Writing News

Welcome to the video course, which teaches important skills for choosing and covering newsworthy topics and introduces different journalistic forms. This course will teach you how to identify what makes a story newsworthy. Including introducing the key components of newsworthy stories such as timeliness, relevance and public interest.

You will also gain insight into how to cover issues by exploring different journalistic formats, their goals and structures. Whether writing a news article, an in-depth feature article, an investigative journalistic story or an opinion piece, this course will give you a solid foundation. It also covers specialist formats such as sports and entertainment news and opinion commentary, ensuring you can adapt your skills to different storytelling styles.

Throughout the course, you will establish a good overview of the principles of a news story, focusing on the important aspects of producing quality journalism. Whether you're a budding journalist or looking to improve your skills, this course will equip you with the tools you need to write impactful and engaging content across a variety of journalism platforms.

Additional reading

  • Learning Resources for Journalism Students
    The BBC offers a comprehensive collection of guides and tips on various aspects of journalism, including writing engaging content, reporting, and interviewing techniques. BBC
  • Free Online Writing & Journalism Courses Open Culture curates a list of free online courses from top universities, covering topics like news writing, investigative journalism, and more. Open Culture
  • Journalism 101 Toolkit The International Journalists' Network provides a toolkit with resources, tip sheets, and guides on fundamental journalism skills, including writing, editing, reporting, and interviewing. IJNet
  • Introduction to Newspaper Journalism Alison offers a free online course that covers the basics of newspaper journalism, including how to write compelling news stories and conduct interviews. Alison
  • Fundamentals of Journalism Course NBCU Academy provides an immersive and interactive course covering the essentials of journalism, including video content, readings, and quizzes. NBCU Academy

Practical exersices

Introduction to the Task: Simplify and Summarize

In this exercise, we’re going to focus on one of the most important skills for a journalist: communicating complex information in a way that anyone can understand. Imagine you’re reading an official announcement from the Danish National Bank—it’s probably full of technical language and formal phrases. Your challenge is to take that text and explain it to your grandmother in a way she would easily grasp.

Downloadable file