News Writing Fundamentals: Write Stories with Impact

This course covers the essential components of news writer training, improving your copy skills and putting theory into practice

This one-day news writer training course equips you to tackle stories confidently so you can produce clear, clean copy with impact. You’ll finish the day reporting from an interactive news conference.

What You’ll Learn: Introductions and story structure to press conference practice

What makes a story news? How do news reporters decide what to cover and where do they find stories? What determines which stories lead the news agenda or go viral? With insights from reporters and editors who are making the news, you’ll learn how journalists think and reveal the secrets of their decision making – helping you develop your own “nose for news”.

We’ll spend time considering the key principles and golden rules of news stories so you have a strong grasp of the fundamentals or can refresh your skills. We’ll walk you through the fundamentals of news writing – from the 5Ws and beyond – so that you’ll hone your ability to write engaging news stories and craft attention-grabbing introductions.

You’ll also be asked to put your skills into action: you’ll be plunged you into a real-time news conference, and asked to produce a brilliant story from the information you glean from it. By simulating a situation that journalists often find themselves in, you’ll understand how well you can think on your feet in a pressurised situation. 

How you’ll learn

This three-module news writer training course will be led by an excellent trainer who will share their practical expertise through presentations, discussion and practical exercises – ensuring you have opportunity to reinforce your learning and test your understanding. You’ll receive feedback on your work from an experienced editor.

Who the course is for

This course is for you if you want to hone your news sense, refresh or build your practical news skills, and put reporting theory into practice in a real-time, interactive news conference. If you are interested in features, you might like our Features Masterclass: Writing with Flair and Focus course.

The course will be tailored to your needs and can be delivered remotely or in your offices. Get in touch using the button below to discuss times and dates for bespoke training. 

Course Modules

What Makes News

  1. What makes a news story
  2. News sources and demographics
  3. ‘Hard’ and ‘soft’ news
  4. Recognising fact and opinion
  5. Knowing your audience

News Writing Basics

  1. Story structure and the 5Ws
  2. Writing a good introduction
  3. Building out the body of the story
  4. How and where to use quotes
  5. Language usage in news

Interactive News Conference

  1. Report from a mock press conference
  2. Write up your story
  3. Share and discuss your approach
  4. Receive feedback on your copy
news writer training course - person reads a newspaper

News Writing Fundamentals: Write Stories with Impact

This course covers the essential components of news writer training, improving your copy skills and putting theory into practice

Get in touch

What our students say

View all testimonials

PA Media Training were efficient, well organised and genuinely lovely people to deal with and, importantly for us, able to provide flexibility around our needs to create the bespoke training we required. I wouldn’t hesitate to use them for further training or to recommend them to other organisations.

Mayor of London’s Press Office
, Head of Media

The training scenarios are as real to life as you could possibly get. They took considerable time to research our current plans and issues and used these to design a series of true to life radio and TV interviews. The team is outstanding, and their expertise and knowledge has been invaluable. Book them – you’ll be glad you did.

NHS Vale of York Clinical Commissioning Group
, Communications Manager

My time at PA Training was a whirlwind of fun and excitement. The full-time NCTJ course in London is fast-paced and hard work but perfectly sets you up for what to expect in a reporter role.

Camilla Foster
, Reporter
, Newsquest

It’s a great place to make connections – networking with teachers, guest speakers and fellow students can be key to gaining advice or even job opportunities during and after the course. 

James Saunders
, Digital News Reporter
, GB News 

The lifelike interview settings and tasks that PA Media Training deal in replicate perfectly the real-world feel of a tough media interview and help the delegates come out of the day feeling much more confident that they can play an active role in representing their organisation.

Transport for London
, Director of Communications & Corporate Affairs

The small class sizes nurture a comfortable environment where everyone supports and learns from each other. The staff helped me hone in on my writing skills and develop the confidence to feel comfortable on camera.

Camilla Foster
, Reporter
, Newsquest

Contact us

Do you wish to train on one of our specialist courses? Start by filling in the application form – we’ll ask you for some important information such as your education and employment history.

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Contact us

For more information , simply fill out the form and a member of our team will be in touch.

"*" indicates required fields

Name*
By submitting this application form you confirm your acceptance that the information you have provided will be used during the recruitment procedure. Once the recruitment procedure is completed, the data will be stored for one year and then destroyed. If you are the successful candidate, relevant information may be taken from this form and used as part of your personnel record.
If you would like to receive regular updates from PA Media Academy, please tick here:

Contact us

For more information , simply fill out the form and a member of our team will be in touch.