Background Scenario
You are a new intern at Newsroom165739. You are in a space where you find yourself surrounded by professional journalists working against deadlines, the constant buzz of phones, and the rapid tap of keyboards.
This week, you are part of a special mentoring workshop conducted by Marvin Gwala, a renowned journalist with decades of experience. He has put together a workshop programme which emphasizes the importance of researching and interviewing as essential skills required for effective groundbreaking journalism. He is putting together a special edition of young journalists across the country. He only has limited publication spaces available for students who successfully complete the workshop.
The workshop is packed with a few challenges to test your knowledge and ability to share your ideas and opinions. On the first challenge, each intern will have a session with Marvin and their mentor to brainstorm for your news story or feature of a topic of your own choosing. The second challenge includes producing an original news story or feature. The last challenge is set to test your ability to share your opinion on the fabrication of news. You will submit your work to both
your Marvin and mentor with hopes that your work will be picked as part of the special edition.
Question 1 (Marks: 20)
You have been preparing for your brainstorming session for a while now. You asked your mentor to give you some feedback before your first challenge which is a brainstorming session with her and Marvin.
Your mentor tells you to write down your ideas, in the form of a discussion, where you take her through your plans for researching and interviewing for your news story or feature.
Your discussion should include the following:
• Highlight your chosen genre (1) and topic (1) for your news story or feature.
• List two sources for your news story or feature (2).
• Distinguish which source will be primary (1) and which will be secondary source (1)
• Explain how you will research and verify each source (4)
• Explain the different types of interview/s you chose for this story (4).
• Share how the interviews will be conducted in various contexts (6).
• Be 400 – 1 500 words
Question 2 (Marks: 55)
Now that you have completed all your basic research, you are ready to begin on your writing journey and be an active journalist. Apply the various writing styles to produce a hard news story for Newsroom165739. (15)
Your mentor advises you to focus on the following:
• Use the information you had in Question 1 to complete this question (5).
• Conduct interviews to obtain quotes to include in the story. Provide transcripts as attachments (15).
• Ensure the story is written is original, creative and is written in your own words (10).
• Focus on grammar, spelling, readability and include a headline (10).
• As this is a journalistic piece of writing, no in-text referencing must be present, but every source used to research and write the story needs to be present in your reference list/bibliography as proof of your research.
• Ensure your story is 400 – 600 words.
OR
Question 3 (Marks: 55)
Now that you have completed all your basic research, you are ready to begin on your writing journey and be an active journalist. Construct a feature for any genre of your choice for Newsroom165739. (15)
Your mentor advises you to focus on the following:
• Use the information you had in Question 1 to complete this question (5).
• Conduct interviews to obtain quotes to include in the story. Provide transcripts as attachments (15).
• Ensure the story is written is original, creative and is written in your own words (10).
• Focus on grammar, spelling, readability and include a headline (10).
• As this is a journalistic piece of writing, no in-text referencing must be present, but every source used to research and write the story needs to be present in your reference list/bibliography as proof of your research.
• Ensure your feature is 400 – 800 words.
Question 4 (Marks: 25)
Scenario
You are almost at the end of an exciting week. Marvin plays devil’s advocate to the whole group. He explains how there are interesting reasons which inspire the spread of fake news. “If we knew and understood why fellow journalists fabricate news, would we be in better positions to advise
them against their actions?”
Discuss possible reasons for fabricating news. (10) Your discussion should:
• Include two real-life examples of fake news in the media which will strengthen the arguments you make in your discussion (15).
• Be between 400 – 800 words.
Answers to Above Questions on Journalism
Expert Answer 1: Your assistance in going through my ideas is truly appreciated as it will help me to conduct my session with Marvin in a better way. The ways in which I am planning to proceed are indicated below:
Genre and Topic: The genre that I have selected is a feature story that will help me to discuss the topic in detail. The specific topic I have considered for my feature story is “Youth unemployment in South Africa: A major concern for South African Graduates”.
Two Sources: The two sources that I have considered to write my feature story are:
Source 1: To conduct interviews with the youth graduates in South Africa from top five South African universities.
Source 2: Recent stats on youth unemployment in South Africa.
To know more about the research and verification methods along with the type of interviews that I will be performing, consult our journalism assignment experts to get detailed analysis.
