Journalism skills overview

Reporter at work (Botsunen Chosa-thon, Wikimedia commons)

I. Writing & Reporting

  1. Story concepts  / What is news / Where do you start?
  2. Information gathering / background / reports /
  3. Interviewing / send email questions first
  4. Write a basic news story
  5. How to attribute information and structure quotes
  6. Cover city beat — city council, courts, police, etc.
  7. Cover regional govt — planning commission, recycling, trails
  8. Cover higher ed — activities, sports, curriculum, faculty, admin
  9. Cover complex stories — transportation, science, environment
  10. Cover arts, music, theater
  11. Cover politics and elections
  12. Write a feature story
  13. AP Style
  14. How to turn in copy (on deadline)

II. Editing words, images, audio, video 

  1. Copy editing
  2. How to critique your friends work
  3. Know difference fact / opinion
  4. Write photo, video caption
  5. Introduce podcast
  6. Edit photo (Gimp, photoshop)
  7. Edit & post podcast (Audacity, Audio.com)
  8. Edit & post Video (Premier, YouTube)

Reporter from CN8 at the Petco gas explosion. (Jonut / Andre Engels, Wikimedia commons)

III. MMJ = Multi-Media Journalism 

  1. Take audio / video on location
  2. Set up streaming
  3. Effective lighting design
  4. Edit photo, audio, video files
  5. Drone video
  6. Social media
  7. Streaming
  8. Web site & security
  9. Use social media
  10. Design for mobile phones / tablets
  11. Pdfs – InDesign
  12. Collaborative documents
  13. Collaborative mapping
  14. Animation for fun
  15. Editorial cartoons

IV.  Being Professional   

  1. Ethics – SPJ
  2. Elements of journalism / verification
  3. Law – libel, privacy, broadcast regs, ad regs, section 230
    1. Role of govt regulation and protection
    2. First Amendment
  4. History – Who were great journalists?  Pulitzer, Nelly Bly, Franklin, etc
  5. Objectivity – Can people be objective? What are objective methods?
  6. Handling criticism / Fake news, enemies of the people, etc etc
  7. News deserts and community media

V. The business side of news 

  1. Pitch & write freelance stories
  2. Create a professional resume & portfolio
  3. Finding gainful employment
  4. Community service projects
  5. Business models
  6. Accounting, FICA and taxes
  7. Newsroom management