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)
  15. How to stay safe in protests, riots & other dangerous situations

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