You will learn to identify what makes a news story, develop newsgathering techniques to draw information from a range of sources and hone your writing skills to produce clean, accurate copy to deadline. You will also learn how to write specifically for digital audiences and how to think strategically about digital engagement to build and maintain an audience through optimised content for search engines and tracking Key Performance Indicators for content on digital and social platforms. You will consider how journalists should conduct themselves in public with reference to the Independent Press Standards Organisation code and other professional standards. Learn the difference between hard news, comment and features and produce work for a range of outlets and audiences. This module will also give you the opportunity to pass exams set by the National Council for the Training of Journalists’ as part of the externally assessed Level 5 Diploma in Journalism.
Workshop 64 hours
Main Assessment Methods:
News stories (20%). Details: 2x Text news stories (c.350 words each)
News feature (30%). Details: 1,000 words: News feature, investigation or in-depth report
Digital journalism project (50%). Details: 1,000 words plus video/graphic elements. This component is pass compulsory.
Reassessment methods: like for like
On successfully completing the module, students will be able to:
1) Write publishable news reports and features with reference to professional ethics and standards to a given length, format, brief and deadline
2) Understand the principles of investigative reporting including thorough research, following leads to a conclusion and treating statements by vested interests with due scepticism.
3) Consider and evaluate the success of digital content with reference to key performance indicators and develop strategies to build and maintain an audience
4) Engage critically with key sources of news, employ journalistic research techniques and develop original treatments for news content.
5) Question the accuracy of news material and apply appropriate verification techniques.
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