2021 Course Packet

English for Journalism MOOC Course Packet
JANUARY 11 – DECEMBER 27, 2021
© 2021 by FHI 360. “English for Journalism MOOC Course Packet” for the Online Professional
English Network (OPEN), sponsored by the U.S. Department of State with funding provided by the
U.S. government and administered by FHI 360. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons
1
Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License, except where noted. To view a copy of this license, visit
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/legalcode
English for Journalism MOOC Syllabus
January 11 – December 27, 2021
INSTRUCTOR INFORMATION
Instructor Email
Jessamyn Embry elamooc@fhi360.org
COURSE OVERVIEW
Description
Welcome to the English for Journalism MOOC! This course was developed by the University of Pennsylvania and adapted by FHI 360
for the American English (AE) E-Teacher Program, a program sponsored by the U.S. Department of State with funding from the U.S.
government. We are excited to have you in the class and look forward to your contributions to the learning community.
Learning Objectives and Learner Outcomes

During this course, you will:
• Demonstrate understanding of the history and principles of journalism.
• identify strategies to research, pitch, and interview for a news story.
• Identify the unique features of broadcast journalism.
• Identify elements of print journalism and effectively proofread following a style guide.
• Analyze how digital technologies have changed journalism.
• Build your English vocabulary and develop your reading and writing skills
• Review and practice useful verb tenses and select grammar topics
• Use English to discuss course topics with classmates around the world
Expectations and Grading

Course Schedule:
This course runs from January 11 to December 27, 2021.
In order to complete the modules, participants should work on and offline for 3-5 hours per week. Most participants complete this
course in 12 weeks or less. This is a self-paced course and assignments can be completed at any time before the close date on
December 27, 2021.
How to pass this course:
There are six modules in the English for Media Literacy MOOC:
1. Orientation: Welcome to the American English E-Teacher Program
2. The History and Principles of Journalism
3. How to Research, Pitch, and Interview
4. Words in Print
5. Broadcasting the News
6. New Media Journalism
© 2021 by FHI 360. “English for Journalism MOOC - Winter 2021 Syllabus” for the Online Professional
English Network (OPEN), sponsored by the U.S. Department of State with funding provided by the U.S. 1
government and administered by FHI 360. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-
ShareAlike 4.0 License, except where noted. To view a copy of this license, visit
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/legalcode
Each module will have one or more quizzes. Participants who satisfactorily complete all of the required quizzes with a score of 70%
or above before the course close date will receive a digital badge and certificate of participation.
You must complete all quizzes to receive a digital badge and certificate of participation.
Along with the quizzes, each module also has other opportunities to check your understanding and practice your language skills.
These tasks are not graded nor required.
Private Journals
Writing is an important skill for journalists. We will review helpful writing strategies throughout the course. In each module, one or
more private journal assignments have been included to help you practice these important strategies. Journal assignments are
ungraded. You can complete them online or at home with pen and paper. You do not need to submit journal assignments to pass the
course, but participation is highly encouraged.
Discussions
If you would like to share your writing with your peers, you can do so in the discussion page that follows private journal assignments.
The discussion forum is your opportunity to practice communicating and interacting in English. This is the place to experiment with
new language, ask questions, and explore new ideas with others who are at a similar English level (High Beginner / Low
Intermediate). Discussion posts are not graded.
Course Policies
In the virtual classroom, learning is generated from active participation in discussion forums and the free exchange of ideas and
experiences. Therefore, when communicating on the discussion board, it is important to follow a set of core principles which will
help us increase the quality of online discussions, achieve group cohesion and maintain the community of practice:
1. This course is intended for high-beginner and low-intermediate participants (at or approaching level B1 on the Common
European Framework (CEFR).
2. Try to be clear and direct. Make sure that your content title reflects the content of your post and that your post is succinct
and direct.
3. Post relevant content. Only post content relevant to the “English for Journalism” Course. Any other content which is found
to be unsuitable or irrelevant will be deleted.
4. Make it easier for colleagues to read your comments. Put a blank space at the beginning of a message and between
paragraphs. Be brief and specific. This is especially important in Massively Open Online Courses (MOOCs) which have
thousands of participants. When writing a contribution, try to keep between 50 and 100 words.
5. Be constructive. Respond to colleagues’ postings or comments in an encouraging and supportive tone. Think before you
write or respond. Any criticism should be constructive – if in doubt, think about how you would feel reading a posting.
6. Be open to differences in opinion. Be open to other people’s opinions and try not to get emotional if someone disagrees
with you. Make your learning experience a constructive and positive one by avoiding “flaming”. For example, CAPITAL
LETTERS can be interpreted as shouting. Words are powerful and can hurt; avoid anything which could be misinterpreted
in any way. Think before you push the “send” button.
7. Accept others. Accept your peers’ differences (e.g. cultural and language differences). You are part of a community which
means caring about your own progress and that of your colleagues’
8. Cite other people’s work. If you use a quote or reference in your post; make sure that you cite it or provide a link to it.
9. No spamming. Please don’t send advertisements to your peers or use your peers’ emails in any way other than how they
intend it to be used.
COURSE SCHEDULE
Module Topic Learning Objectives Resources Activities and Assignments Time Estimate
0 MOOC Orientation A brief overview of Lesson 1: The Online Professional English 15 min.
the Online Network
Professional English
Network
0 MOOC Orientation Review how to use Lesson 2: Canvas User Orientation 15 min
the Canvas Site
0 MOOC Orientation Get tips on how to Lesson 3a: Online Success Strategies 45 min.
study online Lesson 3b: Avoiding Plagiarism
Lesson 3c: Discussion Tips for MOOCs
0 MOOC Orientation Review how to pass Lesson 4: Certificates and Digital Badges Required: 60 min.
the course and how Lesson 5: Support During the MOOC Orientation Review
to receive badges
and certificates
1 Introduction to Identify historical Lesson 1: The History of Journalism 1: The Early Required: 60 min
Journalism developments and Days Quiz 1: History of Journalism
milestones in Lesson 2: This History of Journalism 2: 1690 - Quiz 2: History of Journalism
journalism Present
Optional:
Private Journal 1: The History of Journalism
1 Introduction to Use the simple past Lesson 3: Language Focus – Talking About the Required: 45 min
Journalism and past Past Quiz 3: Talking about the Past
progressive to
report and describe Optional:
past events Private Journal 2: The Interrupted Past
Discussion: The Interrupted Past
1 Introduction to Identify the core Lesson 4: Principles of Journalism 1: Gathering Required: 60 min
Journalism principles of Sources Quiz 5: Principles of Journalism Vocabulary
Journalism Lesson 5: Principles of Journalism 2: Telling the
Story Optional:
Private Journal 3: Case Study: The Principles of
Journalism
Discussion: Case Study: The Principles of Journalism
3
1 Introduction to Identify word forms Lesson 6: Language Focus – Word Families Required: Quiz 4: Language Focus Word Families 30 min
Journalism to expand your
vocabulary
1 Introduction to Identify the core Lesson 7: Principles of Journalism 3: Making an Required: 60 min
Journalism principles of Impact Quiz 5: Principles of Journalism Vocabulary
Journalism
Optional:
Private Journal 3: Case Study: The Principles of
Journalism
Discussion: Case Study: The Principles of Journalism
1 Introduction to Use English to Lesson 8: Phrases for Agreeing and Disagreeing Optional: 40 min.
Journalism discuss course Discussion: Case Study: The Principles of Journalism
topics with
classmates around
the world
1 Introduction to Required: < 5 min.
Journalism Module 1 Check
2 How to Research, Identify strategies Lesson 1: Choosing a Topic Required: 120 min.
Pitch, and to research and Lesson 2 Researching an Idea Quiz 6: Choosing a Topic
Interview pitch a news story, Lesson 3: Pitching a Story to Newspapers and Quiz 7: Research, Pitch, and Interview
Magazines
Lesson 4: Pitching a Radio Story Optional:
Private Journal 4: Choose Your Topic
Private Journal 5: Make Your Pitch
Discussion: Make Your Pitch
2 How to Research, Identify and Lesson 5: Language Focus: Asking Questions Required: 45 min
Pitch, and practice question Quiz 8: Asking Questions
Interview forms in order to
conduct an Optional:
interview Private Journal 6: Write Your Interview Questions
Discussion: Write Your Interview Questions
2 How to Research, Identify the Lesson 6: Interviewing Sources – Reliability, Required: 60 min
Pitch, and elements of an Facts, and Opinions Quiz 9: Reliable Sources
Interview effective interview Lesson 7: Interviewing Sources - Listening
Strategies Optional:
Private Journal 7: Predict Responses
4
2 How to Research, Identify and Lesson 8: Language Focus – Quoting Sources and Required: 60 min
Pitch, and practice quoted and Reporting Verbs Quiz 10: Reporting Verbs
Interview reported speech in Lesson 9: Using Reported Speech Quiz 11: Reported Speech
order to conduct an
interview Optional:
Private Journal 8: Post-Interview Reflection
Discussion: Post-Interview Reflections
2 How to Research, Required: < 5 min.
Pitch, and Module 2 Check
Interview
3 Words in Print Identify the process Lesson 1: Print Media – From Topic to Article Required: 45 min
of writing a story in Quiz 12: The Process and the Front Page
a newspaper and
the general Optional:
structure of an Private Journal 9: Create Your Outline
article.
3 Words in Print Identify types of Lesson 2: Types of Leads Required: 75 min
leads and how to Lesson 3: Creating a Lead Quiz 13: Leads and Lead Types
create a lead.
Optional:
Private Journal 10: Write your lead
Discussion: Write Your Lead
3 Words in Print Be able to ensure Lesson 4: Language Focus – Subject-Verb Required: 30 min
that the subject of a Agreement Quiz 14: Subject Verb Agreement
lead agrees with its
verb.
3 Words in Print Identify the process Lesson 5: Writing articles using the inverted Optional: 75 min
of writing a story in pyramid style Private Journal 11: Write your article
a newspaper and
the general
structure of an
article.
3 Words in Print Be able to Lesson 6: Writing Using Associated Press Style Required: 30 min
proofread and apply Quiz 15: Applying AP Style
elements of
Associated Press
Style (capitalization,
numbers, and
dates)
5
3 Words in Print Be able to form a Lesson 7: Language Focus – Structure of Active Required: 45 min
lead using both and Passive Voices Quiz 16: When to Use Passive Voice
active and passive Lesson 8: Language Focus – Use of Active and
voice. Passive Voices
3 Words in Print Identify the process Lesson 9: Reporting Accurately Optional: 45 min
of writing a story in Private Journal 12: Edit Your Article
a newspaper and Discussion: Publish Your Article
the general
structure of an
article.
3 Words in Print Required: < 5 min.
Module 3 Check
4 Broadcasting the Identify the Lesson 1: The Language of Broadcast Journalism Required: 45 min
News features of Lesson 2: The People of Broadcast Journalism Quiz 16: Broadcast Journalism Vocabulary
broadcast
journalism
4 Broadcasting the Compare the Lesson 3: Types of Stories for Broadcast Required: 45 min
News broadcast Journalism Quiz 17: Print vs. Broadcast Journalism
journalism and print Lesson 4: Using Conversational Style
media
4 Broadcasting the Identify the Lesson 5: Language Focus: Present Tense & Optional: 120 min
News features of Active Voice Private Journal 13: Transform Your Article for a TV
broadcast Lesson 6: Ratings in TV News: How Journalists News Segment
journalism Compete Duscussion: Transform Your Article for A TV News
Lesson 7: Sensationalism in TV News Segment
Lesson 9: The 24-Hour News Cycle
4 Broadcasting the Identify and Lesson 10: Language Focus – Stress and Pausing Required: 45 min
News practice using Quiz 18: Stress and Pausing
stress, rhythm, and
intonation to show
meaning and
emphasis when
delivering a news
story
4 Required: < 5 min.
Module 4 Check
6
5 New Media Identify the ways Lesson 1: Origins and Current State of the Digital Required: 120 min
Journalism digital technology Age Quiz 19: Origins and State of the Digital Age
has impacted print Lesson 2: New Media Language and Structure Quiz 20: New Media Language and Structure
and broadcast Lesson 3: Types of New Media Stories
journalism Lesson 4: The Impact on the Journalistic Process
Lesson 5: The Impact on Traditional Media
5 New Media Use the present Lesson 6: Language Focus – Present Perfect Required: 45 min
Journalism perfect to discuss Form Quiz 21: Present Perfect Form
the impact of digital Lesson 7: Challenge One: The Digital Divide
technology on
journalism
5 New Media Use data Lesson 7: Language Focus – Data Commentary Required: 45 min
Journalism commentary and Quiz 22: Choose the Appropriate Data Commentary
new vocabulary to
evaluate the digital
revolution and
describe data.
5 New Media Identify the ways Lesson 8: Citizen Journalism 45 min
Journalism digital technology Lesson 9: Challenge 2: Ethics in the Digital Age
has impacted print Lesson 10: Challenge 3: Intellectual Property and
and broadcast Censorship
journalism
5 New Media Required: < 5 min.
Journalism Module 5 Check
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION AND RESOURCES

Participants who satisfactorily complete all of the required quizzes with a score of 70% or above before the course close date will
receive a digital badge and certificate of participation.
You must complete all required quizzes to receive a digital badge and certificate of participation.
Along with the quizzes, each module also has other optional activities to check your understanding and practice your language skills.
These tasks are not graded or required.
7
Winter 2021 MOOC Orientation Module
Table of Contents
Winter 2021 MOOC Orientation Module ......................................................................................................................1
Orientation Module: Welcome! ....................................................................................................................................2
Lesson 1: The Online Professional English Network (OPEN) .........................................................................................3
Lesson 2: Learning to Use Canvas ..................................................................................................................................5
Lesson 3a: Online Success Strategies ............................................................................................................................7
Lesson 3b: Avoiding Plagiarism......................................................................................................................................9
Citing Sources ...........................................................................................................................................................9
What type of information needs a citation? .............................................................................................................9
Lesson 3c: Discussion Tips for MOOCs ........................................................................................................................10
Lesson 4: Certificates and Badges ...............................................................................................................................12
Lesson 5: Support During the MOOC ...........................................................................................................................13
Orientation Quiz ..........................................................................................................................................................13
© 2021 by FHI 360. “Winter 2021 Orientation Module Packet” for the Online Professional English Network
(OPEN), sponsored by the U.S. Department of State with funding provided by the U.S. government and 1
administered by FHI 360. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License, except
where noted. To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Orientation Module: Welcome!
Dear participants,
Welcome to the orientation for the 2021 English for Journalism self-paced MOOC! This module will help prepare
you to get the most out of your professional development course.
This module will cover the following topics:
1. Introduction to the Online Professional English Network

This page will give you basic information about the OPEN Program, which is providing this MOOC. This information
is intended to provide context and help you better understand the features of the program.
2. Learning to Use Canvas

These pages will show you how to use the basic features of Canvas, the program’s learning management system
(LMS). Knowing how to navigate your course within Canvas will be vital to your learning success!
3. Online Learning Success Strategies

Here we will present helpful tips and suggestions on how you can succeed in your online course. This is designed
for students who are new to online learning, as well as students who may be taking their second or third online
course.
4. Certificates and Badges

This page will explain how you can earn and use a digital badge and certificate for successful completion of this
course.
5. Support
This page provides an overview of options for finding course content or technical support, should you run into any
challenges while taking the course.
This orientation module is optional, but we recommend that you read these materials before you start Module 1,
as they will help you get the most out of your course.
2
Lesson 1: The Online Professional English Network (OPEN)
The Online Professional English Network (OPEN) offers professional development courses for English
language teachers and educators, as well as other professionals around the world. The goal of the
program is to increase the capacity of participants to use English effectively in their professional
contexts, increase access to openly licensed learning materials, increase understanding of U.S. society,
culture and values, provide opportunities for mutual exchange, and build the capacity of participants to
apply what they have learned within their educational and professional communities.
Who
The OPEN program is sponsored by the U.S. Department of State , Bureau of Educational and Cultural
Affairs, with funding from the U.S. government, and is administered by FHI 360.
The professional development opportunities offered through the program are designed and taught by a variety of
partners, including universities, non-profit companies, private sector partners, and consultants. Together, the U.S.
Department of State, FHI 360, and our partners offer online professional development opportunities to English
educators and learners in over 100 countries.
What
OPEN offers online courses on a variety of topics, including teacher training topics such as Critical Thinking,
Educational Technology, Assessment, and Teaching English to Young Learners, among others, as well as English for
Specific Purposes (ESP) courses such as English for Media Literacy, English for Business and Entrepreneurship, and
English Communications for Health Professionals, among others. The program also produces webinars and free
materials that participants can adapt for personal or professional use.
"Untitled" by rawpixel.com via Unsplash is licensed under CC0
3
Where
OPEN professional development opportunities are offered entirely online. Courses are offered asynchronously via
the Canvas learning management system (LMS), and other opportunities are available via the OPEN Community of
Practice.
"World Map - Abstract Acrylic" by Nicolas Raymond via Flickr is licensed under CC BY 2.0
4
Lesson 2: Learning to Use Canvas
Get Started with Canvas Network
• Update Your Profile All new Canvas users should read this information. Click on your name at the top
right corner to view your profile at any time!
• Update Your Notification Preferences Canvas can send you Notifications about course activities to your
email, and your cell phone. Read the information found by clicking the link, then go to Settings in the top
right corner to customize your Notification preferences.
• Search Canvas Guides Find helpful information! Canvas Guides provide you with all the information you
need to use Canvas.
• Read the Canvas Network Code of Conduct Find out how you can promote a safe learning environment.
Additional Tutorials
• Communicate with Your Instructor Canvas has a messaging system you can use to send messages to your
instructor.
• Collapse and Expand Modules Learn how to manage the modules in your course; simplify your view of
modules.
• Manage Your Personal Files Canvas users get a small amount of storage to store files such as assignment
drafts and readings.
• How do I drop the course? If you want to drop this course, read this lesson to find out when and how you
can do that.
Logging in to Canvas Network

• The login URL for this course is learn.canvas.net. Be sure to bookmark that link for quick reference later.
• If you use an iPad or other tablet or phone with a mobile app, be sure to login in at learn.canvas.net.
Supported Browsers and Mobile Apps

• Supported Browsers Find out what browsers work best for this course (Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Internet
Explorer).
• Apps: The Canvas UI was optimized for desktop displays but can be used on mobile browsers and we do
provide free apps for some mobile devices. Try the iOS and Android free Mobile Apps!
o Guide to Download the Canvas by Instructure Android App
o How do I use the Canvas App on my Android Device?
o Guide to Download Canvas by Instructure iOS App
o How do I use the Canvas app on my IOS device?
• When using the mobile app, be sure to login in at learn.canvas.net. or select "Canvas Network" as your
institution.
• Depending on your device, not all Canvas features may be available on the app at this time. View Canvas
mobile features by version and device.
5
Accessibility Statement
Canvas provides a user experience that is easy, simple, and intuitive. Special attention has been paid to making
Canvas screen-readable. The Rich Content Editor encourages users to create accessible content pages (i.e. text
formatting is accomplished using styles). Canvas is designed to allow limited customization of colors and schemes
to be accessible for all users. The National Federation of the Blind granted Canvas the Gold Level Web Certification
in 2010. Find more information by visiting the Canvas Accessibility information page on our website.
6
Lesson 3a: Online Success Strategies
"Untitled Photo" by Tim Lefebvre via Unsplash is licensed under CC0.
Taking a class online is quite different from sitting in a classroom. Without the dedicated class time and
in-person interactions, it can be difficult to focus on the material and assignments. Below are useful
Online Success Strategies to use when taking an online course for the first time, or to review even if
you've taken online courses before.
• Making Time 
o Set aside a specific study time each week and make this a time that you honor and commit to every
week.
• Your Learning Space
o Have a dedicated study space with reliable internet. Maybe this is your home, or a relative’s home. It
could be a public space, such as a café. Whatever it is, make it work for you, and try to minimize
distractions. This will be your “classroom.”
• Thinking About Your Goals
o Develop your study goals. What do you want to get from your course? Maybe you want to improve
your classroom or receive a promotion with your new skills.
▪ Whatever this goal is, write it down and focus on it during your course.
• Assignments and Deadlines
o When you receive the syllabus, look over each module and make note of all assignments. This course
is self-paced, so you should be proactive about scheduling when you will complete your assignments
to make sure they are complete before the course end date. Use a calendar, either a paper one or
online, to chart out your assignments and set deadlines for yourself.
▪ Canvas has a calendar feature that will store all of your class-related deadlines, and you
are encouraged to use this. Canvas also offers a Notifications feature that will alert you,
via email or SMS, about upcoming due dates.
• Create a Community
o Online learning can be just as much of a community as the classroom. Interact with your colleagues
and fellow AE E-Teacher participants as much as you can! In discussions, sign your name and indicate
your country so other participants know who and where you are (example: Danielle - USA).
7
• Technology 
o Understand the technology. Become familiar with the technology now, so you won’t have problems
later.
o If you have technical difficulties, don’t wait to ask for support. Ask for help early.
• Utilize Handouts and Downloadable Resources
o All of the modules and resources you will see in your course will have offline versions as well. You can
use these by downloading them, if you have the space and connectivity available, and reading them
offline. This will help you succeed in your course, even if you have less than reliable Internet access.
• Do Your Work
o Complete all of your assignments and projects. Treat this as you would in a physical classroom, with
your instructor and peers relying on you to complete your work, participate in discussions, and finish
your projects.
• Save Your Work!
o You will want copies of your work, program resources, and your course completion certificate. While
these can be uploaded and stored here in the course, be sure to keep copies of your work so you can
access them at any time during and after the course.
• Ask for Help
o Don’t hesitate to reach out to your instructor for more information or clarification on an assignment.
They are here to assist you, even if you can’t see them face to face.
• Start Early
o While this course will be open for 12 weeks, you should not wait until the last minute to complete
assignments! No late assignments can be accepted after the course end date. Remember that the
MOOC is set to Eastern Time (ET), which may be several time zones ahead or behind you.
Online learning allows you to be responsible for your own success. Ultimately, it is up to YOU to stay organized,
manage your time, ask questions, and complete all assignments on time.
8
Lesson 3b: Avoiding Plagiarism
One strategy for success in OPEN courses is to be aware of American academic culture. You may find that some
aspects of these courses are different from how you are used to learning in your own country. For example, in
American academic culture, plagiarism is an important issue.
Plagiarism is the use of ideas, information, or words that you read without giving credit to the source. Most of the
time, plagiarism is unintentional, but even if you don't mean to take credit for other people's work, you still have
to be careful to give credit to any resource you use when writing or creating material, even in an online discussion.
You will get the most out of discussions with your peers if you write up your responses based on your own
personal experiences and opinions. Since your peers will be responding to you, including uncredited information
from an outside source may take the discussion off topic.
"Untitled Photo" by Green Chameleon via Unsplash is licensed under CC0.
Below are some tips for avoiding plagiarism during your online course.
CITING SOURCES
Giving credit, or citing a source, means that you show whose ideas you used in your writing. According to the
Purdue Online Writing Lab (2016), “When citing, provide the author’s name when you first introduce your quote,
summary or paraphrase of his or her text (e.g., ‘Harris writes,’ ‘According to Rodriguez’).”
Here is an example of an in-text citation:
Learner-centered instruction fosters autonomous learning and a sense of ownership over the learning experience,
resulting in higher participation and more collaboration between participants (Brown, 2007, p. 52).
According to Harmer (2007, p. 51), Task-Based Learning (TBL) “is a natural extension of communicative language
teaching. In TBL, the emphasis is on the task rather than the language”.
WHAT TYPE OF INFORMATION NEEDS A CITATION?

You must cite the source of any information that is not common knowledge. An example of common
knowledge is that the sky is blue. So, if you want to include any specific information that you learned
while reading or studying, you must cite the source of that information. This rule applies to quoting,
summarizing, and paraphrasing other sources in discussions and assignments.
9
Lesson 3c: Discussion Tips for MOOCs
This course will include a number of discussions to allow you to engage with each other and with course content.
You are encouraged to be active in discussions, even if they are optional. Statistics show that learners get more out
of their online courses if they actively participate in discussions.
"Handshake" by John Hain via Pixabay is licensed under CC0
If you have participated in online courses before, you may find that discussions can be a bit different in a MOOC,
due to the high number of participants. Below are some tips for getting the most out of discussions in a MOOC:
• Set aside dedicated time in your schedule to engage in course discussions.
• Begin by introducing yourself and asking a question about the topic being discussed. Try to post a
question that is specific, rather than one that is too vague.
• Read the posts above yours before you post, to make sure your question has not already been asked and
answered by other participants.
• Keep your posts short and concise. It's best to address just one main idea or point per post.
• Support your statements with evidence, and check that they are accurate before posting.
• Only post a comment if you believe it will add value to the conversation.
• Don't be afraid to disagree with other participants' comments, but always be respectful and explain why
you disagree.
• Be open to other people's views. You may encounter fellow participants with very different perspectives,
and this is an opportunity to broaden your horizons.
• If someone asks you a question or responds to your post, respond to them promptly. Give positive
feedback, if appropriate, and offer assistance if you have useful information.
• Consider your phrasing when making a post or responding to someone. Written comments can be
interpreted differently by different people, so be careful to make your post polite and respectful.
• When you provide feedback, make it thoughtful, and engaging. Don’t simply say “Yes, I agree” or “No, I
disagree”; try to write more in response, so others can understand your thoughts and be inspired to
contribute their own.
10
• If you post a comment that refers to what another classmate said, quote that classmate to bring context
to your thoughts. This will help others understand your point and keep them from having to look for the
original statement.
• Don’t cross-post (posting the same comment in multiple forums) or copy someone else’s comments. Your
work should be yours alone and should be original to you. 
• Stay on topic, and don’t post irrelevant thoughts, discussions, or photos. These can be disruptive to your
classmates.
Some of the above information was adapted from "Tips for using Discussion Forums in MOOCs" by MoocLab, accessed Sep 8, 2017.
11
Lesson 4: Certificates and Badges
Participants who successfully complete this MOOC will receive a digital badge and certificate through Badgr. More
information about how to collect your certificate and badge will appear after you complete Module 5.
"Certificate" by Clkr-free-vector-images via Pixabay is licensed under CC0.
In order to earn a certificate and badge, you will need to complete all required activities with a score of 70% or
higher. This does not include activities labeled "Optional."
You must move through the course in sequential order. That means you must click through pages in the order they
appear on the Modules page. Pages will be locked until you have viewed the preceding page. Locked pages will
appear in gray font, while unlocked pages have black font:
In the image above, the student needs to contribute to the Module 1, Task 1: Building Community Discussion
before he/she may move on to Module 1, Task 2: Course Pre-test.
Similarly, you must earn at least 70% on graded quizzes in order to unlock the next content page or module. You
may take a quiz as many times as you'd like. If you do not pass the first time, you can retake the quiz until you
receive 70% and can move on in the course.
12
Lesson 5: Support During the MOOC
There might be a time when you need help during your course. Please read below to find answers.
"HELP" by Marc Falardeu via Flickr is licensed under CC BY 2.0

MOOC Support
If you are unsure how to do something in Canvas, please check the Lesson 2: Canvas User Orientation page for
videos and user guides.
The Content Support Discussion Board is a space where you can ask a facilitator questions about the course.
If you need technical support, email the AE E-Teacher team: elamooc@fhi360.org. Please note that this inbox is
monitored Monday - Friday from 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM Eastern time. If your message is sent outside of these hours,
you may need to wait for a response. For the fastest possible response, please use elamooc@fhi360.org and not
the Canvas Inbox feature. The Canvas Inbox is not monitored often, and responses may come more slowly.
When you submit your support request, please provide as much detail as possible and be as clear as possible when
describing the situation. Also, please be sure to include the following information:
• Your name
• The course you are enrolled in (Using Educational Technology in the English Language Classroom)
• What browser you are using (Google Chrome, Firefox, Internet Explorer, etc.)
• Device you are using (laptop/desktop, tablet, or cell phone)
• Screenshots, or still images captured by your phone or browser, if possible. These are very helpful, especially
with technical problems. If you receive an error message and you are unable to include a screenshot, please
copy the message or text that is displayed.
• If you are having difficulties with a specific part of the course, please specify the module, lesson, or task that
you are having trouble with.
This will help us resolve your inquiry quickly.
Orientation Quiz
Note: The final page of the Orientation Module is an optional and ungraded quiz, which must be completed in
Canvas.
13
MODULE ONE: THE HISTORY AND PRINCIPLES OF
JOURNALISM
Table of Contents
MODULE ONE: THE HISTORY AND PRINCIPLES OF JOURNALISM ..................................................................................1
Module Overview ..........................................................................................................................................................3
Learning Objectives: .................................................................................................................................................3
Activities....................................................................................................................................................................3
Part One: Talking about the Past: The History of Journalism ...............................................................................3
Part Two: The Principles of Journalism ................................................................................................................3
Private Journal 1: Introduction to Journalism ...............................................................................................................4
Important: This is a private journal. It will not be graded or seen by your peers. ...............................................4
Lesson 1: The History of Journalism 1: The Early Days ..................................................................................................5
The Origins of Journalism..........................................................................................................................................5
Quiz 1: History of Journalism 1: The Early Days .............................................................................................................8
Lesson 2: The History of Journalism 2: 1690 – Present .................................................................................................9
The Fourth Estate......................................................................................................................................................9
The First Amendment ...............................................................................................................................................9
The Invention of the Telegraph ................................................................................................................................9
Quiz 2: History of Journalism 2: 1690 - Present...........................................................................................................12
Language Focus: Talking about the Past ......................................................................................................................13
Simple Past..............................................................................................................................................................13
Irregular Forms .......................................................................................................................................................14
The Past Progressive ....................................................................................................................................................14
Combining Past Progressive and Simple Past .........................................................................................................15
While and When .....................................................................................................................................................15
Common Irregular Verb Forms ....................................................................................................................................16
Quiz 3: Talking about the Past .....................................................................................................................................18
Private Journal 2: The Interrupted Past .......................................................................................................................19
Option 1: It was hilarious! .......................................................................................................................................19
Option 2: Our Scars Tell a Story ..............................................................................................................................19
Discussion: The Interrupted Past .................................................................................................................................20
© 2021 by FHI 360. “English for Journalism MOOC – Module One Packet” for the Online
Professional English Network (OPEN), sponsored by the U.S. Department of State with funding 1
provided by the U.S. government and administered by FHI 360. This work is licensed under the
Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License, except where noted. To view a copy of this
license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/legalcode
Principles of Journalism 1: Gathering Sources.............................................................................................................21
What is a principle? ................................................................................................................................................21
Gathering Sources ...................................................................................................................................................21
Principle 1. Verification: verify sources for truth and accuracy ..............................................................................21
Principle 2. Objectivity: Report the facts without favoring one side or the other. .................................................22
Principles of Journalism 2: Telling the Story ................................................................................................................23
Principle 3: Originality. Create original work. .........................................................................................................23
Principle 4: Completeness. Tell the whole story. ....................................................................................................23
Principle 5: Transparency. The journalistic process should be clear to the audience. ...........................................23
Principle 6: Fairness. Write accurately and without bias ........................................................................................23
Language Focus: Word Families ..................................................................................................................................25
Can you find the root in these three words? ..........................................................................................................25
Suffixes help us identify the part of speech (noun, verb, etc.) ..........................................................................26
Pronunciation: Suffixes can change syllable stress ............................................................................................26
Quiz 4: Language Focus: Word Families ......................................................................................................................28
Principles of Journalism 3: Making an Impact .............................................................................................................29
Principle 7: Restraint ...............................................................................................................................................29
Principle 8: Humanity ..............................................................................................................................................29
Principle 9: Accountability. .....................................................................................................................................30
Principle 10: Empowerment ...................................................................................................................................30
Quiz 5: Principles of Journalism Vocabulary ................................................................................................................31
Language Focus: Phrases for Agreeing and Disagreeing .............................................................................................32
1. Expressing Your Opinion .....................................................................................................................................32
2. Phrases to Agree with Someone Else's Opinion..................................................................................................33
3. Phrases for Disagreeing with an Opinion ............................................................................................................33
4. Phrases to Disagree in a Formal Situation ..........................................................................................................34
Private Journal 3: Case Study: Principles of Journalism ...............................................................................................35
Discussion: Case Study: Principles of Journalism.........................................................................................................36
Case Study: .........................................................................................................................................................36
Module One Check ......................................................................................................................................................36
2
This work is a derivative of "Bilingual Inscription " courtesy of the Getty's Open Content Program, "Metal Typesetting" by Hannes Wolf. under Unsplash license, and
untitled image by William Cho under Pixabay license. This derivative is licensed under CC BY 4.0 by FHI 360 for use in the American English E-Teacher Program,
sponsored by the U.S. Department of State.
Module Overview
Welcome to Module One of English for Journalism! Learning about the history and principles of journalism will
help you become a successful news reporter.
L E A R N I N G O B JE C T I V E S :
• Identify historical developments and milestones in journalism.
• Identify the core principles of journalism.
• Identify word forms to expand your vocabulary.
• Use the simple past and past progressive to report and describe past events.
ACTIVITIES
Part One: Talking about the Past: The History of Journalism
Private Journal 1: History of Journalism (Optional)
The History of Journalism 1: The Early Days
Quiz 1: History of Journalism (Required)
The History of Journalism 2: 1690-Present
Quiz 2: History of Journalism (Required)
Language Focus: Talking about the Past
Quiz 3: Talking about the Past (Required)
Private Journal 2: The Interrupted Past (Optional)
Discussion: The Interrupted Past (Optional)
Part Two: The Principles of Journalism

Principles of Journalism 1: Gathering Sources
Principles of Journalism 2: Telling the Story
Language Focus: Word Families
Quiz 4: Language Focus: Word Families (Required)
Principles of Journalism 3: Making an Impact
Quiz 5: Principles of Journalism Vocabulary (Required)
Language Focus: Phrases for Agreeing and Disagreeing
Private Journal 3: Case Study: Principles of Journalism (Optional)
Discussion: Case Study: Principles of Journalism (Optional)
3
Private Journal 1: Introduction to Journalism
Important: This is a private journal. It will not be graded or seen by your peers.
In this module, we will be learning about the history and the principles of journalism. We will study the history of
journalism first.
Before we begin, take a moment to think and write about what you already know:
What is journalism?
How did journalism begin?
In the early days, how did people share and receive important information?
How has that changed over time?
Take five minutes to write the thoughts that come to your mind. Don't worry about mistakes. Only you will see
this.
4
Lesson 1: The History of Journalism 1: The Early Days
Untitled Image by 200 degrees via Pixabay is licensed under Pixabay license
[Video available online for viewing. Script below.]
THE ORIGINS OF JOURNALISM
"Bilingual Inscription" Digital image courtesy of the Getty's Open Content Program
One of the earliest forms of organized reporting of current events was the acta diurna of the Roman Empire
(around 100 BCE). These acta diurna (Latin for “daily events”) were organized by the Roman government. They
hired scribes who carved the information into stone. The government posted the stones in public places so that
people could read them.
If people were literate, or able to read and write, they could learn about births and deaths, marriages, and the
results of legal trials.
Fun Fact: The Latin word diurna is the root of the modern English word journal.
Chinese Woodblock Print, Yuan Dynasty by Petri Krohn (Links to an external sitevia Wikipedia Commons under Public Domain
Around the same time in China, a similar thing was happening. The Chinese government sent out official reports,
called dibao from the capital to local governors. The governors edited the reports. This means they decided which
information was important for local people to read. They wrote new editions, or versions, of the reports. They
carved the reports onto woodblocks and printed many copies. They posted the reports in public places for people
to read. Woodblock printing was more efficient, or quicker and easier, than carving into stone. Printing allowed
people to make multiple copies of a document for the first time.
5
Throughout history, people learned about current events through posted announcements and word of
mouth. Everything changed with the invention of movable-type printing presses, machines with small metal parts
that move so that any text could be created and then many identical copies made. The earliest known movable-
type printing press was created in East Asia in the 10th Century CE.
In 1440, Johannes Gutenberg built the first movable-type printing press for a Latin alphabet. This was the first time
that the English language could be printed quickly and efficiently.
The printing press changed the way that people got their news. It was now much quicker and cheaper to print
texts and almost anybody could do it.
"Early Printing Press" was originally published in The Illustrated History of England by Henry Dulcken, 1888. This image was published by Firkin on OpenClipArt and is
licensed under Public Domain, Creative Commons Zero 1.0
As technology improved, many people became printers. Soon, they were publishing, or preparing and distributing
papers, journals, and books. As more and more written material was published, more and more people
became literate, or able to read and write; however, government still controlled what people wrote.
In Europe, the printing press led to a new type of media, single-page newsletters called corantos. These early
newspapers had information about wars and other current events as well as philosophical discussions.
Some corantos were critical of powerful organizations like the government and the Church. The
government censored them, meaning they stopped people from writing or talking about topics they didn't like.
The government only wanted people to write propaganda, information that helps the government.
In England, the government passed a law which said that anyone who wanted to print or publish had to have the
government’s permission, or license. Printers who had a government license enjoyed a monopoly as competition
was eliminated. Meanwhile, the government was able to control what information was being shared. The
government gave permission to printers who published stories they liked and refused or removed licenses for
people who published stories they didn’t like. The government was able to remove and destroy any publication
considered offensive. They could arrest people who wrote, printed and published information that they didn't like.
6
"First page of Areopagatica" by gobeirne via Wikimedia Commons under the Public Domain.
In England, in 1644, John Milton wrote and published a famous coranto called Areopagitica. This speech called for
the freedom of the press, the right to report news without being controlled by the government. Many of the ideas
that Milton wrote about are very important to the modern principles of journalism and human rights.
Milton argued that people have the right to information. Information helps us make decisions and can change our
beliefs. He said that as a society we should make our decisions through consensus, or a general agreement, that
respects a variety of opinions. He argued that we must discuss and debate (or argue). Our discussion and debates
must be based on information that has not been manipulated or influenced. We need the facts and only the facts
so that we can form our own opinions.
In short, Milton argued that a free press is essential to a free society. He said that people should be free to report
the news without government trying to stop them.
Publick Occurrences, the first newspaper in the Americas, was published in Boston in 1690. It contained only four
pages and was supposed to be published every month; however, it was censored immediately and only one
edition was ever published.
In the early history of journalism, governments wanted to control the information that people received. The
authorities censored newspapers when they did not like what was being printed. Next, we will look at the steps
that allowed the press to become free, not controlled by the government.
7
Quiz 1: History of Journalism 1: The Early Days
You must take this quiz in Canvas to complete the course and receive a digital
badge and certificate.
Instructions
Welcome to your first quiz! Answer the following questions from The History of Journalism 1: The Early Days. If
you do not know an answer, you can always review the video and lesson.
Each question is worth two points. There are five questions. You must get four out of five questions correct to pass
the quiz. You can take the quiz as many times as you like. Your highest score will be saved.
>>> This quiz must be completed in Canvas to receive the digital badge and certificate. <<<
8
Lesson 2: The History of Journalism 2: 1690 – Present
In the last lesson, we looked at origins of journalism and talked about the ways that journalism was censored by
governments. In this lesson we are going to look at the steps that allowed journalism to become more
independent and freer from government control. We will also talk about the different ways that people get their
news.
Watch the video or listen to the audio. Try to take notes on the dates and names you hear because this will help
you play the game that follows this lesson.
For most of the 18th century, governments still controlled what people wrote. For example, in the USA in 1722, a
young Benjamin Franklin took over as editor of a newspaper called The New-England Courant, because his older
brother was in jail. The government accused him of writing things that were not true.
THE FOURTH ESTATE
In 1787, Edmund Burke, a politician, was making a speech in the British Parliament. He argued that the press
should be allowed to report on the House of Commons of Great Britain. He spoke about the three traditional parts
of European governments commonly known as the Three Estates (the church, the nobility, and the common
people). Then he pointed to the journalists and called them the Fourth Estate. He meant that writing the truth was
an important part of governing a country. We still call journalism the Fourth Estate today.
THE FIRST AMENDMENT
A few years later, in 1791, ten amendments to the US Constitution called the Bill of Rights became a law. The first
amendment talked about freedom of religion, freedom of speech and also freedom of the press. The First
Amendment protects journalists’ rights by making sure the government cannot control the information or opinions
that journalists publish.
Even though journalism was no longer controlled by the government, most newspapers in the early 19th century
were biased, meaning they only told one side of the story or one point of view and were read by people who
agreed with their opinion.
In 1835, however, a newspaper called The New York Herald was started with the goal of providing unbiased news
that everyone could enjoy. This newspaper also tried to be politically independent, not preferring one political
party over another.
THE INVENTION OF THE TELEGRAPH
In the 1850s, newspapers moved from being just local to national. As technology improved, it became easier to
print and distribute many more newspapers.
The invention of the telegraph revolutionized journalism again. Before the telegraph, journalists relied on
government reports and mail delivery to receive their information and write their reports. The telegraph made it
possible to quickly share information across long distances, even international borders and oceans.
9
"Ada Jones Sending Morse Code in 1918" by Oaktree b via Wikimedia Commons under Public Domain
The telegraph increased the speed of message delivery but was also very expensive. A person visiting a telegraph
company paid by the word. People wanted to save money, so they kept their messages short. They wrote very
short sentences and paragraphs. This new style of writing soon became popular with newspapers.
The high costs of telegraph messages also led to the creation of the first news agencies or wire services. A news
agency gathers news reports and sells them to news organizations. The first American news agency was the
Associated Press, which was founded in New York City in 1846. News agencies allowed local newspapers to report
on national and international news. As the telegraph became more popular, printing technology was also
improving. it became easier and easier to print and distribute newspapers. Hundreds of thousands of people could
now read the same newspaper on the same day in different parts of the country.
Newspapers of the 19th Century were often biased. They only told part of the story or only one point of view.
As the number of newspapers increased, literacy also increased. More and more people were buying and reading
newspapers. Publishers wanted people to buy their newspapers.
Hoe's Six-Cylinder Press" via Wikimedia Commons under Public Domain
Newspaper publishing was a big business, and some publishers were becoming very rich and powerful. They
wanted to control information that might hurt their interests and they wanted to promote information that might
help them.
To attract readers and to protect their interests, newspapers often published sensational stories that were not
always accurate. These stories were exciting or shocking and many people wanted to read them. This led to the
rise of so-called "yellow journalism", a precursor to the modern tabloid.
The early years of the 20th century saw the development of investigative journalism. This involved a journalist
looking into and writing about powerful people and industries. For example, Upton Sinclair wrote The Jungle in
1906. Readers of The Jungle learned about the unhealthy practices in Chicago’s meatpacking factories and the bad
conditions for the workers. After people read The Jungle, people wanted to change the laws. This strong public
reaction pushed the government to create the Food and Drug Administration, the nation’s first consumer
protection agency.
10
Untitled Image via Wikimedia Common is under Public Domain.
Although newspapers continued to be popular throughout the 20th century, by the 1920s, they also had to
compete with newsreels and radio broadcasts. Listening to news on the radio allowed the whole family to sit
down and hear the news at the same time. They could also listen to things live as they were happening instead of
waiting until the next day to read about them.
In the 1950s television became popular and nearly every family in the USA had one. People could now see pictures
as well as hear people talk about the news in a live broadcast.
The internet became popular in the 1990s and online newspapers began to replace print copies. Today over half
the adults in the USA get their news from Twitter or Facebook.
11
Quiz 2: History of Journalism 2: 1690 - Present
the quiz.
You can take the quiz as many times as you like. Your highest score will be saved.
>>>> Please note that this quiz can only be completed in Canvas. <<<<
12
Language Focus: Talking about the Past
Hello, welcome to this language focus lesson on the past tense. We have been talking about the history of
journalism which means, we have been using different forms of the past tense. You watched several
videos, completed a survey, and played a game. While you were watching the videos were you taking notes?
Take a look at those sentences. There are two forms of the past tense being used there, the simple past, and the
past progressive, sometimes called the past continuous. In this lesson, we are going to talk about the structure and
meaning of the simple past and the past progressive. We will also talk about when we should use each of these
forms. Let's start with the simple past.
S I M P L E P A ST
When an action begins and ends in the past, then we use the simple past.
"Simple Past" by FHI 360 is licensed under CC BY 4.0
Example: Before this video, you watched a video, completed a survey and played a game.
We can change most verbs into the past tense simply by adding -ed or just -d to the end of the verb.
For example: played, watched, completed.
13
I R R E G U L A R F O R MS
You may notice that there are many verbs that do not take an -ed ending. For example: The technology was not
available to print the news before the Gutenberg press. In this sentence, the verb to be is put in the past. This is an
irregular verb
Here is another example. In China, people read the messages from the government called the Dibao. Here, the
verb to read is in the past.
There are about 200 irregular verbs. It is worth memorizing these forms, because many of these verbs are quite
common. For example,
Base Form Simple Past Form
write wrote
think thought
take took
speak spoke
A list of the most common irregular verb forms can be found at the end of this
The Past Progressive

The past progressive is formed with either was or were and the -ing form of the verb.
"Past Progressive" by FHI 360 is licensed under CC BY 4.0
For example: While I was watching the video, I was taking notes.
This means that there was a duration, a period of time, when you were watching and taking notes. Similar to the
simple past, this is an event that began and ended in the past. But with the past progressive, the audience, the
listener or reader, knows that it happened for a longer time, not just a moment.
14
C O M B I N I N G P A S T P R O G R E S SI V E A N D S I M P L E P A ST
Many times, the past progressive and the simple past are used together. For example, I was researching the story
when my editor called.
"Simple Past and Past Progressive" by FHI 360 is licensed under CC BY 4.0
Here, you can tell that the speaker was researching perhaps for many minutes or hours. The editor called during
that time. We do not know exactly when the editor called, but we know what the speaker was doing at the time.
Here is another example. While many countries were looking for alternatives to gas powered cars, Tesla
introduced the electric automobile.
WHILE AND WHEN

Notice that while is often used to introduce the past progressive. For example: While I was watching the video
about the history of journalism, I was taking notes. While many countries were looking for alternatives to gas
powered cars, Tesla introduced the electric automobile.
When is often used with the simple past. For example, I was researching the story when my editor called.
Summary
▪ Actions that start and end in the past use the simple past or present progressive forms.
▪ Use the past progressive to show what was happening when something else happened.
▪ Use the simple past if you are just talking about one event that began and ended in the past.
▪ There are many irregular past forms in English. It is helpful to memorize these
▪ Use the words while and when to use both forms together.
15
Common Irregular Verb Forms
Base Form Past Tense Past Participle
1 Be Was/were Been
2 Become Became Become
3 Begin Began Begun
4 Bend Bent bent
5 Bet Bet Bet
6 Bind Bound Bound
7 Bite Bit Bitten
8 Bleed Bled Bled
9 Blow Blew Blown
10 Break Broke Broken
11 Bring Brought Brought
12 Build Built Built
13 Burn Burnt Burnt
14 Catch Caught Caught
15 Choose Chose Chosen
16 Come Came Come
17 Cost Cost Cost
18 Cut Cut Cut
19 Deal Dealt Dealt
20 Dig Dug Dug
21 Do Did Done
22 Draw Drew Drawn
23 Drink Drank Drunk
24 Dream Dreamt dreamt
25 Drive Drove Driven
26 Eat Ate Eaten
27 Fall Fell Fallen
28 Feed Fed Fed
29 Feel Fell Felt
30 Fight Fought Fought
31 Find Found Found
32 Flee Fled Fled
33 Fly Flew Flown
34 Forbid Forbade Forbidden
35 Forget Forgot Forgotten
36 Forgive Forgave Forgiven
36 Freeze Froze Frozen
38 Get Got Got
39 Give Gave Given
40 Go Went Gone
41 Grow Grew Grown
42 Hang Hung Hung
43 Have Had Had
44 Hear Heard Heard
45 Hide Hid Hidden
46 Hit Hit Hit
16
47 Hold Held Held
48 Hurt Hurt Hurt
49 Keep Kept Kept
50 Kneel Knelt Knelt
51 Know Knew Known
52 Lay Laid laid
53 Leave Left Left
54 Lend Lent Lent
55 Let Let Let
56 Lie Lay lain
57 Light Lit lit
58 Lose Lost Lost
59 Make Made Made
60 Mean Meant Meant
61 Meet Met Met
62 Pay Paid Paid
63 Put Put Put
64 Quit Quit Quit
65 Read Read Read
66 Ride Rode Ridden
67 Rise Rose Risen
68 Run Run Run
69 Say Said Said
70 See Saw Seen
71 Seek Sought Sought
72 Sell Sold Sold
73 Send Sent Sent
74 Set Set Set
75 Sew Sewed Sewn
76 Shake Shook Shaken
77 Shine Shone Shone
78 Shoot Shot Shot
79 Show Showed Shown
80 Shut Shut Shut
81 Sing Sang Sung
82 Sit Sat Sat
83 Sleep Slept Slept
84 Speak Spoke Spoken
85 Spend Spent Spent
86 Spill Spilt Spilt
87 Stand Stood Stood
88 Steal Stole Stolen
89 Swear Swore Sworn
90 Swim Swam Swum
91 Take Took Taken
92 Teach Taught Tught
93 Tear Tore Torn
94 Tell Told Told
95 Think Thought Thought
17
Quiz 3: Talking about the Past
the quiz.
18
Private Journal 2: The Interrupted Past
Respond to option one or two. Maximum 200 words

OPTION 1: IT WAS HILARIOUS!
"untitled image" by Callum Shaw via Unsplash under Unsplash license
When is the last time you laughed out loud? What happened? What were you doing when it happened?
Example 1: Last week, I was having coffee with my sister and she showed me a funny video on her phone.
Example 2: This morning, my husband and I were having breakfast when my dog knocked over a chair.
She looked so surprised. Pretty soon we were laughing really hard. When someone laughs, I always laugh too. I
can't stop myself.
OPTION 2: OUR SCARS TELL A STORY
“untitled Image” by Shutterbug75 from Pixabay under Pixabay license
Have you ever had an injury? Did you break a bone? Do you have a scar?
Stories about injuries are a great way to practice using the past simple and the past progressive. Almost always,
these stories involve something that happened quickly and interrupted another action in progress.
Think about a time that you hurt yourself. What were you doing? What happened?
Example 1: A few years ago, I was riding a bicycle. I wasn't looking where I was going. I rode into a ditch. I fell off
my bicycle and cut my knee. I cut my knee when I was riding my bike.
Example 2: I have a scar on my arm. When I was younger, I worked in a pizza restaurant. One time, I was pulling a
pizza out of the oven and my coworker bumped into me. My arm touched the inside of the oven. I burned my arm.
I burned my arm while I was cooking pizza.
19
Discussion: The Interrupted Past
>>>> Please note that this activity can only be completed in Canvas. <<<<
Would you like to share the story with your classmates?
Step 1: Copy and paste the story you just wrote.
Step 2: Read your classmates' stories. Did they use the past simple and past progressive correctly? Do you have any
recommendations?
20
Principles of Journalism 1: Gathering Sources
WHAT IS A PRINCIPLE?
A principle is a fundamental, very important truth that is the basis of something. So, the principles of journalism
are the things that journalists have to remember to do all the time
GATHERING SOURCES
In this lesson, we will discuss principles that are important for journalists to remember when they are gathering
sources or collecting information for their story.
Imagine a journalist is reporting on a car accident. The journalist needs to talk to the people who actually saw the
accident happen. We call these people eyewitnesses When the journalist is talking to these people, they are
gathering sources.
When a journalist wants to know more information for a story, they may talk to eyewitnesses, government
officials, or professional experts. They may also go to a library or research online. This is also gathering sources.
Let's talk about some of the important principles that a journalist needs to remember when they are gathering
sources: verification and objectivity.
PRINCIPLE 1. VERIFICATION: VERIFY SOURCES FOR TRUTH

AND ACCURACY
Journalists need to make sure that their information is accurate or true and correct. How can they know if their
source is accurate?
Being accurate means always having the correct facts, such as names, dates, and places. When a journalist gathers
sources by speaking to a witness or researching documents, they should always make sure that they write down
the correct information so that it is accurate when they use it in their article.
How can journalists verify a source to know that the information they get is accurate and
true?
To start, a journalist can ask themselves these questions:
1. Is this a primary source?
If we consider the car accident, we looked at earlier, an eyewitness is a primary source, while someone
who just heard about the accident is not.
2. Does the source have expert knowledge?
21
For a car accident, an expert on road safety or an automotive engineer would be a good source of
information.
PRINCIPLE 2. OBJECTIVITY: REPORT THE FACTS WITHOUT
FAVORING ONE SIDE OR THE OTHER.
A journalist must be objective. They must report the facts without favoring one side or the other or letting their
personal opinions or emotions interfere.
An objective journalist tells the truth and reports only accurate information. They do not change any facts or
details to improve the story. They remain neutral. They report stories without showing favor to any of the parties
involved.
Finally, an objective journalist is emotionally detached. They report the story without any emotion and present
the story in a calm and rational way.
By reporting objectively, journalists hope the audience will come to their own conclusion. They do not want to
influence the audience.
When gathering sources, an objective journalist will get information from as many sources as possible, including
sources they may personally dislike or disagree with.
SUMMARY:
• A journalist should determine which information is based in fact and present accurate information from
all sides.
• A journalist should not give equal time or weight to an opinion based on facts that are clearly not true.
22
Principles of Journalism 2: Telling the Story
Now, we will look at the principles that a journalist needs to remember when they are telling the story or writing
their article.
PRINCIPLE 3: ORIGINALITY. CREATE ORIGINAL WORK.

The first important principle to remember when writing a story is originality. When a journalist writes a story, they
are creating something new. A journalist must not borrow the words of others and pretend that they have created
them.
Imagine a hospital is being built in your town. This is an important story and many people have been writing about
it. Obviously, the facts of the story are the same, but the way the journalist writes about the hospital must be
original and not copied from someone else. If a journalist copies a story about the hospital from someone else and
then puts their name on it, we call it plagiarism.
PRINCIPLE 4: COMPLETENESS. TELL THE WHOLE STORY.

Another important principle to remember is completeness. This means that journalists need to tell the whole
story, not just a part of it. Journalists must present a story in context, which means looking at both sides of a story
as well as the events in the past that lead to the situation.
PRINCIPLE 5: TRANSPARENCY. THE JOURNALISTIC PROCESS

SHOULD BE CLEAR TO THE AUDIENCE.
The third principle that we are talking about in this video is transparency. This is a word that we normally use to
describe something that you could see through. Like a glass window. When we use it to talk about journalism, we
mean that the people have the opportunity to look at the process that the journalist goes through when they write
their article.
For example, the journalist makes it clear who they spoke to and also, who they could not speak to.
Also, if the journalist has some connection to the story, they need to be transparent and tell people what that
connection is. For example, if the journalist's spouse is an architect who is going to help build the hospital, he or
she must state that in the article.
PRINCIPLE 6: FAIRNESS. WRITE ACCURATELY AND WITHOUT

BIAS
When a journalist writes an article, they must think about the principle of fairness. This means that a journalist
must think about the language they use in their article to make sure they accurately tell the facts without
bias. favoring one side or another.
23
In the hospital example, they should use language that tells the facts about the advantages and disadvantages of
building the hospital.
It is important to remember that the journalist's goal should be to inform the public. The journalist should tell the
public what they need to know. The journalist should not manipulate the public or try to shape the way the public
thinks about something.
SUMMARY
We looked at the following principles for telling your story:
1. Originality. Use your own words to tell the story
2. Completeness. Tell the whole story.
3. Transparency. Make your process clear to the reader.
4. Fairness. Write accurately without bias.
24
Language Focus: Word Families
Hello! Welcome to this Language Focus lesson on word families. While you’ve been learning about the principles of
journalism, you may have noticed how some words have various forms, for example: journalism, journalist,
and journalistic.
The word endings, also called suffixes, change the part of speech (noun, verb, adjective, etc.) The root of the word,
the letters all forms have in common, stays the same.
Journalism is a noun. It means the act of writing for the news.

Journalist is also a noun. It means the person who produces news.
Journalistic is an adjective. It describes the process of making the news
Words with the same root but with different word endings are all part of the same word family.
In this lesson, we will look at word families, words with the same root and different endings to form various parts
of speech We'll also look at how the pronunciation may change in a word family.
C A N Y O U F I ND T H E R O O T I N T H E S E T H R E E W O R D S ?
journalism, journalist, journalistic
These words all share the root word journal
Let's take a look at another example.
We have talked about how verification is an important principle of journalism.
Information must be collected from verified sources.
That means that journalists must verify who the source is and what they are saying.
In those three sentences, we saw the root ver in three different forms. In English, many of the roots are borrowed
from Latin. In Latin ver means truth. Therefore, verification is the process of proving something is true. Verified is
25
an adjective that describes something truthful. And finally, to verify is the verb form of the root ver. It's the action
verb of finding out if something is true.
Now, let's look at the words we can make from the root ver, meaning truth. Look at the sentences below. How
many forms of the root ver do you see?
Suffixes help us identify the part of speech (noun, verb, etc.)

Recognizing roots and suffixes can help you understand and learn new words. To understand a word, we often
start with the root and then look for the part of speech depending on the word ending, the letters at the end of
the word. For example, -tion in verification shows that this word is a noun. Other word ending that create nouns
include -tion. -ity, -ness, -cy, and -ment.
For example, govern is a verb meaning to manage or lead. When the suffix -ment is added to the end of the word,
we get government. Government is a noun which means the system or organization that manages or
leads. Government.
Let's take a look at the adjective word endings, -al, -ed, -able, -ent, and -ive.
In our first example, verified can be used as an adjective.
Information must be collected from verified sources.
Now let's look at transparency and transparent.
Transparency is important because the reader needs to understand the journalist's process to trust their story.
When we want to change the word from a noun to an adjective, we take away the -cy ending and an replace it
with a -t
Transparency -> transparent
Now, we can say "The journalist's process was transparent.”
Pronunciation: Suffixes can change syllable stress

When we change word form, the syllable stress can shift. A syllable is one vowel sound of a word. For example, cat
has one syllable. kitten has two syllables, kit-ten.
How many syllables are in the word verify?
Three! There are three syllables in the word verify. Ve-ri-fy
In English, we stress one (or more) syllables, meaning we pronounce it a little louder than the others. This helps
people understand each other.
In the word verify, we stress the first syllable: verify, VE-ri-fy
But when we change verify into a noun, verification, there are now 5 syllables:
26
verification, ver-i-fi-CA-tion
When a word ends in –tion, the stress falls on the syllable before that ending.
1. nation, NA-tion
2. invitation, in-vi-TA-tion
3. communication, com-mu-ni-CA-tion
4. verification, ve-ri-fi-CA-tion
This is also true for words that end in –ity.
Original has four syllables (o-ri-gi-nal) and has second syllable stress (oRIginal).
When we change this adjective to a noun, using –ity, we have originality.
Originality has six syllables (o-ri-gi-na-li-ty) and the fourth syllable is stressed (o-ri-gi-NAL-i-ty). The fourth syllable
(-al) is right before the word ending, -ity.
Let’s look at one final example. Let’s take the word objective. How many syllables does this word have? (Three!
The word objective has three syllables: ob-jec-tive)
Now, let’s change objective from an adjective to a noun. We will add the suffix, -ity. Objectivity.
Objectivity. Which syllable has the stress? (ob-jec-TIV-i-ty. The third syllable is stressed)
SUMMARY
• Word endings can change a word from one part of speech to another.
• Word endings can change the syllable stress of a word.
27
Quiz 4: Language Focus: Word Families
Instructions: For each item, choose the best word form (or pair of forms) to complete each sentence.
This quiz is worth 10 points. You must get at least seven points to pass the quiz.
28
Principles of Journalism 3: Making an Impact
We have already looked at principles related to gathering sources and telling the story. Now, we are going to look
at the principles that are about impacting people, meaning, how people are affected by the articles that a
journalist writes.
We are going to talk now about the last four principles of journalism, restraint, humanity, accountability, and
empowerment.
PRINCIPLE 7: RESTRAINT
People show restraint when they stop themselves from doing something. Journalists show restraint when they
stop themselves from writing things that could be bad for people.
For example, sometimes people think the wrong person has committed a crime. In the rush to break a story, this
person's name and picture could be released on the Internet. This could have very bad consequences for
somebody who has not done anything wrong.
Showing restraint avoids hurting innocent people and creates a better story. When facts are verified properly, they
have a better chance of being accurate and true.
Journalists also show restraint when they allow their sources to be anonymous. This means that the journalist
does not share the source’s name. Journalists need to do this because sometimes bad things could happen to the
person if their name was known. They might lose their job or possibly even get hurt.
PRINCIPLE 8: HUMANITY
Another principle that a journalist must think about is being humane. This means caring about other people and
treating them with respect, treating them as humans, not just part of a story.
In an earlier lesson, we said that journalists should be objective, not favoring one side or another. However, a
journalist can be both objective in their writing and sympathetic to the people in a story.
For example, journalists should think about the feelings of a crime victim's friends and family even when they're
rushing to write a story.
29
PRINCIPLE 9: ACCOUNTABILITY.
The next principle is accountability. A person is accountable when they take responsibility for their actions. They
are responsible for the things they do.
For a journalist, there are two types of accountability. The first is personal. A journalist must be responsible for the
story that they write. They must balance what the public needs to know and the rights of the people involved. If
there are mistakes in the story, a journalist must admit that they made a mistake. They must correct their
mistakes.
The second type of accountability involves holding the people in power responsible for their actions. People in
power may try to hide their actions from the public. The job of a journalist is to shine a light on these actions and
let everybody know what the person in power has done.
For example, in a situation where drinking water has been polluted, the people responsible for making sure the
water is clean should explain what happened. They must explain what they are doing to stop it happening again.
PRINCIPLE 10: EMPOWERMENT

The final principle is empowerment, which means giving power to people who do not have it. There are many
people all over the world who feel powerless. They have little control over their lives and their rights. They might
be living in poverty. They might be refugees. Maybe they are victims of war or natural disasters. A journalist's job is
to speak for the people who do not have the power to speak.
Next, check your journalism vocabulary with the following game.
30
Quiz 5: Principles of Journalism Vocabulary
This quiz will check if you remember the definitions of the ten principles of journalism that you learned about in
the video lectures.
Directions: Choose the best definition for each principle of journalism.
31
Language Focus: Phrases for Agreeing and
Disagreeing
Hello, in this lesson, we will talk about phrases you can use to express your opinion, and to agree or disagree with
someone else's opinion. This is important as we prepare for our discussion board.
When discussing opinions, there are words and phrases that can sound more appropriate and polite. In most
academic, professional, and even social situations, the goal is to have a discussion, not an argument.
It is important to choose your words carefully, so that everyone feels welcome to share their opinion and
participate in the conversation. Let's start with expressing your opinion.
1. EXPRESSING YOUR OPINION

There are several phrases that signal to the listener that the speaker is about to give an opinion. Can you think of
any?
▪ First, in my opinion...
▪ My point of view on this is...
▪ In my experience...
▪ Personally, I think...
▪ I strongly believe...
▪ I really feel that...
Here are some examples of strong opinions:
▪ In my opinion, the press should be free to print without fear of being punished.
▪ I strongly believe that governments should not control the media.
▪ In my experience, when governments control the media, people cannot make informed choices.
32
2. PHRASES TO AGREE WITH SOMEONE ELSE'S OPINION
Now, let's talk about phrases we can use to agree with someone else's opinion.
What can you say if you completely agree with someone?
▪ Absolutely, I agree with you. 100%.
▪ I see what you mean.
▪ You're right.
▪ That's a good point.
▪ I couldn't agree with you more.
▪ Exactly. That's just what I was thinking.
These phrases are used to agree with someone's opinion, and are usually followed by a paraphrase, the same
opinion using different words. For example:
▪ "I agree with you 100%. Newspapers cannot help people make decisions if they only print the
government's views. "
▪ "I couldn't agree with you more. When governments control the news, people start to distrust the
government. "
3. PHRASES FOR DISAGREEING WITH AN OPINION

What can you say if you disagree with an opinion? Can you think of any phrases?
▪ I'm sorry to disagree with you, but....
▪ I'm afraid I must disagree.
▪ Yes, but don't you think...
These phrases signal disagreement but notice they're still appropriate and polite. In an academic setting like
college or university, you generally don't hear people say things like, "you're wrong" or "that's just not true." In
most public areas, (schools, the government, the press), people will disagree, but they will disagree in respectful
ways. Disagreeing doesn't always result in an argument.
For example:
▪ "I'm afraid I must disagree. The government's job is to keep its people safe."
▪ "Don't you think that if the press is allowed to write extreme views people could get upset and become
violent?"
▪ "I’m sorry to disagree with you, but the press shouldn't write articles that could create problems for the
government."
33
4. PHRASES TO DISAGREE IN A FORMAL SITUATION
Finally, some situations are more formal than others. For example, if I were speaking with a member of
government or the president of the university, I would use formal language to disagree with someone else more
softly.
What are some phrases you can use in more formal situations to disagree softly and politely?
▪ I see your opinion, but...
▪ I'm not so sure about that.
▪ I understand what you’re saying, but...
Here you acknowledge what they are saying, but also separate your thoughts from their argument.
For example:
"I understand what you’re saying, but the government must work with the press. The press needs to report on
events with the government."
Try to use these phrases in the next activity.
You will be asked to express your opinion and respond to other students’ opinions.
These phrases will help you communicate clearly, appropriately, and politely.
34
Private Journal 3: Case Study: Principles of
Journalism
You can use this space to practice writing. If you want to share your ideas with your peers, you can copy your
response and paste it in the discussion that follows page.
CASE STUDY:
There have been a large number of traffic accidents at an intersection in your town.
You hear that there has just been another accident and immediately go to the intersection. When you
arrive, you find emergency workers helping the victims. A man and a child have been seriously injured.
The other driver is sitting in a police car.
You take many photos of the incident. You have to choose a photo to accompany your story. You have
photos of the injured man, the injured child, the other driver, and the damaged vehicles. Which photo
should you choose to accompany your story?
R E S P O N D W IT H Y O U R O P I N I O N B E L O W .
Use one of the phrases for expressing opinion which we have just studied:
35
Discussion: Case Study: Principles of Journalism
Note: This is an optional activity. You will not receive a grade or official feedback on your response.
Case Study:
There have been a large number of traffic accidents at an intersection in your town. Many people have
been killed or injured in recent months at this intersection. You hear that there has just been another
accident and immediately go to the intersection. When you arrive, you find emergency workers helping
the victims. A man has been killed and a child has been seriously injured. The driver of the other car has
been arrested and is in handcuffs. Police tell you the driver is suspected of driving under the influence of
alcohol.
You take many photos of the incident. You have to choose a photo to accompany your story. You have
photos of the dead man, the injured child, the suspected drunk driver, and the damaged vehicles. Which
photo should you choose to accompany your story?
1. RESPOND WITH YOUR OPINION BELOW.

Use one of the phrases for expressing opinion which we have just studied:
2. READ POSTS FROM OTHER STUDENTS

3. POST A RESPONSE TO EACH POST THAT YOU READ.
Use one of the phrases for agreeing and disagreeing which we have just studied.
Phrases for Agreeing:

▪ Absolutely, I agree with you. 100%.
▪ I see what you mean, you're right, that's a good point.
▪ I couldn't agree with you more.
▪ Exactly. That's just what I was thinking.
Phrases for Disagreeing:

▪ I'm sorry to disagree with you, but....
▪ I'm afraid I must disagree.
▪ Yes, but don't you think...
Module One Check

Please answer one question to verify that you have completed all activities in Module 1.
36
You must choose "Yes" in order to move on in the course.
This quiz will count as 1 point toward your grade.
>>>> This is the end of Module 1 <<<<
37
MODULE TWO: HOW TO RESEARCH, PITCH, AND
INTERVIEW
Table of Contents
Module Overview ..........................................................................................................................................................2
Choosing a Topic ............................................................................................................................................................4
Researching an Idea .......................................................................................................................................................7
Quiz 6: Choosing a Topic ................................................................................................................................................9
Private Journal 4: Choose Your Topic ..........................................................................................................................10
Discussion: Choose Your Topic ....................................................................................................................................11
Pitching a Story to Newspapers and Magazines ..........................................................................................................12
Pitching a Radio Story ..................................................................................................................................................14
The Structure of a Radio Pitch .....................................................................................................................................15
Quiz 7: Research, Pitch, and Interview ...................................................................................................................... 16S
Private Journal 5: Make Your Pitch ..............................................................................................................................17
Discussion: Make Your Pitch ........................................................................................................................................18
Language Focus: Asking Questions ..............................................................................................................................19
Quiz 8: Research, Pitch, and Interview ........................................................................................................................23
Interviewing Sources - Reliability, Facts, and Opinions ...............................................................................................24
Quiz 9: Reliable Sources...............................................................................................................................................26
Private Journal 6: Write Your Interview Questions .....................................................................................................27
Discussion: Write Your Interview Questions ...............................................................................................................28
Interviewing Sources: Listening Strategies ..................................................................................................................29
Private Journal 7: Predict Responses ...........................................................................................................................33
Language Focus: Quoting Sources and Reporting Verbs .............................................................................................34
Quiz 10: Reporting Verbs .............................................................................................................................................36
Language Focus: Using Reported Speech ....................................................................................................................37
Private Journal 8: Post-Interview Reflection ...............................................................................................................40
Discussion: Post-Interview Reflection .........................................................................................................................41
Quiz 11: Reported Speech ...........................................................................................................................................42
Module Two Check ......................................................................................................................................................43
© 2021 by FHI 360. “English for Journalism MOOC – Module Two Packet” for the Online
This work is a derivative of untitled images by ElasticComputeFarm and vjkombajn licensed under Pixabay license and Headway under Unsplash
license. This derivative is licensed under CC BY 4.0 by FHI 360 for use in the Online Professional English Network (OPEN), sponsored by the U.S.
Department of State.
Module Overview
Welcome to Module Two of English for Journalism! Identifying and delivering ideas is a very important part of
reporting the news. A journalist must decide what topics are interesting and relevant and then use persuasive
language to pitch those topics to an editor. Interviewing and accurately quoting sources are also necessary skills
for building a story. Our video lectures will show you sample story pitches. We will focus specifically on analyzing
topics for relevancy, writing pitches using persuasive language, creating appropriate interview questions, and
transcribing interviews.
L E A R N I N G O B JE C T I V E S :
• Identify strategies to research and pitch a news story
• Identify the elements of an effective interview.
• Identify and practice question forms in order to conduct an interview.
• Identify and practice quoted and reported speech in order to conduct an interview.
ACTIVITIES
Part One: Getting Started: Choosing a Topic
Choosing a Topic
Types of Journalism and Gathering Sources
Assessment: Quiz 6: Choosing a Topic (Required)
Private Journal 4: Choose Your Topic (Optional)
Discussion: Choose Your Topic (Optional)
Part Two: Pitching a Story
Pitching a Story to Newspapers and Magazines
Pitching a Radio Story
Quiz 7: Research, Pitch, and Interview (Required)
Private Journal 5: Make Your Pitch (Optional)
Discussion: Make Your Pitch (Optional)
Part Three: Interviewing Sources
2
Language Focus: Asking Questions
Quiz 8: Asking Questions (Required)
Interviewing Sources - Reliability, Facts, and Opinions
Quiz 9: Reliable Sources (Required)
Interviewing Sources: Listening Strategies
Language Focus: Quoting Sources and Reporting Verbs
Quiz 10: Reporting Verbs (Required)
Language Focus: Using Reported Speech
Practice Quiz: Using Reported Speech (Optional)
Private Journal 8: Post-Interview Reflection (Optional)
Discussion: Post-Interview Reflection (Optional)
Quiz 11: Reported Speech (Required)
3
Choosing a Topic
To choose a topic, answer two questions. The first is “Who is my audience?” Your audience is the people you want
to read your story. The second is “What is interesting to my audience?”
A topic is a subject or an issue. For a journalist, a topic means a big subject, like the environment, or technology.
Later, we will talk about how to make this topic smaller and turn it into an idea for a story, but for now, we will
focus on choosing a topic.
WHO IS YOUR AUDIENCE?
This work is a derivative of “Man Speaking" by Miguel Henriques via Unsplash under Unsplash license. This derivative is licensed CC BY 4.0 by FHI 360 for the Online
Professional English Network, sponsored by the U.S. Department of State.
First, who is your audience?
What group of people are you writing for?
Examples of audiences are businesspeople, younger people, older people, and people who live in your city.
Understanding your audience will make it easier to choose a topic.
4
WHAT IS INTERESTING FOR YOUR AUDIENCE?
This work is derivative of "Set electro 2018" by Maxime Lebrun on Unsplash under Unsplash license. This derivative is licensed CC BY 4.0 by FHI 360 for the Online
Professional English Network, sponsored by the U.S. Department of State.
So, you know who your audience is. But how do you know what is interesting to your audience?
Look at the kinds of stories that appear on social media and other places where people in your audience get their
news (for example, the internet, newspapers, television, or radio).
What are these stories about? Do people from your audience make comments and posts about these stories? Is
the story part of a topic, like health, business, the environment, or many others?
By doing this, you will see the types of topics that people in your audience are interested in .
NARROWING DOWN YOUR TOPIC
"Narrow Down" by FHI 360 is licensed under CC BY 4.0
After you decide on your audience and a topic that interests them, you have to narrow it down to an idea.
To narrow down means to make something smaller and more specific for an audience. So, an idea is a smaller part
of a topic.
There are many ways that you can narrow a topic down into an idea. Here are three of the most common – the
first is type, the second is place, and third is time.
Let’s look at an example using all three. If journalists want to write about the topic of technology for an audience
of young people, they might first narrow it down by type, so instead of writing about all technology, they might
just write about one type of technology that is interesting for young people, such as smartphones.
Second, they might limit it by place, so instead of smartphone use in the whole world, they just limit it to a
country, or even a city.
5
Lastly, a journalist could narrow a topic in terms of time, perhaps concentrating on the most recent use of
cellphones, rather than on the history of cellphones.
So, after starting with the large topic of technology, the journalist has an idea for an article, namely the way that
people use cellphones now in the city where they live.
"Narrow Down 2" by FHI 360 is licensed under CC BY 4.0
So, to summarize, we looked at how to choose a topic by considering your audience and what interests them, and
also how to narrow down the topic into an idea for an article, by thinking about type, place, and time.
6
Researching an Idea
When you open up a newspaper, are all the stories the same size? Are they written in the same style? No. The type
of story depends on your topic, first, we'll talk about new stories, investigative journalism and human-interest
stories.
TYPES OF STORIES
This work is derivative of "fact” by iconathon, "investigation” by ProSymbols, "friends” by Dan Hettelx via The Noun Project under CC BY. This
derivative is licensed CC BY 4.0 by FHI 360 for the Online Professional English Network (OPEN), sponsored by the U.S. Department of State.
News stories
The most common type of article is called a news story, which is exactly what it sounds like. It's an article or
segment of television news that gives just the facts of an event.
For example, a news story that covered a tornado would give the most basic information of that story: the time the
tornado appeared, the places it hit, the damage it caused, and the people it affected.
A news story should be objective, and therefore, should not include the journalist's opinions about the
government's ability to provide safe places for citizens, or reviews on products to buy to help prepare for an
emergency event. A news story is the simplest, and most often the shortest, type of story. Just the facts.
7
Investigative Stories
The second type of article is called investigative journalism. In this type of story, journalists work for months or
even years on one problem that needs extra research. These stories are not about a single event, but more often
about an issue that affects the public.
Investigative stories are usually much longer in length than a standard news story. Topics range from government
spy programs to water quality concerns or workers' rights. Often sources in investigative journalism choose to be
anonymous.
Human-Interest Stories
Lastly, the final type of article is the human-interest story. Human interest stories focus on a person or people as a
way of talking about a current event.
This type of story brings an emotional side to a larger issue It could give a voice to the voiceless, related to the
journalistic principle of empowerment.
For example, a human-interest story may follow one immigrant family and talk about their journey as a way of
talking about immigration laws. Or a human-interest story could focus on one soldier as a way of talking about
war.
RESEARCHING YOUR IDEA

After journalists knows their topic and story type, they can start to research their idea Generally, journalists use
more than one source when writing an article.
Let's take a look at gathering sources. The biggest part of researching your story is gathering sources. There are
two types of sources, people, and information.
Let's talk about people first.

As we discussed in Module One, people sources can be eyewitnesses or experts in a particular field. For example,
if journalists are writing an investigative story on water quality in a city, an eyewitness is a person living in that
town who experienced the change in water quality.
Journalists could also interview an expert like a water quality scientist or government official who makes decisions
and laws about water.
Information sources are documents that contain background information on a subject. For our example on water
quality, an information source might be the test results from water sampling or an email about possible health
risks.
SUMMARY
Once journalists decide what type of story they are writing, they need to decide who to interview and what
documents will provide the best information.
8
Quiz 6: Choosing a Topic
Welcome to your first quiz!
the quiz.
9
Private Journal 4: Choose Your Topic
“Narrow Down” by FHI 360 under CC BY 4.0
Now, it's your turn!
Do you have a topic for a story? Can you narrow it down to an idea?
There are many ways to narrow down a topic. If you need help, follow the suggestion of narrowing down by type,
place, and time.
Example:
Topic: Local environmental issue
Type: Wildlife protection
Place: My town
Time: Now
Idea: I want to write about a local environmental issue. I'd like to write a story for the newspaper in my town. I'd
like people to know more about steps they can take now to protect wildlife in my town. I'm going to do some
research on wildlife rescue programs in my area. I want to identify opportunities for adults in the community to
volunteer.
Maximum 200 words
10
Discussion: Choose Your Topic
You just narrowed your topic down to an idea for a story. Would you like to share it with your peers? Copy and
paste your idea in the discussion board below
Please keep your post to a maximum of 200 words.
Step 1. Share your idea with your peers.

Step 2. Read your peers' ideas and post a reply:
Suggested response types:

▪ Do you have a similar idea for a topic?
▪ Do you know about this topic?
▪ Can you recommend a source to interview or a website for further research?
▪ Do you have recommendations to narrow the topic down further?
Example reply: This is a great idea! I would want to read this story. Have you thought about talking to people who
are currently volunteering? What kind of wildlife are rescued most often in your area?
11
Pitching a Story to Newspapers and Magazines
Hello. In this lesson, we will talk about the process newspapers and magazines go through when picking what
stories to print. Part of this process is called pitching a story. We will talk about:
• what it means to pitch a story
• what information the journalist must include in a pitch.
W H A T D O E S I T M E A N T O P IT C H A ST O R Y ?
Journalists usually work as a team, and the head of that team is the editor. The editor makes the final decision on
what will appear in a newspaper or magazine.
Journalists give a pitch, which is a short description of the story that a journalist wants to tell. When a pitch is given
verbally, it is about 30 to 40 seconds long. The purpose of the pitch is to sell this idea to the editor, so it will be
written and printed in the newspaper or magazine.
This work is derivative of "newspaper" by Pintuelo, "important" by Matthew Weatherall, "audience" by Gregor Cesnar, "research" by Creative
Stall, and "time" by Andy Gigante via The Noun Project under CC BY 4.0. This derivative is licensed CC BY 4.0 by FHI 360 for Online Professional
English Network (OPEN) sponsored by the U.S. Department of State.
12
1. THE MAIN IDEA: WHY IS THIS STORY NEWSWORTHY?
It is important to first ask, why is this story newsworthy? Or why is it a story that should be in the news? This is the
main idea of the pitch, why is the story important?
2. TARGET AUDIENCE: WHO CARES ABOUT THIS ISSUE?

The second question a journalist must answer in a pitch, is who cares about this issue?
This relates to the idea of a target audience. A newspaper should have mass appeal meaning, citizens of all ages,
backgrounds, levels of education should be interested in at least some of the articles published in a newspaper.
For magazines, the readers have much more specific traits. For example, a magazine may target women who live
in cities and have professional jobs. In the pitch, the journalist should be able to identify who in particular would
be interested in the story.
3. PROVE YOU HAVE ACCESS TO INFORMATION: WHO OR

WHAT ARE THE SOURCES?
The third question is, who or what are the sources?
The journalist needs to prove that they have access to information on this topic. They should say:
• who they are interviewing
• when those interviews are scheduled
• how those people connect to the story
• what other types of information they will use to tell the story.
This proves to the editor that the journalist can get the information needed to tell the story accurately, completely,
and truthfully.
4. TIME: HOW LONG DO YOU NEED TO RESEARCH AND

WRITE THE STORY?
The final question that should be answered in this pitch is how long the journalist needs to research and write the
story.
Many times, newspapers are competing with one another to tell the story first. But first is not always better. For
example, if the journalist is rushing to be first, they might make more mistakes. If this happens, the audience could
lose trust in that journalist or even in the newspaper.
So, while being first is good, it is better to be right. Editors will want to know when they can expect the story to be
completed.
SUMMARY:
Journalists pitch story ideas to an editor who then selects which stories to print.
The pitch includes:
▪ why the story is newsworthy,
▪ possible audience,
▪ sources,
▪ a timeline.
13
Pitching a Radio Story
Hello. In this lesson we are going to look at pitching a radio script. This is similar but a little bit different to pitching
a print media script.
When a journalist pitches a radio script, they need to think about two things: the structure and the approach of the
pitch.
This image is derivative of "Radio" by Flo Lausecker, "Radio" by Toni Valdes Medina, "Radio" by iconoci, "Time" by
Richard de Vos, "Summary" by priyanka, "audience" by Gregor Cresnar, "interview" by Yu Luck, "Newspaper" by
Yorlmar Campos, and "important" by Matthew Weatherall via The Noun Project under CC BY 4.0. This derivative is
licensed under CC BY 4.0 by FHI 360 for the Online Professional English Network, sponsored by the U.S. Department
of State.
14
The Structure of a Radio Pitch
Structure means the relationship between the parts of something. For a radio script, this means which parts are in
it and how are they ordered?
A radio pitch should contain the following parts:

• A summary of the story or a question to be answered.
• The names of people who are going to be interviewed and what they are likely to say.
• Any link to current events.
• An explanation as to why the story is important.
This is a derivative of untitled image by biggifraley via Pixabay under Pixabay license. This derivative is licensed under CC BY 4.0 by FHI 360 for
the Online Professional English Network (OPEN), sponsored by the U.S. Department of State.
Let's think about a story and use this structure to make a pitch. Radio stories are often personal stories that people
listening can relate to. Let's look at an example:
Imagine that a person goes to a food cart to get lunch every day for years. Then one day the food cart disappears,
and nobody knows where it is gone.
We can use our four-point structure to pitch this story.

First, we can introduce the story of the food cart and ask the question, what has happened to the food cart?
Next, we can suggest some interviews with former customers, the person who owns the food cart next to the one
that went missing, and with a market inspector, who might know what happened.
Then we can see if this story has any connection with current events. For example, in the USA, food carts are
becoming more and more popular.
Finally, we can say why we think the story is important.

Perhaps the food cart represents more than just a place where people eat. It is a social place where people meet,
talk, and develop relationships.
STARTING YOUR PITCH: THE APPROACH

The second thing to think about when pitching a story for radio is approach. Approach means the way that you do
something. Remember, the purpose of a pitch is to convince or persuade people that this is an interesting story.
Therefore, the approach you use at the start of the pitch should help to make the story sound more interesting.
There are two easy ways to do this:
• Summarize the story in the first sentence, or
• Establish your connection to the story
15
Let's use these with our example of the food cart. The first sentence of the pitch could be:
This is a story about a missing food cart and how people were affected by it.
This opening would interest people straightaway.
The second way is to establish your connection to the story. You could say something like this:
For two years I bought my lunch from the same food cart. I chatted with the owner about football,
asked him how his children were doing, and then one day, he was gone.
This opening shows that you are connected to the story.
Next, quiz yourself on your knowledge and understanding of the vocabulary we've introduced in the last few
lessons.
Quiz 7: Research, Pitch, and Interview

Instructions: Choose the correct word for each definition.
the quiz.
16
Private Journal 5: Make Your Pitch
Now you try! You recently wrote about an idea for a story. It is time to turn that idea into a pitch for a newspaper
or magazine.
Reminder:
A pitch should be 100 words or less
It should answer the following questions:

▪ Why is this story newsworthy?
▪ Who cares about this issue?
▪ Who or what are the sources?
▪ How long do you need to research and write the story?
Example:
A local wildlife organization is seeking volunteers to feed baby birds. This story is newsworthy because many of our
local birds are endangered. This time of year, many birds are born but they often don't survive. Many people are
interested in learning about how they can support our local wildlife. I plan to interview the organization's volunteer
coordinator, a wildlife specialist, and people who volunteered in previous seasons. I will need three days to research
and write the story.
17
Discussion: Make Your Pitch
Important: This activity is optional. It will not be graded. This is a public post. Your classmates will see your post.
OPTION 1. SHARE YOUR PITCH WITH YOUR CLASSMATES.

▪ Copy the pitch you just wrote and paste it in the discussion board below
▪ Reminder:
o A pitch should be 100 words or less
o It should answer the following questions:
▪ Why is this story newsworthy?
▪ Who cares about this issue?
▪ Who or what are the sources?
▪ How long do you need to research and write the story.
Example: A local wildlife organization is seeking volunteers to feed baby birds. This story is newsworthy because
many of our local bird species are endangered. This time of year, many baby birds die because people and animals
destroy their nests. Many people are interested in learning about how they can support our local wildlife. I plan to
interview the organization's volunteer coordinator and people who volunteered in previous seasons. I will need
three days to research and write the story.
OPTION 2. READ YOUR CLASSMATES' PITCHES AND P OST A

REPLY:
▪ Do you agree that their story is newsworthy?

▪ Did they identify the right target audience?
▪ Did they choose appropriate sources?
▪ Do you think they can research and write the story in time?
▪ Do you have suggestions for how they can improve their pitch?
▪ Do you have questions about their story?
Example reply: Great work! I like your story idea and would be interested in reading the article. Have you thought
about interviewing a bird expert? They might be able to give more information about the reasons that baby birds
need help.
OPTION 3. DO BOTH!
Share your pitch and give feedback to others.
18
Language Focus: Asking Questions
In the previous lessons, we have talked about pitching a story. Now, let's now start thinking about conducting an
interview with one of our sources. In this lesson we will focus on wh- questions, or questions that begin with wh-
words like who, what, where, when, and why.
First, we will examine the question structure. Then, we will look at examples of questions a journalist can ask in an
interview.
WH- QUESTIONS WORD ORDER
The word order for wh- questions is: question word, helping verb, subject, and main verb.
Question Words
Question words are those wh- words we mentioned earlier, who, what, where, when, and why.
This work is a derivative of "User" by Sergey Demoshkin, "Question" by Jessica Lock, "help" by tezar tantular, "time" by Dmitry Mamaev, and
"Maps" by frederick allen via The Noun Project under CC BY 4.0. This derivative is licensed under CC BY 4.0 by FHI 360 for the Online Professional
English Network (OPEN), sponsored by the U.S. Department of State
19
Helping verbs
A helping verb tells the listener the tense, or purpose, of the question. For example, where did he go?
"Where did he go?" by FHI 360 is licensed under CC BY 4.0
Here, where is our question word, and did is our helping verb.
The helping verb, did, tells us that this question is about the past.
Subject
Where did he go?
He is the subject.
Main Verb
Where did he go?
Go is the main verb.
EXAMPLE: A TOWN IS HIT BY A TORNADO
This work is a derivative of "Twister by Nikolas Noonan via Unsplash under Unsplash license This derivative is licensed under CC BY 4.0 by FHI
360 for the Online Professional English Network, sponsored by the U.S. Department of State.
Now that we have looked at the structure, let's look at some questions that journalist might ask when interviewing
sources for a news story.
In this example, the news story is about a tornado that swept through a town causing a lot of damage.
In this case, a journalist might interview an eyewitness. Remember, an eyewitness can tell the journalist what they
saw and what they were doing when they saw it.
20
What two questions could a journalist ask to get this information?
▪ What did you see?
▪ What were you doing at the time?
These W-H questions are in the simple past and the past progressive forms. As discussed in Module 1, to ask
something that started and ended in the past, we use the simple past.
What did you see?
"What did you see?" by FHI 360 is licensed under CC BY 4.0
This question is in the simple past.
“What” is the question verb, “did” is the helping verb, “you” is the subject, and see is the main verb.
Helping verb “did” shows us that this is in the simple past. The question is asking about something that started and
ended in the past.
What were you doing at the time?
"What were you doing?" by FHI 360 is licensed under CC BY 4.0
This question is in the past progressive. For something that happens over a longer period of time in the past, we
use the past progressive.
“What” is our question word, “were” is our helping verb, “you” is our subject, and “doing” is the main verb.
You can tell that the form changed from the first example to the second because of the helping verb and the main
verb. In this question, the helping verb is were because this question is asking about something that happened
over a period of time in the past. Remember the past progressive form uses helping verbs was or were and the -
ing form of the main verb.
21
Let's get back to our news story about the tornado.
Another source a journalist could interview is a government official. A journalist might ask, where should people
go to find help?
Where should people go to find help?" by FHI 360 is licensed under CC BY 4.0.
Here, where is our question word, should is our helping verb, people is our subject, and go is our main
verb. Helping verb “should” tells us about the purpose of the question. This question asks for advice on what
people should do next.
Here are some other questions a journalist might ask a government official:
1. Can you find the helping verb in this question?

Why does this area have so many tornadoes?
The helping verb is “does”.
2. Can you find the subject in this question?

When can people return to their homes?
The subject is “people”.
3. Can you find the main verb in this question?

Who can people call for help?
The main verb is “call”.
Notice in all of these examples, we follow the same formation:
Question word + helping verb + subject + main verb.
The helping verb changes with the tense and purpose.
You can practice these forms when preparing questions for an interview.
SUMMARY
▪ Wh- question formation which follows this structure: question word, helping verb, subject, and main
verb.
▪ The helping verb changes with the tense and purpose.
▪ Practice these forms when preparing questions for an interview.
In the next lesson, we will talk about how to select and evaluate interview sources.
22
Quiz 8: Research, Pitch, and Interview
Instructions: Choose the correct word for each definition.
Each question is worth two points. There are five questions. You must get four out of five
questions correct to pass the quiz.
23
Interviewing Sources - Reliability, Facts, and Opinions
Hello, in a previous lesson, you learned that part of your pitch is to talk about the people you will interview. In this
lesson, you'll learn about the different types of sources, meaning the different types of people who you could
interview for your story.
There are four main types of sources,

▪ Eyewitnesses
▪ Related people
▪ Experts
▪ People in authority
Let's think about a possible example news story and look at who these four sources might be. The story is about an
explosion in a factory. Not many people were in the factory, but sadly, one person is injured and in the hospital.
"Untitled" by Jenson Waldo from Pixabay under Pixabay license
EYEWITNESSES
Earlier, we talked about eyewitnesses and said that these are the people who actually see something happen. In
the example we have, an eyewitness would need to actually see the explosion in the factory. Maybe they live near
to the factory, or they were walking past.
As a source an eyewitness provides the physical details of the explosion. For example:
▪ When did it happen?
▪ What did it look like?
▪ What did it sound like?
▪ How long did it last?
24
RELATED PEOPLE
The second type of source is a person who is related to someone who plays an important part in the story.
In the case of the factory explosion, it could be someone who is related to the injured person. Perhaps a friend or
family member, this friend or relation can provide personal details about the injured person.
For example:
▪ What kind of person are they?
▪ How long did they work at the factory?
▪ Are they married?
▪ Do they have children?
▪ What are their injuries?
EXPERTS
The third type of source is an expert in the field of the story. The story we're looking at is about a fire in a factory.
The expert will probably work in fire safety. It's not necessary for the expert to know about this particular fire. It's
enough that they are an expert in the field. This person can answer questions like:
▪ What happens in this type of fire?
▪ How does this type of fire start?
▪ How does this type of fire spread? (to spread means to move from one place to another)
▪ How can this type of fire be stopped?
But this person will not usually guess what happened in this particular fire, unless they have specific knowledge
about it.
PEOPLE IN AUTHORITY
The fourth type of source is a person in authority. In this case, it could be the owner of the factory, these types of
sources are usually the hardest to interview because the person in authority might not want to talk about what has
happened, especially if they're responsible.
This person can answer questions like:
▪ What were the safety conditions in the factory?
▪ Were smoke alarms installed in the factory?
▪ How much damage has the fire cause?
▪ Can you give more details about the person who was injured?
SUMMARY
So, in this lesson, we talked about the different types of sources that the journalist can interview for that story:
▪ An eyewitness
▪ Someone related to an important person in the story
▪ An expert in the field
▪ A person in authority
In the next lesson, you will learn note taking skills that a journalist needs to use when they're interviewing a
source.
25
Quiz 9: Reliable Sources
Instructions: Read the headline and lead sentence below.
the quiz.
H E A D L I N E : PE T R A T T L E S N A K E B I T E S O W N E R I N P A R K
Corn Snake at Zoo by Ralph Dailey is licensed under CC BY 2.0
A man is recovering in the hospital after he was bitten by his pet rattlesnake that he was taking for a walk in a local
park.
In each question below, you will read a description of a person who might have been interviewed for this story.
Decide what type of source each person is.
26
Private Journal 6: Write Your Interview Questions
“Untitled” by Cowomen via Unsplash under Unsplash license
Congratulations!
The editor has approved your pitch. It's time to start preparing for your first interview.
1. Copy your pitch from the last assignment.

2. Choose your first source.
3. Write a list of three to five questions to ask your first source.
Reminder:
WH-questions follow this word order:
Question word + Helping Verb + Subject + Main Verb
Example:
My pitch:
A local wildlife organization is seeking volunteers to feed baby birds. This story is newsworthy because many of our
local birds are endangered. This time of year, many birds are born but they often don't survive. Many people are
interested in learning about how they can support our local wildlife. I plan to interview the organization's volunteer
coordinator, a wildlife specialist, and people who volunteered in previous seasons. I will need three days to research
and write the story.
My first source: the organization's volunteer coordinator
My questions:
1. Why do the baby birds need help?
2. Who should people contact to volunteer?
3. When do you need volunteers?
4. What is the minimum age to volunteer?
5. Where can people find more information about your organization?
27
Discussion: Write Your Interview Questions
This course has thousands of participants and the facilitator is not able to review all responses. You can help by
reading your classmates' work and offering suggestions!
Step 1. Share your questions with your classmates.
Copy your pitch and the questions you just wrote and paste it in the discussion board below. Be sure to include
your pitch. This will help your classmates understand your questions.
Step 2. Read your classmates' questions and post a reply:
▪ Do you agree with their questions? Would you recommend a different type of question?
▪ Did your classmate follow the correct word order for a WH-question? (Correct order is Question word +
helping verb + subject + verb)
▪ Do you agree with their vocabulary choices?
Example reply: Great work! I think your questions are spot on! For question 2, I think there may be an error. I think
the correct form is "Where should people go?"
28
Interviewing Sources: Listening Strategies
Hello! We have already talked about the grammar of Wh- questions for interviews. In this lesson, we will talk
about a listening strategy you can use while interviewing people in English: making predictions.
To interview someone in English, it is important to prepare a list of questions but often the harder part is
to understand the answers and ask the right follow-up questions.
It may make you nervous to listen and not understand every word in English, and you may not know what
question to ask next. There is a strategy you can use to prepare for listening and make interviewing easier. That
strategy is making predictions. If you make predictions about what you will hear, and plan follow-up questions
from these predictions, it will be easier to listen and interact.
What does it mean to make a prediction? It means to guess what you will hear before you do the interview.
We actually do this when we use our first language, but we probably do not think about it. Whenever you ask
someone a question, you probably have some idea of what they will answer and have a follow-up question
prepared. Usually, you are not surprised by the words they use to answer your question, and you can choose your
next question quickly. You can make predictions and ask follow-up questions in a foreign language too, but it
requires a little more planning.
TIP 1: PREPARE LISTS OF KEY WORDS AND PHRASES YOU MIGHT HEAR IN
YOUR INTERVIEW
When you prepare your interview questions, you can prepare lists of key words and phrases that you think you
might hear in the answers. If you check these lists before and during the interview, it will probably be easier to
understand the interviewee. It is always easier to understand what we hear when we know what to expect.
TIP 2: USE YOUR WORD LIST TO P LAN FOLLOW-UP QUESTIONS

You can also organize these lists of words to help you decide what follow=up questions to ask. If you hear certain
key words, you might ask different follow-up questions to learn more.
29
This work is a derivative of "Twister " by Nikolas Noonan. via Unsplash under Unsplash license. This derivative is licensed under CC BY 4.0. by FHI
360 for the Online Professional English Network (OPEN), sponsored by the U.S. Department of State.
Let’s look at some examples from the interview questions about the tornado. A tornado is a powerful storm.
The first question for the eyewitness is: What did you see?
Let’s make some predictions about words and phrases you might hear in the answer.
What words or phrases do you think you might hear?
▪ rain
▪ lightning
▪ dark sky
▪ clouds
▪ trees bending
▪ things flying
If the eyewitness says the phrase “things flying,” you can have a follow-up question prepared. “What kind of things
were flying?” Again, you can make predictions about words you might hear in the answer:
It’s always easier to understand people and ask follow-up questions when they use familiar words. If you learn
these lists of words before the interview, it will probably be easier to understand the eye-witness’ answer and ask
good follow-up questions.
Let’s look at this strategy in action in a sample interview.
Sample Interview 1
Let’s talk to our eyewitness first. We already prepared questions and made predictions about what the eyewitness
will say. Listen to the interviewee and use the list of predicted vocabulary to help you understand. Take notes to
record the answers you hear.
30
(Journalist) What did you see?
(Eyewitness): Well, first the sky got really dark. It was almost green. I saw a huge black cloud and the
tornado came down out of it. There were things were flying everywhere and it was so frightening.
(Journalist): What kind of things were flying around?
(Eyewitness): Cars, horses, parts of buildings— I’ve never seen anything like it.
To review the first answer, we heard the eyewitness talk about the dark sky, a cloud, and things flying around. The
journalist asked a follow-up question about the things flying around, and the eyewitness mentioned cars, horses,
and parts of buildings. We heard other things too, but hearing some familiar, predicted words means you don’t
have to work so hard as you listen.
Sample Interview 2
Now let’s ask the government official a few questions using the same strategy.
The first question is: “Where can people go to find help?”
Here are our predictions: community center, high school, police station, hospital, and relief, which means help
after an emergency.
If you hear “relief,” you can ask “What can people get at the relief stations?” You can also make other predictions
in your own notes, if you want.
Here is the government official’s answer:
31
(G.O.): The Red Crescent and Red Cross Society have set up shelters in the area. They are mostly in
community centers. Some are also in schools or hospitals. People should check with local officials to find
the locations. People will also see emergency relief stations in their neighborhoods.
(Journalist): “What can people get at the relief stations?”
(G.O.): The relief stations are tents where people can get food, water, and other relief supplies for free.
Also, people will see emergency relief trucks in their neighborhoods. These trucks are also giving supplies
to people who need them.
Hopefully, it was easier to understand the answers and ask good follow-up questions after you made predictions.
In this video, we looked at four examples of how to use this strategy when interviewing in English. Good luck with
all of your future interviews!
32
Private Journal 7: Predict Responses
“Unitled” by CoWomen via Unsplash under Unsplash license.
You are almost ready for your first interview. Your last step is to predict words you may hear during the interview.
This will help you understand your source's answers!
1. Copy your questions from the last assignment. Do you want to make any revisions?
2. For each question, think about how your source might respond.
3. Write at least five words or phrases you expect to hear.
Example:
My pitch: A local wildlife organization is seeking volunteers to feed baby birds. This story is newsworthy because
many of our local birds are endangered. This time of year many birds are born but they often don't survive. Many
people are interested in learning about how they can support our local wildlife. I plan to interview the
organization's volunteer coordinator, a wildlife specialist, and people who volunteered in previous seasons. I will
need three days to research and write the story.
My first source: the organization's volunteer coordinator
My questions and predictions:

1. Why do the baby birds need help?
mothers, nests, environment, hazards, human interference
2. Who should people contact to volunteer?

volunteer coordinator, phone number, email address, social media
3. When do you need volunteers?

days, nights, weekends, busy periods, March, April
4. What is the minimum age to volunteer?

at least, minimum, children, teenager, years of age
5. Where can people find more information about your organization?

Instagram, Facebook, handle, website, call, phone
33
Language Focus: Quoting Sources and Reporting
Verbs
Hello, in this lesson, we will talk about:

• why journalists use quotes, and;
• verbs journalists use when reporting a quote.
A quote is a group of words or a sentence that someone else says. Journalists use quotes often in the news to
report on an interview.
There are two ways to report on something someone said in an interview: quotations and reported speech.
In this lesson, we'll just cover quotations, why they are used, and how to use reporting verbs with quotations.
WHY ARE QUOTES USED IN THE NEWS?

Journalists use quotes for two general reasons: to show what a person said and to show how they said it
1. To report accurately
The first reason is for accuracy. For example, let's say the chief of police said, "crime is down by two-
thirds from this time last year. This is the lowest crime rate in the history of the city."
Now, let's say a journalist reported, "The chief of police said crime was down."
This doesn't give all the information from the original statement. We know the main idea of the
statement: that crime rate is low, but we don't know by how much or what that rate means related to the
city's history of crime. By using a quote, journalists can accurately report what other people say.
2. To show how a source said something
The second reason that journalists use quotes is because a quote tells you how something was said.
In our example with the chief of police, the use of the superlative, the lowest and the historical crime fact
of the city tells the listener that this is a huge achievement. The chief of police is emphasizing the
statistic's importance.
So, if the journalist simply says, "The chief of police reported that the crime was down," we miss out on
this emphasis.
34
VERBS JOURNALISTS USE WHEN REPORTING A QUOTE
This work is derivative of "warn" by RULI, "strong" by Saeful Muslim, “and “say” and “neutral” by AomAm via The Noun Project under CC BY 4.0.
This derivative is licensed CC BY 4.0 by FHI 360 for the Online Professional English Network (OPEN), sponsored by the U.S. Department of State.
A quote is introduced by identifying the speaker and a reporting verb. A reporting verb is an action word that lets
the reader know how something was said.
In our first example, the reporting verb was said, this is the most basic reporting verb. If a journalist only uses the
verb said when reporting quotes, the article might become a little boring, he said, she said, they said, we said. A
good writer does not use the same words over and over again.
Let's look at a different example of reporting verbs.
“A German official warned, resources for refugees are limited.”
In this example, the author used a strong reporting verb, warned rather than a neutral verb like said. By
using warned the readers know that the official thinks that refugees might face problems if they come to Germany.
Now let's take a look at other reporting verbs. Reporting verbs have slight differences in meaning. Here are some
examples, asked, stated, said, reported, these are neutral reporting verbs. When something is neutral, it does not
have a positive or a negative meaning.
Urged, emphasized, warned, advised, these are used to express a strong opinion.
Warned and advised are used to express a strong opinion about an action the speaker wants the audience to take.
As you can see, it's important for journalists to pick the right reporting verb when including a quote in their article.
SUMMARY
▪ Quotes are an important part of many articles.
▪ Journalists use quotes to show the exact words of the original speaker, and also to show how it was said.
▪ It's important to use a variety of reporting verbs In the next game, pick the right reporting verb for each
sentence.
35
Quiz 10: Reporting Verbs
Instructions: Select the best reporting verb for the quotes below. Refer to the lesson on quoting sources and
reporting verbs for help answering these questions.
36
Language Focus: Using Reported Speech
Hello, in an earlier lesson, you looked at quoting sources. In this lesson we're going to focus on using reported
speech.
Journalists do not want to use too many quotes in a story, but they still want to report what the person said so
they use reported speech.
For example, a soccer team loses and after the game, a player says, “I am very disappointed.”
This work is derivative of "untitled image" by sporlab via Unsplash under Unsplash license, "Vanessa McNeal Talking about
Gridshock on Who TV News" by Who TV via Wikimedia Commons under CC 0 and "untitled image" by sporlab via Unsplash
under Unsplash license. This derivative is licensed CCBY 4.0 by FHI 360 for the Online Professional English Network (OPEN)
sponsored by the U.S. Department of State
The journalist can use her words without actually quoting her by using reported speech.
You may notice that the verb form has changed from is to was.
And the pronoun has changed from I to she.
There are two things to think about when changing a quote to reported speech: the form of the verb and the
pronouns. Let's look at the form of the verb first.
37
PATTERN 1. VERBS “MOVE BACK” WHEN YOU CHANGE A
QUOTE TO REPORTED SPEECH.
When a quote is changed to reported speech, the form of the verb needs to move back. Now it depends on which
form was used in the first place to know where it goes.
Quotes in the Simple Present

For example, a soccer player says, “the team is happy with the result.”
“The team is happy with the result” The form of this sentence is simple present.
If we want to change this to reported speech, we must move the form back from simple present to simple
past: “She said the team was happy with the result.”
As you can see, we've moved the verb to be from a present form, is, to a past form, was. “She said that the
team was happy with the result.”
Whenever you use reported speech, you have to move the verb back.
Quotes in the Present Progressive

For example, a politician says, “The government is spending more money”
A journalist would report that quote in the past progressive: “The politician said the government was
spending more money.”
Quotes using will
An announcer says, “The train will be 20 minutes late.”
In reported speech, this changes to: “The announcer said that the train would be 20 minutes late.”
PATTERN 2: PRONOUNS CHANGE WHEN YOU MOVE A QUOTE

TO REPORTED SPEECH.
The second thing that needs to change when you move from a quote to reported speech is the use of pronouns.
Words such as I, we, he, she, etc.
When you use reported speech, some pronouns must change.
If the quoted speech contains the subject pronoun I, then in reported speech, it must change to he or she,
depending on whether the speaker is a man or a woman.
For example, if the original quote is a woman saying, “I am happy to be in New York,” in reported speech, we
change the I to she and the present simple, am, to past simple, was. She said she was happy to be in New York.
A woman says, “I am happy to be in New York,” becomes “She said she was happy to be in New York.”
If the original quote uses we, then in reported speech, this must be changed to they.
38
For example, a policeman says, "we are looking for the suspect." In reported speech, this quote changes to: “The
policeman said they were looking for the suspect.” The we is changed to they, and the are becomes were.
A policeman says, "we are looking for the suspect." When a journalist reports this quote, it becomes “a policeman
said they were looking for the suspect.”
This is also true for object pronouns, like me and us. If the original quote is from a female politician, saying, "the
people are supporting me," the reported speech changes are to were, and me to her. “A politician said the people
were supporting her.
A politician says, "The people are supporting me."
A politician said the people were supporting her.
SUMMARY
To change a quote into reported speech, you have to remember two things
1. Move the verb form back.
2. Sometimes change the pronoun.
Now you can practice changing quoted to reported speech by playing the game that follows this video.
39
Private Journal 8: Post-Interview Reflection
How was your first interview? Did your source answer as you predicted? Or did they say something completely
different?
How did you feel during the interview? Were you confident?
Now that you have complete your first interview, what will you do differently next time?
“untitled” by Sarah Ardin via Unsplash under Unsplash license.
You are making terrific progress towards creating a news story. Don't stop now! Continue gathering sources!
Interview the other sources you identified in your pitch.
Soon you will be ready to print!
40
Discussion: Post-Interview Reflection
reading your peers' work and offering suggestions!
Step 1. Share your experience with your peers.

Copy your post-interview reflection and paste it in the discussion board below. Please keep your post to a maximum
of 200 words.
Step 2. Read others' posts and reply:

Suggested ideas:
• Did you have a similar experience?
• Do you have advice?
• Did you find someone writing about a similar topic?
Example reply: Thanks for posting! My first interview was challenging too. I was very nervous, but it went well. Next
time, I will do more desk research before my first interview. I think I will be more confident if I know more about the
topic.
41
Quiz 11: Reported Speech
Instructions: Read the interview. Then select the best reported or quoted version of each sentence.
42
Module Two Check
Please answer one question to verify that you have completed all activities in Module 1.
43
MODULE THREE: WORDS IN PRINT
Table of Contents
MODULE THREE: WORDS IN PRINT ...............................................................................................................................1
Learning Objectives: .................................................................................................................................................2
Activities....................................................................................................................................................................2
Print Media: From Topic to Article ................................................................................................................................3
Quiz 12: The Process and the Front Page ......................................................................................................................6
Private Journal 9: Create Your Outline ..........................................................................................................................7
Types of Leads ...............................................................................................................................................................8
Creating a Lead ............................................................................................................................................................11
Quiz 13: Leads and Lead Types ....................................................................................................................................14
Private Journal 10: Write your lead .............................................................................................................................15
Discussion: Write Your Lead ........................................................................................................................................16
Language Focus: Subject-Verb Agreement ..................................................................................................................17
Quiz 14: Subject-Verb Agreement ...............................................................................................................................19
Writing Articles Using the Inverted Pyramid Style ......................................................................................................20
Private Journal 11: Write your article ..........................................................................................................................22
Quiz 15: Applying AP Style ...........................................................................................................................................23
Language Focus: Structure of Active & Passive Voices ................................................................................................24
Language Focus: Use of Active & Passive Voices .........................................................................................................26
Quiz 16: When to Use Passive Voice ...........................................................................................................................28
Reporting Accurately ...................................................................................................................................................29
Private Journal 12: Edit Your Article ............................................................................................................................32
Discussion: Publish Your Article ...................................................................................................................................33
© 2021 by FHI 360. “English for Journalism MOOC – Module Three Packet” for the Online
This work is a derivative of untitled images by Thought Catalog and Thomas Charters under Unsplash license and annekarakash under Pixabay license. This derivative
is licensed under CC BY 4.0 by FHI 360 for use in Online Professional English Network (OPEN), sponsored by the U.S. Department of State.
Welcome to Module Three of English for Journalism! Writing for newspapers and magazines requires a specific
style and voice. A print journalist needs to understand how to write briefly and with emphasis, create a lead that
makes the audience want to read more, and effectively edit and proofread article drafts. To develop these skills,
video lectures will break down both the different parts of an article and individual sentences for style and voice.
Video lectures and current print media will help students understand these ideas.
LEARNING OBJECTIVES:
• Identify the process of writing a story in a newspaper and the general structure of an article.
• Identify types of leads and how to create a lead.
• Be able to ensure that the subject of a lead agrees with its verb.
• Be able to form a lead using both active and passive voice.
• Be able to proofread and apply elements of Associated Press Style (capitalization, numbers, and dates)
ACTIVITIES
Part One: How to Begin an Article
Print Media: From Topic to Article
Quiz 11: The Process and the Front Page (Required)
Private Journal 9: Create Your Outline (Optional)
Types of Leads
Creating a Lead
Quiz 12: Leads and Lead Types (Required)
Private Journal 10: Write Your Lead (Optional)
Discussion: Write Your Lead (Optional)
Language Focus: Subject-Verb Agreement
Quiz 13: Subject-Verb Agreement (Required)
Writing Articles Using the Inverted Pyramid Style
Private Journal 11: Write Your Article (Optional)
Part Two: The Style of Print Media
Writing Using Associated Press Style
Quiz 14: Applying Associated Press Style (Required)
Language Focus: Structure of Active & Passive Voices
Language Focus: Use of Active & Passive Voices
Quiz 15: When to Use Passive Voice (Required)
Reporting Accurately
Private Journal 12: Edit Your Article (Optional)
Discussion: Publish Your Article (Optional)
2
Print Media: From Topic to Article
Hello! In this lesson, we will look at:

• the process of writing a story in a newspaper
• the general structure of an article.
Let's start with the process from draft to print. We have talked about how to take a topic and turn it in to a pitch,
and then, how to research that story idea by interviewing sources and gathering documents. Now, we are ready to
write the article.
THE PROCESS OF WRITING A STORY IN A NEWSPAPER

Step 1: Create an outline
Generally, the first step is to create an outline. This helps organize the content of an article before it is written. A
journalist's outline could look like this:
Sample Outline for an Article on the Presidential Election:
Paragraph 1 - (Summary Lead)

Who - two candidates
What - ran for president
When - November 4th
Where - all over the country
Why - Every four years leadership changes
How - Citizens voting
Paragraph 2 - (Quotes from Sources)

Supporters of candidate 1
Supporters of candidate 2
Notice the ideas are not written in full sentences yet. An outline only focuses on where the sentences will go in
the article.
Step 2: Write the first draft

The next phase in the journalist's process is drafting. Now that the journalist knows the order of the ideas, they can
write their first draft. A draft is the first try at writing the article in sentences and paragraphs.
3
Step 3: Edit the article
Once the draft is completed, it is taken to a copy editor who makes sure or checks that the article is clear,
connected, understandable, and written in as few words as possible. A copy editor is similar to an editor of a book
or of a paper, but a copy editor does not always change the words of the journalist. The copy editor sees the big
picture of the newspaper. He or she knows how much space is available for a particular story. A journalist only
focuses on their story. The copy editor has to make sure that article fits with the rest of the newspaper
in size, tone, and style.
4
STRUCTURE OF A NEWS REPORT:
Now that we understand the process, let's talk a little bit about the structure of a news story. As you read, use the
image below to see the structure or parts of a newspaper article. NOTE: It is not necessary to read the article; just
note the structure.
There are several parts other than the article that the journalist needs to create for every story. Let's start at the
top.
The first thing the reader sees is the headline. The headline is a title that should give the main idea of the article,
but also capture the reader's attention.
The second part of the article is the byline. This identifies the author and the author's job. Sometimes the byline
can include the date and the location of the main event described in the article.
The next part is the lead. The lead is the first paragraph of an article, and it often tries to give the most important
facts and information: who, what, where, when, why, and how. Later in this module, we'll talk more about
different types of leads and how to create a lead.
In the body section of the article, the journalist usually includes several quotes or information from other sources
that are details of the news story.
The final sentences in the article are the conclusion. Sometimes journalists will use a final quote to end the article,
or they'll add a summarizing statement.
Finally, many journalists include images, graphs, or maps that accompany the article. These generally have
a caption below the image. The caption is a small explanation of the image and will include the photographer's
name.
SUMMARY
• Before an article is printed, journalists must complete three steps in the writing process.
o creating an outline,
o writing a draft,
o getting approval from a copy editor
• An article should include a headline, a byline, a lead, a body, and a conclusion.
• Captions should be written to accompany any images, graphs, or maps.
5
Quiz 12: The Process and the Front Page
Instructions: In questions 1 to 3, match the definition with the correct part of the print journalism process
(outlining, copy editing, or drafting). For questions 4-10, you will use the image above question 4 to guide your
answers.
Each question is worth one point. There are 10 questions. You must get seven out of ten questions correct to pass
the quiz.
6
Private Journal 9: Create Your Outline
In the last module, you wrote your pitch and interviewed sources. Did you complete your other interviews?
Now, it is time to write an outline for your article. You can use this space to write your outline.
Example:
1. Paragraph 1: Summary Lead
Who - Volunteers (ages 14 and up)
What - to feed baby birds
When - March, April, and May
Where - The Bird Rescue Center, 400 Main Street, Anytown, USA
Why - babies are injured or sick, need to be fed every thirty minutes, 24 hours a day
2. Paragraph 2: Quotes from sources

Sue Kravitz, volunteer coordinator - "We are looking for volunteers who can commit to at least four
volunteer hours per month. We will provide training on how to safely handle and feed the birds."
Jose Garcia, volunteer - "This is my third year volunteering. It's a great way to make friends and help my
community. I've learned so much since I joined."
Elena Ito, Wildlife expert - " Often babies found outside their nests are just wandering and their parents
are nearby watching them. If you find a bird that is injured or sick, call a wildlife rescue. Only take a bird
from the wild if you are certain they won't survive. Keep the bird in a well-ventilated dark space, like a
shoe-box with holes in it and contact a wildlife expert immediately."
Maximum 200 words
7
Types of Leads
Hello! Welcome to our lesson on types of leads. In the previous lesson, we talked about how articles usually start
with a headline, byline, and a lead. Headlines are the title of an article. The byline tells us who wrote the article,
and the lead is the first paragraph. In this video, we’ll talk about three types of leads: summary, anecdotal,
and contrast.
SUMMARY LEADS
Let's start with the summary lead as it’s the most commonly used lead in news writing. Similar to the content of a
news story, a summary lead presents just the facts, often the who, what, where, and when. Breaking news, or
news that is happening right now, often uses summary leads because it’s important to get information out to the
public in the quickest way possible, by putting the facts in the beginning.
Let’s look at an example of a summary lead:
"Royal Baby 031" by Christopher Neve was found on Flickr site and is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0.
Prince William and Princess Kate introduced their daughter to the world as they left St. Mary’s
Hospital in London on Saturday. The tiny princess slept in her mother's arms during her first
public appearance. The princess was delivered at 08:34 BST after a short labor. Prince William
was in the room for the birth of the 8lbs 3oz baby.
In this type of lead, itis clear what happened, who was involved, and where/when it occurred. We have the facts of
the event without much detailed description.
8
ANECDOTAL LEADS
The second type of lead is the anecdotal lead. An anecdote is a personal story; therefore, an anecdotal lead grabs
the attention of the reader, or makes the reader interested in reading more, by introducing a personal story of
someone involved in an event. This type of lead is often used in human interest stories, but not as often in a news
story. These types of leads attempt to make the reader emotional about the issue.
Here’s an example:
This work is derivative of "Man Holding Angle Grinder" by Vu M. Khuee and "Old Smoky Mountain Cabin" by David Gylland on
Unsplash under Unsplash license. This derivative is licensed under CC BY 4.0 by FHI 360 for the Online Professional English Network (OPEN),
Once again, Mark Kline took out his tools so he could fix the floor of his house in
Juneau, Alaska. This has been Mark’s springtime routine for the last 20 years. As the
snow and ice melt, it moves the ground beneath his home, and in recent years, he can
tell it’s getting worse. The Center for Cold Climate Housing says that Mark is not
alone. The harsh effects of climate change are causing problems for at least 200,000
homes in the great state of Alaska.
From this lead, the reader knows that this article will be about effects of climate change. The descriptions paint a
picture for the reader.
9
CONTRAST LEADS
The third type of lead is the contrast lead. In this type of lead the author uses opposite ideas or facts to grab the
reader’s attention.
Here’s an example:
"Mark Zuckerberg F8 Keynote" by Brian Solis from Wikimedia Commons is licensed under CC BY 2.0
Ten years ago, Mark Zuckerberg was a college sophomore sleeping through his college
days while staying up all night coding his little-known website, ‘Facemash’. Today,
Zuckerberg is worth $46 billion dollars, and that website, now called Facebook, is one
of the most popular social media sites in the world.
The author contrasts Mark Zuckerberg’s life before and after his success to try and excite the reader into
reading the rest of the article. A contrast lead, similar to an anecdotal lead, is generally not used in news
stories but is used with investigative journalism or human-interest stories.
SUMMARY
• The lead is the first paragraph in an article. It is often times the most important paragraph and helps a
reader decide whether or not to read the entire article.
• A summary lead includes the most important details of the article
• An anecdotal lead tells a personal story to gain the reader's interest
• A contrast lead uses opposite idea to grab the reader's attention
10
Creating a Lead
In the previous lesson we talked about different types of leads: summary, anecdotal, and contrast. Since the
summary lead is the most common in news stories, in this lesson, we’re going to focus on what to include and
what not to include in a summary news lead.
A summary lead is the first paragraph in an article, and it contains the most important information. This is
important especially if the information may affect the readers’ lives.
Let’s look at an example:
"untitled" by Chris Karidis via Unsplash under Unsplash license
A fire started at 8:14 AM on Friday on the 200 block of South Jessup Street. Two adults and one child went to
Chestnut Hospital shortly after 9:00 AM when firefighters rescued them from the second floor of that apartment
building. Fire fighters put out the flames by 10:12 AM, but unfortunately residents cannot return to their homes
because of the fire damage. At this time, firefighters do not know the cause of the fire.
In this example, we can see some of the things to include and not include when writing a summary news lead. Let’s start with
things to include. In a summary news lead, it’s important to give wh-information, be specific, and be brief.
11
WHAT TO INCLUDE IN A SUMMARY LEAD :
This work is a derivative of "User" by Sergey Demoshkin, "Question" by Jessica Lock, "help" by tezar tantular, "time" by Dmitry Mamaev, and
"Maps" by frederick allen via The Noun Project under CC BY 4.0. This derivative is licensed under CC BY 4.0 by FHI 360 for the Online Professional
English Network (OPEN), sponsored by the U.S. Department of State.
Give wh- information (who, what, when, where, and why)

WHAT happened: a fire
WHO was involved: residents and firefighters,
WHERE it happened: 200 block of South Jessup Street
WHEN it happened: 8:14 AM on Friday
Can we tell why the fire started? No, but let’s notice that the journalist was transparent about their process for
finding that information. They said that the firefighters did not have that information at the time this news story
was published. Remember, transparency is one of the principles of journalism we talked about in Module One.
Be specific
Being specific means giving exact details. Notice the journalist in this lead did not just say that a fire happened in
the city of Philadelphia. They provided the exact address. Also notice the lead includes the exact time, 8:14 AM.
This information informs the reader in case they know someone who was in that area at that time.
Be brief
Being brief means being short or using few words. Notice in our example, the journalist was able to write all of the
necessary information in just four sentences.
WHAT NOT TO INCLUDE IN A SUMMARY NEWS LEAD:

Do not include extra details or descriptive words
Because this is a summary news lead, we don’t want to include any extra details like descriptive words. A summary
news lead should use concrete words that clearly communicate the important parts of story.
Is this a good lead?

The bright orange, yellow and cherry red flames from the fire interrupted the busy traffic on Friday
morning.
12
While it may paint a picture of what it looked like, it doesn’t get right to the important information.
A fire started at 8:14 AM on Friday on the 200 block of South Jessup Street.
Starting a summary news lead this way gives the reader the important information first.
Do not include extra words that repeat information

In addition to descriptive words, summary news leads should also not include extra words that may repeat
information. For example, what if this lead instead said, “A fire started at 8:14 AM on Friday morning...” Here,
because we said AM, we know that it’s the morning time. Remember, we want summary news leads to be
specific, but also brief.
SUMMARY
When writing a summary news lead:
• a journalist needs to include wh- information, specificity, brevity
• journalists should avoid descriptive language and unnecessary words.
13
Quiz 13: Leads and Lead Types
Instructions: Identify the type of lead below as either summary, anecdotal, or contrast.
14
Private Journal 10: Write your lead
You've written your outline. Now, it's time to start writing your lead. As we discussed, the most common type of
lead for a news story is a summary lead. A summary lead should only include the facts.
Here is an example:
The Bird Rescue Center at 400 Main Street in Anytown, USA is seeking volunteers to feed baby birds between the
months of March and June. The center takes in wild birds that are sick or injured. Baby birds need to be fed every
thirty minutes around the clock.
15
Discussion: Write Your Lead
STEP 1. SHARE YOUR QUESTIONS WITH YOUR CLASSMATES.
Copy your lead and paste it in the discussion board below. Remember, a lead should be brief and specific.
Please keep your post to a maximum of 200 words.
STEP 2. READ YOUR CLASSMATES' LEAD AND POST A

REPLY:
• Is this a good example of a summary lead?

• Is it brief?
• Is it specific?
• Is there anything you would recommend changing?
Example reply: This is a great lead. You were brief and specific and answered the WH-questions. The sentence
about how often baby birds should be fed may be extra information. You might want to put this in the body rather
than the lead.
16
Language Focus: Subject-Verb Agreement
Hello! In the previous lessons, you looked at different types of leads and how to create a lead. In this lesson, we’re
going to look at a type of grammar called subject-verb agreement, and how to make sure that the subject in a lead
agrees with the verb that relates to it.
We are going to look at:

• third-person singular subjects;
• specific cases for words built on every and no;
• what to do when the subject involves certain types of numbers.
SUBJECT-VERB AGREEMENT
In general, subject-verb agreement is fairly simple in English.
If the subject is I, you, we, or they, then the verb in simple present is in base form.
In leads and headlines the most common subject is going to be third-person plural (they).
For example,
• Residents ask for more protection.
• Victims report more crime.
Here, we can replace the subject nouns residents and victims with they:
• They ask for more protection.
• They report more crime.
THIRD-PERSON SINGULAR SUBJECT -VERB AGREEMENT

If the subject is third person singular, it can be represented by the pronouns, he, she, or it.
In this case we add -s, or -es to the base form of the verb.
For example,
• A grateful patient thanks the hospital.
• The mother watches her son win the game.
WORDS THAT CONTAIN "EVERY" OR "NO"

Words with "every"
A third part of subject-verb agreement involves words that contain every. These are words such
as everything, everyone, everybody and everywhere. These words sound like they should be plural
subjects; everyone means a lot of people, so that sounds plural, right?
17
However, all subjects involving the word every are single subjects, so they agree with single verbs. That means,
that an –s or –es is added to the end of the verbs.
For example:
• Everything changes but you.
• Everyone needs love.
• Everybody hurts.
• Everywhere seems to be changing.
• Every journalist needs to follow the principles of journalism.
Words with "no"

The same idea is true for words that begin with no, for example, nobody, nowhere, or nothing. These are always
single.
For example:
• Nobody walks in this town anymore.
• Nothing lives on the surface of Mars.
NUMBERS
The last part of subject-verb agreement that we’re going to look at in this lesson is about different kinds of
numbers. When a lead or a headline contains subjects that are a fraction, a distance, or an amount of money,
these subjects will all be third person singular. Once again, that means that an –s or –es is added to the end of the
verbs. For example:
• Two-thirds is usually enough to pass a law in Congress
• 500 miles seems like a long way if you have to walk
• Twenty thousand dollars was raised by the charity last year.
Notice that in all of these examples we need to use the third-person single form of the verb: is, seems and was.
SUMMARY
In this video we looked at different types of subjects in leads and how to make sure the subject agrees with the
verb. We looked at third person singular when, one, the subject is a phrase, two the word contains every, and
three with certain kinds of numbers.
18
Quiz 14: Subject-Verb Agreement
Instructions: Choose the form of the verb that best matches the subject. Refer to the video, "Language Focus: SV
Agreement with Complicated Subjects."
19
Writing Articles Using the Inverted Pyramid Style
Hello! In this lesson, we will look at one common way to organize a news article: the inverted pyramid. We will
describe this style, look at an example, and talk about why it is useful. You probably know what a pyramid looks
like. So, what does inverted mean? It means upside down. The biggest part of the pyramid is at the top.
HOW IS AN INVERTED PYRAMID STYLE ARTICLE

ORGANIZED?
If we think of a news article as an inverted pyramid, it means that the biggest part—the most important
information—comes first, or at the top. Then the key details follow, and the article ends with background
information or less important details.
If you write an article using the inverted pyramid style, you will start with a summary lead. Remember, a summary
lead puts the key information- who, what, when, where, et cetera- in the beginning of the article. As the article
goes on, each paragraph contains information that is less and less important.
Let’s look at a simple example of a news story about the weather:
Heavy rain is expected on Wednesday from Baltimore to Washington, D.C., according

to the National Weather Service in Maryland.
A system of low pressure off the coast will bring rain to the mid-Atlantic area on
Wednesday. The rain will begin in the early afternoon and last throughout the night,”
according to the National Weather Service.
Baltimore is expected to receive one inch of rain, and Washington D.C. could see up
to two inches. Winds may also be strong throughout the area.
You can see that the most important information comes first:
What is expected? Heavy rain.
When? Wednesday.
Where? Around Baltimore and Washington, D.C.
By reading just this first paragraph, readers can understand the most important ideas. They could even understand
the ideas pretty well, without reading further than this first paragraph.
20
What comes next? We see an explanation of the cause of the rain, more details about when the rain will occur,
and the amounts of rain. These answer questions like:
• Why?
• When, exactly?
• How much?
This information is good to know, but less essential than the facts in the first paragraph.
The last sentence talks about wind, which we can usually expect during a storm. This detail is less important, so it
belongs at the end.
N O T E V E R Y O N E A G R E E S W IT H T H E I N V E R T E D P Y R A M I D
STYLE
The inverted pyramid style is only one way to structure a news article. Some journalists and editors criticize this
style. There are other ways to organize your story. For example, if you use an anecdotal lead or a contrast lead,
you will need to organize information very differently. But, the inverted pyramid style is a traditional style that is
still very common in English-language media, so it’s good to know how to use it.
WHY IS THE INVERTED PYRAMID STYLE POPULAR?

One reason for the popularity of this style is that it makes articles easy to edit or cut. When editors or writers need
to shorten articles, they can simply cut from the bottom without leaving out any important information.
Let’s look at what happens if we cut from the bottom of our story about the rain. We can delete the last sentence,
and the article still gives the information that readers really need to know.
Heavy rain is expected on Wednesday from Baltimore to Washington, D.C., according

to the National Weather Service in Maryland.
A system of low pressure off the coast will bring rain to the mid-Atlantic area on
Wednesday. The rain will begin in the early afternoon and last throughout the night,”
according to the National Weather Service.
Baltimore is expected to receive one inch of rain, and Washington D.C. could see up
to two inches. Winds may also be strong throughout the area.
21
Private Journal 11: Write your article
You've written your lead. Now, it is time to finish your article. Let's try using the inverted pyramid style. Start with
the most important information and end with the least important
Example:
The Bird Rescue Center at 400 Main Street in Anytown, USA is seeking volunteers to feed baby birds
between the months of March and June. The center takes in wild birds that are sick or injured. Baby birds
need to be fed every thirty minutes around the clock.
The Bird Rescue Center opened in 2008 and has rehabilitated over 2,500 sick and injured birds. Sue Kravitz,
volunteer coordinator for the Bird Rescue Center, said that she was looking for volunteers who could
commit to at least four volunteer hours per month. She said the center would provide training on how to
safely handle and feed the baby birds.
Elena Ito, of the Department of Fish & Wildlife, is supportive of the volunteer program. She also said that
people should leave wildlife rescue to experts. "Often babies found outside their nests are just wandering
and their parents are nearby watching them," she said. She urged people who find a bird that is injured or
sick to call a wildlife rescue. "Only take a bird from the wild if you are certain they won't survive," she
warned. "Keep the bird in a well-ventilated dark space, like a shoe-box with holes in it and contact a
wildlife expert immediately."
Jose Garcia, an Anytown resident, has been volunteering for the last three years. He encourages other
community members to volunteer. "This is a great way to make friends and help the community. I've
learned so much since I joined."
22
Quiz 15: Applying AP Style
Instructions: You will see two versions of the same sentence. Choose the one that follow AP style correctly.
23
Language Focus: Structure of Active & Passive
Voices
Hello, in this language focus video, we will talk about the structure and meaning of the active and passive voice.
Let's start with active voice. The subject in an active sentence does the action of the verb:
"Bear Attacks" by NPS Photo / Jim Peaco was found on NPS.gov and is licensed under Public Doman / U.S. Government Works
The bear attacked the man.

In this sentence, it is clear that the bear was the one in the sentence who attacked, and the man is the victim. The
structure of an active sentence is subject + verb + object.
Now what about passive voice? Let's take a look at the same sentence but this time we'll use passive voice.
The man was attacked by the bear.
In passive voice, the subject, the man, receives the action of the verb, attack.
Active voice: The bear attacked the man.

Passive voice: The man was attacked by the bear.
The meaning is the same, but the grammar is different. Here are a couple more examples of the passive voice:
Olympic athletes are admired all over the world.

Some mistakes were made in the article.
My wallet was stolen.
Notice, in these examples we do not know who did the action. For instance, we do not know who exactly admires
athletes. We can understand that it means people in general, but it is not stated. Similarly, we do not know who
made the mistakes in the article. But we can understand that it means the journalist who wrote the article.
Finally, in the last example we do not know who stole the wallet. So, in this example, the emphasis is on the
action was stolen. The focus is not on who did the action (the person who stole the wallet). Therefore, you can see
24
that we use passive voice to focus on the action or the receiver of the action. We do not use the passive voice to
focus on who did the action.
Let's look back at our original example:
Active Voice: The bear attacked the man.

Passive Voice: The man was attacked by the bear.
In this example, we know who did the action, the bear. And we use the preposition by to identify it.
The man was attacked by the bear.
If we did not know who attacked the man, then we would have ended the sentence without mentioning the bear.
The man was attacked.

STRUCTURE OF THE PASSIVE VOICE
Now, let's look at the structure of passive voice.
1. Passive voice sentence structure: object + be + past participle

The verb is expressed in two parts. The verb to be, (am/is/are/was/were) and the past participle.
2. The verb “to be” shows the tense.

Example 1: Olympic athletes are admired all over the world.
We can see that this is in the present tense because the verb to be is in the present tense: are.
Example 2: My wallet was stolen.
We can tell that this happened in the past because the verb to be is in the past tense: was.
In many cases, the past participle is the past tense. As it is with verbs attack in our first example: The man was
attacked by the bear.
3. Past participles can take regular and irregular forms

If you can add -d or -ed to put a verb in the past tense then the past participle is the same form but remember, as
we discussed in Module 1, there are as many as 400 irregular verbs. For some of those irregular verbs, the simple
past in the past participle forms are the same, but for others they are different.
Example 1: Mistakes were made.
Made is the irregular past tense and past participle of the verb to make.
Example 2: My wallet was stolen.
Stolen is an irregular past participle of the verb to steal. Stole is the irregular past tense, (steal/stole/stolen).
25
Language Focus: Use of Active & Passive Voices
Hello! In the lesson, we will look at the uses of the active and passive voices. In the last video, we talked about the
structure and meaning of the active and passive voice. In this video let's talk about when and why we use each
voice.
WHEN TO USE THE ACTIVE VOICE:

Let's start with the active voice. Most of the time, we use the active voice because it's simple and brief. Using
active voice in many cases accomplishes this goal.
Example 1: The Russian team won the gold medal for men's volleyball in the 2012 Olympic Games. (In this case,
we want to know who won so we use the active voice.)
Example 2: The students protested the increase in university tuition.
Example 3: Celebrity Chef Sue Vidam wrote a new cookbook highlighting international recipes.
WHEN TO USE THE PASSIVE VOICE:

Even though most of the time we use the active voice, sometimes it is necessary to use passive voice. Let's talk
about when the passive is necessary.
1. If the focus is on the receiver of the action instead of who did the action, we
use passive voice:
This work is a derivative of “Lionel Messi 31mar2007" and "Brown bear (Ursus arctos arctos) running" via Wikimedia Commons under CC BY SA
2.5 This derivative is licensed under CC BY SA 2.5 by FHI 360 for use in Online Professional English Network (OPEN), sponsored by the U.S.
Department of State.
26
Let's think back to our example from the last lesson: The bear attacked the man.
Now, let's pretend that the man is very famous, like soccer superstar Lionel Messi. If he were attacked by the bear,
this would surely be in the news.
In this case, since the receiver of the verb is very famous, we would want to put this information first and therefore
use the passive voice. Lionel Messi was attacked by a bear.
2. If we do not know who did the action:
This work is a derivative of ”untitled image" by TheDigitalWay via Pixabay under Pixabay license This derivative is licensed under CC BY 4.0 by
FHI 360 for use in the Online Professional English Network (OPEN), sponsored by the U.S. Department of State.
Example: My car was stolen.
Here, I may not know who exactly stole my car. The most important part of this sentence is the receiver of the
action, my car, and the action itself, stolen. In the active voice this sentence looks like this. An unknown person
stole my car. We want the most important information in the front of the sentence. So we use the passive voice
here.
SUMMARY
• Active voice is often the clearest way to give information.

• If the action or the person receiving that action is the most important part of that sentence, journalists use
passive voice.
Next, check your understanding with a quiz on passive voice.
27
Quiz 16: When to Use Passive Voice
Instructions: Choose the correct verb form to complete the sentence.
28
Reporting Accurately
Hello! In Module 1, one of the principles of journalism that we looked at was completeness. This means that a
journalist needs to tell the whole story by speaking to as many sources as possible.
In this lesson, we will look at reporting more accurately by gathering multiple perspectives and seeing if they
agree. Multiple perspectives means more than one point of view on the same thing. When a journalist is writing a
story, the more perspectives they can get, the better. We will then look at how one source can confirm the story of
another.
Let’s think about the facts of a story.
Imagine that there is a fire in a building. The firefighters are called, and they put out the fire. Nobody is hurt, but
afterwards everybody wants to know who or what caused the fire.
Now, let’s imagine that a journalist wants to write a story about the cause of the fire.
This work is derivative of "Fighting Fire" by Daniel Tausis via Unsplash license. This derivative is licensed CCBY by FHI 360 for
the Online Professional English Network (OPEN), sponsored by the U.S. Department of State
29
She decides that the landlord – the person who owns the building - would be a good source.
She interviews him and he says, “The fire started in the apartment at the top of the building. It was probably the
tenant smoking. I told him not to smoke in the apartment many times.”
This work is derivative of untitled image by Janko Felic via unsplash. This derivative is licensed CC BY 4.0 by FHI 360 for
the Online Professional English Netowrk (OPEN), sponsored by the U.S. Department of State.
Now if the journalist decided to stop there and only interview the landlord, the story that she writes would say
that the tenant – the person who rents the apartment from the landlord- is responsible for the fire. But this would
not be telling the complete story and so the journalist would not be reporting the story accurately. The journalist
needs to talk to other sources: they need to get multiple perspectives.
So, the journalist talks to the tenant. The tenant says: "The fire started at the bottom of the building, in the
basement. The heater down there is very old and dangerous. I keep asking the landlord to replace it, but he
refuses.”
This work is derivative of "untitled image" by Jeslyn Chanchaleune via unsplash license. This derivative is licensed CC BY 4.0 by
FHI 360 for the Online Professional English Network (OPEN), sponsored by the U.S. Department of State.
30
Now, if the journalist decided to stop here, she has two different sources, who say completely opposite things. This
is better than just interviewing the landlord, but not much, because the readers do not know who is telling the
truth. She needs to try and confirm one of the stories by interviewing more sources.
This work is derivative of "untitled" by Carlos Alcazar via Pixabay license. This derivative is licensed CC BY 4.0 by FHI 360 for the
Online Professional English Network (OPEN), sponsored by the U.S. Department of State.
If one person’s version of the story agrees with another person’s, then we call this confirmation. Confirmation
means checking for truth and accuracy. So, the journalist interviews the fire expert who looked at the building
after the fire was put out. This expert says: "The fire clearly started in the bottom of the building. It was probably
caused by an old heater exploding and then spread until the whole building was burned down.”
The fire expert confirms the story of the tenant. So, the journalist knows that he is probably telling the truth.
However, to make sure, the journalist knocks on the doors of all the neighbors to try and find an eyewitness.
Luckily, one neighbor saw the fire start and even has a video of the fire on his phone. The journalist can clearly see
that the fire begins in the basement. This neighbor is a citizen journalist. An ordinary person helping to accurately
report the news. We will learn more about citizen journalists in Unit Five. So now, because she has gathered
multiple perspectives, the journalist knows that she is reporting the story accurately. The story she writes will be
the truth.
SUMMARY
• The more perspectives a journalist can get, the more different types of sources they can interview, the
better.
• If a journalist can find one source who confirms the story of another, they are more likely to find out and
therefore write the truth.
31
Private Journal 12: Edit Your Article
You have written the first draft of your article. Now, it is time to edit it.
1. We have looked at three elements of Associated Press Style: Capitalization, Numbers and Dates. Did you format
these correctly in your article?
2. During this course, we have also reviewed past tenses, question forms, and active and passive voice. Have you
used these correctly?
3. Finally, we wrote our articles using the inverted pyramid style. We started with the most important information
and ended with the least important. Your editor needs the article to be 250 words or less. Is there anything you
would like to remove from your article? Now is the time to do so.
Example:
between Mar March 1st 1 and June 30, 2020. The center takes in wild birds that are sick or injured. Baby
birds need to be fed every thirty minutes around the clock.
The Bird Rescue Center opened in 2008 and has rehabilitated over 2,500 sick and injured birds. Sue
Kravitz, V volunteer C coordinator for the Bird Rescue Center, said that she was looking for volunteers who
could commit to at least four volunteer hours per month. She said the center would provide training on
how to safely handle and feed the baby birds.
warned. "Keep the bird in a well-ventilated dark space, like a shoe-box with holes in it and contact a
wildlife expert immediately."
Jose Garcia, an Anytown resident, has been volunteering for the last 3 three years. He encourages other
community members to volunteer. "This is a great way to make friends and help the community." I've
learned so much since I joined."
Final Version:
between March 1 and June 30, 2020. The center takes in wild birds that are sick or injured. Baby birds need
to be fed every thirty minutes around the clock.
The Bird Rescue Center opened in 2008 and has rehabilitated over 2,500 sick and injured birds. Sue Kravitz,
volunteer coordinator for the Bird Rescue Center, said that she was looking for volunteers who could
commit to at least four volunteer hours per month. She said the center would provide training on how to
safely handle and feed the baby birds.
warned.
Jose Garcia, an Anytown resident, has been volunteering for the last three years. He encourages other
community members to volunteer. "This is a great way to make friends and help the community."
32
Discussion: Publish Your Article
Congratulations! Your editor has approved your article! It will be published in tomorrow's paper!
STEP 1. SHARE YOUR ARTICLE WITH YOUR PEERS.

Copy your article and paste it in the discussion board below. Please keep your post to a maximum of 250 words.
STEP 2. READ THE OTHER ARTICLES AND POST A REPLY:

Example reply: Great work! I enjoyed reading your article. I think there may be an error with your date format. In
AP style, we should just write the number without =st or -nd.
33
MODULE FOUR: BROADCASTING THE NEWS
Table of Contents
Module Four Overview ..................................................................................................................................................2
The Language of Broadcast Journalism .........................................................................................................................4
The People of Broadcast Journalism..............................................................................................................................6
Quiz 16: Broadcast Journalism Vocabulary....................................................................................................................9
Types of Stories for Broadcast Journalism ...................................................................................................................10
Using Conversational Style ..........................................................................................................................................12
Language Focus: Present Tense and Active Voice .......................................................................................................14
Quiz 18: Print vs. Broadcast Journalism .......................................................................................................................16
Private Journal 13: Transform Your Article for a TV News Segment ...........................................................................17
Discussion: Transform Your Article for a TV News Segment .......................................................................................18
Ratings in TV News: How Journalists Compete ...........................................................................................................19
Sensationalism in TV News ..........................................................................................................................................22
The 24-Hour News Cycle..............................................................................................................................................25
Language Focus: Stress and Pausing............................................................................................................................26
Quiz 19: Stress and Pausing .........................................................................................................................................28
Optional: Orally Present Your Story .............................................................................................................................29
Optional Self-Evaluation: Orally Present Your Story and Evaluate Yourself ................................................................29
Module Four Check ......................................................................................................................................................30
© 2021 by FHI 360. “English for Journalism MOOC – Module Four Packet” for the Online
This work is a derivative of untitled image by BruceEmmerling under Pixabay license and untitled images by Keagan Henman and
ThisisEngineering RAEng under Unsplash license. This derivative is licensed under CC BY 4.0 by FHI 360 for use in Online Professional English
Network (OPEN), sponsored by the U.S. Department of State.
Module Four Overview

Welcome to Module Four of English for Journalism! A broadcast journalist must use a specific conversational style
and the right intonation for each story. Also, there is a big difference between writing a script that will be read “on
air” and writing an article for print. Through several video lectures and sample media, you will analyze different
delivery styles, write a broadcast script, and deliver a story using appropriate voice.
• Identify the features of broadcast journalism.
• Compare broadcast journalism and print media.
• Identify and practice using stress, rhythm, and intonation to show meaning and emphasis when delivering
a news story.
ACTIVITIES
Part One: TV News Today
Lessons:
The Language of Broadcast Journalism
The People of Broadcast Journalism
Types of Stories for Broadcast Journalism
Using Conversational Style
Language Focus: Present Tense & Active Voice
Quizzes*:
Quiz 16: Broadcast Journalism Vocabulary
Quiz 17: Print vs. Broadcast Journalism
*You must score at least 70% on each quiz
Optional Practice Activities:

The following activities provide further opportunities for language practice. These are not required
activities and there is no minimum passing score.
2
Private Journals:
Private Journal 13: Transform Your Article for a TV News Segment
Discussion Forum:
Transform Your Article for a TV News Segment
PART TWO: COMPETITION IN TV NEWS

Lessons:
Ratings in TV News: How Journalists Compete
Sensationalism in TV News
The 24-Hour News Cycle
Language Focus: Stress and Pausing
Quizzes*:
Quiz 18: Stress and Pausing
Module Four Check
Optional Practice Activities:

Speaking Practice:
Present Your Story - Peer Evaluation
Present Your Story - Self Evaluation
3
The Language of Broadcast Journalism
This work is a derivative of untitled images by Jonathan Farber and Joshua Hanson via Unsplash under Unsplash license and Wikilmages, Engin_Akyurt, and
LeeRosario via Pixabay under Pixabay license. This derivative is licensed under CC BY 4.0 by FHI 360 for use in the Online Professional English Network (OPEN),
Hello. Welcome to this unit on broadcasting the news. In this first lesson, we will describe broadcast journalism
and introduce some vocabulary we need to talk about broadcast journalism. In the next lesson, we will talk about
specific roles people have in delivering the news on television, the internet, or radio.
Let's start with the term broadcast. Broadcasting is the process for displaying the news this way. Broadcasting
means to use a video camera (or microphone for radio) and sending that recording to television sets, radios, and
computers all over the world.
We can use this word as a verb, noun, or an adjective:

1. “Channel 3 broadcasts the news twice a day.” Here, it's used as a verb.
2. We can also say, “the Channel 3 news broadcast is on TV twice a day.” Here, it's a noun.
3. “This unit is on broadcast journalism.” Here, “broadcast” is an adjective. It describes the type of
journalism.
In broadcast journalism, journalists deliver the news using videos that are shown on TV or on the internet.
Broadcast journalism also includes the radio. In this case, there are not images, just voices of journalists and their
radio guests.
4
Creating news for television, internet, or radio is similar to print media, but in many ways it's also quite different.
For example, television, radio and internet shows are generally called news programs. A program is a regularly
scheduled broadcast news show. Generally, these programs have names like "News at 10", which tells you what
time you can watch it every day. Another example is "NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt". The name of this
program reminds the viewer what channel they’re watching and also gives the name of the lead journalist.
Many times, news programs are live, which means we are seeing and hearing what broadcast journalists are
saying, at the time that they are saying it. There is a lot of pressure to do everything right, since everyone's
watching.
News stories for television, internet and radio have a different structure from news articles. A news program is a
collection of segments. A segment is a news story that is broadcast rather than printed.
As we discussed in Module 2, printed news stories are articles. When we talked about print media, we talked
about the process of outlining, drafting, and editing with a copy editor before an article goes to print. In broadcast
news, the draft is called a copy. A copy is a script, or a written text, of what the journalist is going to say.
The copy must be approved before it is broadcast live. It is important that broadcast journalists do not broadcast
segments that have mistakes because, similar to print journalism, making mistakes with the news can cause people
to stop watching. People may have trouble trusting the accuracy of the news programs. Just like print media,
sources and information must be verified.
Once the copy for a segment is approved, it is sent to a teleprompter. A teleprompter is a machine that shows
electronic text so that journalists can read it. When we see journalists speaking on a news program, they are
actually reading from a teleprompter.
Next, we will talk about the people that work in broadcast journalism.
5
The People of Broadcast Journalism
Hello. Welcome to this lesson on the people of broadcast journalism. In the previous video, we talked about new
vocabulary we use when talking about the news for television, internet, and radio. In this lesson, we are going to
take a deeper look into the people that deliver the news in video or audio form. We will talk about news anchors,
correspondents, producers, and control room operators.
NEWS ANCHORS
This work is a derivative of "Secretary Kerry Speaks on 'CBS Evening News' Set in New York With Anchor Pelley Before Interview Focused on Iran Nuclear Deal" by U.S.
Department of State via Flickr under Public Domain / U.S. Government Works. This derivative is licensed CC BY 4.0 by FHI 360 for the Online Professional English
Let's start with the anchor. The journalist who reads the news on camera is called the news anchor. This is the lead
journalist, or journalists, of a news program.
An anchor is the host of all of that news program's shows. Sometimes, the name of this anchor is part of the name
of the show.
For example, “NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt.” Lester Holt hosts this news program most nights of the week.
He is the anchor of the program. The anchor is the journalist who reads copy from the teleprompter.
6
C O R R E S P O N D EN T S
This work is derivative of Jim Clancy reporter, late 1970s by Nancy Wong via Wikimedia Commons under CC BY SA 4.0. This derivative is licensed CC BY SA 4.0 by FHI
360 for the Online Professional English Network (OPEN), sponsored by the U.S. Department of State.
While the anchor is the lead journalist, there are other journalists who work on the news and appear on the
program. These journalists are called correspondents. These correspondents can be general journalists, or they
can have specialties like they may have special knowledge about one topic.
For example, there are many business correspondents and medical correspondents. They may have extra training
in business or medicine and therefore, can better investigate and research those types of news stories.
Other specialties include correspondents who know a certain area of the world really well. Maybe they are from
there or maybe they just studied that area for many years. For example, a Middle East correspondent is someone
who reports from the Middle East or who covers news having to do with the Middle East. They may speak a local
language, or they may know a lot about local culture or history, and therefore they can better investigate and
research those types of stories. It's common for a correspondent to travel to where the news is happening and
report from there. That is called being on location. Correspondents report from locations all across the world. For
example, if there is a fire, football match, or election, a correspondent will go on location to get the story.
PRODUCERS
Another person who is very important in broadcast journalism is the producer.
A producer chooses the segments for the program, decides how long each segment will be and in what order the
segments will be presented. A producer also directs the show as it is being broadcast. They decide in the moment
if breaking news should interrupt a segment. They decide when to take commercial breaks, and the producer is
also the person with the final approval for copy before a story is added to a particular program.
7
CONTROL ROOM OPERATORS
This work is derivative of "News Hour Control Room, 2005" via Wikimedia Commons under Public Domain / U.S. Government Works. This derivative is licensed CC BY
4.0 by FHI 360 for the Online Professional English Network (OPEN), sponsored by the U.S. Department of State.
The producer is not in the studio with the anchor at the time of the broadcast. Instead, they work alongside
control room operators who prepare video clips, edit sound, and control the teleprompter. Control room
operators have technical skills rather than journalism degrees. They know how to control the machines that help
broadcast the news but not necessarily what is important to include in the story.
8
Quiz 16: Broadcast Journalism Vocabulary
Instructions: Choose the correct term that matches the definition
This quiz is worth 10 points. You must get seven out of ten questions correct to pass the quiz.
9
Types of Stories for Broadcast Journalism
Hello! Previously, we talked about the most common types of stories including news stories, investigative
journalism, and human-interest stories. In this lesson, were going to introduce more types of stories
including commentary, consumer reports and feel-good stories. These types are common in broadcast journalism,
but they can be also be found in print media.
COMMENTARY
Let's talk about commentary first. Commentary news is most often found on 24-hour news stations.
Commentary news is a type of news program where the anchor offers their opinion and their analysis of a current
event. You may see the word “comment” in the word “commentary”.
To comment on something is to give your opinion. That is why it is the name of this type of story. The analysis
oftentimes focuses on the why or the what next parts of the story. Many times, the anchor is a famous journalist.
Often, they invite correspondents on to provide perspective for the analysis. Generally, commentary shows are
quite popular right before an election. Commentary shows provide detailed news about the politicians who are
running for office. Oftentimes, the program or the anchor is transparent or clear with their political views.
C O N S U M E R R EP O R T S
"uber" by Quote Catalog via Flickr is licensed under CC BY 2.0
Another type of news story that viewers see more often on television news, is a consumer report. A consumer
report reviews or compares the things we buy. A consumer report takes a critical look at a product or service.
For example, Uber, an app that connects passengers who need a ride with people who offer rides, is a very popular
service here in the United States and in many other parts of the world. Many journalists have filmed segments for
TV news telling the public about this new service.
10
These segments may include video of the journalist using the service. They may also include interviews with road
safety experts. They might compare Uber with traditional taxis. Ultimately, the journalist will present the
advantages and disadvantages of this service and help the shopper make informed decisions.
FEEL-GOOD STORIES
"spideyOne" by Guy Donges via Flickr is licensed under CC BY 2.0
Lastly, the third type of news story found most commonly in broadcast journalism is what is called the feel-good
story.
Often, the news may seem too negative, reporting on events that make people feel sad or nervous. Therefore,
some news programs try to feature stories that leave the audience feeling good about the world. These are called
feel-good stories. Feel-good stories generally focus on a person or people similar to a human-interest story. A
human-interest story doesn't always have a positive feeling, though. A feel-good story always has a positive
feeling.
For example, a group of window washers at a large local children's hospital wear superhero costumes while they
clean the windows from the outside. These window washers are hanging from ropes to clean the outside of the
window. So, to the children, they look like Superman or Spiderman. The window washers are bringing happiness to
children who are obviously in the hospital for some very serious reasons.
A news program will generally show this type of story at the end of the broadcast to help people feel better after
several segments of serious and often depressing news.
11
Using Conversational Style
This work is derivative of "Giorgio Mitolo" by Giorgiomitolo via Wikimedia Commons under Public Domain and "Teleprompter in use" by Paola Margari via Wikimedia
Commons under CC BY SA. This derivative is licensed CC BY SA by FHI 360 for the Online Professional English Network (OPEN), sponsored by the U.S. Department of
State.
In the previous lesson you looked at different types of news segments. In this lesson we are going to look at the
conversational style that broadcasters use to connect with the audience. They do this by doing three things: using
short and simple sentences, using a lead-in sentence, and using contractions.
People who broadcast the news have to do something that is quite difficult. They have to read a script but not
actually sound like they are reading a script. They need to sound like they are having a personal conversation with
the person who is watching the TV. To do this, the script is written in a much more conversational style than in
print media.
C O N V E R S A T I O N S T Y L E T I P 1 : U S E S H O RT A N D S I M P L E
SENTENCES
The first example of a conversational style is using short and simple sentences. Sentences need to be short and
simple because the viewers only get one chance to hear what is being reported. They do not have the opportunity
to go back and read the sentence again like they do in print media. So, they have to understand it the first time. An
example of the difference is in print you might read this sentence.
The police have been conducting a house-to-house search in a continued effort to apprehend the suspects.
While in broadcasting it is changed to: The police are still looking for the suspects.
12
C O N V E R S A T I O N A L S T Y L E 2: U S E A L E A D - I N S E N T E N C E
The second way that broadcasters try to create a conversational style is by using a lead-in sentence. This is the first
sentence of the segment and acts as a summary to let the viewer know the subject and the feeling of the report.
For example, if a broadcaster begins by saying, “more bad news from the stock market,”, the viewer knows that the
subject is “financial, stock market”. And the feeling is “negative, bad news”.
On the other hand, if the broadcaster begins by saying, “a dog-owner is very thankful tonight”, the viewer knows
that the subject is something that happened to a dog, and the feeling is positive. Because people are thankful
when something good happens.
C O N V E R S A T I O N A L S T Y L E T I P 3: U S E C O N T R A C T I O N S
A third way that broadcasters create a conversational style is by using contractions. When we have a conversation,
we often use contractions, or shortened versions of words in our speech.
For example, instead of saying, “will not”, we say, “won't”. Or, we say, “I'm” instead of “I am”. We normally use
contractions instead of the word “not” or when we are using the verb “to be". So, as we can see, “will not”
becomes “won't”. “Have not” and “has not” become “haven’t” and “hasn't”. “Do not” is “don’t” and “is not” and
“are not” become “isn't” and “aren't”.
For the verb “to be”, “I am” becomes “I'm”. “He is”, “she is”, and “it is”, become “he's”, “she's” and “it's”. And
finally, “we are”, “you are”, and “they are” are spoken, “we're”, “you're”, and “they're”.
So instead of saying: “A store owner says he is leaving, and he will not be coming back”, a broadcaster, who is
trying to create a conversational style, will say, “a store owner says he's leaving, and he won't be coming back.”
In this lesson, we looked at the ways that broadcasters use conversational style to connect with the audience.
Using short simple sentences, using a lead-in sentence to let the audience know what to expect, and using
contractions.
Next, you're going to look at how broadcasters use present tense and active voice.
13
Language Focus: Present Tense and Active Voice
Hello, in the previous lesson, you looked at the different ways that people broadcasting the news can use
conversational style to connect with the audience. In this lesson, we will look at the way that broadcasters use
present tense and active voice to connect with the audience, the viewers of the news.
When a broadcaster presents the news, they want to communicate immediacy to the audience. Immediacy means
you feel like something is happening now. For example, a broadcaster wants the viewers to feel like they are
experiencing a major sports event as it happens. The broadcaster wants the person watching the news to feel part
of the story. The main ways to do this are to use present progressive and active voice.
STRATEGY 1: USE PRESENT PROGRESSIVE
We mostly use the present progressive to describe actions that are happening now. In journalism, using the
present progressive can help the audience feel like they are part of the story.
We make the present progressive by using a form of the verb “to be” and adding -ing on to the main verb.
Example 1: “Snow is causing problems in New York.”
We have the subject, “snow” followed by the verb “to be”, “is”, and then the main verb “cause” with “-ing”. The
broadcaster is showing that the action is happening now.
Example 2: “Crowds are gathering outside the Vatican.”
We have the subject, “crowds”, the verb “to be”, “are”, and the main verb, “gather” with -ing.
By using present progressive, the broadcaster shows that the event is happening now, and the viewer feels like
they are part of the story.
STRATEGY 2: ACTIVE VOICE
The second way that broadcasters connect to the audience is by using active voice. Active voice is livelier and helps
the broadcast create a conversation with the audience.
In previous videos, you looked at when journalists need to use passive voice in print media. This is also true in
broadcast journalism but, whenever they can, broadcast journalists try to use active voice.
14
Let's look at an example. Remember, we want to use present tense and active voice.
“Workers are being hurt by new laws.”
This sentence is already in present tense but is in passive voice. The subject, “workers” are not the doer of the
verb. It is clear that the new laws are doing the hurting. So, we need to change the voice from passive to active by
making “new laws” the subject.
How would you write this sentence in the active voice?
(New laws are hurting workers)
We now have a sentence that is in the present tense and the active voice. That communicates to the audience that
the action is happening now and that they are involved in the story.
So, in this video, we looked at how broadcasters use present tense and active voice to create a sense of immediacy
for the audience. The present tense could be present progressive to show something is happening now.
Next, you're going to look at how a journalist creates a broadcast script.
15
Quiz 18: Print vs. Broadcast Journalism
Instructions: Instructions: Read the sentences and decide whether they are more appropriate for print or
broadcast journalism.
This quiz is worth 10 points. You must get seven points or more to pass the quiz.
16
Private Journal 13: Transform Your Article for a TV
News Segment
Instructions: In Module Three, you wrote an article for a newspaper. Now it is time to transform your article as a
copy for a broadcast OR write a copy for a news segment on a new topic. Remember to use: a lead-in sentence,
short and simple sentences, present tense and contractions, active voice.
Model Print Article Model Broadcast Copy

City Announces New Internship Program City Announces New Internship Program
by Eve Nora Litt, Contributor by Eve Nora Litt, Education Correspondent
Bill Wallace of the City Department of Education announced
Philadelphia will host a new internship
Thursday afternoon that the city will host a new internship
program. That’s what Bill Wallace of the City Department
program. In this program, high school students can earn high
of Education said on Thursday. High school students can
school credit while interning at City Hall. Interns will work with a
earn high school credit at City Hall. They’ll work with a
city council member and will get to see our government at work.
city council member. Participants will go through a two-
Participants will go through a two-step application process for this
step application process. The program won’t begin until
special opportunity. The program is scheduled to begin next fall.
next fall.
“High school students are always looking for opportunities like this,
real world experience, to help them stand out on their college Bill Wallace explained that high school students need real
applications. I’m just proud that our city government can provide world experience and something to put on their college
this experience for them,” stated Bill Wallace on Thursday. In application. This program hopes to increase the rate of
recent years, city high schools have reported low rates of college- college-bound high school graduates and decrease drop-
bound graduates. With drop-out rates increasing, the city decided out rates.
to do its part to help turn the school district around.
The two-step application begins in April. First applicants
The two-step application begins in April. First, they must write an will write an essay about a local issue
essay about a local issue that they are passionate about. “Drinking that they’re passionate about. Drinking water, bullying,
water is a huge issue in my neighborhood. We haven’t been able to crime, public transportation, and school lunches are other
use the fountains at school in three years. The water that comes hot topics for student essays. After reviewing the essays,
out is brown and tastes like rust,” said Daryl Dixon of West Locust only 100 students will be brought in for interviews for
Lane. Bullying, crime, public transportation, and school lunches are only 20 spots.
other hot topics for student essays.
The internship will start at 2 PM and end at 5 PM on
From the pool of essays, 100 will come in for interviews. Bill Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays from September
Wallace from the City Department of Education explains, “We are to December. Buses will pick students up from all over
trusting our interns with important documents, with greeting the city. Interns should wear business casual
visiting members of government, and with giving their opinions clothing. Many city council members are looking forward
about issues that are important for students. It’s not just getting to working with interns.
coffee and making copies.” From those 100, 20 will get the
internship.
The internship will start at 2 PM and end at 5 PM on Tuesdays,

Wednesdays, and Thursdays from September to December. Buses
will pick students up from all over the city. Interns should wear
business casual clothing. For Councilwoman Rogers, she cannot
wait to get started. “We need to give our youth opportunities for
growth! These students are our future!”
17
Discussion: Transform Your Article for a TV News
Segment
STEP 1. SHARE YOUR QUESTIONS WITH YOUR CLASSMATES.

Copy your TV news copy and paste it in the discussion board below. Please keep your post to a maximum of 250
words.
STEP 2: READ OTHER POSTS AND REPLY.

Read your classmates' copy and post a reply.
18
Ratings in TV News: How Journalists Compete
Hello, welcome to this lesson on ratings and competition in television news. In this lesson, we are going to talk
about the challenges that broadcast journalists face when trying to deliver the news on television. Specifically, we
will look at how the competition between news programs is measured. And then we will look at two ways
television journalist try to compete or try to get the most viewers.
Nowadays, viewers have a lot of channels to choose from when sitting down to watch the news on television.
There are even entire news channels dedicated 24 hours a day to covering current events. Each program of course
really wants to have the most viewers. This creates a lot of competition or channels trying to get the most
viewers. How do channels measure, or determine how many people are watching their news program? How do we
know which news program has the most viewers?
The answer is ratings. Ratings are reports that show the number of viewers each news program has. Ratings are
very important to producers, anchors and correspondents because they want to know that they have the highest
number of viewers.
H O W D O E S C OM P E T I T I O N F O R R A T I N G S A F F E C T T H E N E W S ?
If news programs compete with one another then they are trying to have the most viewers. But they are all
reporting on the news, right? Aren't their broadcast very similar? Don't news programs generally cover the same
events? How different could they be? Well there are a couple of things that news programs can do to stand out, to
offer their viewers something different and get more viewers.
This work is derivative of “Katie Witham from Fox Sports - Halftime Interview with Coach K” by RonJonMan via Wikimedia Commons under CC
BY SA 2.0 This derivative is licensed CC BY SA by FHI 360 for the Online Professional English Network (OPEN), sponsored by the U.S. Department
of State
19
Let's look at an example: In 2019, the United States won the Women's World Cup. News programs around the
world reported on the Women's World Cup. How can a news program cover this story in a way that gets them the
most viewers?
One way is by getting exclusive interviews with players or coaches. Exclusive means not shared with others.
So, if News Hour at Ten has an exclusive interview with the team’s coach. That means the coach will only talk with
the journalist at News Hour at Ten and not with any other journalist. This exclusive interview will help News Hour
at Ten get more viewers, because their viewers will learn information that they cannot find on any other news
programs.
W H A T A R E O T H E R T H I N G S J O U R N A L I ST S C A N D O T O G ET
HIGH RATINGS FOR THEIR NEWS PROGRAMS?
Being first to report a story is also very important. For example:
"Royal Baby 031" by Christopher Neve was found on Flickr and is licensed under CC BY-SA 2. 0
In 2015, Prince William and Princess Kate of Great Britain welcomed their second baby, Charlotte, to the world.
Journalist camped outside St Mary's in London weeks ahead of time so they could hear the announcement
first. That way their news program could break the story or be the first to report the story. If viewers think that a
news program breaks the story before other news programs, it is likely to have high ratings.
SUMMARY
• Television journalists have to find ways to have high ratings while delivering the news.
• High ratings are important because news programs want to have the most viewers.
• One way that journalists try to increase their ratings is interviewing people exclusively.
• Another way that journalists try to beat the competition is by being first to break a story.
In the next lesson, we will talk about other ways television journalists try to get high ratings.
20
21
Sensationalism in TV News
Hello, welcome to this lesson on sensationalism in TV news. In a previous video, we talked about how television
news is affected by ratings. In this video, we are going to talk about what sensationalism is and then we'll explore
two types of sensationalism, celebrity culture and over reporting disasters.
In the previous video, we talked about how journalist try to get sources to talk exclusively with them, and how TV
journalists try to be the first to break a story. Another way that news programs try to attract more viewers is by
focusing too much on the most shocking, frightening, or exciting stories. This is called sensationalism. Not all
stories are like a movie, but the stories that do seem like a movie generally get more viewers.
SENSATIONALISM TYPE 1: CELEBRITY CULTURE
This work is derivative of "Lily Donaldson paparazzi Cannes 2012" by Georges Biard via Wikimedia Commons under CC BY SA 3.0. This derivative is licensed CC BY SA
3.0 by FHI 360 for the Online Professional English Network (OPEN) , sponsored by the U.S. Department
Let's take a look at the first type of sensationalism: celebrity culture. Often times, events that happen to regular
people like weddings, divorces, or health problems can be big news when they happen to celebrities. A celebrity is
a famous person. A celebrity could be a politician like President Obama or a well-known sports player like David
Beckham or a musician or actor like Madonna.
In fact, there is even a type of journalist called “paparazzi”, that focuses on celebrity culture. The paparazzi's job is
to follow celebrities around, and report on their every move.
22
When a journalist invades the privacy of a source like a celebrity, they are not using the principle of humanity in
their reporting. Remember, humanity means being kind to other people. Paparazzi can make a lot of money selling
those pictures and stories to news programs, but it is not always the best kind of reporting.
When the news focuses on the lives of celebrities and not the events that affect everyday people, this is a form of
sensationalism. Sensationalism places a greater importance on ratings than good journalism.
SENSATIONALISM TYPE 2: OVER -REPORTING ON DISASTERS
This work is derivative of "Face protection in Hong Kong" by Free to Use Sounds via Unsplash under Unsplash license, "US Navy 050709-N-0000B-004 Hurricane
Dennis batters palm trees and floods parts of Naval Air Station (NAS) Key West's Truman Annex "by U.S. Navy Photo by Jim Brooks via Wikimedia Commons under
Public Domain / U.S. Government Works, "Small Plane Crash at Lakeway Blvd," by Juan Salinas via Wikimedia Commons under CC BY 2.5, and "Buncefield2" by
ArtisticPsycho2 via Wikimedia Commons under CC BY SA 3.0. This derivative is licensed under CC BY SA by FHI 360 for the Online Professional English Network
(OPEN), sponsored by the U.S. Department of State
The second type of sensationalism is over-reporting on disasters. A disaster is an extreme event that involves
weather (like tornadoes, tsunamis, or earthquakes) or transportation (like a missing plane, or train accident) or
unexpected violence, like a terrorist attack. These are very serious and important events.
Sometimes journalists can over-report or report too much on a disaster. Meaning they ignore all other news for
weeks or even months, reporting exclusively or only, on a disaster because of its shock value.
A news story with shock value usually makes viewers feel strong negative emotions like fear or anger. People are
more likely to watch the news when they have a strong negative emotion. So, this type of sensationalism takes
advantage of a natural human reaction. Journalists should show restraint when they report on stories with shock
value.
For example, in the wintertime many people watch the news for reports on possible snowstorms. Obviously, a
snowstorm can affect thousands, even millions, of people. So, news programs may over-report or report too much
on a future storm. This makes people afraid as they plan further weeks. They go to grocery stores and buy food or
expensive equipment for getting rid of snow. The snowstorm is an event that people need to know about but a
sensational over-reporting means that people are not hearing about other important events.
Humanity and restraint, these principles of journalism are important, and good journalists take them into
consideration with every story they broadcast. The struggle between good journalism and ratings is a real
23
challenge that journalists face every day. Programs that rely too much on sensationalized stories could eventually
lose the trust of their audience.
SUMMARY
• News programs try to attract more viewers by focusing too much on the most shocking, frightening, or
exciting stories. This is called sensationalism.
• Two types of sensationalism are celebrity culture and over-reporting on disasters.
• Sensationalism can work against journalistic principles of humanity and restraint.
24
The 24-Hour News Cycle
Hello. In the previous lesson, you looked at sensationalism. In this lesson, we are going to look at the 24-hour news
cycle. We will look at how it began and at two ways that it has changed the ways news is reported: giving opinions
and manipulating the audience or trying to shape the way they think about something.
WHAT DOES THE 24-HOUR NEWS CYCLE MEAN?

Well, it means the cable TV news channels, that broadcast 24 hours a day. They never stop or take a break.
Examples are CNN, Fox News, MSNBC, or Al Jazeera. We did not always have the 24-hour news cycle. When TV
news began back in the 1950s there was just one 30-minute news program on in the evening. The evening news
only had time to talk about the most important news and it concentrated on facts rather than opinions. Then in
the 1980s CNN began broadcasting 24 hours every day. The journalists needed to fill up 24 hours of airtime, so
they also reported on trivial, or less important, news items. In the 1990s, more 24-hour news channels began
broadcasting. This created competition for ratings, because the success of a channel is based on the number of
viewers.
HOW DOES THIS CHANGE THE WAY THAT NEWS IS

REPORTED?
As we saw in the last lesson, increased competition among news programs can result in less truth and accuracy.
There are two main ways that the 24-hour news cycle has changed the way news is reported: an increase in giving
opinions and in manipulating the audience or trying to shape the way they think about something.
An increase in giving opinions

As we mentioned earlier, the change to 24-hour news resulted in a lot more time to fill. Because there are not
enough facts to fill this time, 24-hour news channels often ask experts to give their opinions. The opinions of these
experts are usually the same as those of the audience. The opinions are often biased because this is what the
audience wants to hear. Compare this to the principle of objectivity that we looked at in Module 1. This says that a
journalist must report the facts without favoring one side or another.
Manipulating the audience

Now, let's look at the way the 24-hour news channels try to manipulate the audience. In journalism,
manipulating means focusing on certain types of stories in order to make people believe something that may not
be true. For example, you saw earlier that sensational news gets higher ratings. News involving violent crime is
often sensational. And so, 24-hour news channels spend a lot of time reporting on these types of stories. A viewer
might see many of these stories and think that violent crime is increasing. In reality, there is much less violent
crime today in the US than there was 20 years ago. But there is much more news about it because of the 24-hour
news cycle. Compare this type of manipulation to the principle of fairness, which says that the job of a journalist is
to tell the facts, to inform the public, not to manipulate them.
25
Language Focus: Stress and Pausing
Hello! in previous lessons you looked at the conversational style used in broadcast media. In this lesson, you’ll
learn how to use stress and pausing to help you read out your story. Stress and pausing are important for
broadcasters because they can help to communicate the important information in a sentence and can also give the
audience time to understand the meaning of the story.
STRESS
This work is derivative of "Bernhoft" by Vidar Nordli-Matheson and "Secret" by Kristina Flour via Unsplash under Unsplash license. This
derivative is licensed CC BY 4.0 by FHI 360 for the Online Professional English Network (OPEN), sponsored by the U.S. Department
Let's talk about stress first. In a sentence, some words are more important than others. These are usually the
content words or keywords, the words that give you the facts of the sentence, if you did not have these words, the
sentence would not make sense.
The keywords are usually the ones that a broadcaster stresses to let the audience know the important facts of a
story. When you are speaking, you stress a word by saying it a little bit louder and a little bit slower.
Let's look at some examples and see if we can find which words need to be stressed.
26
Example 1: “A huge fire swept through a factory in downtown Baltimore last night.”
Of course, you need to say all the words in the sentence, but some are key, very important, to understanding the
sentence.
Do you remember those WH questions you looked at earlier? You could ask those same questions now to find out
the keywords.
What happened? A fire.

Where? In a factory in Baltimore
When? Last night.
So, the key information in this sentence is fire, factory, Baltimore, and night. And these are the words we
will stress, saying them a little bit louder and a little bit slower.
“A huge fire swept through a factory in downtown Baltimore last night.”
Example 2: “The government announced plans to close three hospitals at the start of next year.”
Let's ask our WH questions again.
Who? The government.

What? Closing three hospitals.
When? Next year.
These are the words we will stress.
“The government has announced plans to close three hospitals at the start of next year.”
PAUSING
A second way to help you read out your script is pausing. Pausing means stopping for a short time before you read
the next word. There are several good reasons for doing this. First, it gives your listeners time to understand what
you just said. Second, it makes your overall speed slower. And so makes your speech easier to understand. Third it
lets you break your sentence in to groups of words, each containing at least one key word or phrase.
Let's look again at the examples we used earlier and think about pausing.
“A huge fire... swept through a factory... in downtown Baltimore... last night.”
Here, we have three different parts to the sentence each containing at least one key word. By pausing, we can give
our listeners time to understand the information we are saying.
Let's look at the second example:
“The government… has announced plans to close three hospitals… at the start of next year.”
Again, we have three different parts to the sentence each containing at least one keyword.
SUMMARY
• Stressing the key words in a sentence can help the listener understand the meaning.
• Pausing can give the listener time to think about the information which also helps them to understand.
27
Quiz 19: Stress and Pausing
Instructions: Read the following sentences and choose the words that should be stressed.
28
Optional: Orally Present Your Story
Important: This activity is optional. It will not be graded. This is a public post. Your classmates will see your
post.
Would you like to share a voice or video recording of TV News copy (script)?
You can upload your recording here and it will be shared with another participant for review.
Please note that this is a large course with thousands of participants around the world. Not all participants have
access to audio and video software. It is possible that you will not receive a response to your post.
Optional Self-Evaluation: Orally Present Your Story

and Evaluate Yourself
Instructions
Take the copy (the script) that you wrote in Assignment 1 and deliver it orally (speak). If you have a voice recorder,
you can record yourself and play it back.
Remember to consider stress and intonation while you present your copy. It may help to identify the content
words in each sentence.
Complete a self-assessment following your presentation.
Model Response - Copy Only

City Announces New Internship Program
by Eve Nora Litt, Education Correspondent
underlined = stressed
/ = pause
Philadelphia / will host a new internship program. That’s what Bill Wallace / of the City Department
of Education said on Thursday. High school students / can earn high school credit at City Hall. They’ll work with a
city council member. Participants will go through a two-step application process. The program won’t begin /
until next fall.
Bill Wallace explained that / high school students need real world experience / and something to put on their
college application. This program hopes to increase the rate of college-bound high school graduates /
and decrease drop-out rates.
29
Module Four Check
Please answer one question to verify that you have completed all activities in Module Four
30
MODULE FIVE: BROADCASTING THE NEWS
Table of Contents
Learning Objectives: ......................................................................................................................................................2
Origins and Current State of the Digital Age .................................................................................................................3
Quiz 20: Origins and Current State of the Digital Age ...................................................................................................6
New Media Language and Structure .............................................................................................................................7
Quiz 21: New Media Language and Structure .............................................................................................................10
Types of New Media Stories ........................................................................................................................................11
The Impact on the Journalistic Process .......................................................................................................................15
The Impact on Traditional Media ................................................................................................................................17
Language Focus: Present Perfect Form .......................................................................................................................19
Quiz 22: Present Perfect Form .....................................................................................................................................22
Challenge One: The Digital Divide ...............................................................................................................................23
Language Focus: Data Commentary ............................................................................................................................26
Quiz 23: Choose the Appropriate Data Commentary ..................................................................................................29
Citizen Journalism ........................................................................................................................................................30
Challenge Two: Ethics in the Digital Age......................................................................................................................32
Challenge Three: Intellectual Property and Censorship ..............................................................................................34
Intellectual Property ....................................................................................................................................................34
Module Five Check ......................................................................................................................................................36
© 2021 by FHI 360. “English for Journalism MOOC – Module Five Packet” for the Online
This work is a derivative of untitled image by BruceEmmerling under Pixabay license and untitled images by Keagan Henman and ThisisEngineering
RAEng under Unsplash license. This derivative is licensed under CC BY 4.0 by FHI 360 for use in the Online Professional English Network (OPEN),
Welcome to Module Five of English for Journalism! In the final module of the course, you will analyze the growth,
impact, and challenges of digital news. By examining digital news sources, you will understand the benefits and
obstacles of modern-day reporting.
• Identify the ways digital technology has impacted print and broadcast journalism.
• Use the present perfect to discuss the impact of digital technology in journalism.
• Use data commentary and new vocabulary to evaluate the digital revolution and describe data.
Part One: Origins of Digital Journalism
Lessons:
Origins and Current State of the Digital Age
New Media Language and Structure
Types of New Media Stories
Quizzes*:
Quiz 19: Origins and Current State of the Digital Age
Quiz 20: New Media Language and Structure
Part Two: Impact on Traditional Media
Lessons:
The Impact on the Journalistic Process
The Impact on Traditional Media
Language Focus: Present Perfect Form
Quizzes*:
Quiz 21: Present Perfect Form
Part Three: Challenges Facing Digital Media
Lessons:
Challenge One: The Digital Divide
Language Focus: Data Commentary
Citizen Journalism
Challenge Two: Ethics in the Digital Age
Challenge Three: Intellectual Property and Censorship
Quizzes*:
Quiz 22: Choose the Appropriate Data Commentary
Module Five Check
2
Origins and Current State of the Digital Age
Hello. In this video we'll look at the digital age, past and present. First, we'll define important vocabulary, then
we'll look at the different steps in digital media that take us to the present. Take notes as you listen. It will help you
play the game that follows this video.
WHAT IS THE DIGITAL AGE?

Let's define some of these terms. Digital means electronic technology. The Digital Age is the time from the 1940's
to the present day of electronic technology. Digital media refers to any news that is sent over the internet. It
includes words, pictures, audio and video. So, for example, digital media is a web page from an online newspaper
or a video from a news channel. News and images shared through social networking sites, like Twitter or Facebook,
are also examples of digital media.
20TH CENTURY INNOVATIONS IN GLOBAL COMMUNICATION
Colossus via Wikimedia Commons is licensed under Public Domain.
Ever since the first computers were created in the 1940's, people were thinking about global communication or
sharing a message with the whole world.
Throughout the 1960's, people worked on ways to share information using telephone lines to transmit data.
3
"Acoustic Coupler Modem" by SecretLondon via Wikimedia Commons is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0
In the 1980's more people got personal computers at home. Some newspapers started to offer a service that
allowed customers to print a version of the newspaper at home. However, this was very slow and expensive, and
people could not print pictures, only words.
Untitled Image by ccmsharma2 via Wikimedia Commons is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0
The invention of the world wide web in 1989 changed everything. The world wide web is a system that connects
documents to each other, and allows the user to look for information, by moving from one document to the
other. People still used their telephone lines to receive information, but now they could search through many
different sites. More powerful computers and better graphics meant that people did not need to print out the
newspaper, they could look at it on their screens. These days, almost all newspapers have an online version.
The biggest change in digital media, happened in the 21st century. Readers now had the ability to interact with a
news source. News changed from being a one-way communication system where the newspapers and TV
programs produced the news and the readers read it to a two-way communication system where readers and
viewers can give their opinions.
Web logging or blogging, began in 2003, allowing anyone with a computer and an internet connection to share
their views with the world. The social media site, MySpace began in the same year. A year later, a more famous
4
social media site, Facebook, was created. This was a site where people could receive the news, comment on it, and
share it with their friends and family. In the same year, the site Flickr launched. This was a site where people could
share their photographs. YouTube which allowed viewers to upload and share their videos began in 2005. In 2006
Twitter, which lets users, including journalists, share very short message started. News reports became even
shorter and needed to be more sensational to get the reader's attention. As mentioned previously, over half of the
adults in the USA currently get their news from Facebook or Twitter.
SUMMARY
In this lesson, we defined digital, the digital age, and digital media. We looked at the origins of the digital age, and
early attempts to send out news messages. We looked at the creation of the world wide web and how news
broadcasting became a two-way communication resulting in our current situation.
Next, you can test yourself by playing a game, all about the origins of digital media.
5
Quiz 20: Origins and Current State of the Digital Age
Instructions:
Choose the correct date for each of the following stages of the history of digital media.
This quiz is worth 10 points. You must score 70% to pass the quiz.
6
New Media Language and Structure
In this lesson, we're going to discuss how new media content is different from print and broadcast media. Then
we'll look at the structure of new media posts and examine the type of language new media journalists use to
attract viewers.
N E W M E D I A C ON T E N T V S P RI N T A N D B R O A D C A S T M E D I A
Untitled Image by Gerd Altman via Pixabay under Pixabay license
Digital media is growing in popularity all over the world. Online media is the preferred source of news for many
audiences, especially younger people. Digital media has many forms, including news websites, weblogs or “blogs”,
audio podcasts, and posts on social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and Twitter. Post is both
a noun and a verb. A post is a piece of content published online, like a photo, video, or text. For example, you
can post a picture online, and other users can comment on your post.
So, what is so new about new media? How is it different from print and broadcast journalism? There are three
main differences: New journalism is multimedia. It uses hypertext links, and it is interactive.
New Journalism is Multimedia
First, new media journalism is multimedia. Digital media journalism can use multiple types of media text, video,
and audio to tell a story. When more than one of these media types is used, we can say that it is a multimedia
story.
New Journalism Uses Hypertext Links
Second, new media journalism uses hypertext links. Digital journalists can use hypertext links to other content on
the internet. Link is both a noun and a verb. One piece of digital content links to another, and users can “click the
link” to see more content.
7
New Media Journalism is Interactive
"Social media interaction" by GDJ via Openclipart is licensed under Openclipart Sharing License 1.0
Third, new media journalism is interactive. People also call this the “democratization” of media. All people, not
only professional journalists, can post online, or publish their own stories, videos, or comments on other people’s
content.
User-generated content, or UGC, has changed news reporting. Citizens are now more direct and active
participants in the media. We will talk more about user-generated content later in this module.
8
THE LANGUAGE OF NEW MEDIA JOURNALISM
Now, let’s look at some examples of how new media language works.
Inverted Pyramid Style
Like print and broadcast news, new media journalism uses the inverted pyramid structure we discussed in Module
Three. However, attention-grabbing headlines and leads are even more important in new media because they are
often the only parts of the story viewers can see until they click a link. The headline and lead must attract the
viewer to click a link to read the full text story or watch a video.
Short Posts
News website posts and social media news posts are very short - often limited to only 140 characters. Typical
news posts in digital media include the media outlet’s name, a headline, a picture, and a link to the full story.
More Clicks, More Money
The purpose of these posts is to generate clicks. In other words, to attract viewers to click the link to content on a
different web page. Like the TV ratings we discussed in Module Four, generating clicks is the way websites make
money.
H O W D O N E W M E D I A J O U R N A LI S T S U S E L A N GU A G E T O
GENERATE THE MOST CLICKS?
Online journalists use short sentences, active verbs, “teasers”, conversational language, emotional language,
humor, hashtags and other symbols.
Short sentences
Space is very limited in online posts, so journalists write short sentences with active verbs for impact. We
discussed active and passive verbs in Module Three. Let’s say a journalist is writing a social media post about the
tornado story we discussed in Modules One and Two. The journalist wouldn’t write: "City Is Hit by a
Tornado." This is passive. An active headline would be: "Tornado Hits City" .
Teasers
Also, like on television news, journalists often “tease” viewers into clicking through to the story by not telling the
whole story in the post. They write an attention-getting question or statement that suggests the answer is only a
click away in the story. For example, in the tornado story, they might post: "Is Your Home Safe in a
Tornado?" Viewers have to click the link to the story to learn more.
Hashtags
In addition, the post would include an eye-catching image of the tornado, and “hashtags” such as #tornado to
label the story. Hashtags make it easier to find a post and increase the number of times a post is read and shared.
Conversational Style and Emotional Language

Finally, like broadcast journalism, new media journalism uses a conversational style, speaking directly to the user.
Online media also uses emotional language – words that make people feel angry or excited – to generate more
clicks. New media journalists and social media users are also more likely to use humor, or jokes to make readers
laugh, than traditional media journalists.
9
Quiz 21: New Media Language and Structure
Instructions: The questions in this quiz refer to New Media Language and Structure. You may use the video or
transcript to help you answer the questions.
This quiz is worth 10 points. You must score 70% to pass the quiz.
10
Types of New Media Stories
In our last lesson, we discussed the language and structure of new media, or online journalism. Then we looked at
some examples of new media posts with user-generated content on Twitter. In this lesson, we’ll discuss the types
of stories we find online in new media journalism.
As we discussed in the last lesson, there are many types of online media, including news websites, blogs, social
media platforms, podcasts, and online video sites. Like print and broadcast media, online media run news stories,
human interest stories, commentary and analysis, consumer reviews, and feel-good stories. In this video, we’ll
discuss other types of stories we find online. These stories are:
• Breaking news stories
• Threaded discussions
• Data visualization stories
• User generated visuals
BREAKING NEWS STORIES
This work is derivative of "breaking news.” by ProSymbols via The Noun Project under CC BY This derivative is licensed CC BY by FHI 360 for the Online Professional
English Network (OPEN), sponsored by the U.S. Department of State.
The internet makes new media more flexible than traditional print and broadcast media. For one thing, online
media outlets can publish breaking news stories much faster. Online news outlets focus on posting breaking
news on the internet as quickly as possible, sometimes within minutes of the event and update the story in real
time.
Let’s take our example of the teachers protesting from Module 2. Online media reports on the protest in real time;
at the same time the protest ids happening. Eyewitnesses upload photos and video to social media, and online
journalists publish breaking news stories about the protest with minutes. The journalists then publish more
detailed minute-by-minute updates to the breaking news story as it develops.
11
THREADED DISCUSSIONS
This work is derivative of "Threaded Discussions" by Dvoropa via Wikimedia Commons under CC BY SA. This derivative is licensed CC BY SA by FHI 360 for the Online
Professional English Network (OPEN), sponsored by the U.S. Department of State.
Another type of online media content is the threaded discussion. Threaded discussions, also called comment
sections or discussion forums start a “thread with a question, a news article, or commentary article. Users follow
the thread of the discussion to learn more about the topic and post their own comments questions, and answers.
Many online news outlets include threaded discussions in a comment section after their stories. Some online
outlets including major newspapers like the New York times even include reader comments in the body of their
stories.
Threaded discussions below stories are excellent sources for journalists to learn about what is interesting to their
audience. The audience comments help the journalists decide what is or is not important to include in future
articles.
Again, let’s use the teachers protesting as an example. An online journalist posts a breaking news story about the
protest. Below the story, readers post comments and questions.
“How much are the teachers’ salaries?” one reader asks.
“About $2,000 a month,” another replies.
“I’m a teacher,” a third reader comments. “My school keeps cutting our budget. I have to spend $200 a month of
my salary on school supplies for my students.”
“Well, the government raised my taxes this year to pay for these schools,” another reader comments, “and I don’t
even have children.”
After reading the threaded discussion, the online journalist posts a story update with information about teacher
salaries, school budget cuts, and taxes for education. She knows this information is important to the audience, and
she includes two selected comments in the body of the story.
Another benefit of threaded discussions is that the journalist can correct any false information she sees in the
comments. She is careful to check her information with multiple sources including the school, the teachers, and
the tax office before publishing the update.
12
DATA VISUALIZATION STORIES
This work is derivative of "Graph” by Diego Naïve via The Noun Project under CC BY. This derivative is license CC BY by FHI 360 for the Online Professional English
Indeed, digital technology has generated more information than ever before. However, this big data is often very
difficult to understand. To report this information clearly, online journalists use technology to create interactive,
multi-media data visualization stories. In data visualization stories, journalists link video, maps, charts, and graphs
to explain complex data using visuals and text. Users can interact with the story, move through the data and see it
in many different ways.
In our example about the teacher protests, an online journalist collects data about the story as it develops. She
combines data sets about teacher salaries, taxes, school budgets, and other important information such as
students’ test scores. She writes a story with interactive graphs. Users can move on the graphs to see how taxes,
test scores, and teachers’ salaries are connected. For example, if teacher salaries rise, test scores go up as well. The
story also includes virtual tours of a classroom showing what kind of supplies the teachers need to buy, and how
much they cost. This new media data visualization story helps users understand the complicated teacher protest
story.
Breaking news stories, discussions, and data visualization stories already existed in print and broadcast media, but
new media have made them much more interactive and engaging.
USER-GENERATED VISUALS
This work is derivative of "derp” by G via The Noun Project under CC BY. This derivative is licensed CC BY by FHI 360 for the Online Professional English Network
(OPEN), sponsored by the U.S. Department of State.
13
In addition, social media platforms have introduced completely new forms of user-generated visual content.
These formats include memes, gifs, and ephemeral media such as snaps and Facebook Stories. Ephemeral media
are posts that disappear after a short time, usually only 24 hours. These media are sometimes used by professional
journalists but mostly by social media users on platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, Instagram, and WeChat.
Social media users create memes, gifs, and snaps, and post them on their profiles to share them with their
networks. Other users receive them on their news feeds and share them with other users. These pieces of content
can go viral, meaning they are shared by many people very quickly.
This user-generated content tells stories about using strong images, very few words, and humor. To use an
example from the teacher protest story, a social media user posts a popular meme of a teacher in front of a board
that reads “Doesn’t work all summer, wants pay raise” Other users see the meme and start a threaded discussion
about the meme.
Many media experts argue that these types of posts are not journalism. However, a large and growing audience
get their news and information from social networks in the form of memes, gifs, and snaps. They have become
important as a media form. We will talk about some of the problems this can create in a later video.
14
The Impact on the Journalistic Process
Hello, welcome to this lesson on the impact of digital journalism on traditional journalism. In this lesson, we'll
examine three ways the Internet has influenced traditional journalism: speed, connection to the audience, and
more competition.
SPEED
Untitled image by stevepb via Pixabay under Pixabay license
Journalists or even regular people can post to the internet at any given time. And this means journalists must work
faster and faster to keep up. Pressure to be the first to publish a story isn't new. Even before the internet, being
first was part of competition between news sources. However, the internet has made this situation worse.
Generally, when someone rushes to complete something more mistakes are made.
These mistakes can cause huge problems when we are talking about inaccuracies in the news. News organizations
need to remember the principles of accuracy and truth. Which are more important than being first to break the
story
CONNECTION TO THE AUDIENCE

Before the Internet, the audience received the news from the news programs and newspapers. Nowadays, the
complete opposite can happen, people can send news programs, videos from their cellphones of events happening
in real time. Additionally, with social media people, have more ways to connect with the news now more than
ever. For example, TV news suggests Twitter hashtags or invitations to join the discussion on Facebook. People feel
empowered when they can share the news with others and share their thoughts with the news.
15
INCREASE IN COMPETITION
Untitled image by S. Hermann and F. Richter via Pixabay under Pixabay license.
The third way the internet has affected the journalistic process is through an increase in competition. With the
internet, it's become a lot easier and cheaper for channels to broadcast their programs. While having choices is
generally a good thing, especially when talking about the news, we as the audience have to be critical of what we
read or see on the Internet. Remember, being a critical thinker means being curious or wanting to know more and
being skeptical or questioning whether to trust what you see.
Just because somebody can post a video or start a blog, it doesn't mean that that news story has been verified, or
that it's accurate. News media in general needs to be able to adapt to confront these new challenges. Later in this
module, we'll take a closer look at these challenges and how they have changed the way the news is delivered.
16
The Impact on Traditional Media
Hello, welcome to this lesson on the impacts of digital journalism on traditional print media. In the previous lesson,
we talked about how digital journalism has impacted the traditional process of gathering information and
distributing stories. In this lesson, we're going to talk about how the internet specifically affected newspapers.
We'll talk about how newspapers make money, how they employ people, how they share the news.
H O W N E W S P A PE R S M A K E M O NE Y
“Untitled image’ by Lewis Hine via Wikimedia Commons is under public domain
First, let's talk about the business side of print media. In the US, newspapers are a business. They need to make
money. What do they need money for? They need to pay journalists, editors, and other employees. They need to
pay for paper, ink, and the machines that print newspapers. They also need to pay the people to take newspapers
to people's homes every day.
In the days before the internet, newspapers made money mostly through advertisements. In fact, 80% of money
made by newspapers was from advertisements. Subscriptions, or money made from people who pay to read a
newspaper, was only a small part of the money needed to run a successful newspaper.
HOW THE INTERNET DISRUPTED TRADITIONAL MEDIA

In the late 1990s and early 2000s, more and more people started using the internet for all sorts of reasons.
Businesses decided that the internet was a better and cheaper place to advertise. Between 2005 and 2009,
newspaper advertising dropped 44%. This incredible drop forced newspapers to make some very difficult changes.
The first area that changed because of the loss of money was staffing. Before the Internet, 50% of the
newspapers' budget, or the plan for spending money, was spent on paying people who worked for the newspaper.
17
With this huge drop in advertising dollars, newspapers were forced to reduce their staff by 25%. This resulted in
fewer stories on fewer topics. The newspaper just could not print as many stories with fewer journalists on staff.
Another effect the Internet had on newspapers was a change in the way people received the news. Before the
Internet, newspapers had teams of people who picked up the paper very, very early in the morning and then drove
to neighborhoods and left a newspaper on the door of every person who had paid for it.
Sometimes people sold newspapers on busy street corners or newsstands on bookstores. It cost a lot to distribute
or share the news this way. Once the internet became very popular, lots of people stopped reading paper copies of
the news, instead they went online. Internet publishers could post stories immediately. They did not have to wait
until the next day to print a story and readers preferred to have their news quickly too.
18
Language Focus: Present Perfect Form
Hello, welcome to this Language Focus lesson on the Present Perfect. In the last few lessons, we have been
discussing how the internet has changed journalism. When we do this, we use a certain verb form called the
present perfect. In this lesson, we will first define the present perfect. Then, we will talk about the structures, and
one of the uses of present perfect verbs.
WHAT IS THE PRESENT PERFECT?
First, let’s talk about what the present perfect is in general before moving on to structure and uses. You may have
seen this tense before. Here is an example. The internet has changed journalism.
Notice, we are not using the simple past: "the internet changed journalism". In the simple past, the changes that
the internet caused would have started and ended in the past. Instead, this sentence is in the present perfect
form.
The internet has changed journalism.
The internet started to change journalism in the past and the internet may continue to change journalism in the
future. Therefore, we need a verb form that shows this relationship, and that verb form is the present perfect.
STRUCTURE OF THE PRESENT PERFECT
To form the present perfect, we use helping verb have or has and the past participle of the main verb.
Present Perfect = have/has + past participle
Remember, we use “have” if the subject is “I”, “you”, “we”, or “they”, or any plural subject
like “journalists” or “newspapers”.
We use “has” for “she”, “he”, and “it”, or any specific singular subject like “the editor” or “Christiane Amanpour”.
Example 1: It has become important to be first when breaking a new story.
Here, we use “has” because of subject it and we use “become” which is the past participle of the verb “to
become”.
Example 2: Since the beginning of this course, you have seen many videos and have written several assignments.
Because the subject is “you”, we use helping verb “have” and past participle forms “seen” and “written”.
19
Remember, in many cases, the past participle and past tense forms are the same. If you can add -d or -ed and put
the verb in the past tense, then the past participle is the same form. But as we discussed in Module One, there are
as many as 400 irregular verbs.
Some of those irregular verbs, the simple past and past participle forms are the same. But for others they are
different, as it the verbs become seen and written.
USING THE PRESENT PERFECT
Now, let's talk about how to use present perfect verbs. There are many ways to use this tense and we will talk
about one of those uses now. We often use the present perfect to talk about actions that began in the past and
that could continue into the present and even the future.
Let's look at some examples:

Example 1: Beyoncé
This work is derivative of untitled image by S Pakhrin via Flickr under CC BY 2.0. This derivative is licensed under CC BY 4.0 for the Online Professional English
Netowrk, sponsored by the U.S. Department of State.
Beyoncé has written many songs and has won many awards over the course of her career.
You can see that we are using present perfect verbs here: has written and has won.
We are using the present perfect because Beyoncé is still creating music. Beyoncé Knowles was born in 1981 and
started writing songs. She wrote her first song as a child. She won her first Grammy Award in 2000. She is still
writing songs and winning awards.
Beyoncé has written many songs and has won many awards.
Example 2: Mozart
20
This work is derivative of “Mozart Family” by Johann Nepomuk della Croce via Wikimedia Commons under public domain. This derivative is licensed under CC BY 4.0
for the Online Professional English Network (OPEN), sponsored by the U.S. Department of State.
Mozart wrote many famous pieces of music.
Here we used the simple past, wrote, rather than the present perfect.
Why do you think that is?
Well, Mozart died in 1791. There is no possibility that he will create anymore music.
Therefore, we will put the verb write in the simple past.
Mozart wrote many famous pieces of music.
SUMMARY
To show that the process started and ended in the past, we use the past simple. To show that the process started
in the past but that it is expected to continue into the future, we use the present perfect.
In the next lesson, we will discuss different challenges of digital journalism.
21
Quiz 22: Present Perfect Form
Instructions: Choose the correct verb form.
This quiz is worth 10 points. You must get 70% correct to pass the quiz.
22
Challenge One: The Digital Divide
Hello. Earlier, we looked at the impact that digital media has had on traditional media. Now, we are going to look
at something called The Digital Divide, meaning the way that some people around the world can easily use
technology, such as cellphones and the internet, and others cannot.
This work is derivative of untitled images by PublicDomainPictures and Mike Goad via Pixabay under Pixabay license. This derivative is licensed under CC BY 4.0 This
derivative is licensed under CC BY 4.0by FHI360 for use in the Online Professional English Network (OPEN), sponsored by the U.S. Department of State.
We will explain how this digital divide occurs and talk about why it is important to bridge the gap. Meaning, to
create a situation where everyone can use digital technology.
The digital divide can refer to differences within a country, between a city and out in the countryside, for example.
Or it can refer to the differences between developed and developing countries. Something that we call the global
digital divide.
Because so much information is sent digitally via the Internet, the people on the wrong side of the divide are
missing a lot of the news going on in the world.
Let's look at some of the reasons why the divide occurs: infrastructure, equipment, and literacy.
23
DIGITAL INFRASTRUCTURE
The biggest reason for the digital divide is infrastructure. This means the basic structures needed to run a society.
This work is derivative of untitled images by Marek Levak via Unsplash under Unsplash license and geralt and fancycrave1. This derivative is licensed under CC BY 4.0
This derivative is licensed under CC BY 4.0 by FHI360 for use in the Online Professional English Network (OPEN), sponsored by the U.S. Department of State.
In digital media terms, this means cables, wireless networks, and cellphone coverage. Because these can be
expensive to create, not everywhere is covered by this kind of infrastructure.
DIGITAL EQUIPMENT
Another reason for the digital divide is equipment. Hardware like laptops, tablets, and cell phones are expensive.
Not everyone can afford it. Technology changes so quickly that older models can no longer be used.
DIGITAL LITERACY
This work is derivative of untitled images by Kaitlyn Baker, Austin Diestel, and Proxyclick Visitor Management Center via Unsplash under Unsplash license and
pixelcreatures via Pixabay under Pixabay license. This derivative is licensed under CC BY 4.0 by FHI360 for use in the Online Professional English Network (OPEN),
A third reason is digital literacy. Literacy means you can communicate by reading and writing. Digital literacy
means you can communicate by using technology. This means knowing how to type on a keyboard, knowing how
24
to use a mouse or a touchscreen, and knowing how to use all the programs that allow people to communicate
digitally. If people cannot use technology, then having enough infrastructure and equipment will not help them.
So, why is it important for societies to try and bridge the digital divide or make it possible for more people in
society to use digital technology? There are two main reasons. Economic and social.
What can you do if you do not have digital technology? You can read a newspaper, watch TV, or listen to the radio.
However, you cannot participate in the ways we have talked about in earlier videos, writing a blog, sharing a post
or photo, etc. People who are able to use this digital technology have a better chance of avoiding poverty. And it is
better for the country too because digital technology does not use so many natural resources, like coal, or gas.
There are social advantages too. People who can use digital infrastructure can read the news about health,
careers, and entertainment more easily, as more and more information is put online. People can also access civic
services such as the police or an ambulance more easily if they are digitally connected and journalists can write
about them more easily.
25
Language Focus: Data Commentary
Hello! In this lesson, we will look at data commentary. This means describing data from tables and
figures. Journalists use data commentary to help people understand the numbers and figures in an article.
Data commentary has three steps:

1. Help the audience find the data
2. Tell the audience what the data means,
3. Moderate the claim
Data commentary in journalism is important because tables and figures are often difficult to
understand. A figure uses pictures like a chart or a graph to show information while a table uses words and
numbers.
If a reader just looks at the table or figure, they might not understand the important information there.
Journalists use data commentary to help readers understand these tables and figures.
STEP 1. HELP THE AUDIENCE FIND THE DATA

At the beginning of the data commentary, it is important to let the reader know which table or figure they're
looking at. We use the structure "Table + Number + Verb" or "Figure + Number+ Verb". The most common verb in
data commentary is “shows”. Other common verbs are “presents” and “illustrates”.
So, you can begin your data commentary by saying, "Table 1 shows," or "Figure 3 presents," or "figure 2
illustrates."
You can use any of these verbs with both figures and tables.
STEP 2. TELL THE READER WHAT THE DATA MEANS

Right after you tell the reader where to find the data, you tell them what the data means. You want to tell the
reader something interesting about the data.
Use the structure that + subject + verb + object.
Let's look at an example of these two things.
26
Here's some data in the form of a simple figure. We will call it “Figure 1”.
This work is derivative of "politician" by Nho) via The Noun Project under CC BY. This derivative is licensed under CC BY by FHI 360 for the Online Professional English
Some people were asked which politician they like best. A or B? As you can see, Politician A is more popular with
the people than Politician B. We begin our data commentary by telling the reader where the data is, “Figure 1
shows...." Then we tell them what it means, "…that people like politician A more than politician B."
“Figure 1 shows that people like politician A more than politician B.”
STEP 3. MODERATE YOUR CLAIM

The last part of data commentary is moderating a claim. Let's look at those two words. A “claim” is when you say
something is true. For example, "People like politician A more than politician B." We are saying that this is true.
Moderating a claim means you do not claim too much from the data. What you say should be reasonable. You
should not make a claim that is too strong. You should make a reasonable claim. At the moment, our claim is too
strong. Meaning that it is not totally true. Let's use figure 1 as an example and give you a little more data.
This work is derivative of “politician” by Nhor via The Noun Project under CC BY. This derivative is licensed under CC BY by FHI 360 for the Online Professional English
As you can see, the “people” are young people from the city of Chicago. More of them preferred politician A to
politician B, but the difference is quite small, 53% to 47%. The claim we made earlier was this. “Figure 1 shows
that people like politician A more than politician B.” We need to moderate this claim because it is too strong.
27
Do we have data from all people? (No, just young people)
Do we have data from all cities? (No, only from Chicago)
Was there a big difference in preference for A over B? (No, only a little difference.)
So now our claim is this: “Figure 1 shows that young people in Chicago like Politician A a small bit more than
Politician B.” Now we have moderated our claim and it is an accurate commentary on the data.
28
Quiz 23: Choose the Appropriate Data Commentary
Instructions: Look at the data in Table 1 below and then choose the accurate data commentary for each of the
questions. The goal of this game is to choose the most appropriate language.
Three politicians are trying to become the Mayor of Newtown. The voters have been divided by age group. The
data show the percentage of voters in each age group who say they will vote for each candidate.
Voter Preference by Age Group:
Voters' Candidate Candidate Candidate Total

Ages Smith Brown Jones
18-25 45% 42% 13% 100%
26-49 40% 28% 32% 100%
50+ 15% 30% 55% 100%
This quiz is worth 10 points. You must get 70% correct to pass the quiz.
29
Citizen Journalism

Hello, back in Module 1, we mentioned the role of citizen journalism in today's digital media. In this lesson, we are
going to look more closely at the two main types of citizen journalists and talk about the ways that ordinary
citizens can get involved.
Citizen journalism refers to the way that ordinary members of the public, not professional journalists, collect and
distribute information via the Internet. By doing this, citizen journalists can give ordinary people a voice.
There are two main ways that the general public can become citizen journalists: by working on their own and
by working with news organizations. Let's look at these two types in more detail.
CITIZEN JOURNALISM: WORKING ON YOUR OWN
"Citizen Journalism" by Nick Gulotta via Flickr is licensed under CC BY 2.0
The first type of citizen journalism is where citizen journalists work on their own, not affected by traditional media.
Citizen journalists are not adding to articles that already exist. They are creating something by themselves. There
are two main ways that people can do this: through social media or by creating a blog or website.
Many people have a social media account such as Facebook or Twitter. By publishing photographs and opinions
and sharing stories, the public can help to report what is going on in the world. During the Arab Spring in Egypt in
2011, protesters used social media to coordinate their demonstrations against the government.
When a person feels strongly about an issue, they might create their own blog or website, to share their opinions
with other people. This is an opportunity for someone to write more or to continue with the same topic over a
period of time. With a website, a citizen journalist can use different types of media to communicate their message.
CITIZEN JOURNALISM: WORKING WITH EXISTING NEWS

ORGANIZATIONS
Some citizen journalists work with existing news organizations. There are three main ways to do this:
• Commenting on articles
• Crowdsourcing
• live blogging
30
Commenting on articles
Commenting on articles refers to the comment that readers make on an online news article. You can give your
opinion on the topic or comment on the article itself. Other readers can reply to your comment as well as the
original article.
Crowdsourcing
Crowdsourcing means using a crowd, a lot of people to work on a project. In journalism, it means asking the
general public to provide additional information to complete a story. Journalists usually do this when a task is very
big and needs many people. For example, if a very long document, too long for one person to read is made public,
a newspaper might ask its readers to each read a part, to check the facts or look for details.
Live blogging
Live blogging occurs when something happening live such as a concert, a political meeting, a sports match or a
severe weather event like a snowstorm. If we take the example of a snowstorm, online newspapers will ask the
readers to send in stories of how the snow is affecting them, along with photographs of the snow. Readers might
also talk about travel delays or places being closed.
So, in this lesson, we looked at the role of citizen journalists in the digital media. We saw that there are two types
of citizen journalism. Working on your own, using social media, blogs, and websites. And working with news
organizations, by commenting on articles, crowdsourcing, and live blogging.
Next, we will look at ethics in the digital age.
31
Challenge Two: Ethics in the Digital Age

Hello, in the previous lesson you looked at how members of the public can become citizen journalists. In this
lesson we will look at ethics in the digital age. We will think about the rights and responsibilities of citizen
journalists and talk about the advantages and disadvantages of having more voices in the media.
THE RIGHTS OF JOURNALISTS
This work is derivative of "The First Amendment by Brent Payne via Flickr, under CC BY 2.0. This derivative is licensed under CC BY 4.0 .
You may remember that back in Module One, we looked at the First Amendment to the US Constitution.
This says that journalists are free to report the truth without the government trying to control what they write.
This amendment also protects citizen journalists in the US when they write the truth. They just have to make sure
that they are writing the truth.
THE RESPONSIBILITIES OF CITIZEN JOURNALISTS
Citizen journalists also have responsibilities. They should think about some of the same principles of journalism as
professional journalists when they write. When they write an article or post on a blog, they should think about
originality (not copying someone else's work) and fairness. They should also be concerned about impacting
people. They should consider humanity, respect for others and empowerment, giving power to those who do not
have it.
Having more voices in the media means the democratization of journalism. Democratization means ordinary
people have more power. In journalism, it means that more people have an opportunity to tell the world what
they think.
32
This is certainly true in the digital age. People can use blogs and social media to share their ideas with the world
much more easily than before the internet existed. However, this has both advantages and disadvantages,
meaning both good things and bad things.
THE ADVANTAGES OF THE DEMOCRATIZATION OF

JOURNALISM
The main advantage is we can see more events happen in more places. Because of technology like smartphones,
anyone can record what they see and broadcast it to the world. This means that when people see powerful people
causing problems. At a rally or a demonstration for example, they are in a good position to record and share it.
A lot of the video and images that professional journalists use are filmed by citizen journalists, who are at the
scene. Citizen journalists can help professional journalists in this way. Another advantage is that citizen journalists
do not have to worry about how many readers or viewers they get.
Global professional news organizations have to think about the size of their audience, how many clicks each article
or video gets. A citizen journalist can cover any story, even those that might not be very popular. In this way stories
that normally do not get any attention will be told.
THE DISADVANTAGES OF THE DEMOCRATIZATION OF

JOURNALISM
The disadvantage of democratization of the news media is that nobody's checking what is written. Citizen
journalists have to check themselves. And this is not always successful. Their articles can be badly written, much
too long, or simply not true sometimes. A good example happened in 2008 when a citizen journalist reported that
Steve Jobs, the founder of Apple suffered a heart attack. Apple stock fell 10% in 10 minutes, until people realized
that the report was false.
A report from a professional journalist would have been edited and checked before it was published, avoiding this
problem. So, in this video we looked at ethics in the digital age. We talked about the rights and responsibilities of
citizen journalists and about the advantages and disadvantages of having a democratized media.
33
Challenge Three: Intellectual Property and Censorship

In the previous lessons, you learned about the digital divide and citizen journalism. In this lesson, we will start by
defining both intellectual property and censorship. Then we will talk about how these two aspects of journalism
have changed with the digital revolution.
Intellectual Property
This work is derivative of "copyright)" by Stefan Parnarov via The Noun Project licensed under CC BY 4.0 and untitled image by Mohamed Hassan) via Pixabay
under Pixabay license. This derivative is licensed under CC BY 4.0 by FHI 360 for Online Professional English Network (OPEN), sponsored by the U.S. Department of
State.
First, let's talk about intellectual property. Intellectual property means making it illegal to copy the work of a
writer, musician, or other creator.
In the United States, there are many laws in place to protect people and their ideas. For example, when a musician
writes and records a song, they copyright that song, meaning they get a government document that says they
wrote and recorded that song and that no one else can create a song that sounds the same.
The same goes for journalists. When a journalist writes an article, no one else can copy that article without using
the journalist's name.
As digital journalism becomes more popular, journalists face new challenges. For example, it has become easier
and easier to simply copy and paste information from one site to the next. When a journalist copies entire
sentences or paragraphs from another article and puts it in their article, it is called plagiarism.
34
We talked a little bit about plagiarism in Module One. It relates to the principle of originality. Journalists must write
their own stories and not copy and paste anything from other journalists. Not only is this against the law, but
readers might lose trust in that journalist or news organization. Why read the copied work when you can read the
original?
Another challenge with the Internet and intellectual property is that images are so easily shared on social
media. Sometimes a citizen posts a picture of an event on their Facebook page or Twitter. That image can be easily
copied and pasted into newspapers and shown on a news program. The question is, who owns that
picture? Should the news organization tell people who took that picture? Should news organizations ask the
person before taking that image from their social media site? These issues of intellectual property will continue to
challenge news organizations as they work online more and more.
The second challenge we will discuss in this video is censorship. We talked about censorship in Module One, when
we were learning about the history of journalism. Censorship is how governments control the media. Censorship
works against freedom of the press.
Censorship and digital journalism is an ever-changing challenge. For example, there are countries that often
control what citizens can see on the Internet. If the government does not like what people are reading or
watching, they might block people from being able to see it.
A recent example of this was in 2011, in the Middle East. Activists used social media to talk about their anger
towards the government and to organize their protests. Journalists used what they saw on social media as a source
when researching their stories. Some countries completely shut the Internet down in order to stop this type of
political organization. This is a form of censorship.
To summarize, as journalists start to use these new digital tools, they have new challenges to face. The question of
intellectual property asks, who owns information on the Internet? The question of censorship asks, who controls
what we see on the Internet? These questions are very important as we move away from traditional media sources
like newspapers and television news.
35
Module Five Check
Please answer one question to verify that you have completed all activities in Module Five.
36

2021 Course Packet

Uploaded by

Document Information

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

2021 Course Packet

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

English for Journalism MOOC Course Packet

JANUARY 11 – DECEMBER 27, 2021

Learning Objectives and Learner Outcomes

Expectations and Grading

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION AND RESOURCES

This module will cover the following topics:

1. Introduction to the Online Professional English Network

2. Learning to Use Canvas

3. Online Learning Success Strategies

4. Certificates and Badges

"Untitled" by rawpixel.com via Unsplash is licensed under CC0

Logging in to Canvas Network

Supported Browsers and Mobile Apps

o Guide to Download the Canvas by Instructure Android App

o How do I use the Canvas App on my Android Device?

o Guide to Download Canvas by Instructure iOS App

o How do I use the Canvas app on my IOS device?

"Untitled Photo" by Tim Lefebvre via Unsplash is licensed under CC0.

"Untitled Photo" by Green Chameleon via Unsplash is licensed under CC0.

Here is an example of an in-text citation:

WHAT TYPE OF INFORMATION NEEDS A CITATION?

"Handshake" by John Hain via Pixabay is licensed under CC0

• Set aside dedicated time in your schedule to engage in course discussions.

"Certificate" by Clkr-free-vector-images via Pixabay is licensed under CC0.

"HELP" by Marc Falardeu via Flickr is licensed under CC BY 2.0

This will help us resolve your inquiry quickly.

Part Two: The Principles of Journalism

How did journalism begin?

How has that changed over time?

THE ORIGINS OF JOURNALISM

Hoe's Six-Cylinder Press" via Wikimedia Commons under Public Domain

[Video available online for viewing. Script below.]

"Simple Past" by FHI 360 is licensed under CC BY 4.0

For example: played, watched, completed.

The Past Progressive

"Past Progressive" by FHI 360 is licensed under CC BY 4.0

WHILE AND WHEN

Respond to option one or two. Maximum 200 words

"untitled image" by Callum Shaw via Unsplash under Unsplash license

OPTION 2: OUR SCARS TELL A STORY

“untitled Image” by Shutterbug75 from Pixabay under Pixabay license

Would you like to share the story with your classmates?

Step 1: Copy and paste the story you just wrote.

PRINCIPLE 1. VERIFICATION: VERIFY SOURCES FOR TRUTH

1. Is this a primary source?

2. Does the source have expert knowledge?

PRINCIPLE 3: ORIGINALITY. CREATE ORIGINAL WORK.

PRINCIPLE 4: COMPLETENESS. TELL THE WHOLE STORY.

PRINCIPLE 5: TRANSPARENCY. THE JOURNALISTIC PROCESS

PRINCIPLE 6: FAIRNESS. WRITE ACCURATELY AND WITHOUT

Journalism is a noun. It means the act of writing for the news.

journalism, journalist, journalistic

These words all share the root word journal

Let's take a look at another example.

We have talked about how verification is an important principle of journalism.

Information must be collected from verified sources.

Suffixes help us identify the part of speech (noun, verb, etc.)

In our first example, verified can be used as an adjective.

Information must be collected from verified sources.

Now let's look at transparency and transparent.

Transparency -> transparent

Now, we can say "The journalist's process was transparent.”

Pronunciation: Suffixes can change syllable stress

How many syllables are in the word verify?