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.

Facts, context, perspectives, and the truth

The primary role of a journalist in covering a news story is to uncover verifiable facts, provide context and present the information to the audience.
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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.
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Image of news conference in Macedonia

Letting the pictures tell the story

Letting the pictures tell the story is an important skill for TV journalists
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Image by melfoody released via Creative Commons CC BY-NC-ND 2.00

Parliamentary reporting for beginners

To cover parliament, a journalist needs to know local laws, understand parliamentary procedure, and know about the politicians and the political parties.
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Graphic for email interviewing created with Gemini AI

How to carry out an interview remotely

Here we look at some of the important issues journalists face when interviewing sources in another location via electronic media rather than face-to-face and in real time.
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Radio production training in Jaffna, Sri Lanka by David Brewer shared via Creative Commons BY-NC-SA 4.0

How to create a broadcast news package

Discover how to create concise, compelling TV and radio packages that capture audience attention and deliver information effectively.
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Journalism training in Africa. Image by David Brewer shared via Creative Commons

How to succeed as a journalist

Journalists should be accurate, first with news, trusted, easy to understand, straight, aware, disciplined and realistic.
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Image by David Brewer released via Creative Commons BY-NC-SA 4.0

Clarity is as important as accuracy

Journalists must write clearly as well as accurately using accessible language that the audience can understand.
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Lessons

Lesson: What makes a news story

This lesson plan is designed to help journalists understand the sources of news stories and be able to order them in terms of their relevance to the audience.
Advanced

Data journalism – resources and tools

We have compiled a list of some of the leading resources and tools that are available for those starting out in data journalism.
Strategy

Organisations supporting independent media

We have compiled a list of organisations that offer operational, strategic, and financial/business support for independent media, helping outlets survive, grow, and enhance their impact.
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