News Writing: The art of storytelling
This course is designed to teach you how to write news stories in an effective and engaging way using techniques employed by Ewen MacAskill and other journalists around the world.
Welcome to News Writing: The Art of Story-telling!
Ewen will teach you when and how to go beyond the inverted pyramid model of storytelling to make your stories stand out and to make you a better story-teller.
This is a first of a three-course series on news writing. In courses 2 and 3, Ewen will take you through more advanced techniques and the art of news analysis.
EWEN MACASKILL
I have been a journalist for almost 50 years, most of it as a reporter, working with news organisations around the world. I spent 22 years on The Guardian, writing about just about anything but mainly politics and foreign affairs. I was the paper’s Washington bureau chief. I have won various awards, including a Pulitzer and an Emmy. Throughout my career, I have mentored journalists at various times. Early on I spent two years at the National Broadcasting Commission of Papua New Guinea training journalists. I was seconded for a year to Beijing to work at China Daily on behalf of the Thomson Foundation in 1984. I returned to the Foundation in the last few years as a mentor.
Let’s take a quick look at their profiles.
Ewen introduces other journalists:
- He has invited other journalists to contribute thoughts, and advice and insights.
- Former colleagues from The Guardian, people he has met through the Thomson Foundation and other journalists from around the world.
CHRISTINE MUNGAI
She is a Nairobi-based journalist at the Baraza Media Lab, a media collaboration initiative. She has featured on CNN and Al Jazeera as well as the Boston Globe and other publications.
ALAN RUSBRIDGER
He is the former editor of The Guardian, author of two books on journalism and member of Facebook’s oversight board.
EMMANUEL DOGBEVI
He is an Accra-based investigative journalist, founder of NewsBridge Africa and of Ghana Business News.
JANINE GIBSON
She is a London-based assistant editor digital at the Financial Times, former editor of Buzzfeed UK and former deputy editor of The Guardian.
BERNA NAMATA
She is a Kigali-based editor at the East African and Africa specialist at Thomson Foundation.
Tabu Butagira
He is a Kampala-based editor on the Daily Monitor.
PAUL JOHNSON
He is a London-based former deputy editor of The Guardian.
At the end of this course you will be able to:
- Tell a story using the Inverted Pyramid style.
- Write a news story in simple, clear language.
- Use a drop intro.
- Humanise a story.
- Provide context to a story.
- Appreciate the value and importance of going to the scene.
