A Reporter’s Toolkit for the Digital Age

Enhance your skills as a news reporter

With so much of our news now consumed online, it’s important to know how digital journalism differs from traditional forms.

On this four-week course, you’ll increase your understanding of the essential ingredients for good reporting and how to apply this to online journalism.

This practical course will take you through a variety of exercises including how to pick the best stories for different target audiences, how to write a news story from information and quotes, and writing other forms of journalism to build your skills.

Explore the value of community news

You’ll examine what it means to have different communities reflected in the news and the impact this has on society.

Drawing from your own experiences, you’ll discuss how far you have seen various communities represented in the news before learning how reporters create this type of story.

You’ll also have the opportunity to create a story about your community or area of special interest.

Examine the power of social media in reporting and journalism

Social media has undoubtedly changed the way we report and consume news.

You’ll explore how news platforms use social media in reporting and what makes an engaging post without being ‘clickbait’.

As well as this, you’ll examine how news outlets use social media to pick up stories, interviewees, and case studies.

Explore the realms of digital journalism

Finally, you’ll explore the power of the personal story.

You’ll examine the attraction and also the danger of people telling their own stories before taking the opportunity to create your own piece of personalised journalism.

This course is designed for anyone with an interest in media reporting.

It will be of particular interest if you are an aspiring journalist or writer.

If you want to further your subject knowledge, you may also be interested in these courses. They’re from the same provider and share similar overall learning outcomes:

• Introduction to Journalism and Reporting
• Feature Writing

• Building blocks of good journalism
• Welcome to the course
• Building blocks of good journalism
• Developing 'news sense'
• Weekly wrap-up
• Covering your community or area of special interest
• Welcome to Week 2
• Exploring 'communities' in news
• What is a 'patch' and how to cover one?
• Covering your own community - newsgathering
• Weekly wrap-up
• The power of social media in reporting and journalism
• Introduction to Week 3
• The value of social media
• What makes a good SM post for news?
• The trouble with social media
• Weekly wrap-up
• Personal stories in the news
• Introduction to Week 4
• Finding 'you' and 'I' in the news
• Reporters becoming part of the story
• End of the course