MECM10006 – Introduction to Media Writing
Introduction to Media Writing
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MECM10006 – Introduction to Media Writing
Folio 2 comprises of two pieces of writing plus their promotion. It is due Tuesday, 1 November
2022 by 6:59 via LMS. It is worth 50% of your grade. In total, Folio 2 comprises 2000 words.
The two pieces are a hard news story and an op-ed.
Formatting
Submit both pieces in one Word document – doc, docx
Ensure your work is 1.5 or double-spaced.
Ensure that your file name includes your name.
Top tip: Use the template provided for this assignment.
Keep copies of ALL your pieces on your computer / backed up online.
1. Hard news story (650 words; worth 20%) + Promotion (worth 5%)
Intended learning outcome:
This exercise helps you expand and foster your interviewing and writing skills. Finding and
researching a story is key for every media writer. This assignment will help you master the
traditional news story. It will also help you perfect your quoting and concise writing. For this
assignment task, you can draw on your experience from the news analysis and the favourite recipe.
Assignment details:
Write a story on a current (hard news!) issue.
• Current means that the issue or event you report on must be relevant to the period from
September 1, 2022 until your submission. This includes not only isolated events that might
have occurred since September 1, but, for example, a series of events (trends) or issues that
began long ago and have special newsworthiness at the moment.
• The topic must NOT be COVID-19! Your story may be related to COVID-19, e.g. business impacts
or rally, BUT it must NOT be COVID-19, e.g. latest outbreak/numbers in Melbourne, Prime
Minister’s press conference.
AND NO soft news!
Remember: Hard news are matters of public interest. That includes more than politics, e.g.
labour issues, industry news, a protest in the CBD, student elections at University of Melbourne
or local council meetings. BUT: You must not write on ‘soft news’, e.g. celebrity gossip. If you
have no idea where to start, you may consider following up an existing story or reporting on
courts, parliaments, public-interest events.
If you are uncertain whether your chosen topic constitutes ‘hard news’, please speak with your
tutor.
MECM10006 – Introduction to Media Writing
University of Melbourne School of Culture and Communication Dr. Sonja Molnar [email protected]
FOR USE ONLY BY THE STUDENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF MELBOURNE
ENROLLED IN THE SUBJECT: MECM10006 2
• Target publication: Please aim your hard news story at an online publication. Consider: If you
are reporting on a local news issue, a local newspaper/site might be the best publication. You
would also stand a higher chance of publication than e.g. with The Guardian. Your submission
must include the following information: Target publication: XYZ (section)
Please do not write for more pop culture-oriented sources (e.g. Junkee) or for an
academic/scholarly publication (e.g. Overland). Remember, you are writing a hard news story,
and thus need to write it for a publication that publishes hard news stories.
If you have any queries about potential publications, please speak with your tutor.
• Interview: You are required to interview at least TWO persons and to include at least ONE
quote each in your hard news story. Please make sure that the persons you interview actually
matter for your story and that their quotes add to it. For example, quotes can be used to provide
an ‘eyewitness perspective’ on a particular incident or event.
You may also interview more than two persons to provide a comprehensive account.
Due to COVID-19 we recommend that you conduct interviews via e-mail, skype/zoom, phone or
other forms of distance communication.
You must provide contact details for your interviewee (NO ANONYMOUS SOURCES!) and be
able to provide proof that the interview took place, e.g. video or audio recording, e-mail
interaction, etc.
Contact details include: Full name + phone number or email
The name and contact details do not count towards your overall word count.
• Pick a strong headline
• Write the story in the classic inverted pyramid style (see lecture/tutorial week 8)
In brief: A tight lead of up to 30 or 40 words summarising the key point of the article, answering
the 5Ws and 1H (who, what, when, where, why and how). A strong middle containing quotes,
crucial context, and background information. Written from most to least important.
• Keep in mind that hard news is about objectivity not opinion!
• Be open to a wide range of sources, perspectives and opinions, but ultimately you must judge
which are most relevant and therefore which quotes and pieces of evidence deserve inclusion
in your story.
• Embedded content (MUST): Provide at least one element of embedded content. This can be
a picture, a brief video, a twitter or facebook post – whatever works best with your news story.
Remember: Embedded content needs to add to your story.
Please also write a caption for the embedded content. This caption does not count towards your
total word count. (see lecture/tutorial week 7)
MECM10006 – Introduction to Media Writing
University of Melbourne School of Culture and Communication Dr. Sonja Molnar [email protected]
FOR USE ONLY BY THE STUDENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF MELBOURNE
ENROLLED IN THE SUBJECT: MECM10006 3
Promotion:
You also need to write a pitch and a promotional twitter post for your story. This part is connected
to the hard news story.
• Pitch – max. 75 words each – worth 2.5%
Write a pitch for your hard news story. Write as if you were a freelancer emailing the editor of
the relevant section in the target publication of your choice. In your pitch (max. 75 words each),
you must sum up the angle of your piece – its essence – and why your piece is newsworthy,
timely and well-suited to the section. This pitch is intended to make you think clearly about the
purpose of your hard news story and how it sits in the marketplace of ideas and stories.
75 words is the absolute maximum for a pitch!
• One Twitter post – max. 280 characters – worth 2.5%
Promote your hard news story via Twitter. Write as if you were a freelancer promoting your story
via social media. Your tweet must stay within the 280-character limit and contain an image.
Make sure your posts tickle your audience’s interest to read your piece.
Please note: You do not need to actually post the tweet on Twitter. You must, however, be
cognisant of the various techniques and writing styles that appear on the platform (e.g.
hashtags). 280 characters is the absolute maximum for a tweet!
Although these promotional texts are shorter in actual length, they are equivalent to 250 words
(hence worth 5%).
Referencing
If you take information from another source, you must cite this source – otherwise you commit
plagiarism.
Do NOT use footnotes or citation in brackets!
In text please include a hyperlink for that information. Hyperlinking is a very common practice in
online writing and will enable you to acknowledge from where you took a particular point (rather
than pass off that point as being your own).
If you do not know how to include hyperlinks in Word, please speak with your tutor.
In addition, please include a reference list. You may use any reference style you like (e.g. APA,
MLA, Harvard etc.). Just be consistent and please indicate the reference style you chose, e.g.
References (APA).
These references do not count towards your overall word count.
Word Length
The hard news story should be 650 words +/- 10%. The headline will not be part of your word
count. Please indicate the word count at the end of the piece.
MECM10006 – Introduction to Media Writing
University of Melbourne School of Culture and Communication Dr. Sonja Molnar [email protected]
FOR USE ONLY BY THE STUDENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF MELBOURNE
ENROLLED IN THE SUBJECT: MECM10006 4
2. Op-ed (850 words; worth 20%) + Promotion (worth 5%)
Intended learning outcome:
This exercise helps you expand and foster your argumentation and writing skills. Finding and
researching a story is key for every media writer. This assignment will help you master opinion
writing and help you perfect your persuasive skills. For this assignment task, you can draw on your
experience from the news analysis and the review.
Assignment details:
Write an opinion piece on a current news issue of your choice. (see also lecture Week 9)
• Current means that the issue or event you comment on must be relevant to the period from
September 1, 2022 until your submission. This includes not only isolated events that might
have occurred since September 1, but, for example, a series of events (trends) or issues that
began long ago and have special newsworthiness at the moment.
• Topic: any current news issue is allowed. You may want to write an op-ed in response to a
recently published news article or comment on an observation that you made, e.g. you notice a
lot of litter on your daily walks in the park and you address the issue of waste in today’s society
(see for example Coward 2018). Remember: The op-ed derives its name from originally having
appeared opposite the editorial page in a newspaper. Today, it is more widely seen as a column
that shares the strong, informed, and focused opinion of the writer on an issue of relevance to
a targeted audience. NO soft (celebrity) news!
• Target publication: Please aim your op-ed at an online publication or website and indicate
which publication you have chosen, e.g. Target publication: XYZ. This information is not part
of the word count. No tabloids – no soft news!
Do your research. Find out which publications include similar pieces of writing and match your
piece to their target readership.
If you have any queries about potential publications, please speak with your tutor.
• Research: An op-ed is an opinion piece that is based on facts and argumentation. You cannot
simply write down your thoughts on a topic. Your opinion must be supported by evidence. So
do your research. Read widely on the topic. Provide evidence.
• Pick a strong headline.
• Embedded content (MUST): Provide at least one element of embedded content. This can be
a picture (including an illustration or cartoon) or a twitter or facebook post – whatever works
best with your op-ed. Remember: Embedded content needs to add to your writing.
Please also write a caption for the embedded content. This caption does not count towards your
total word count. (see lecture/tutorial week 7)
• Interviews: No interviews! Interviews are uncommon for op-eds. Op-eds present the author’s
opinion on a topic. They may include quotations from sources (e.g. other articles, interviews,
press releases) in the argumentation, but they do not include an interview.
MECM10006 – Introduction to Media Writing
University of Melbourne School of Culture and Communication Dr. Sonja Molnar [email protected]
FOR USE ONLY BY THE STUDENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF MELBOURNE
ENROLLED IN THE SUBJECT: MECM10006 5
Promotion:
You also need to write a pitch and a promotional twitter post for your op-ed. This part is connected
to the op-ed.
• Pitch – max. 75 words each – worth 2.5%
Write a pitch for your op-ed. Write as if you were a freelancer emailing the editor of the relevant
section in the target publication of your choice. In your pitch (max. 75 words each), you must
sum up the angle of your piece – its essence – and why your piece is newsworthy, timely and
well-suited to the section. This pitch is intended to make you think clearly about the purpose of
your hard news story and how it sits in the marketplace of ideas and stories.
75 words is the absolute maximum for a pitch!
• One Twitter post – max. 280 characters – worth 2.5%
Promote your op-ed via Twitter. Write as if you were a freelancer promoting your piece via social
media. Your tweet must stay within the 280-character limit and contain an image. Make sure
your posts tickle your audience’s interest to read your piece.
Please note: You do not need to actually post the tweet on Twitter. You must, however, be
cognisant of the various techniques and writing styles that appear on the platform (e.g.
hashtags). 280 characters is the absolute maximum for a tweet!
Although these promotional texts are shorter in actual length, they are equivalent to 250 words
(hence worth 5%).
Referencing
If you take information from another source, you must cite this source – otherwise you commit
plagiarism.
Do NOT use footnotes or citation in brackets!
In text please include a hyperlink for that information. Hyperlinking is a very common practice in
online writing and will enable you to acknowledge from where you took a particular point (rather
than pass off that point as being your own).
If you do not know how to include hyperlinks in Word, please speak with your tutor.
In addition, please include a reference list. You may use any reference style you like (e.g. APA,
MLA, Harvard etc.). Just be consistent and please indicate the reference style you chose, e.g.
References (APA).
These references do not count towards your overall word count.
Word Length
The op-ed should be 850 words +/- 10%. The headline will not be part of your word count. Please
indicate the word count at the end of the piece.
Peer review:
A draft of the op-ed is due in Week 11 for peer review. These drafts will not be assessed. Peer
review means that you exchange drafts with a co-student and provide feedback to each other. A
feedback form will be provided. This feedback form is due in the tutorial of Week 12 in which you
will also be given time to work on each other’s drafts and build your editing skills.