Ch. 1 in Perlmutter

Sept. 18: NO CLASS.

ASSIGNMENT: Read the three articles cited above and write a 500-1,000 words on changes in political journalism since 2000. DEADLINE: Start of class, Sept. 23.

WEEK 4:

Sept. 22: Extra Credit: Attend and take part in class blog discussion on talk by David Maraniss.

Sept. 23: Current events quiz #4.

DISCUSSION: The role of race in the campaign. Were journalists too critical/not critical enough of the racially-tinged comments by Bill and Hillary Clinton during the primaries? What role has race played in this campaign? Have journalists covered the role of race well or has it been lacking? Small groups will make presentations on their findings/conclusions during next class.

READINGS:

* “Why Horse Race Journalism Works for Journalists and Fails Us, By Jay Rosen.

* “For Campaign Coverage, Web Too Often an Afterthought,” Russ Walker, Nieman Reports.

* Ch. 2 in Perlmutter

ASSIGNMENT: Students will break up into teams of two and interview at least 3 undecided voters apiece prior to the debate and will then interview them after the debate and see how, if at all, their points of view were changed. Teams will give 5-minute oral presentations on their findings on Oct. 2.

Sept. 25: Group presentations on race and politics during the current campaign.

Also, set up one-on-one meetings for next week.

Sept. 26: First Presidential Debate.

WEEK 5:

Sept. 30: Current events quiz #5.

DISCUSSION: Candidates use of the Web. Divide into small groups to examine candidates’ and parties’ use of the Web. We’ll use department laptops for this class. Groups will gather information for small group presentations in next class.

READINGS:

* “Campaign 2008: It’s on YouTube,” Albert M. May, Nieman Reports and “YouTube: The Flattening of Politics,” Steve Grove, Nieman Reports.

* “David Broder on Candidates’ Personal Lives,” Media Matters

* Ch. 3 in Perlmutter

Oct. 2: DISCUSSION: A look at the candidates’ stances on Iraq and Afghanistan wars. Also, divide up into teams and begin work on first projects. DEADLINE: NOV. 4

ASSIGNMENT: Watch vice-presidential debate. More details TK.

WEEK 6:

Oct. 7: Discussion: The influence of race and gender on the campaign. We’ll divide into small groups and each group will research the issues and give a presentation in the next class. More details TK.

NOTE: We’ll have the department laptops for in-class research.

READINGS:

* “Gender Issue Lives On as Clinton’s Bid Wanes, New York Times

* “The ‘B’ Word in Traditional News and the Web,” Nieman Reports

* “And Speaking of Perfect Unions, Slate.

* “Palin’s 17-Year-Old Daughter Is Pregnant,” The Caucus Blog, New York Times.

* “Obama’s Race Speech,” YouTube.

* ‘Meet the Press’ panel discussion on Obama’s race speech.

* “Obama’s Speech, Sliced and Diced,” Howard Kurtz, The Washington Post.

* Ch. 4 in Perlmutter.

Oct. 9: Small group presentations.

Also, set up time for one-one-one meetings for next week.

WEEK 7:

Oct. 14: NO CLASS, Columbus Day – Monday class schedule followed.

READINGS:

* Finish Perlmutter.

* “The Neutrality Maze,” Joshua Kors, Nieman Reports

* “Political Blogs: Teaching Us Lessons About Community,” Dan Kennedy, Nieman Reports

* “Bloggers Push Past the Old Media’s Gatekeepers,” Tom Fiedler, Nieman Reports.

Oct. 15: ASSIGNMENT: Twitter the presidential debate.

Oct. 16: Discussion: Presidential Debate

Elections Project: We’re going to break up into teams for the first Elections Project.

THE DETAILS:

We will replicate a real newsroom environment by dividing the class into teams (probably six teams of five members). Each team will designate one editor who will be in charge of coordination and one editor as a copy editor. The other three members will act as reporters. Each team will be required to submit a two-piece package –- each package must include a written text piece, as well as any combination of audio, photos and/or video. Each member of the team will receive a grade for their individual piece as well as for the overall package presentation. Team members’ anonymous evaluations of each other will factor into individual grades.

Each team will storyboard their ideas and talk through possible story ideas.

You’ve all begun interviewing people already about their thoughts on the war, draw up on those groups, as well as others, by using Facebook.

WEEK 8:

Oct. 21: Discussion: State of the campaign. A look at bloggers on the right and left.

ALSO: TAKE-HOME MIDTERM. Details TK.

DEADLINE: Start of class on Thursday.

Oct. 23: Iraq Project Updates (break up into teams to work on/discuss projects). Hand in drafts if you have them.

WEEK 9:

Oct. 27: Last day to drop with “W”

Oct. 28: Discussion: The role of money in campaigns.

READINGS:

Oct. 30: Iraq Project Updates (break up into teams to work on/discuss projects). Hand in drafts if you have them.

WEEK 10:

Nov. 4: ELECTION DAY!

ASSIGNMENT: TBD

Nov. 6: DISCUSSION: A look at Election Day coverage. Work on team projects

Nov. 7: DUE: ELECTION ISSUES PROJECT #1 due by end of day (5 p.m. in both hard copies and electronic form.)

WEEK 11:

Nov. 11: Veteran’s Day: No Class.

Nov. 12: Tuesday schedule followed. Team presentations on Election project and begin storyboarding Election Project #2.

ELECTIONS PROJECT #2: DUE BY START OF CLASS ON DEC. 11.

THE DETAILS:

We will replicate a real newsroom environment by dividing the class into teams (probably six teams of five members). Each team will designate two editors who will be in charge of coordination and editing. The other members will act as reporters, writers and multimedia storytellers. Each team will be required to submit a package including written and multimedia pieces.

Each member of the team will receive a grade for their individual piece as well as for the overall package presentation. Team members’ anonymous evaluations of each other will factor into individual grades.

Each team will storyboard their ideas and talk through possible story ideas.

Every team must set up a Facebook page on their respective issues.

EACH WRITTEN PIECE SHOULD BE A MINIMUM OF 750 WORDS.

MULTIMEDIA PIECES (audio, slideshow, video) should be 90-120 seconds long.

Nov. 13: Finish presentations.

WEEK 12:

Nov. 18: Class work on Election Project #2.

Nov. 20: Project updates.

WEEK 13:

Nov. 25: In-class work on Election Project #2. Drafts Due.

Nov. 27: NO CLASS, HAPPY THANKSGIVING

WEEK 14:

Dec. 2: Discussion: TBD. Drafts due for Election Project #2

Dec. 4: DUE: Review Drafts for Elections Project #2

WEEK 15:

Dec. 9: Finalize projects.

Dec. 11: ELECTIONS PROJECT #2 DUE BY START OF CLASS.

Last Day of Class — Pizza Party and presentations on projects.