Journalism Courses
Journalism could broadly be defined as the act of reporting news. This implies identifying news and then writing, editing and presenting it in any medium for public interest. An example of journalism in our everyday lives is the media, such as newspapers, magazines, photos, radio broadcasting, internet articles, television documentaries, etc. Although the reporting of actual news and facts makes up the greatest volume of journalism, opinion and commentary pieces also form part of this field, and very often these writings stir up debates that lead to public forums where this is discussed in further detail.
Why should I study Journalism?
Journalism is all around us, and it’s what keeps our world current and up to date. It’s arguably the most popular aspect of modern day living, as we’re confronted with it every minute of every day. Whether you’re reading the paper with your morning coffee, searching the web while at work, listening to the radio on your way home, reading the billboards while you’re stuck in traffic, switching over to the evening news after you’ve watched the soaps, or paging through a magazine just before you go to sleep, journalism forms part of every spoken or written form of communication you’ll come across. It goes without saying that careers in this field are therefore constantly evolving and the demand for good journalists is ever increasing.
What Journalism Study courses do College SA offer?
College SA offers a number of journalism related courses that could broadly be grouped into five categories. They are:
Let’s explore each category further to give you an indication of where it fits into the world of journalism.
Computer Studies
As the electronic era has basically taken over all forms of communication, the act of writing is slowly becoming something of the past. Computers are part of our daily lives, and without the necessary skills to use it effectively, is it almost impossible to perform your job properly.
Being a journalist would require you to use word processing programmes to convey your thoughts electronically, and if you’re not able to type and use computer software such as Microsoft Office, your career would be doomed. Even if you have the best journalistic ideas and brilliant opinions, without the ability to share this with the world in electronic form, you won’t get very far. For this reason, College SA has compiled computer courses to aid students who are not familiar with these programmes.
College SA offers the following Computer Studies Courses that would assist students who want to pursue a career in journalism:
Creative Studies
Have you ever given the designing aspect of journalism any thought? Who does the layout for newspapers and magazines, and how do they decide where to place text, photos or advertisements? And do they use just any picture to accompany a specific article or are there certain techniques involved in setting up the perfect scene? Well, the creative side to journalism is just as important as the actual writing process, as the whole package needs to be appealing and well presented.
Contrary to popular belief, careers in journalism are not limited to only writers and editors. Photographers play an extremely important role in the media, whilst publishers need knowledge about web design, layout and the use of graphics to create mass appeal. The designing courses we offer could therefore be of great value to students who want to focus on the creative aspects of journalism.
College SA offers the following Creative Studies Courses that would assist students who want to pursue a career in journalism:
Investigation Studies
What makes a good journalist? Good writing skills seems quite obvious and even being objective and precise comes to mind, but have you ever thought about where their ideas come from? Good journalists FIND stories – they don’t necessarily WAIT for them to happen!
Finding interesting topics to write about involves the ability to investigate and question matters, so being inquisitive would be a good character trait to have if you’re considering becoming a journalist. General investigation skills and the knowledge of what questions to ask during interviews would give prospective journalists the edge, and for this reason we include some of our investigation programmes.
College SA offers the following Investigation Studies Courses that would assist students who want to pursue a career in journalism:
Radio and Sound Engineering Studies
As journalism is not limited to only one medium like newspapers or magazines, a qualification in Radio and Sound Engineering could also be of great value to students who want to enter this field. The spoken word is quite different from printed media, and radio journalists use different techniques to keep listeners interested than that used in written texts. Because of this, there is a high demand for sound engineers who are able to compile different digital segments to form a coherent end product.
College SA offers the following Radio and Sound Engineering Studies Courses that would assist students who want to pursue a career in journalism:
Writing studies
Good writing skills are not negotiable if you want to become a successful journalist. Incorrect tenses, spelling mistakes, incoherence and punctuation errors create a very bad impression, and writing that’s boring or does not seem appealing to readers would mean the end of any journalist’s career.
If you’re serious about a career in journalism, you need to have confidence in your language skills. It is just as important that you have a style of writing that grips a reader’s attention and conveys the message in a clear and nonbiased manner. As a journalist, you therefore need to keep readers interested whilst, at the same time, providing relevant content.
College SA offers the following Writing Studies Courses that would assist students who want to pursue a career in journalism:
