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Introduction to Journalism - Revised
Learn about the important elements that contribute to effective journalism - methodology, style, audience, best practice and legal issues.
Description
In this course, you will study the elements that contribute to effective journalism. You will learn about news pegs, the beat system, assignment sheets and files. You will review the importance of nurturing sources and maintaining relationships, and study what's involved in the three stages of the interview process. The course shows you how to structure a feature story and the criteria for creating a newsworthy story, including idea generation and source gathering. You will study how to identify and apply key points for the news angle and how to sequence, conclude and review stories.
The course then introduces you to the functions of editorials and compare them with other journalistic forms. You will learn why objectivity and impartiality is important for the audience and how the title, lead, body and conclusion is structured. Also in this course, you will study the ethical responsibilities of journalists - integrity, fairness, avoiding conflicts and the difference between opinions and facts. You will review legal issues involved in Freedom of Information, libel, plagiarism and fabricating news and images. Finally, you will examine the roles of different news editors (input, output, planning and interactive) and production teams and compare different news story weightings.
This free course aims to make it easy to learn how to write editorials and feature news stories using idea generation, objectivity, angles, key points, and structure. These lessons will be of great benefit to media professionals, and to any student who would like to learn more about the skills required for working as a professional journalist. So, check out the course today, and bring your journalistic skills to the next level.
Start Course NowLearning Outcomes
Having completed this course you will be able to:
- Define what is meant by news
- Discuss the main factors that determine what is newsworthy
- List the advantages and disadvantages of using a voice recorder
- Develop accurate note-taking skills
- Discuss the different stages of an interview
- Organize the layout of a news story or article
- Explain the different types of feature stories
- Define and construct an editorial
- Identify and recognize the key points of a story
- Use quotes and attributions correctly in a news story
- Develop fact checking methodologies
- Explain how to maintain balance in the use of opinions and facts
Certification
All Alison courses are free to enrol, study and complete. To successfully complete this Certificate course and become an Alison Graduate, you need to achieve 80% or higher in each course assessment. Once you have completed this Certificate course, you have the option to acquire official Certification, which is a great way to share your achievement with the world. Your Alison Certification is:
Ideal for sharing with potential employers - include it in your CV, professional social media profiles and job applications
An indication of your commitment to continuously learn, upskill and achieve high results
An incentive for you to continue empowering yourself through lifelong learning
Alison offers 3 types of Certification for completed Certificate courses:
Digital Certificate - a downloadable Certificate in PDF format, immediately available to you when you complete your purchase
Certificate - a physical version of your officially branded and security-marked Certificate, posted to you with FREE shipping
Framed Certificate - a physical version of your officially branded and security-marked Certificate in a stylish frame, posted to you with FREE shipping
All Certification is available to purchase through the Alison Shop. For more information on purchasing Alison Certification, please visit our faqs. If you decide not to purchase your Alison Certification, you can still demonstrate your achievement by sharing your Learner Record or Learner Achievement Verification, both of which are accessible from your Dashboard. For more details on our Certification pricing, please visit our Pricing Page.
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