Writing for Journalists

Matt Swaine is the Course Director for the MA in International Journalism at Cardiff University, where he teaches multimedia news and long-form feature writing. As a journalist he edited BBC Wildlife and Trail magazines and launched websites and magazines such as Trail Running and Outdoor Fitness. He spent two years as Lonely Planet’s Editorial and Product Development Director, and has written for titles as diverse as Mother and Baby, Sunday Times Travel, Guitarist, The Telegraph and Cycling Plus. @MattSwaine Harriett Gilbert is a broadcaster, journalist and novelist. She was literary editor of the New Statesman and has reviewed the arts for, among others, Time Out, the Listener, the Independent and the BBC. She presents A Good Read on BBC Radio 4 and World Book Club on BBC World Service Radio. She was for many years a senior lecturer in the Department of Journalism at City University London. @HarriettSG Gavin Allen is a Digital Journalism Lecturer at Cardiff University School of Journalism, Media and Culture. He has been a journalist for 20 years, latterly as Associate Editor of Mirror.co.uk, having previously worked at MailOnline, MSN and WalesOnline. @Gavinallen

1. How to read like a journalist

How purposeful reading can develop your journalistic instinct and sharpen your writing

2. The news intro

Understand news values and learn how to construct a compelling opening paragraph

3. The first three paragraphs

A fail-safe formula to write the opening three paragraphs to any news story

4. News structure and style

How to structure longer news pieces and deal with more complex stories in style

5. Writing for the web

How to write for online; understand analytics and SEO and make social media work for you

Gavin Allen

6. Developing feature ideas

Understand your readers and learn how to develop news-driven feature ideas they will want to read

7. Starting your feature

Why ‘Showing, Telling and Quoting’ are a writer’s building blocks and the key to dynamic intros

8. Structure and quotes

How to use quotes and understand the three interviewee types essential to your writing

9. Storytelling and travel writing

Discover what storytelling does to your brain and how to use that in any piece of writing

10. Interview features

Professional writers explain how to research, structure and write the perfect interview

11. Writing reviews

How to write reviews on anything from literature and the arts to bicycles and fast cars

Harriett Gilbert

12. Making complex ideas accessible

Business and science journalists explain how to make complex stories accessible to all

Matt Swaine, Aiden O'Donnell and Nigel Stephenson

13. Boxouts, design and multimedia

How to write boxouts and plan multimedia content to deliver strong feature packages

14. The professional writer

Build your professional profile, hit deadlines, edit your work and develop a unique voice

Glossary

Key terms you may come across in the world of journalism

Recommended reading

Books on journalism, politics, business, science and the environment and Twitter lists to follow

Suggested answers

Appendix with answers to exercises in chapters 2, 3 and 5

Index