Prospectus

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Journalism Practice

Course
2023-2024

Admission requirements

Not applicable

Description

This course consists of two components: 1) Writing Skills, and 2) Video and Podcast Production.

Writing Skills

In Writing Skills, we introduce students to the most commonly occurring written journalistic genres and styles. Once they have familiarised themselves with these genres, we invite them to produce their own journalistic written texts, based on a topic of their choice, which they develop and transform for printed and online news media.

At the end of this course, students will know how to select the appropriate journalistic genre and style for a given topic, approach their writing with a critical journalistic stance, and be able to deal with the all-important deadline.

Video and Podcast Production

Students will learn about the basics of producing, filming and editing TV news reports as well as online videos. We deal with questions such as “Does a picture paint a thousand words? And, if so, which words?”, “How is a TV news report different from a documentary-style web video?” and “How can video be combined with other ways of storytelling in an online context?” Moreover, the seminars will focus on the skills needed for video reporting, including how to shoot and edit video, script design, interview techniques, how to deal with sound, and how to voice your reports for TV and the web. The main emphasis of this course will be on students doing it themselves. Student-produced videos will be shown and discussed in class.

Podcasts play an ever-growing part in the shifting media landscape. For younger generations in particular, who have grown up with on-demand services like Uber, Netflix and Doordash, podcasts are a natural choice for their daily supply of news.

Students not only contemplate the changing role of podcasting in (digital) journalism but get down to producing a podcast show. In a series of practical workshops, students will learn about planning podcast episodes, pre-production, recording, editing, and the post-production process. After completing this course, students will not only be able to confidently use the podcast genre to disseminate news stories, but also critically analyse other podcast productions.

For most assignments, students will work in pairs.

Course objectives

Writing Skills

After completing the program, students will have gained insight into:

  • The organization of editorial and journalistic work;

  • The principles of journalistic style and methods;

  • The main features of the journalistic genres news report and background story;

  • The sub-editing of journalistic texts;

  • The importance of relevant, reliable sources and how to maximize the information gained from them;

  • The most important discussions and new insights in the journalistic field;

Students will have gained skills in the field of:

  • The journalistic craft;

  • Writing news reports and background stories;

  • Sub-editing;

  • Gathering news and searching for information.

Video and Podcast Production

After completing the course, students will have gained insight into:

  • Audiovisual storytelling

Moreover, students will have gained skills in the field of:

  • Editing Audio and Video

  • Photography, Videography and Soundrecording

Timetable

The timetables are available through MyTimetable.

Mode of instruction

  • Seminar

Assessment method

The final grade for Journalism Practice consists of "Writing Skills" 50%, and "Video and Podcast Production" 50%. Students need to pass both components in order to successfully complete the course Journalism Practice.

Writing Skills

Assessment

Students are evaluated by producing journalistic texts that must meet the criteria of the genre and must be submitted on time. Working with deadlines is an explicit part of the course.

Weighing

  • Background story: 45%

  • News articles: 30%

  • Sub-editing: 15%

  • Dealing with deadlines: 10%

Resit

The background story can be resubmitted if the student has failed (5.5/10 or lower).

Inspection and feedback

How and when an exam review will take place will be disclosed together with the publication of the exam results at the latest. If a student requests a review within 30 days after publication of the exam results, an exam review will have to be organized.

Video and Podcast Production

Assessment

Students are evaluated by producing a photo series, two videos and two audio productions. The productions must meet the criteria of the genre and must be submitted on time. Working with deadlines is an explicit part of the course.

Weighing

  • Photo assignment: 10%

  • TV news report: 15%

  • Podcast report: 20%

  • Podcast ‘live’: 20%

  • Mini-documentary: 35%

Resit

If students fail one of the assignments, they will be given an alternative assignment.

Inspection and feedback

How and when an exam review will take place will be disclosed together with the publication of the exam results at the latest. If a student requests a review within 30 days after publication of the exam results, an exam review will have to be organized.

Reading list

TBA

Registration

Enrolment through MyStudyMap is mandatory.
General information about course and exam enrolment is available on the website.

Contact

  • For substantive questions, contact the lecturer listed in the right information bar.

  • For questions about enrolment, admission, etc, contact the Education Administration Office: Arsenaal.

Remarks

Not applicable