MODULE: ARTICLE/STORY WRITING AND EDITING

Competence : Write and edit an article/story

Purpose: The course intends to help learners gain skills and concepts in identifying new

situations that should improve in interviewing and writing news reports.

RTQF LEVEL: CREDITS: 3 DURATION : 30 hours

SECTOR: SUB-SECTOR:

ISSUE DATE: REVIEW DATE:

Elements Performance criteria

News Overview Describe news values and angles

News Writing Write news stories that are published in news

publications with a Byline

Script Writing Demonstrated proficiency in reporting and

writing the news

News Reporting Develop ability to generate interview questions

CONTENT

TEACHING ACTIVITY LEARNING ACTIVITY

LEARNING OUTCOME

TEACHING/LEARNING RESOURCES

ASSESSMENT

KEY COMPETENCY

Introduction to the concept & nature of news reporting & writing- accuracy, newsworthiness , objectivity and fairness , Attribution

Verification of prerequisites

Motivate the learners by showing/questioning/ And ask them WHY, HOW?

Form groups /Guide/Moderate/ facilitate/clarify/orient/compliment… the learners

Moderate the presentations and articulate different ideas from learners for the sake of orienting

Learners will in groups of 5 research on

what constitutes newsworthiness, objectivity and fairness then make a presentation through the team leader

Explain what constitutes news -worthiness

Detail the elements of objectivity and fairness

Newspaper clips

Audio-news clip

External Flash

- Audio-visual aids (DVDs,

- Laptop

- projector

Ability to work in groups and communicate ideas with others

To be able to decide what constitutes news worthiness, objectivity and fairness when story writing and editing

Qualities & qualifications of a news reporter;

characteristics & Determinants of News;

Motivate the learners by showing/questioning/ And ask them WHY, HOW?

Display the OBJECTIVES

Facilitate the discussion on what should be the objective of today’s lesson

to demonstrate understanding of the concept of qualities of a news reporter, characteristics and determinants of News

Learners will find out what qualifications of a reporter are through research and group discussion

Learners will discuss characteristics and determinants of News and present their findings in a write-up and class presentation

Detail the qualifications of a reporter

Explain the characteristics and determinants of News

Sample of unit course outline for a student news anchor/reporter

Newspapers clips

Audio clips of news items

Ability to work in groups and communicate ideas with others

Be able to determine quality of News

Be able to demonstrate the qualities of a news reporter in a practical situation

Elements of good news story writing

a)Inverted Pyramid structure

b) The 5W + H ;

Lecturer Leads the process of examining/verifying learners’ predictions of elements of good news story writing/how to find out if news conform to the elements of news story writing

The lecturer lets the learner suggest HOW they think the Class should VERIFY and come up

In their assignment groups learners research on the elements of good story writing and make a presentation

Explain the elements of good news story writing

Demonstrate understanding of the inverted pyramid structure in

A chart of the inverted pyramid structure

Video clip of an interview session to demonstrate the applicability of the 5W+H concept

Ability to work in groups and communicate ideas with others

Be able to apply the elements of news good story writing

Be able to apply the concept of the inverted pyramid

with a news article that conforms to elements discussed

The lecturer should be prepared and should know how to orient the learner to the prepared activities

After, the lecturer gives clear protocol to follow.

Group discussion on the inverted pyramid structure and the 5 W+H.

Role-play the 5 W+H when preparing interview questions or writing factual news stories.

prioritizing and structuring news items

Explain the 5W+H when preparing interview questions or writing factual news stories.

- Audio-visual aids (DVDs,

- Laptop

- projector

structure in prioritizing and structuring news items

Be able to demonstrate the applicability of the 5W+H concept in preparing interview questions or writing factual news stories

News sources ;Covering Speeches ,News conferences & meeting

The lecturer lets the learners brainstorm on sources of news and the methodology of coverage, but with his help the whole class comes up with a well stated method of covering speeches, News, conferences and meetings

In their working groups the learners brainstorm on sources of news and how best to cover speeches, News, conferences and meetings in a write-up then make an oral

Explain the sources of News

Detail how to cover speeches, News, conference and meetings

-Newspaper clips, -audio clips of news items

-sample speeches

-projector

- Audio-visual aids (DVDs,

- Laptop

Ability to work in groups and communicate ideas with others

Be able to identify sources of News

Be able to demonstrate ability to cover News, speeches, conferences and meetings

presentation

Reporting: accidents obituaries, fires disasters ;Beat reporting ;

Lecturer introduces reporting

Orientation on reporting accidents, obituaries, fire disasters

Orientation on Beat reporting

Demonstrate reporting of the above

Approaches to beat reporting

Learners simulate accidents scenes and role play reporting

Design a sample obituary message

Simulation of fire disaster reporting

Research on best approaches to beat reporting

Detail best approaches in reporting accidents, obituaries, fire disasters

Explain how well to prepare for beat reporting

Clips of obituaries

Audio clips on accidents and fire reporting

Pictures of accident scenes

projector

- Audio-visual aids (DVDs,

- Laptop

Ability to work in groups and communicate ideas with others

Demonstrate ability to report accidents, obituaries and fire disasters

Show understanding of approaches to Beat reporting

The Law courts ,Crime ,Parliament, Business News Reporting Sports News

Motivate the learners by showing/questioning/ And ask them WHY, HOW?

Organize trips to law courts and parliament for practical simulations

Form groups /Guide/Moderate/ facilitate/clarify/orient/complimen

Learners research on elements of law courts, crime, parliament, business News and sports reporting.

Detail best practices in reporting from the law courts, parliament, Business News and sports News

Newspaper clips on reports from the law courts, parliament, business news and sports news

projector

- Audio-visual aids (DVDs,

Ability to work in groups and communicate ideas with others

Demonstrate ability to report from the law courts, parliament

Show understanding of Business and sports reporting

t… the learners

Moderate the presentations and articulate different ideas from learners for the sake of orienting

Make presentations on findings and role play the reporting

- Laptop

Story Writing Lecturer Leads the process of examining/verifying learners’ predictions of elements of good news story writing/how to find out if news conform to the elements of news story writing

Moderate the presentations and articulate different ideas from learners for the sake of orienting

Research in groups the elements of good story writing and make presentations.

Role play story writing on a given scenario

Explain elements of good story writing

Newspaper clips

Audio clips of a News item

Charts

projector

- Audio-visual aids (DVDs,

- Laptop

Ability to work in groups and communicate ideas with others

Be able to write a good News story

Show understanding of the elements of a good story

Editorial production: Newsroom, copy taster &Sub-Editor Designing and typography(format, balance of content, roles, designing the pages, typography) pictures: roles and sources of

Lead the process of examining/verifying learners’ predictions/how to find out?

Learners research on editorial production , designing and typography, balance of content, page design and text editing

Learners then make presentations

Detail elements of editorial production

Explain content balance, page design

Identify steps in text editing

Explain

Newspaper clips

Audio clips of a News item

Charts

projector

- Audio-visual aids (DVDs,

- Laptop

Ability to work in groups and communicate ideas with others

Demonstrate ability to design , format content

Be able to edit pictures and text

Show understanding in sentence writing, punctuation

pictures, photo briefing, and editing pictures ,Text editing: checking sources, editing the page, Language: sentence & paragraph ,punctuation, grammar Writing headlines

Moderate the presentations and articulate different ideas from learners for the sake of orienting

Summary

The lecturer lets the learner conclude and generalize, but with his help the whole class come up with a well stated conclusion

Give the learners the opportunity to conclude and then orient /complete/compliment/ correct/conclude and then generalize

on their findings in class

Learners practice sub-editor designing and formatting, picture editing and text editing

language use

Detail how to write headlines

and correct use of grammar

Be able to write headlines