• What is news? /elements of news values and news virtues. • Qualities of a news reporter. • What motivates a news reporter? • General rules for news writing. • the basics • Elements of good writing/ what makes for poor writing. • Conducting interviews. • News gathering and sources. • Journalese. • News writing and reporting for the print media. • The lead. • The story structure/components of the story. • Types of news stories. • The qualities of a good news story. • Reporter’s checklist. • News writing and reporting for the broadcast media. • Criteria for selecting broadcast stories. • Style. • Features/structure of a broadcast news story. • Writing a broadcast copy. • Specialised reporting. • Introduction to specialised reporting. • Reporting from the beats. • Online reporting. • Follows. • Advanced reporting. • Science and technology reporting. • Reporting sports. • Political reporting. • Economy and business reporting. • Reporting crime, accidents and the courts. • The reporter, the law and ethical issues. • Press freedom unit 2 basic press laws. • Ethical issues in media practice.