How to Develop Basic Journalism Skills

Thứ bảy - 27/04/2024 01:09
This is a brief summary of some of the important skills required of journalists. These are the skills that are taught in many entry-level college journalism classes. Having a good understanding of these fundamentals will help any writer...
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This is a brief summary of some of the important skills required of journalists. These are the skills that are taught in many entry-level college journalism classes. Having a good understanding of these fundamentals will help any writer decide if they want to pursue this type of writing.

Steps

  1. 1
    Learn to write with the “5 W’s”: who, what, where, when, why and how. They are the building blocks of every news story.
  2. Step 2 Organize the story:
    Carefully and logically organize the article after you write the lead. (See below.) This often involves the use of interview quotations.
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  3. 7
    Understand the meaning of "on the record": Determine whether your source will agree to let you quote them by name. This would be "on the record." "Off the record" means that the source has pertinent information but asks that you not use his or her name in the story.
    • A famous example of off-the-record reporting occurred during the Watergate scandal in 1974. A high-ranking American government official (known to readers as "Deep Throat") spoke with journalists under the cloak of anonymity and offered information that led to the downfall of a president.
    • Using off-the-record sources may be unacceptable in some newsrooms. If you face that dilemma, try to get confirmation of your information from another source who is familiar with the story and who will let you cite them by name.
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Warnings

  • Above all, protect your sources' anonymity if they request it. That will help you (and the entire journalism profession) when trying to gather sensitive news in the future.
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  • Learning to be an effective journalist takes practice. News writing is different from the "term paper" writing style learned in many high school and college courses.
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