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Basic journalism

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.

Image of journalists at a Fojo Media Institute training session

What is news?

What is news? Beyond facts, it’s the stories that truly matter to people. Explore why human interest and personal relevance are at the heart of every headline.
Photo of woman reading newspaper by Photo by Abhijith S Nair on Unsplash

Assessing news value

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

The inverted pyramid

The inverted pyramid model puts key news first, followed by supporting details, with the least important background information at the base of the article.
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 Tessa Kavanagh from Pixabay

Translation in journalism

If you are a journalist working in a multilingual society, you may have to work in more than one language.
Graphic for a Media Helping Media Training Tool

Tool: News story checklist

The follow is a structured checklist tool for journalists to consider in order to ensure they produce strong news stories.
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.
Word Power graphic by Media Helping Media released under Creative Commons BY-NC-SA 4.0

The power of words

Journalists need to understand the power of using the right words when writing news stories
Naomi Goldsmith delivering gender training to female journalists in Tanzania

Gender equality in the media

Addressing gender imbalance in media requires a multifaceted approach from journalists, combining personal initiative with essential systemic change.
Photo by Brett Jordan on Unsplash

Using the right words

Words are the essential tools of journalism. They convey meaning and help the audience understand the issues we are covering. So they need to be used properly.
Man writing on notepad. Image by NegativeSpace released via Creative Commons

Adjectives and adverbs in journalism

When it comes to writing - not just news writing but any kind of writing - adjectives and adverbs have a bad reputation.
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.
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