Basics

Reporting about conflict and working in a conflict zone is complex. The journalist needs to be sensitive, have an understanding of history, be aware of cultural issues, and put people before the story. 

There is a fine art to interviewing politicians. You need to understand their motivation, realise they will have a script, not allow them to complicate matters, refuse to be sidetracked, and retain an open mind.

To cover parliament, a journalist needs to know local laws, understand parliamentary procedure, know about the politicians and the political parties involved, and have a solid knowledge of history.

Pyramid journalism and the essential elements for writing a news story.

Journalism is about far more than simply gathering information and passing it on. An essential part of the editorial process is to examine everything we are told to make sure it is factual, and then add context so that any facts that are uncovered are considered alongside existing knowledge.

A journalist needs to have a broad interested in the world around them and want to find things out and share their discoveries with their readers or listeners. They must have a love of language, written or spoken, understand the meaning and flow of words and take delight in using them. 

Style differs from sentence construction (syntax) in that it cannot be quantified; it has no precise rules. This is inevitable because style is concerned not so much with the mechanics of English as with the manner in which the writer uses language to play on the sensations of the reader.

Another training module based on material from The News Manual, used with permission. Here we will discuss: who journalists are and what they do; why people become journalists; and what qualities you need to be a good journalist.