Class Journalistic Composition

This Subject intends to function as a theoretical and practical introduction to the exercise of journalism, providing an overview of the contexts (social and organizational) of the profession and the requirements (technical and human) required of professionals. Basic notions about the specificity of journalistic writing and its techniques, accompanied by the development of practical work throughout the semester. Students will also be motivated to perform a critical reading of media/information platforms, comparing the criteria of newsworthiness and the diversity or convergence of angles of approach to events, narrative structures, sources of information and respective attribution, titles, illustration (photographs, infographics), among other aspects.  

Not applicable

Module 1 – Introduction to the Practice of the Profession Being a Journalist: the concept of journalism and the journalist The professional identity of the journalist as an information producer. The reporter as a professional witness. Professional constraints. Stages of journalistic activity: Working with personal sources: contact agenda; interview; media events and press conferences. Documentary sources: press review; press release; news agency dispatch; blogs, wikis and other online resources; databases, archives and libraries. Diversity in journalism. Module 2 – Values and Journalistic Writing News values and criteria of newsworthiness. Journalistic writing practice – clarity, simplicity, accuracy. Journalistic language. Techniques for constructing journalistic texts – the brief and the news story. Relationship with readers: headlines; superleads; captions; highlights; overlines; subheadings.

Practical writing work, simulating a real labour context. This will be carried out in working groups and the results will be handed in during the school term. Articulation with the Computational Thinking Curricular Unit, thus promoting the application, in a real context, of an integration of graphic content within the scope of news writing, thus allowing work on the news from a global viewpoint.

Alves, R., & Alvarado, M. (Eds). (17). Diversidad en el periodismo latinoamericano: Reflexiones de 16 periodistas de siete países sobre como hacer más inclusivas las salas de redacción y sus coberturas. Knight Center.Correia,  Fernando (1998), Os Jornalistas e as Noti¿cias , Lisboa, Caminho Digital News Report 2022 | Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism . (2022, junho 17). https://reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk/digital-news-report/2022 Fontcuberta, Mar de (1999), A Noti¿cia. Pistas para Compreender o Mundo , Lisboa, Editorial Noti¿cias Mesquita, M., & Gomes Pedro Marques. (2022). Introdução à análise dos títulos da imprensa. Edições Universitárias Lusófonas. Kovach, Bill, Rosenstiel, Tom (2004), Os Elementos do Jornalismo. O que os profissionais do jornalismo devem saber e o pu¿blico deve exigir , Porto: Porto Editora Ricardo, Daniel (2003), Ainda Bem que me Pergunta. Manual de Escrita Jornali¿stica , Lisboa, Editorial Noti¿cias