Category / Teaching Aids

BBC Radio News has posted a very helpful guide online to writing for radio. It’s concise, clearly written and covers things such as getting the tone of story right and using only spoken English. The…

A long-time reporter, editor and writing coach, Steve Buttry, has some great advice for reporters on everything from writing short to writing with emotional authenticity. Buttry is now director of tailored programs…

Journalism students rely heavily on the internet for research, but are not always good judges of what’s credible and what’s just plain wrong. This guide by John R. Henderson, a reference librarian at…

Instead of the usual tips for writing a great lead or landing a great interview, a British journalism professor has come up with rules for how to be journalism students. He tells his…

This YouTube video prepared by Mark Popesel, who teaches Television News Writing at the University of Arizona, compares two versions of the same television report – one with natural sound, the other without…

Radio reporters, even experienced ones, always want to improve their on-air presentation. Now they are joined by print reporters who are increasingly expected to do audio reports for the web. In this Q&A Ann Utterback, a well…

If you struggle to explain to students when it is appropriate to use “says” vs. “said” in their stories, you may find some guidance from these editors and writers. In this piece, the Poynter Institute’s…

This is an example of a compelling 400-word profile, followed by notes from the reporter about the process he went through to keep it so short.  The post is from the blog…

It’s a challenging course for graduate students at UC Berkley’s School of Journalism about the new practices that are redefining journalism. Students are told they will learn about major new trends in online journalism;…

The American Society of Newspaper Editors asked high school journalism instructors from around the country to prepare lesson plans for a variety of topics suitable for journalism classes — from news writing…