Journalism 101 - Introduction to News Writing

In this course we’ll cover the basics of news writing in its various forms. While mainly concentrating on newspaper writing, we’ll also touch on news in terms of television, radio, magazines, and the Internet.

We’ll discuss the different types of news articles from hard news, features, columns, reviews, interviews, and social media. Students will learn how to structure a news story in the classic inverted pyramid style, and how this will serve them when writing in all types of media.

Journalistic writing is a specific skill that is produced with competency and speed. Timeliness is key. Students will learn the basics of journalistic style, how to decipher the facts, what makes a good lede, and how to meet deadlines.

At the end of the course, students will be given a project that helps them identify different types of news stories and how to dissect their structure.