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.

Man working on typewriter, image by Media Helping Media

The qualities of a journalist

Developing and applying news sense

Image by Vladimir Khmelnytskyi released via Creative Commons CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

Developing important news angles

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.

Image by Upwardly Global released via Creative Commons CC BY-SA 3.0

Preparing for a job interview

Some suggestions for journalists preparing for a job interview.

Passive and active voice graphic by Anders Behrmann

The active and passive voices in news

Make your news writing more interesting by using the “active voice”. Bob Eggington explains this simple and effective technique.

Image by Hans and Carolyn released under Creative Commons CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

News writing for beginners

A journalist writing a news story is the author, organiser and decision maker. Without them the story may never be told.

Journalist writing at a typewriter in army fatigues. Image created with Gemini AI

Militaristic words used in journalism

Here we look at some of the most common militaristic words that are regularly used in journalism, along with their intended meaning and possible non-militaristic alternatives.

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.

Mobile journalism training Harare, Zimbabwe. Image shared via Creative Commons BY-NC-SA 4.0

Citizen reporting to citizen journalism

This article was written for a group of young citizen reporters from remote rural communities in Zimbabwe who were learning how to become journalists.

Naomi Goldsmith delivering gender training to female journalists in Tanzania

Gender equality in the media

The role of the journalist in rectifying gender imbalance in media is multifaceted, and it involves both individual actions and contributing to broader systemic change.