Basics

Our basics section provides foundational knowledge for journalists starting their careers and for those wanting to refresh their skills. Learn techniques including news writing, interviewing, story structure, and reporting practices that form the bedrock of quality journalism. All our material is free to download, adapt and use. Scroll down our site map for all the content in this and other sections.

Grammar for journalists

Image by Cathy released via Creative Commons BY-NC 2.0

Fact-checking and adding context

Image by woodleywonderworks released under Creative Commons

Attribution and plagiarism

Image of woman interviewing a man courtesy of Pexels and released via Creative Commons - image from cottonbro

Developing and handling news sources

News sources are essential if a journalist is going to find important news stories. They are where we get our information. Without them we will be staring at a blank page.

Image of a journalist researching created using Imagen 3 - created by David Brewer of MHM

Lateral reading

When it comes to fact-checking and adding context to news articles, journalists need to apply ‘lateral reading’ in order to broaden their knowledge.

Photo of woman reading newspaper by Photo by Abhijith S Nair on Unsplash

How news value is assessed

The job of the journalist is to sort through daily events and package them into stories in order to inform the public.

Radio training Jaffna, Sri Lanka. Image by David Brewer released via Creative Commons BY-NC-SA 4.0

How to produce a radio news bulletin

Putting together a radio news bulletin is like preparing a satisfying meal that leaves your audience nourished and prepared for the day

Developing and applying news sense

How do we know what is “news”? There are millions of things going on in the world all the time and only some of them become news stories.

Gazeta Lubuska Newsroom image by PawelJanczaruk released via Wikimedia Commons

Journalistic roles and responsibilities

Journalism involves many tasks that requires a wide variety of skills. We look at some of the jobs journalists do.

Radio training workshop in Jaffna, Sri Lanka. Image by David Brewer

Where does news come from?

The job of the journalist is to uncover the stories that shape our understanding of the world.

Image of an intervention in a council meeting - created using Imagen 3 by David Brewer of MHM

The evolution of an original news story

Impactful and original journalism often begins with the answer to a question which, after thorough investigation, develops into a news story with significant implications.