Learning How to Write Like a Journalist

Does journalism get a bad rap? I think it does. By definition jour·nal·ism is the activity or profession of writing for newspapers, magazines, or news websites or preparing news to be broadcast. In effect, journalism is something we partake in every day. As we go to and fro, much of what we see in the world is viewed through the filter of journalism. Whether by a TV advertisement, radio news show, or YouTube blogger, each of us has found a journalistic personality or channel that we trust to introduce us to current events, new takes on an old idea, or just a fun respite from the monotony of life. As a consumer of journalism, I never knew why a particular piece makes me stop and pay attention. And that is important because I'm not only a consumer but also a producer of new technologies in my day job as a robotics researcher. To be successful in the long term, I will need everyday consumers to understand the advancements I make in my lab. If I can do what good journalism does well, people reading about my work will be more than just informed, they may appreciate my creations as well.

My first step to learning to think like a journalist is taking a course called Public Engagement Initiative PEI4041 taught by Dr. Valerie D. White, a professor of Journalism at Florida A&M University. The course's purpose is to train faculty members to disseminate their research to the broader community through the media.

This was the first week of the course, and I learned many things about journalism and writing. Perhaps the most enlightening was how to determine news value using the acronym TIPCUP which stands for timeliness, impact, proximity, conflict, unusualness, and prominence. Dr. White showed us how to determine whether stories had particular news values using a table of headlines. It was not easy, but I got the hang of it. Near the end, I had several guidelines to help me ascertain news value like, if the news item is about a public figure it has prominence, and if it affects the pocketbooks of several people it has impact. I also learned about the standards of evaluating news stories and the principles of good writing. My biggest takeaway from week 1 is that I have a lot to learn!