2012 New York Convergence Course: Backpack Journalism In a Digital Age

Applicants for the New York course must have at least one year of college and some demonstrable journalistic and convergence experience as evidenced by published journalism clippings and online work to submit with the application.

A personal blog site: Each applicant for the New York course must have a working blog site for article submission.

Freelance agreement with a local newspaper: If the applicant has a written freelance agreement with a newspaper or the World News Group in which an editor agrees to consider publishing the young journalist's articles during the class component then the applicant is given greater consideration for admission. (This is not an agreement to publish the articles, but an agreement to consider them for publication.) Click here for sample agreement.

To apply for this course, use our web site application by clicking "Apply now" above. In addition to the online form, you will need to submit the following:

1. Reference letters on letterhead from both:
a) Your pastor as to your spiritual maturity, and
b) College professor attesting to your writing ability or professional supervisor attesting to your professional abilities.

2. Transcripts from college attended

3. Links to your convergence journalism work (written story, video, stand-alone audio, photos with cutlines, photo slideshow, blog, and Twitter)

4. Resume

5. (Optional) Letter on letterhead from your local newspaper editor or World news group editor attesting to a freelance agreement as described under "Course Information."

Materials may be mailed to the address below or scanned/emailed to office@worldji.com. References must be on letterhead and may be faxed to 212.202.4824 or scanned/emailed to office@worldji.com

Mailing Address:
World Journalism Institute
350 Fifth Avenue, Suite 1500
New York, NY 10118

Those students interested in college credit must make arrangements with the particular college or seminary. Since this course is limited to 15-20 students, admission is competitive. Application deadline is March 15, 2011, however we admit students on a rolling basis, so we encourage you to apply early. Carpe diem!

Course Description:

The eight-week course includes instruction in Christian worldview and the nuts and bolts of backpack journalism for convergent media. The intensive course includes pre-class assignments, three weeks of class residency and five weeks of reporting and writing from home.

This is a capstone course in news writing and reporting, designed to produce proficient, professional young journalists with a Christian worldview and marketable skills for the digital age. Students will generate a series of multimedia articles for their professional portfolios.

The course makes use of the young journalist’s blog and the institute’s online newspaper, the WJI Times Observer, to help define news, general writing skills, constructing leads, preparing a variety of kinds of basic news stories, interviewing techniques, covering a beat, and journalistic style, all with a convergent multimedia focus (text, photos, slideshows, audio interviews and video for the Internet). In general, the class periods will be spent in lecture, discussion, and analyzing and editing students’ stories. The purpose of this course is five-fold:

• a) To illustrate, using the students’ work, the concepts introduced in the lectures
• b) To show the young journalists what constitutes acceptable style
• c) To teach techniques for writing concisely for print and the web
• d) To equip the students with skills for backpack journalism
• e) To acquaint the young journalists with the coherency of the Christian worldview 

1) The pre-class component: This component of instruction is the reading, writing, and reporting before the young journalist comes to New York. The purposes of this component of instruction are:

• a) To ascertain the ability of each student to analyze the content of a person’s thought and to write a cogent article on that thought.
• b) To introduce the student to the thinking of key authors and journalists.
• c) To establish a base line for evaluating each student’s thinking, writing, and reporting abilities.
• d) To test the student's ability to produce a convergence/multimedia story package with the specific elements that will be used in the class phase of the course.

2) The class component (three weeks): This component of instruction is the three weeks of classroom work (12 hours of instruction and practicum daily). The purposes of this component of instruction are:

• a) To give the student the principles and practices of the major facets of journalism.
• b) To give the student an opportunity to practice the instruction in a real setting.
• c) To give each student professional feedback on the student’s work.
• d) To give the student the opportunity to produce multiple convergence story packages under strict deadline for his/her professional portfolio.

3) The post-class component (five weeks): This component of instruction is designed to give the student more real experience with the mainstream press in actually reporting and writing four articles for publication. The purposes of this component of instruction are:

• a) To further enhance the student’s understanding of the newsroom of a mainstream newspaper.
• b) To provide the student with some articles for his/her professional portfolio.

Finally, there is a paid Pulliam internship component (finances permitting), which is available to select WJI graduates who have excelled in the course and who have demonstrated a keen interest in pursuing a vocation in journalism.

I. PRE-CLASS COMPONENT

Pre-class Objectives:

1. To acquaint the student with examples of what the institute considers good writing and thinking.
2. To evaluate and prepare the students for the course convergence reporting assignments.

Pre-Class Required Reading & Writing Assignment (See tab above)

Once a student has been admitted, he/she should begin to complete the pre-class reading and writing assignments.

II. CLASS COMPONENT (Three weeks)

Class Component Objective:

The three-week residency component of this college-level course covers many of the major topics that young journalists will want to understand. Classes will address topics such as story ideas, sources of information, interviewing, nuts and grafs of writing, accuracy, grammar and usage, headlines, continuity, ethics, show and tell, photojournalism, and other important aspects of the writing profession for print, web and internet.

A more detailed version of Class Component Syllabus, with individual instructors' pre-class assignments, is TBA.

The Schedule tab above contains important information about the course instruction schedule.

III. POST-CLASS COMPONENT (Five weeks)

After the class component, the college journalists return to their homes and implement the classroom instruction by writing four stories for a publication of their choice. If there the student has no publication, then the institute's Times Observer can be used to publish their work. 

Each student generates four stories to investigate and write. The student can turn to a WJI teacher for editorial supervision, if they wish. The purpose of this post-classroom component is for the young journalists to gain additional clippings for their professional portfolios before the course ends. The completed stories/clippings must be received by the institute no later than midnight July 9, 2011.

IV. GRADING/CREDIT

Many church-affiliated colleges grant their students academic credit for work completed at the institute. Other colleges have granted their students undergraduate credit for work completed at the institute.

Pass/fail: All students who successfully complete all the work on time will receive a “Pass” grade, indicating at least a “C” grade.

Course Desired Outcomes (click here)

Required Reading: It is required that students purchase these and bring to the course:

• AP Guide to Photojournalism, Brian Horton (224 pages)
• AP Stylebook and Briefing on Media Law (online subscription, hard copy, or iPhone app)

Required Reading: It is required that students read these as part of the pre-class assignments (see "Pre-Class Component" tab).

• "Reporter's Guide to Multimedia Proficiency" (online), Mindy McAdams
• The Heart of Evangelism, Jerram Barrs
• On Writing Well, William Zinsser
• "The Role of the Christian Journalist" monograph, Robert Case
• "The Marks of a Christian Journalist" monograph, Robert Case
• "Marks of a Good Story" monograph, Robert Case
• Christianity vs. Fatalistic Religions, Udo Middelmann
• The Innocence of God, Udo Middelmann

Recommended Reading:

• The Craft of Interviewing by John Brady (244 pages)
• Writing for Story, Jon Franklin (284 pages)
• The Art and Craft of Feature Writing, William E. Blundell (259 pages)
• The Elements of Journalism, Rosenstiel & Kovach (207 pages)
• This is War, Ernie Pyle (recommended by John McCandlish Phillips) (443 pages)
• Blog: Understanding the Information Reformation That’s Changing Your World, Hugh Hewitt (256 pages)
• WJI blog
• “The Shawl,” Cynthia Ozick (short story recommended by Jack Simons)
• The Elements of Style, Strunk & White
• Computer-Assisted Reporting, Brant Houston

The following are recommended by our 2011 WJI Francis Schaeffer Scholar Udo Middelmann:

• The God Who is There, Francis Schaeffer
• Ill Fares the Land,  Tony Judt
• Any one of these: The Seekers; The Creators or The Discoverers, Daniel Boorstin
• The Book That Made Your World, Vishal Mangalwadi
• The Market Driven Church, Udo Middelmann
• Discipling Nations, Darrow Miller

• Bible
• Personal blog site, for posting course articles (Wordpress is a good option.)
• “Reporter’s Guide to Multimedia Proficiency” by Mindy McAdams
• Twitter account
• Facebook account
• YouTube account
• Flickr account
• LinkedIn account
• (optional) Ustream, Livestream, and or Qik accounts
• (optional) WJI Times Observer login – provided by the institute

WHERE DO WE MEET?

The class component for the New York course will be held at the classrooms of The King's College in the Empire State Building in midtown Manhattan.

HOW DO I GET THERE?

Transportation to and from The King's College is the responsibility of the student. LaGuardia Airport (LGA) is the closest airport to midtown Manhattan, but Manhattan is also served by John F. Kennedy (JFK) and Newark (EWR) airports. Kennedy Airport is accessible by AirTrain with a connection to the E subway or Long Island Railroad to Penn Station. Buses and taxis from all airports are also accessible. Penn Station is the closest train station. Port Authority Bus Terminal and Grand Central Station are other nearby hubs.

WHAT IF I HAVE QUESTIONS?

If you have any questions about the program, please contact Robert Case, WJI Director (bcase@worldji.com; 800-769-7870) or Kim Collins, Deputy Director (kcollins@worldji.com; 800-769-7870).
 
COURSE POSTER

Click here for the course poster.

Due to the intensive and technical nature of the course, all students must purchase and particular equipment and software for the WJI course pre-class and class reporting assignments. No exceptions will be made. Contact the WJI office with questions well before the course.

Students must bring all equipment/materials to class each day ready to report, as a backpack journalist must be ready to cover news always, carrying a backpack with equipment and all possibly needed items (fully charged batteries, cables, snack, etc.) ready to go at a moment's notice.
 

Pre-Class Required Reading & Writing:

1) “Reporter’s Guide to Multimedia Proficiency” by Mindy McAdams

• Read and work through the “Reporter’s Guide,” including appropriate links, and become proficient in all exercises (#1-15).

2) Read On Writing Well by William Zinsser (308 pages)

• Write an interview article of 250 words (three quotes). Due by midnight June 3.

3) Read The Heart of Evangelism by Jerram Barrs (287 pages)

• An essay of 250 words on your view of evangelism, taking into account the insight of Dr. Barrs, particularly chapter 37. Due by midnight June 3.

4) "The Role of the Christian Journalist," (monograph) by Robert Case

The interview articles are to be framed as if the young journalist was assigned by an editor to interview the author over the telephone for a 250-word story in the weekend feature section of the newspaper. The young journalist should pose questions and derive the answers from the book. The interview articles are to be written for a mainstream newspaper. Students can get ideas on how to structure the interview by consulting C-SPAN CEO Brian Lamb’s “Q & A.” The assignments are to be emailed to the director (bcase@worldji.com) by the dates indicated above.

5) Read Christianity vs Fatalistic Religions by Udo Middelmann (Paternoster, ISBN 978-1-934068-28-1). This will be used on the first day of class, Monday, May 16.

6) Read The Innocence of God by Udo Middelmann (Paternoster, ISBN 978-1-934068-04-5-). This will be used on the first day of class, Monday, May 16.

7) Assignments from other instructors are found on the Discussion Board. Accepted students will use a log-in to access these assignments.

Pre-Class Convergence Assignment Due by midnight April 15

Using the “Reporter’s Guide to Multimedia Proficiency” by Mindy McAdams (see link above), the AP Guide to Photojournalism by Brian Horton, and the equipment required (see Required hardware/software tab), produce and post a convergent story package that includes written story, links, photos with cutlines, Soundslides, stand-alone audio interview and stand-alone video. These should be parts of a logical and attractive package (i.e., related and supplemental to one another, not simply recycling the same content in each media form). Due by midnight April 15. Be sure to include, at a minimum, the following:
 

a)      Text/Photo: Write a story of 300 words and be sure you include a headline and byline. Include 3-5 good photos (taken by you while reporting) with identification of people, cutlines and credits.

b)      Links: Include sidebar or list of links to relevant information and resources.

c)       Soundslides Slideshow: Using Soundslides, create a 60-second slideshow with approximately 12 photos and audio, as described by McAdams. This slideshow must be embedded on your blog. Do not simply link to another hosting site. Photos must have cutlines, identification, and credits (e.g., Reporting and photos by...). Slideshow should have a filename/headline that is descriptive of the story.

d)      Audio Interview: Edit and post an interview that further develops your written story, as described by McAdams. This must be posted on your blog in an embedded audio player, not a link to another hosting site. (Audioboo and Soundslides are recommended players.)

e)       Video: Produce a video according to McAdams’ guidelines that includes narration and one or more other types of audio, as well as descriptive title and credits. If your camera allows it, use 2 channels of sound, channel 1 for voiceover material and soundbite, channel 2 for natural sound. Upload to YouTube and embed the actual video on your blog, not just a link.

f)      Twitter: Post your story on your Twitter feed using your headline, byline and a shortlink.

How to submit the assignment:

This assignment is to be submitted in both of two ways:

    1) Post all elements in one post on your blog, and email a link to the deputy director (kcollins@worldji.com).

    2) Email the assignment (each of the elements) to the course webmaster (sizemore.wji@gmail.com) who will post your package on the WJI Times Observer. Be sure to include relevant instructions.

More specifics for submitting to the webmaster:

Send the webmaster each piece of the story (text, photos, captions, video, Soundslides, audio, etc.), with relevant instructions, so he can post these on the Times Observer. (A blog link won't do.) Be organized and make things very clear for him so that nothing is missed. Try to squeeze everything into one email if possible. (Try to combine everything in one ZIP file.)

- For the story, save as a Word document and don't forget your to include your headline, byline and email address at the end of your article (e.g., "Kim Collins  can be reached at kcollins@worldji.com.")

- For Soundslides, ZIP and send the "Publish to web" folder.

- For video, send the Youtube embed code in the email body.

- For audio , send the actual audio file.

- For photos, send the photos as a ZIP. Give them clear file names, and use those to include the matching captions/identification in the body of your email.

- Also include a link to the posting on your blog, so that the article can be linked to your blog.

Post-Class Reporting Component (June 2- July 7, 2012, Home)
The third component is a reporting and writing phase during which the young journalists gain more experience with the press, as they write four articles for publication.

The four articles are to be published. The ideal is for the journalists to have an agreement with a newspaper, magazine or broadcast station to use their articles. This is a good time for an internship. Each article should have as many of the convergence aspects as possible. A default alternative is to have the articles published in the WJI Times Observer, in which case all the convergence platforms (narrative, photos, audio, video, slide shows, blog, Tweet) will be required.

During this post-class component, the student may consult with WJI teachers for  editorial help with their stories, career advice and networking.

The entire eight-week New York course must be completed no later than July 7, 2012. Successful completion of the program may lead to academic credit from the student's college and a Pulliam internship in a news organization.
 

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Week 1

Week 2

Week 3