What Is News?
Who: Helen Sissons, senior lecturer of journalism at AUT
When: 6-8pm Wednesday 14th July
Where: Media Design School, Level 12, 242 Queen Street
What: In a world driven by information and news, it is often hard to get your message heard over the babble. Understanding why some stories make the cut, and some don’t, will help you on your way to gaining coverage for your cause.
In this workshop we will show you how to uncover and target your newsworthy message and grab journalists’ attention. You will also learn some best practice techniques when it comes to actually writing your story into a press release.
More about Helen: Helen has an extensive background in both the practice and teaching of News Journalism.
After working five years as a reporter for local and national newspapers in Britain and the United States she moved to the BBC where she spent 10 years reporting for television and radio news. From 1996 she incorporated her work with the BBC with lecturing in News Journalism at the University of Leeds.
In 2006 Helen published a textbook – Practical Journalism: How to Write News (Sage, London) and in 2007 she joined AUT’s School of Communication Studies.
Helen’s particular field of research is the effect on journalistic practice and news product of increased PR-isation and media convergence.
