JB1400 Multimedia News Journalism 2 Course description

The students shall develop further knowledge and skills acquired in the previous term, and they shall have a good command of the news reportage as a genre on distinct media platforms (web, tv and radio). The students shall have theoretical knowledge about important sectors in society, like politics and court, and shall be able to work journalistically on these subjects.

JB1200 Introduction to Journalism must be passed.

In addition, the Bachelor of Journalism has general progression rules:

Each study year must normally be passed before a student can start on the following year. The first study year must be passed before participation in the internship course is possible, and to pass the internship course is prerequisite for further studies. 

Knowledge

The student has knowledge about

• journalism on crime, court and politics
• The Freedom of Information Act and access to public journals
• distinct news genres and norms for journalistic language
• rhetoric and argumentation
• crisis journalism
• distinctive features of different media platforms (tv, radio and web)

Skills

The student

• is able to use the news reportage as a genre
• can cover stories on crime and court, politics, economy and working life
• has developed her journalistic-linguistic skills further
• can produce news for several media platforms (tv, radio and web)
• can do journalistic research online and in social media

General competance

The student can

• work individually and in teams with developing journalistic products
• evaluate her own and others' journalistic work on the basis of source-critical, rhetorical and press-ethical principles
• reflect critically upon journalism on important fields in the Norwegian society

The course is to a large extent based on active learning. The students work in the following ways:

• Individual reading of the curriculum.
• Seminars and plenary lectures.
• Production for online paper, radio and tv.
• Presentation of group projects.
• Solving individual and group based tasks, with feedback in groups.

During the course, the students shall perform five mandatory tasks. The tasks provide practical and theoretical exercises related to the curriculum and the teaching, in order to strengthen the students’ understanding of the journalistic profession. Some of the tasks are individual; others are carried out in groups. The content and deadline for each task will be announced in Canvas.

Some tasks are connected to media rotations, in which the students produce news for tv, radio and web. In such practical-journalistic tasks, the required scope will depend on which media the stories are produced for. The scope is specified in the task formulations, or the students make agreements with the teacher. There is also a theoretical task about rhetoric, which the students solve in groups and present orally.

The tasks are approved by teachers during the course. The student has to hand in all the five tasks within their respective deadlines, and at least four of them must be approved before the student is allowed to graduate. If a task is not approved, the student is allowed to revise it once.

It is mandatory to participate in the media rotations and the evaluations of the tasks. The work may not be approved if the student fails to participate. We can adjust the requirements or extend the deadline if the student is proven sick or have other compelling reasons. However, if students fail to hand in their task within the original or extended deadline, they lose their right to graduate.

The exam is a three day home exam consisting of two parts: a theoretical/analytical, curriculum-based paper (5-8 pages) and one of the course requirements that the student has carried out during the term. For journalistic productions, the required scope will depend on which medium or media the student has used.

The exam shall be written in Norwegian, as the course deals with news journalism in Norwegian. Other Scandinavian languages may be accepted by application, but only for the theoretical/analytical paper. The exam is given a joint evaluation. Font and font size: Arial or Calibri 12 points. Line spacing: 1.5.

All aids are permitted, as long as the rules for source referencing are complied with.

Grade scale A-F

All exam answers are evaluated by at two examiners. A random sample of at least 25 percent of the answers are in addition evaluated by an external examiner. The internal examiner’s assessment of all papers shall be based on the external examiner’s assessment.

Yngve Benestad Hågvar