Reporting
If you want to become a professional journalist as opposed to an enthusiastic amateur, or so-called citizen journalist, you need to learn how to write clear, concise and engaging stories.
By taking an NCTJ course you are hoping to achieve a gold standard in news writing, which has been recognised for half a century.
By the end of the first term at Up To Speed you will have learned how to adapt your storytelling skills to a range of news platforms including print, online and broadcast. You will also have found ways to use social media such as blogs, Twitter and Facebook to interact with your readers.
Lynn Jackson, Reporting Tutor: "Journalists need to know how to craft stories that people want to read, watch and hear."
The course is taught by Lynn Jackson, who has worked in print journalism for more than 20 years, with roles including newspaper reporter, news editor, magazine editor, feature writer and freelance journalist.
Lynn also has a postgraduate diploma in Multi-Media Journalism and has produced video and radio stories.
Lynn has her own blog and has substantial experience of writing for the web.
Assessment: 2 hour 30 minute exam.
Syllabus:
The course covers eight study units and during this time you will learn a range of skills enabling you to operate in a modern converged newsroom.
The key text for this unit is Essential Reporting by Jon Smith.
On the course you will cover:
- News gathering. You will learn how to spot, find and follow up stories using contacts and other news sources.
- Interviewing. You will interview people for your stories in a range of situations and find out how to make the most of interview opportunities.
- Writing and creating news stories. You will practice writing stories in a clear, vigorous and balanced style and develop a ‘nose for news’ and interesting story angles.
- Writing different types of stories. You will find out how to adapt your writing style to cover a range of stories from serious court cases and political subjects to fluffier features and reviews of plays, concerts and art events.
- How news is consumed. The stories you cover could be watched on an i-phone app, read in a newspaper, heard on i-tunes or scanned quickly online. You will learn to appreciate how to adapt your writing and production values for a range of news platforms.
- Interactivity. Reporters have to explore ways to create a conversation around their stories and so you will learn to use Twitter to find followers, and use Facebook groups and pages to bring together people with a shared interest in issues you are covering. You will also use polls and surveys to reflect the views of your readers.
- Production journalism. A tweet can be written in a matter of seconds, but it can take you months to win back your credibility as a journalist if you get it wrong. Learning to sub your own copy is a key skill for you to acquire. You will also learn how to write headlines and tags that will make sure your stories are found by the search engines.
- Health and safety and freelance journalism. These are subjects that won’t come up in your exam, but we will give you valuable tips on, amongst other things, negotiating freelance payments and carrying out professional risk assessments when you are planning filming assignments.