Here's What to Study for the Written Final

Here is an outline of what will be covered on the written final. You have all the handouts/notes necessary to pass this with flying colors. If you can’t locate all your materials, ask one of your classmates for copies. The only subject that was not covered in a handout was the information on B-roll, lighting, sound, and shots from PBS Student Reporting Labs. I’ve put a link to those tutorials in the outline. Based on the results of the written quizzes throughout the semester, I would strongly advise some of you to study diligently for this test. It’s 50% of your Final Exam grade. The other 50% is your Six-Word Story. Good news: I’ve decided to drop the skills test. We ran out of time because of absences during the last two projects. That’s one fewer thing to fuss about, but it also puts a heavier emphasis on both the Six-Word story and the written test – SO STUDY.

 

1. The Functions of Journalism
   1. What role do journalism and journalists play in a democracy?
   2. Why is a free press necessary?
   3. What are the responsibilities or journalists?
   4. What are their rights?
   5. Are there limits on what they can say?
   6. Who governs or controls their actions?
   7. Why is a code of ethics important for journalists?
   8. What are the major ethical tenets of all journalists?
   9. What is slander? What is libel? What is a defense against either?
   10. What is the right of rebuttal?
2. The Elements of News
   1. What makes a story “news”?
   2. What tests does it have to pass for it to be news? (Be sure you can name and explain all five elements of news.)
   3. What makes a story news in one town or city, but not news in another?
3. News Writing
   1. What is the name of the format in which most news is written?
   2. Why is news written this way?
   3. What is the most important part of the news story?
   4. What is a lede? What functions does it perform? What questions should it answer?
4. Video Basics
   1. What are the names of the basic shots that we learned in class? What are a few of the new ones we just learned for the Six-Word Story? You might be asked to identify them from photos.
   2. Why would you use each of them? What would you be trying to communicate to your audience with each shot?
   3. How do you upload video from your camera to the computer – what are the steps, in order?
5.  Video Storytelling
   1. What is a storyboard?
      1. Why use a storyboard? (Three reasons)
      2. What information should a storyboard contain?
   2. What types of video sound are there?
   3. Why is sound important in video?
6. Student Reporting Labs
   1. Here is the link to the tutorial videos. I’d strongly recommend watching them again.
   2. There are worksheets linked with each of the videos, along with the answer keys. These would be good to use.

That’s about it. (That’s enough, isn’t it?) See you Tuesday.