Media Helping Media (MHM)

Preserving and promoting the core principles of accurate, impartial, public-service journalism by offering free training materials in multiple formats to be downloaded, adapted, and used.


Essential Journalism Values

CHECK OUT MORE THAN 250 ARTICLES ON JOURNALISM BEST PRACTICE

Accuracy

Why accuracy is essential

Accuracy means getting every single detail in your story absolutely correct.

Impartiality

Why impartiality matters

Impartiality means leaving your opinions at home when you go work.

Public interest

Serving the audience

Public service journalism covers the news that society needs to function.

400 resources

Download and adapt

Free articles, guides, and tools designed to strengthen journalism


Free Journalism Learning Materials

DOWNLOAD AND ADAPT MORE THAN 140 ASSORTED TRAINING RESOURCES

Exercises

Our free one-hour exercises provide practical skill-building activities for self-directed learning.

Workshops

Our two-hour and four-hour workshops offer structured training sessions on essential journalism skills.

Lessons

Our free day-long lesson outlines are for trainers to download and adapt for specific local training needs.

How-To Guides

Our short how-to guides are designed to be checklists based on some of our more comprehensive training articles

Modules

Our free six-week course modules deliver structured training programmes on major journalism themes.

Refreshers

Our free day-long intense refresher courses are to help experienced journalists update their skills .


Basic Journalism

SAMPLE ARTICLES FROM - OUR BASICS SECTION

The questions every journalist should ask

There are six questions that journalists should consider asking. They are What? Why? When? How? Where? and Who?

Including the human angle in journalism

For news organisations to succeed, they must attract and retain audiences. The human touch is vital for building trust and engagement.

Reporting from conflict zones

When reporting from a conflict zone a journalist needs to be sensitive, understand history and cultural issues, and put people first

Editorial Ethics

SAMPLE ARTICLES FROM - OUR ETHICS SECTION

Why editorial ethics are important

The Media Helping Media ethics section is designed to help journalists navigate some of the challenges they might face as they go about their work.

Integrity and journalism

Without integrity your journalism is untrustworthy and suspect. Integrity is essential if a journalist wants to investigate issues, shine a light in dark places, and to dig where others don't.

Unconscious bias and journalism

Bias is a prejudice for or against a group, often leading to unfair judgements. While it's a normal human trait, understanding our biases is vital for fairness.

Advanced Journalism

SAMPLE ARTICLES FROM - OUR ADVANCED SECTION

Engaging viewers and listeners

TV and radio presenters need to connect with the audience, building trust and respect. Here Riz Khan shares some tips for engaging viewers and listeners.

False equivalence and false balance

Journalists can sometimes present an inaccurate or false version of events by trying too hard to 'balance' a story or incorrectly treating elements of a story as being roughly equal.

Systems thinking for journalists

Systems thinking empowers journalists to provide deeper more meaningful news coverage by moving beyond surface-level reporting to uncover underlying related facts.

Investigative Journalism

SAMPLE ARTICLES FROM - OUR INVESTIGATIVE SECTION

Tool: Motive, veracity, and security (MVS) matrix

This free Media Helping Media matrix is designed to help journalists assess the risks and benefits of investigating a tip-off or a leak.

Why would anyone want to talk to a journalist?

An investigative journalist has to encourage people to share information that they had previously withheld.

Tips for investigative journalism

This article looks at some of the main points to consider when producing a piece of investigative journalism.

Management

SAMPLE ARTICLES FROM - OUR MANAGEMENT SECTION

Hiring and developing staff

Hiring the right journalists is one of the most critical decisions senior newsroom managers make. The following guide is designed to help editors choose the right candidates.

Setting up refugee media in exile

This article deals with how refugee communities can set up and operate a successful news organisation when living in exile.

Building a news team from scratch

Selecting, training and organising a strong news team is a challenge in any circumstances, but doing so in a refugee camp with no resources is an amazing achievement. One editor explains how it was done.

Newsroom Strategy

SAMPLE ARTICLES FROM - OUR STRATEGY SECTION

Social media test for mainstream media

Does your media organisation have a social media strategy. Does it reach out and connect with your audience on every device they are turning to for information?

Managing people and setting objectives

Media managers need to set clear objectives for all staff in order to get the best out of those who work for the news organisation.

Preparing a media corporate plan

The corporate plan is the most important tool in a media chief executive’s toolbox. Without it the media organisation can become lost and directionless.

Ethical Scenarios

SAMPLE ARTICLES FROM - OUR SCENARIOS SECTION

Returning favours – scenario

In this scenario a naive reporter's early success with a government minister leads to an ethical dilemma when a 'favour' is demanded in return.

Trespass and journalism – scenario

In this scenario we look at a situation where a journalist is faced with breaking the law in order to gather essential information for informing the public debate.

Emotional pressure – scenario

How should a reporter respond when someone uses emotional pressure and threats to try to stop them doing their job?

Training of Trainers - ToT

SAMPLE ARTICLES FROM - OUR TRAINING OF TRAINERS SECTION

Basic rules for delivering training

One of the first steps in delivering training is to articulate the ground rules. Participants need to know what to expect and what is expected of them

Tool: Evaluation and Impact Assessment

Training should always be judged by its effectiveness, and there are several tools for measuring success. The following is to evaluate the assess the impact of the training. 

Tool: Learning management systems

Learning Management Systems (LMS) are increasingly becoming the digital backbone of all media training, in particular Training of Trainers (ToT) courses.

Training Tools

SAMPLE ARTICLES FROM - OUR TRAINING TOOLS SECTION

Tool: Learning management systems

Learning Management Systems (LMS) are increasingly becoming the digital backbone of all media training, in particular Training of Trainers (ToT) courses.

Tool: Multiplatform Authoring (MPA)

This MPA tool lets journalists write a story once and publish across multiple digital platforms, ensuring editorial consistency for the news organisation’s audience.

Tool : Training timetable planner

This sample training timetable helps trainers download and adapt MHM lesson outlines for their own specific needs. Ideal for customising your teaching plans.

Radio production training in Jaffna, Sri LankaCheck out our short guide setting out how to make the best use of the free training resources on Media Helping Media.

Journalism training in KampalaMedia Helping Media has no political or financial backers – it’s just professional journalists sharing their knowlege. Find out more.

Fojo logoMedia Helping Media is proud to be hosted by the Fojo Media Institute.

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Creative Commons BY NC SA 4.0The content on Media Helping Media (MHM) is released via Creative Commons BY NC SA 4.0.