Basic Public Affairs Specialist Course
Layout and Design

The Defense Information School, Fort George G. Meade, Maryland
Basic Public Affairs Specialist Course
Layout and Design
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Newspaper History | Design Basics | Modular Design | Nuts and Bolts
Years ago, people had plenty of time
to read newspapers. In many cases
newspapers were the primary tools used
to communicate information to people.
They didn’t have as many media choices
as they do today. Today, people receive
news and entertainment from such media
as television, the Internet and satellite
radio. Using these forms of media take
little work. All you have to do is turn them
on, sit back and absorb the information.
On the other hand, newspapers take work.
People have to make a conscious effort
to get information from a newspaper.
With this in mind, it is our job to make
this effort as easy as possible for our
readers. Modern publication design has
to be inviting, easy to grasp and instantly
informative. Design is as important as
writing articles or taking photographs. It is
part of the communication process.
Design principles

    
Basic Public Affairs Specialist Course-Advanced Distributed Learning (BPASC-ADL) – This on-line course mirrors the skill sets taught in the in-residence course. However, students will conduct the bulk of their studies during a 26-week non-resident phase, followed by a two-week in-resident phase.

BPASC graduates interact with command, community and media, and prepare and release information to report news and command information in accordance with applicable directives. BPASC students study public affairs theories and concepts, and practices media and community relations. BPASC students demonstrate the fundamentals of journalism to include research; acceptable media English as it applies to news writing with emphasis on style, format and techniques; operate digital cameras; and apply principles of photography to photojournalism tasks.  BPASC students write news leads and headlines, news and feature stories, and apply the principles of layout and design to print publications.