JRN 200: Your Friday 5/16 Homework

First, please make sure you have read all previous blog posts that have been posted this month. It's easy to fall behind in this class, but it can be very hard to catch up. So, please make sure you are reading and acting on all blog posts on a daily basis. The blog will be updated every weekday by 5 p.m.

For your next JRN 200 assignment, you will be asked to read Chapters 1 and 2 (p. 3-50) in Reporting For The Media, 10th edition by Monday.

Now, this is the time when those of you who don't have the 10th edition of RFTM because you ordered it online and it has yet to be delivered will start freaking out.

Don't freak; I have you covered. In recognition that some textbooks may still be en route (since you just learned of the textbook needs on Monday), I have emailed to you (from a digital version of the ninth edition of RFTM that I happened to have) chapters 1 and 3, which approximate to chapters 1 and 2 in the 10th edition.

So, just download and read the attachments, and you'll be ready for Monday, May 19. (Just do the readings, and don't bother for now with the exercises in each chapter.)

I do need to warn you that this is a rare time where I will cover you for not having a textbook. I hope for everyone to have a textbook in hand no later than the end of the upcoming week.

If anyone has problems meeting that deadline, or if you didn't get the email to your msu.edu email address, or if you have any other questions or concerns whatsoever, please contact me by email, phone or in-person. A couple of you have already taken the initiative to contact me, and I hope that's just the start.

Also, during this semester you will be required to do a job shadow. It's easy, but it takes prep work you can't blow off until the last minute. We need to start now.

This is what I want: I'd like you to seek out a professional who is working in a media occupation you might wish to pursue. It could be some working at a newspaper or a magazine or a radio station or a TV station or an online media site or whatever. Email me about what your job shadow plan proposal is, and if I approve it (NOTE IN BIG FREAKING CAPITAL LETTERS: YOUR SHADOW IS SUBJECT TO MY PRE-APPROVAL!) then contact your shadow and get their okay to shadow them.

Some local and regional shadow opportunities where previous JRN 200ers had luck include the Lansing State Journal, WILX-TV Channel 10 (the NBC affiliate in Lansing), MLive Lansing (an online news site) and WXYZ-TV Channel 7 (the ABC affiliate in Detroit). If you're having problems coming up with a shadow idea, please contact me and we'll problem-solve through it.

Arrange with them to follow them around their daily duties for anywhere from an hour or two, to all day long. Your call. Interview that media pro about their job and keys to success. You may also do a shadow as part of a group of students. If you're presently doing a media internship, you may shadow a professional in your intern site. Again, get my pre-approval before you do anything.

Then, write up a 200- to 300-word report on what you saw during your shadow, and what you learned that you believe will benefit you in the future. Please include the phone number and email address of your shadow subject, so I can confirm your attendance.

Your job shadow proposal will be due via mail to omars@msu.edu by 9 a.m.Friday, June 27. The job shadow report will be due via email to omars@msu.edu by 9 a.m. Monday, Aug. 11 (the start of the last week of class). I must warn you, quite often people strike out on their first or second choices, and getting an agreement and setting and date and time take some time. So, I STRONGLY SUGGEST YOU DO NOT WAIT UNTIL THE LAST MINUTE TO DO ANY OF THIS!

Just get it knocked out and out of the way. While it's due by Aug. 11, you can turn it in as early as you'd like. Completing the assignment correctly and on time automatically gets you a 4.0; not doing it gets you a 0.0.

So, please do it and get yourselves an easy A. More importantly, get a look at what you may want to be doing a few years from now, and take that opportunity to start judging the lay of the land.

That's it for now. Have a nice weekend, folks. Please check back in with the blog on Monday. There will be an update by no later than 5 p.m. that afternoon.