This course will teach you a range of skills that are essential to a successful career as a staff journalist. You’ll learn interview and reporting techniques through hands-on experience with your assignments, as well as writing introductions, feature and editorials, profiles and handouts.
You’ll see how to handle an ongoing story, understand the importance of corporate style, basic “subheadings,” creating headlines and captions, and presenting text. It also provides a thorough introduction to newsroom theory and practice, and details the necessary legal and ethical considerations.
Syllabus
Lesson 1: Getting Started in Journalism
Myths and realities, responsibilities and ethics of the profession. How the British press evolved and what legacy it left to the world press. The battle to maintain and increase circulation. The five major categories of newspapers, from national dailies to provincial weeklies. Familiarity with magazines and trade journals. Hierarchy of the daily newspaper.
Assessment tasks include:
Writing a factual account of a recent event
Providing information about you and your interests
Lesson 2: What is news?
How to develop a strong sense of news and recognize the various factors that determine the strength and prominence of published stories. Identifying the professional skills and personal qualities needed by a news reporter. How to make contacts and identify and track potential clients.
Assessment assignments include:
Rewriting a poorly written
text Submitting a 250-word news article.
Lesson 3: Junior Reporter.
By getting a junior reporter assignment at a provincial weekly newspaper, you will learn basic newsgathering and copywriting skills. The importance of the news diary in distributing the workload, what is needed for “calls” and how reporters proceeded to write accurate and attention-grabbing “introductions.”
Assessment assignments include:
Writing a brief news release
Editing a press release
Lesson 4: Senior Reporter.
What can you learn from the experience? Insight and flair, accurate interpretation of complex facts and their implications. Your first visit to the magistrate’s court – how cases are recorded. Basic rules for conducting interviews, both in person and over the phone. Necessary skills and pitfalls to avoid.
Assessment tasks include:
Writing a court report.
Conducting the interview and drafting it
Lesson 5: Filing copy.
Mastering the most fundamental journalistic skills – filing clean and accurate copy, understanding the purpose of house style, and learning how newspaper English differs from other forms of writing. How and where to find important information quickly and how to prepare news stories based on information taken from handouts and press releases.
Assessment assignments include:
Writing a live news story for the evening newspaper.
Lesson 6: Evening Newspapers.
Life in a lively evening newspaper. Its structure and staff hierarchy, the importance of deadlines, and the use of individual editions. Coverage of a typical King’s Court case; how to present a “current story” and a special news release; processing required for gossip and diary column stories.
Assessment assignments include:
Covering a current story.
Selecting a news story for consideration as a “special
Writing two articles for a secular column
Lesson 7: Nationals.
How Republican newspapers differ from the provincial press. The importance of politics and exclusives; what is meant by “national outlook,” issues related to checkbook journalism, and other ethical concerns. How citizens define their target audience and how that shapes their content.
Assessment tasks include:
Comparing news styles in morning daily newspapers
Writing a feature story based on a major news story.
Lesson 8: Journalists and the Law
Legal restrictions and how journalists can avoid costly lawsuits. Dangers of libel and other pitfalls; qualified privilege and unintentional defamation; criminal libel; and the need for fairness and accuracy. Restrictions on court reports and danger of contempt of court when cases are pending. The Official Secrets Act, press rights, and a brief overview of copyright law.
Assessment tasks include:
Working with a special column or article
Drafting a safe, objective and accurate account of a crime
Defining legal terminology
Lesson 9: The Qualified Journalist
As part of a comprehensive review of your training to date, here you will conduct a self-assessment exercise and learn how trainee journalists can advance their careers. Using sub-editing skills to hone your writing style; how to use check marks.
Assessment tasks include:
Creating a personal 12-month action plan with clear goals to achieve .