Welcome to Journalism 1111:Journalism & Society

The syllabus is on BlackBoard.

Print it and take it with you everywhere you go.

The syllabus is your best friend.

It is your guide to the semester.

Pin a copy to your jacket.

Give a copy to your best friend, girlfriend,

boyfriend, roommate, the lady at the coffee shop and your

mother.

Make mini-versions and carry them in your purse or wallet.

Bring the syllabus to class on Thursday and we will

talk about the details.

Please purchase either the 8th or 9th edition.

Go for the cheapest version.

If anyone is interested, I can connect you to students

who were in the class last year who might have used

books cheaper.

Anyone interested? E-mail me.

Read Chapters 1 and 15 for Thursday if you have the 8th edition

(chapter 1 in the 9th).

What is journalism?

We’ll come back to that.

Who are you?

Freshman?

Sophomore?

Junior?

Senior?

New to Temple?

Transfer or visiting from another university?

Where are you from?

The city of Philadelphia?

Jersey?

Ick.

Pennsylvania burbs?

Not the Philly region?

International students?

You are Society.

Look around. Take it all in.

So?

You need to be an educated consumer of journalism.

Information is available from so many different places today.

• 100,000 people may be dead.

• Millions left homeless, without food or vital supplies.

• Help has since arrived from around the world.

• 100,000 people may be dead.

• Millions left homeless, without food or vital supplies.

• Help has since arrived from around the world.

• Within days, email scams spread everywhere.

Journalists play an important role in society.

It is not an easy role.

Journalists face difficult questions every day.

Is it wrong to stalk the former Senator, VP and Presidential

candidate?

And shoot pictures through

his hotel window?

Is it wrong to pay for information?

NBC’s Today

show had the Salahi’s

under contract for thousands of dollars.

Does it make a difference now?

Does paying for information undermine journalism?

Does it make the story or information less believable?

What is the purpose of Journalism?

Journalists …

• Inform the public about the world around them.

• Act as watchdogs, acting on behalf of the public.

• Are the documenters of history.

• Entertain people.

Journalists are paid by their employers but their real

bosses are the public.

Who wants to go into newspapers?

Who wants to go into broadcast journalism?

Who wants to go intomagazine journalism?

Who wants to work in radio?

Who wants to work in new media?

Who has no aspirations of being a journalist?

Why are you here?

Who knows what is a “converged journalist?”

Have you ever performed an interview for a media outlet?

Have you ever been interviewed by the media?

Do you trust the media?

(do you believe what you read or what you see on the news?)

Who reads a print newspaper every day?

Every once and a while?

Who gets their news from the Internet?

Do you read blogs?

Who watches local television news?

National television news?

Who listens to news radio?

Who listens to sports talk radio?

Is sports talk radio journalism?

Do you read magazines?

Why magazines?

Who reads novels?

What do you like about novels?

Are you involved in social networking online?

Twitter?LinkedIn?MySpace?

Who talks to people?

(In person … not in

the virtual world?)

You know stuff.

Think about how you learned it.

You communicated.

That is a function of society.

Congratulations.

You are a social creature.

But think about who influenced you.

Your dumbass friends?

You need credible information.

You need journalism.

Why are you interested in journalism?

Haven’t you heard?The industry is dying.

Or so they say.

And you want to be a journalist?

Really? Why?

Who wants to be rich?

Who wants to be famous?

Who thinks that journalism is an exciting career?

Who wants to be a journalist in order to help people?

(do you want to save the world?)

Who wants to be a journalist because they are a

good writer?

Who wants to be a journalist because they are

good looking?

My name is George Miller.

I am a journalist.

www.mookieland.org

Meet your teaching assistants

Get to know these people. They will be grading your work.

Jared Brey

Kelly George

Nick Gilewicz

Class rules:• Be here. It will make your life easier.• Participate in class and on the blog.• Do all of the assignments (late papers

will be docked 10 percent per day … so 10 days late equals 0).

• Plagiarize in any way and you fail the paper. And maybe the course.

• Miss a test? That sucks. No make-ups. • More than three absences = failure.

There will be current events quizzes at random.

The Media Use Log.

Due January 28.

Document your media usage in hours and minutes per day

over a 72 hour period.

• Please fill in every box and answer the questions on page 2.

• They must be 72 consecutive hours.

• The document is posted on BlackBoard.

Due January 28.

That’s one week from Thursday.

http://blackboard.temple.edu

All lecture notes will be posted to BlackBoard.

http://j1111.blogspot.com

Post comments.Get involved.

At the end of the semester, if your point total has you close to the next higher grade, class and blog participation will put

you over the edge.

There will also be numerous opportunities for extra credit.

You should ace this class.

Your career in journalism starts now.

Get involved!

Buy the books.

Print out the syllabus and bring it Thursday.

Go think about journalism.