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Berkeley Global
Journalism is undergoing historic change as citizen reporters publish on the Internet while mainstream news organizations race to add interactivity, context and diversity to their traditional focus on accuracy. Despite the changes in how journalism is done, the fundamentals of the craft remain steadfast. Get a practical, task-based introduction to news writing and reporting, and learn standards embraced by the best media practitioners—old and new. Study story selection and planning. Learn how to develop sources; interview and research; write fast, vivid and accurate articles; and revise and edit. You also get an introduction to multimedia and blogging, in addition to first person column writing, narrative and beat reporting.
Course Outline
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Course Objectives
- Identify and produce news stories in a variety of forms
- Develop reporting, interviewing and writing skills
- Identify the larger story hidden within a news item and turn it into an enterprise piece
- Gain confidence and knowledge needed to network among their peers
- Acquire the basic tools needed to identify and pursue the style of journalism that interests you most
What You Learn
- Definition and identification of news stories
- Difference between a news story, an essay and an opinion piece
- The ABCs of journalism
- Necessary components of a news story
- Preparation for interviews: common interview mistakes, thought-provoking questions and difference between powerful and weak quotes
- The purpose of a lead
- The inverted pyramid writing structure
- Breaking news and preparation for a press conference
- Difference between two main types of sources
- How to research a basic story
- Useful data and its utilization for story ideas
- Sourcing multiple sides of a story
- Beats, including their role in journalism; traditional beats; geographical, regional and contemporary beats; covering a beat; reporting on an event; and unusual beats
- Multimedia stories
- Basic elements of a podcast
- Utilizing images to tell a story
- How to source, research and tell a story using social media
- Editing: style and ethics
How You Learn
- Reading assignments
- Discussion participation and assignments
- Press conference story
- David Downs event story
- Final story
- Writing assignments
Is This Course for Me?
If you are a blogger or just someone interested in learning from professional journalists how to improve your reporting and writing skills, this is the course for you. As an introductory course, it is not designed for School of Journalism students.
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