Teaching Journalism

Television: problem to be managed or instrument to be played?

Oct 05, 2010 - Posted by Mary McGuire

Long-time television producer and broadcast journalist-turned-j-school professor Alan Echenberg on how to inspire great TV journalism.

An archive of audio stories

Dec 09, 2009 - Posted by Mary McGuire

If you are looking for some outstanding, award-winning radio documentaries, you might find them at this online archive from Sound Portraits.

Free money, just apply

Nov 24, 2009 - Posted by Regan Ray

Of the thousands of broadcast students in Canada, only 44 applied for five RTNDA scholarships, writes George Hoff. Why some broadcast programs pay little or no attention to lucrative scholarships for students.

My students dont have TVs

Nov 10, 2009 - Posted by Mary McGuire

CBC News wants to attract younger viewers with its recent relaunch, but as Carleton broadcast journalist instructor Marilyn Mercer found out, many of her students don't have TVs or cable subscriptions.

A guide to teaching video

Nov 02, 2008 - Posted by Mary McGuire

This site is a series of comprehensive, step by step tutorials on the fundamentals of film and video production. It includes video clips, flash animations, and explanations. The site claims it is used by hundreds of schools, but there is a small fee for teachers to use it with their students in classes.

Reporting with sound

Dec 11, 2007 - Posted by Mary McGuire

More and more journalists are working with audio these days and learning from radio reporters. This is a fabulous guide for journalists about using sound and audio clips in their journalism. It's a 21-page PDF with lots of good advice about story development, writing, and gathering sound. The best part of this guide is the extensive advice about interviewing. The guide was prepared by J.Carl Ganter and Eileen E. Ganter for the Poynter Institute for Media Studies. They give credit for some of the content to David Candow, a well-known broadcast trainer for CBC.

Writing broadcast copy

Dec 11, 2007 - Posted by Mary McGuire

There are countless guides to writing broadcast copy online. This is one of the better ones. It's a clear list of 10 rules with good examples as illustrations.

Great guide to audio equipment and software

Oct 02, 2007 - Posted by Mary McGuire

Transom.org is a website whose stated purpose is to make public radio better. It provides a forum for people to submit audio stories that haven't found their way onto public radio, which showcase new voices and new ways of storytelling. It also includes a wonderful section on tools with advice about all kinds of audio gear from recording devices and microphones to software. When students have questions about audio gear, this is a great resource for them.

BBC Radio News Style Guide

Oct 01, 2007 - Posted by Mary McGuire

BBC Radio News has posted a very helpful guide online to writing for radio. It's concise, clearly written and covers things such as getting the tone of story right and using only spoken English. The guide also includes a link to a detailed list of alphabetical rules about such things as the overuse of the word "but" and the misuse of the word "ironically." Some of the advice is specific to British journalists, such as the rule forbidding the use of the word soccer for football. But most of the advice would be valuable to Canadian journalists and journalism students.

Television reporters need sound, not just pictures

Sep 19, 2007 - Posted by Mary McGuire

This YouTube video prepared by Mark Popesel, who teaches Television News Writing at the University of Arizona, compares two versions of the same television report - one with natural sound, the other without it. It's a good example for television instructors to use to demonstrate how natural sound makes stories come alive.