Journalism

This course is designed to prepare students for a career in journalism and media. The work in this course will equip students with the critical skills necessary to succeed in high school media, college media, and beyond. Students will read a variety of journalistic material and do a great deal of news writing. Students will also look at journalism from legal, ethical, and historic vantage points. Students can expect to complete numerous writing activities in a variety of styles including editorial, hard news, feature, review, and more. If students participate actively, they will gain tremendous skills that will serve them for the rest of their life. Individual and group project will also be a part of this class. This course is a project-based course and does not include traditional tests. Unit level understanding is assessed through unit projects.

Major Concepts

• Effective journalism requires creating a story that is readily understandable to a mass audience.
• Journalistic ethics and the laws that govern journalists is a topic of constant debate.
• Responsible journalism involves meticulous researching and verifying of facts and data.
• Editorial writing contains both facts and opinions and is similar to persuasive writing.
• Features contain elements of major news stories, but also contain descriptive details.