In association with Fojo Media Institute, Linnaeus University, Sweden

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.

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.
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The reference books used to create this page - image by David Brewer of MHM

Words that are frequently misused

It's essential for journalists to maintain precision in their use of language, especially when dealing with words that sound or look similar but which carry different meanings.
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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.
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Fact-checking and adding context

An essential part of the editorial process is to examine everything we are told to make sure it is factual.
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An image of a journalist writing on a computer - image by Google Gemini AI

In journalism, good writing is plain writing

The purpose of news writing is to convey meaning clearly and effortlessly by using precise, comprehensible, and easily digestible words.
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Image of news conference in Macedonia

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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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
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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.
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Lessons

Lesson: How to spot a news story

This lesson plan is designed to help students recognise how to spot a news story and develop it so that it informs the audience.
Advanced

Tool: Story Weighting System

Different news stories have a different value for your audience and for your business. Giving news items a 'weighting' can lead to impact and efficiencies.
Advanced

Handling breaking news

Journalists need to have a system in place for covering a breaking news story in order to know who does what and when.
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