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.

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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Developing and applying news sense

How do we know what is “news”? There are millions of things going on in the world all the time and only some of them become news stories.
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Image courtesy of Freedom House and released under Creative Commons CC BY 2.0

Reporting from conflict zones

When reporting from a conflict zone a journalist needs to be sensitive, understand history and cultural issues, and put people first
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Image of an editor correcting a reporter's copy - created using Imagen 3 by David Brewer of MHM

Why some news stories are rejected

There will be times when a news story is withheld from publication, we look at why, what changes might be needed, and how to make sure a story is ethical and legally safe.
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Radio training Jaffna, Sri Lanka. Image by David Brewer released via Creative Commons BY-NC-SA 4.0

How to produce a radio news bulletin

Putting together a radio news bulletin is like preparing a satisfying meal that leaves your audience nourished and prepared for the day
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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.
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Photo of woman reading newspaper by Photo by Abhijith S Nair on Unsplash

How news value is assessed

The job of the journalist is to sort through daily events and package them into stories in order to inform the public.
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Image of a journalist researching created using Imagen 3 - created by David Brewer of MHM

SIFT for fact-checking

Journalists who are committed to fact-checking, as we should all be, have several methods available to help them deal with fake news.
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Advanced

Systems thinking for journalists

Systems thinking empowers journalists to provide deeper more meaningful news coverage by moving beyond surface-level reporting to uncover underlying related facts.
Lessons

Lesson: Investigating Documents

Investigative journalists need to learn how to interrogate official documents in order to find essential facts and then inform the audience. 
Workshops

Workshop: Crime reporting for beginners

Journalists reporting about crime must balance the public’s right to know with ethical considerations, ensuring accuracy, fairness, and sensitivity while avoiding sensationalism or prejudice.
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