Journalists’ writing gym

Do your writing muscles need a good workout?

Like any exercise, writing requires a good understanding of the basics; how to construct sentences, paragraphs, and build articles in order to tell compelling stories.

Master the basics and ensure you produce excellent, clean copy every time!

Journalists will learn:
• Adapting your style for different purposes, from hard news to opinion pieces;
• Structuring a story with tight story lines and great flow;
• Deciding what information to collect;
• Identifying and interviewing sources;
• Taking notes during interviews and press conferences;
• Composing gripping openers;
• Writing narratives to keep audience attention;
• Ending on a high note;
• Including additional information and graphical elements;
• Meeting your deadlines and when to stop writing;
• Rewriting and proofing your own work;
• Re-purposing copy for digital platforms; and,
• Giving each story greater reach through social media.

This comprehensive, interactive course will refresh you on the basics and have you writing tight, entertaining stories that speak to your audience.
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Who should attend?
This course is a Core (basic) level course, but will benefit any journalists who needs a refresher on the basics of writing. Although created for news journalists, this course is also suitable for magazine feature writers and sub-editors.
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About the Trainer
Janine has worked in 27 years of experience in the diverse media environments as a South African journalist and interviewer of top names in the news, public figures and celebrities. She has extensive writing experience, having worked in newspapers (The Citizen, The Sunday Times, Sunday Star, Saturday Star) magazines (Fair Lady), as well as broadcast (Radio 702, SABC 2, MNET, Britain's Channel 4, Granada Television and the BBC, and Ulster Television in Belfast, Ireland). Janine is renowned for her interactive and customised training experiences. With her combination of writing and training experience, no participant will leave the training room without vastly improved writing skills.
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Venue

Date: 13 March 2013 to 15 March 2013
Time: 09:00 AM - 04:00 PM
Location: IAJ offices, Johannesburg
More info: 1 Richmond Forum, Cedar Avenue, Richmond Auckland Park

Contact: Maki Mathe
Company name: Institute for the advancement of Journalism
Telephone number: 011 482 4990
Email address