Lesson: Language and style basics

Introduction

The objective of this training day is to equip journalists with the fundamental tools of language and style required to produce clear, concise, and accurate news reports. By focusing on the core principles of simplicity, brevity, and precision, participants will learn how to communicate complex information effectively to a broad audience, ensuring their reporting remains accessible and professional.

Sessions timetable

• 09:00–10:00 – Session 1: The foundations of news writing.
  • Aims: To understand the importance of simplicity and the difference between academic and journalistic writing.
  • Presentation: Explain the concept of writing for the ear and the eye. Discuss why journalists use short sentences and simple words to ensure clarity for a diverse audience.
  • Activity: Provide a paragraph of dense, academic text. Ask participants to identify the core facts and rewrite it using no more than 15 words per sentence.
  • Discussion: Why is it harder to write simply than it is to write using complex language?
• 10:00–11:00 – Session 2: Precision in language.
  • Aims: To eliminate ambiguity and ensure every word serves a specific purpose.
  • Presentation: Cover the use of active vs. passive voice. Discuss why concrete nouns and strong verbs are preferable to adjectives and adverbs.
  • Activity: Distribute a list of sentences filled with clutter words (e.g., actually, basically, very). Have participants strip the sentences down to their essential meaning.
  • Discussion: How does the use of the active voice change the speed and impact of a news story?
• 11:00-11:15 – Break
• 11:15–12:45 – Session 3: Accuracy and objectivity.
  • Aims: To understand how style choices affect the perceived impartiality of a report.
  • Presentation: Focus on avoiding loaded words and emotional language. Explain the importance of attribution and using neutral verbs like said instead of claimed or admitted.
  • Activity: Give participants a short, biased report. Ask them to remove all subjective adjectives and replace ‘loaded’ verbs with neutral alternatives to create a factual account.
  • Discussion: Can a single word choice change the legal or ethical standing of a story?
• 12:45–13:45 – Lunch
• 13:45–15:00 – Session 4: Structure and flow.
  • Aims: To learn how to organise information logically for maximum impact.
  • Presentation: Introduce the inverted pyramid structure. Discuss the one idea per sentence rule and how to use transitions to move between paragraphs.
  • Activity: Provide a set of jumbled facts about a breaking news event. Participants must order them from most important to least important and write a cohesive three-paragraph summary.
  • Discussion: Why is the first paragraph (the lead) the most critical part of the style guide?
• 15:00-15:15 – Break
• 15:15–16:15 – Session 5: Titles, leads, and hooks.
  • Aims: To master the art of grabbing the audience’s attention while remaining accurate.
  • Presentation: Explore the mechanics of writing headlines and leads that summarise the story without being clickbait.
  • Activity: Participants write three different headlines for the story they structured in Session 4: one for print, one for social media, and one for a mobile alert.
  • Discussion: How does the platform (web vs. print) dictate the style and length of a headline?
• 16:15–17:00 – Session 6: Self-editing and proofreading.
  • Aims: To develop a rigorous approach to checking one’s own work.
  • Presentation: Share a checklist for self-editing: check names, dates, titles, and grammar. Explain the benefit of reading copy out loud.
  • Activity: A spot the error race. Provide a text with subtle style, spelling, and factual errors for participants to find and fix within a strict time limit.
  • Discussion: What are the most common style mistakes you see in local media, and how can they be avoided?

Assignment

Participants are to take a 400-word press release or a technical report and rewrite it into a 200-word news story. The final output must follow the MHM style basics: active voice, short sentences, neutral language, and an inverted pyramid structure.

Materials needed

• Printed copies of the Journalism language and style basics guide.
• Notepads and pens or laptops.
• Whiteboard or flipchart for group brainstorming.
• Examples of ‘bad’ journalism (cluttered or biased reports) for analysis.

Assessment

• Participation: Engagement in group discussions and willingness to share rewritten drafts.
• Performance: Ability to demonstrate the ‘one idea per sentence’ rule and the successful conversion of passive voice to active voice in the final assignment.

Summary

This lesson plan provides a structured approach to mastering the essentials of journalistic clarity. By moving from the philosophy of simple writing to the practical application of editing and structuring, trainers can help journalists produce work that is professional and easy for audiences to digest.

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Language and style – basics