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.

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Attribution and plagiarism

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Writing a radio news script

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Fact-checking and adding context

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The questions every journalist should ask

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

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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.

Letting the pictures tell the story

Here we explore the importance of visual storytelling in TV and video journalism, showing you how to let the pictures tell the story.

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Unlock your journalistic potential

The following is a collection of tips for journalists starting off in the job. It's been compiled from advice shared by senior journalists around the world.

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Tool: MHM Story Builder

The Media Helping Media’s Story Builder is a simple tool created to help those who are new to journalism write informative news articles.

Translation in journalism

If you are a journalist working in a multilingual society, you may have to work in more than one language.

Image of a newsroom - created using Perplexity AI by David Brewer of MHM

Editorialising is not for news

The free training materials on Media Helping Media are all aimed at encouraging one particular kind of journalism: accurate, fact-based, impartial news reporting.