Course Description
One or two day intensive training for those in the communications business who want to acquire some basic journalism skills in news and feature writing.
Who Should Attend?
Anyone whose job is to communicate with an audience through the written word. Journalism skills are vital in the modern online and offline publishing environment, where good writing and storytelling skills are essential to engage the audience.
Course Outline
- Introduction and overview of the current media landscape
- What is news? What makes a story? Two questions that all non-journalists need to answer
- How to write a news story
- Structure – Intros and how to use the inverted pyramid
- The importance of people-based stories
- Style, language and pace
- The difference between news and features
- The purpose of features and a look at different styles of feature
- The role of comment, analysis and opinion
- How people consume words on the web - some tips on style and layout
- Search engine optimisation and the impact it might have on your writing style
- Links and extra content - offering the reader choice and variety.
This course provides a comprehensive introduction to news and feature writing. Very much a hands-on course it runs through the range of journalistic styles and equips delegates with a firm grounding in journalism skills which can transfer to all aspects of the communications business.
“I liked this course, it was the right length with a good mixture of teaching and practical work. The session on intro writing in particular was great.”
(Senior Press Officer, Department for communities and local government)
Course Length
- 1 or 2 days - depending on experience level.
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