Journalist Course

Lesson 1 • News Values and Story Selection

Teaches the criteria editors and reporters use to judge newsworthiness. Students can evaluate story ideas against professional standards.

Lesson 2 • Understanding Your Audience

Introduces audience segmentation, media consumption habits, and platform context. Shapes how reporters frame and pitch stories effectively.

Lesson 3 • Core Ethical Principles

Covers truth-telling, independence, minimising harm, and accountability as operational standards. Provides the ethical framework applied throughout the course.

Lesson 1 • Pre-Interview Research Techniques

Trains reporters to research subjects thoroughly before interviews to ask sharper questions. Builds on source evaluation skills from earlier sections.

Lesson 2 • Evaluating Source Credibility

Provides frameworks for assessing bias, expertise, and motivation in sources. Prevents misinformation from entering published work.

Lesson 3 • Information Gathering Strategies

Covers primary vs. secondary sources, document trails, and open-record requests. Establishes the research habits that underpin every story.

Lesson 4 • Source Identification and Cultivation

Teaches how to identify credible sources, build relationships, and maintain a source network over time. Directly supports investigative and beat reporting.

Lesson 1 • Note-Taking and Recording Practices

Covers shorthand, digital recording, and transcription workflows for accuracy. Ensures a reliable evidentiary record of every interview.

Lesson 2 • On-Record, Off-Record, and Background Rules

Defines and applies the standard ground rules governing source attribution. Prevents legal and ethical errors in quoting and attribution.

Lesson 3 • Interview Preparation and Planning

Covers question design, logistics, and goal-setting before an interview. Ensures reporters enter every conversation with a clear information objective.

Lesson 4 • Conducting Effective Interviews

Teaches active listening, follow-up probing, and managing interview dynamics in real time. Builds the conversational skills that produce revealing answers.

Lesson 1 • Combating Misinformation and Disinformation

Distinguishes misinformation from disinformation and teaches detection of coordinated inauthentic behaviour. Protects editorial integrity in high-communication noise information environments.

Lesson 2 • Corrections and Accountability

Establishes protocols for issuing timely, transparent corrections and updating published work. Reinforces the ethical commitment to accuracy introduced in Chapter 1.

Lesson 3 • Verifying Facts and Claims

Covers document verification, source corroboration, and claim triangulation techniques. Directly reduces factual errors in published stories.

Lesson 4 • The Verification Mindset

Establishes sceptical inquiry as a professional default and distinguishes verification from confirmation bias. Sets the cognitive foundation for all fact-checking practice.

Lesson 1 • Numbers, Data, and Statistics in Copy

Teaches accurate and readable presentation of numerical information in news text. Prevents common errors that undermine credibility with data-literate readers.

Lesson 2 • Writing Strong Leads

Covers summary, anecdotal, question, and delayed leads with selection criteria. A compelling lead determines whether readers continue past the first sentence.

Lesson 3 • Style, Clarity, and Concision

Applies professional style guides, plain language principles, and sentence economy. Produces copy that is readable under deadline pressure.

Lesson 4 • Attribution, Quotes, and Paraphrase

Establishes rules for integrating direct quotes, paraphrases, and attribution tags. Prevents misquotation and maintains source accuracy throughout copy.

Lesson 1 • Science and Health Reporting

Covers peer-review literacy, risk communication, and avoiding false balance in science coverage. Builds on verification skills to handle technical and contested evidence.

Lesson 2 • Developing and Owning a Beat

Covers beat selection, source mapping, and building institutional knowledge over time. Transforms general reporting skills into specialised expertise.

Lesson 3 • Covering Government and Politics

Teaches how to report on legislative processes, public officials, and policy decisions accurately. Applies accountability interviewing and document research to civic coverage.

Lesson 4 • Business and Economics Reporting

Introduces financial statements, economic indicators, and corporate accountability reporting. Enables reporters to translate complex financial information for general audiences.

Lesson 1 • Managing Long-Form Investigation Workflow

Covers project management, collaboration, and editorial checkpoints for multi-month investigations. Ensures complex projects stay on track and legally defensible.

Lesson 2 • Legal and Safety Considerations

Addresses defamation risk, reporter privilege, and physical safety during investigations. Applies source protection skills to high-risk reporting environments.

Lesson 3 • Document-Based Investigation

Teaches systematic analysis of public records, leaked documents, and corporate filings. Provides the evidentiary foundation for accountability stories.

Lesson 4 • Data Journalism for Investigations

Introduces spreadsheet analysis, database querying, and data visualisation for investigative use. Enables reporters to find stories hidden in large datasets.

Lesson 1 • Video Journalism Essentials

Introduces shooting, interviewing on camera, and editing short-form video news packages. Builds visual storytelling skills complementary to written reporting.

Lesson 2 • Social Media as a Reporting and Distribution Tool

Covers live reporting, audience engagement, and content distribution across social platforms. Teaches responsible social media use that upholds editorial standards.

Lesson 3 • Audio and Podcast Journalism

Covers scripting, recording, editing, and publishing audio journalism and podcast episodes. Expands storytelling tools beyond text-based reporting.

Lesson 4 • Digital-First Story Planning

Teaches platform selection, format matching, and audience-driven story planning for digital. Integrates audience knowledge from Chapter 1 with production skills.