Journalism

About this unit

This unit explains how news is gathered, written, edited and presented, and what makes a good journalist. It covers news values, the structure of news reports, headlines, copy editing, photojournalism, and the laws and ethics that guide responsible journalism. Understanding these ideas helps students judge news critically, not only produce it.

Key ideas

• News is timely, accurate information of interest to many people.
• News values (timeliness, proximity, prominence, impact, conflict, human interest, novelty) decide what becomes news.
• The inverted pyramid and the 5 Ws and 1 H structure news stories.
• Editors check facts, language, length and style and write headlines.
• Photographs and captions can tell stories on their own.
• Freedom of expression comes with responsibilities and legal limits.

How to prepare

Practise writing a short news lead answering the 5 Ws and 1 H. Learn definitions of news values and ethical terms (paid news, fake news, plagiarism, defamation, sting operation). Expect situation-based questions asking you to identify a news value or an ethical problem.