Congratulations! You have just joined the staff of The Communicator, the monthly magazine of the School of Communication. This semester you and your colleagues will put out three issues of the magazine. This will involve writing, soliciting, editing, photographing and laying out articles, as well as soliciting advertising, arranging printing and distributing the publication.

In earlier journalism courses, you learned how individual articles were structured. Here, you will learn to structure an entire publication. You will begin to consider such issues as editorial mission, mix and style. You will evaluate how design and art interact with copy to deliver an overall message, and how bias can be inadvertently introduced in the process. You will have to grabble with questions about who you seek to serve, what you hope to provide your audience, and how the choice of editorial matter, sources, and advertisers may affect the overt and subtle messages delivered by your publication. You will also gain a first-hand understanding of circulation and production pressures, study how others have attempted to solve such problems, and be encouraged to forge creative solutions yourself. Finally, you will take part in long-range planning for the magazine.

This is a huge job. Be forewarned that this course will require a great deal of time and energy. Expect to invest no less than two hours of work outside of class for every hour in class - and often much more. You will be expected to adhere to professional standards, not only in your writing, but also in your interactions with your colleagues. Work must be done on time, meetings must be attended promptly and reliably, and articles must written with a compulsive concern for accuracy. You will be expected to help one another at every step along the way.

Please note: Class time will be used for meeting with one another - for story conferences, titling, brainstorming or general troubleshooting - NOT for writing articles. All articles must be reported and written on your own time.

If you invest energy in this course, you will be rewarded with a wealth of first-hand knowledge about the magazine business, the pride of having made a significant ground-floor contribution to a growing publication, and the clips you need to get an internship, freelancing work, and a job. And, I hope, you will have fun along the way!

PREREQUISITES:
You should already have taken courses copy editing, intermediate journalism, and feature writing and/or investigative reporting. You should be adept at using the computer lab. It will be helpful if you have also taken a course in desktop publishing. If you do not meet any of the prerequisites, please see me on the first day of class.

RESPONSIBILITIES:
1) Every student will write articles for the magazine. You will be responsible for conceiving, reporting and writing one article for each issue. Addendum A at the end of the syllabus explains what constitutes a completed article. Most features are approximately 1500 words, but you should ask the editor for a more accurate word count for your particular article. In addition to writing each article, you must acquire one or more publishable photographs for each page of your article. The photo department can help you obtain these photos, but ultimately you are responsible. Your article will not receive credit, or be published, unless you submit artwork on time.
If you want to work on a more ambitious article (for example, an investigative piece), you may be
permitted to team up with another writer or take more than one issue to complete your piece. Either
option, however, must be cleared in advance with the editor and faculty advisor.
You are expected to come to each story conference with lots of fresh ideas. If other staff members
have to feed you ideas for stories, your grade will suffer.

2) Every student will also hold a staff position, for example, managing editor, art director, or advertising
director. Addendum B explains the responsibilities associated with each of these jobs. For the first
issue, I will assign these jobs, based on your input on the "Strengths and Interests" questionnaire. Those who have already taken Feature Writing and have experience working on or contributing to the magazine will receive first consideration for senior editorial positions. After the first issue, I will meet with all students to discuss their performance to date and to learn about any problems they are experiencing with the course or the magazine. At that time, any student who wishes to change his or her staff position, or begin training for a senior editorial position, should let me know.
Along with every staff position goes the responsibility of soliciting ads and contributing to the
"Around the School" department. I will discuss this in detail in class.

3) There is a certain about of mindless grunt work associated with completing each issue - for example,
running across town at the last minute to pick up a photo that never arrived in the mail, proofing each
issue before it goes to press, picking up the issue at the printer, and distributing it around campus. We
will try to divide up these thankless tasks evenly, and everyone is expected to pitch in.
Pitching in also means helping one another succeed. Bring in clips that will help your colleagues
improve their stories. Bring in clips for one another. Teach each other about new search engines. Help
each other write gracefully. Learn to be constructive in your criticism. Instead of complaining that a
story is too thin or too boring, suggest additional sources or an idea for a brighter lead. The success of
the magazine - and your grade - will be determined not only by how well you do your job, but by how
well you help others do theirs.

GRADING:
First issue: 30% (15% article; 15% staff position)
Second issue: 30% (15% article; 15% staff position)
Third issue: 30% (15% article; 15% staff position)
Pitching in: 10%
Please note that the quality of the articles you write, while important, accounts for less than half of your final grade. The remainder reflects how large and thoughtful a contribution you made to the issue as a whole - copyediting, layout, advertising, production, promotion and so on. To get a good grade in this course, you must not only write terrific articles but also make a substantial contribution to the magazine in other ways. This will be time consuming.

ATTENDENCE:
Students are permitted one unexcused absence during the semester. This CANNOT be on a closing day. Any additional absences will result in the final grade being lowered a full point.
Absences are NOT an excuse for late articles.
Arriving more than five minutes late to class, or leaving early, constitutes an absence.
On any magazine, there are days when you are busy and days when you are not. There will be times when most of the staff is conferring over an article that does not concern you, and you will feel you have little to do. This does not mean you can leave class, or do work for another course. Find a way to occupy your time constructively: look for story ideas for the next issue, call a vendor to solicit advertising, ASK SOMEONE ELSE IF SHE OR HE NEEDS HELP. If you leave the room, you can be sure that within five minutes you will be needed - the copy desk will have a question about your article or the photo editor will have a question about a caption - and the issue will be held up because of your absence.

INITIATIVE:
This is not a class where you will be told what to do. You are expected to be self-motivated. If you need to solicit an ad, no one will tell you, "Today you need to visit Dunkin Donuts and ask if they will take out an ad." You will have to decide, on your own, who is potential advertiser, check with the advertising director to make sure we haven't already solicited the company, and then go out and do it. If your job is to solicit freelancers, you should take it upon yourself to dream up ways to do this (by making a pitch to advanced journalism classes, visiting SPJ meetings, or posting fliers around campus) and then execute your plan. If your job is to take photos for the issue, don't wait for someone to tell you what photos are needed; call the writers, ask what their stories are about and what photos they need, and set up the shoots.
I am always available to help you, as are your fellow staff members. But it's up to you to see that your job gets done and the magazine gets out. If you don't know how to get started, ASK ME, PLEASE!

DEADLINES:
Late work negatively impacts the entire staff. Therefore the following policy will apply. If you hand in an article one class late, it will be docked a full grade. If you hand it in two classes late, it will receive a failing grade and not be published. If you hand in two articles late, you will be asked to leave the class. The same policy applies to late photo submissions. NO EXCEPTIONS.
You have taken enough journalism courses by now to know that stories fall through, that sources forget to show up for scheduled interviews, and that people who promise to put photographs in the mail often don't. None of these are excuses for late work. Neither is a failed computer or printer, or a problem in the lab. It is your responsibility to plan for these contingencies by starting your work ahead of time.
An article is on time only if it is on HU1 shared, in Word Perfect format, by the start of class on the day it is due. It must include a head and dek. It must contain at least 5 sources, including experts and the person or people closest to the story. All sources must be identified completely by name, affiliation, and location. The article must be well written and complete. All statements of fact that are not a matter of public record must be attributed. The story must be accompanied by a complete set of usable photos with captions and credit lines written on the back. In short: coming to class with a half-written story on a floppy disk does not constitute meeting your deadline.

ACCURACY AND ORIGINALITY:
Your work carefully fact-checked. We will discuss fact-checking procedures in class. A major error in accuracy will result in a failing grade on the article.
If you plagiarize or fabricate any part of any article, you will fail the course.
All articles should be accompanied by a list of sources and phone numbers. You should keep your notes.

REWRITES:
After you submit your article, the editor, copy editor and faculty advisor will read it. You will then be asked to revise the article. You may be asked to add sources, change the lead, re-organize the piece, or all of the above. Even excellent articles by excellent writers require revisions. Expect to be asked for revisions.
Expect, as well, that the copy editor will make changes to your story. All good copy editors do. Expect that your article will be cut, sometimes drastically. Articles are almost always improved by cutting.

SOLICITING ARTICLES:
You are permitted to solicit an article rather than write it yourself. However, you bear all the responsibility for the article's quality and accuracy. If it comes in late, you will receive a failing grade. If it comes in without photos, you will have to get them, by deadline, or receive a failing grade. If it comes in poorly reported, you will either have to kick it back to the writer for more sources - by deadline - or do the additional reporting yourself.
As an editor, you'll soon discover that not all writers are reliable. To avoid getting burned, it is wise to write the article for the first issue yourself; if you choose to solicit an article for the second or third issue, give your freelancer a deadline way in advance of your deadline, so there is plenty of time for rewrites.

KEEPING IN TOUCH:
To produce a month magazine, we need to be in contact with one another more frequently than twice a week. Therefore, you are expected to check your e-mail at least once a day, and respond promptly when your fellow classmates contact you. I will check my e-mail at least twice a day; this is the fastest way to reach me. Students should also feel free to call me at the number listed above any day (including weekends) before 8 p.m.
We have discovered, through past experience, that staff members who do not use e-mail are not included in decision-making, miss out on important meetings, and aren't available to help when last minute emergencies arise. Therefore: No student is permitted to remain in the class or hold a staff position on
The Communicator unless they use e-mail and check their messages regularly. See me immediately with any problems.

SUPPLIES:
There are no textbooks for this course.
However, you need to purchase, during the first week of class:
1) one IBM-formatted zip disk
2) three rolls of quality film if you own a camera; or three disposable cameras if you do not.
(I will also teach you to use our digital camera.)

Additional expenses will include the cost of developing your film and of phone reporting.

You will need an AP Style Guide and are expected to read at least one reputable newspaper each day. The New York Times and Newsday are available daily in the box at the main entrance of Dempster. You should also read as many magazines as possible over the course of the semester. Please deposit your used magazines in the file cabinet in the back of the lab, as a resource for our art department.

ABOUT OUR LAB:

We have a terrific lab but, like all technology, it sometimes breaks down. Back up your articles and photos on disk and bring the disk to class each day.

DISTINGUISHED LECTURERS:

The Journalism Department runs a distinguished speakers program that brings two prominent professionals to the School of Communication each semester. All journalism majors are required to attend these lectures, which take place during Common Hour. The lectures this semester will be held on: Wednesday,February 20, and Wednesday, April 17. Please mark your calendar.

Budget
We have a 24 page publication. This includes the cover, inside cover (2nd cover), inside back cover (3rd cover) and back cover (4th cover). The four covers are not numbered; therefore, only 20 pages are numbered. The first numbered page is the table of contents. Odd numbered pages are on the right hand side. Our spread comes on pages 10-11.

A manuscript page is about 250 words. A full page of print in our magazine is 800 words. With photos and air, a full page of print is about 500 words; big headlines may reduce this even further. It is still, however, better to write long and expect your copy to be cut by the copyeditor. Writing long does not mean padding the text with meaningless prose; it means doing more reporting than you think you need.