Journalism

Journalism

A 12 week evening course providing an introduction to news and features journalism.

The classes will begin at 6.30pm and end at 9.00pm.

If you would prefer a daytime course, we have ahich is identical in content.

Week 1: Introduction, course aims, syllabus, brief on assignments, short interviews, tools
Week 2: Where to find news, diary/off-diary, puff pieces what makes news, markets
Week 3: News intros, the 5 Ws, inverted pyramid, balance, padding, who to quote, what to ask
Week 4: Making the story stand up, good vs bad reporting, news values, finding the facts
Week 5: News structure, dealing with the police, council and press officers, fact checking
Week 6: Writing to length, editing, deadlines, news in brief, avoiding hype and advertising
Week 7: News conferences, thinking on your feet, fine tuning the news story, copy tasting
Week 8: News vs features, features intros, endings, hooks, scene setting, key quotes
Week 9: Meeting the brief, why features go wrong, questions to ask, shaping a feature
Week 10: Features conferences, arranging the interview, finding the right subject, timings
Week 11: Controlling the interview, killer questions, meeting the brief, listing your questions
Week 12: Vox pops, law, libel, PCC, the courts, course review, Q&A, future options

There are four writing assignments included in this course - two news and two features. Students will have their assignments graded and be given written feedback from the course tutor.

Book: Journalism and Newswriting (London School of Journalism 2009)
(cost included in course fees)