How to be 4× better at journalistic writing | Namibia (2024)

I recently read an article that outlines the importance of good journalistic writing.

Not in the sense that everyone should become a journalist writer, but rather with a focus on men and women who have decided to embark on the incredible journey of journalistic writing.

Journalism is plainly about writing, but there are additional skills, knowledge, and insights required to convince the manager and, particularly in this regard, the reader.

#1 Journalistic writers should adopt the fascinating ability to understand the smallest parts of the language.

English is a dynamic language, and it is therefore suited for journalistic writing (however, other languages are not subjected to writing journalistically).

Many people, organizations, and universities around the world use English as a medium of instruction and communication.

Grammar, vocabulary, style, tone, originality, and content are examples of criteria that journalistic writers need to take into serious consideration.

#2 The voice is extremely important to targeted audiences.

What the journalist is writing about depends entirely on the readers.

The value of the content to the readers is what makes the writing important or less important.

The style and voice give the reader a perspective to view the written piece from. 

For instance, junk writing that has less meaning deserves to be in the trash, while writing about a real issue that concerns the readers (writing about a topic that the reader can relate to) leaves the reader with food for thought.

#3 Precision

Paragraphs should be precise and conform to publication and editing styles. 

It is interesting to just write anything creative and original; however, there are rules for writing different pieces in English. 

For example, columns are more obviously written in columns, and it is fairly different from articles, which are written in longer sentences compared to column writing. 

Writers should write paragraphs according to the rules of each piece. The piece should be tidy and structured to inform the reader.

#4 The uniqueness and style

As much as research is required to write an informative piece, you can use your ideas. 

Originality is what differentiates your writing from other pieces. 

Creativity counts for using unique and interesting ideas that are new to journalistic writing but that make sense and indicate a clear understanding of a particular topic or issue. 

The writing style of the reader is what attracts readers and gives them the appetite to read more of such writing.

*NB!!!

It is the accumulation of paragraphs that make up an article. 

The paragraph should be structured as follows: 

First, the introductory sentence or topic sentence, followed by supporting details in the next three or four lines, clearly breaking down the topic sentence, and then the last line, which concludes the details and answers the topic sentence.