Mr Batt began the session with a discussion of what defines news and journalism. He introduced the newspaper publisher William Hearst’s perspective that, “News is something somebody doesn’t want printed; all else is advertising," which touches on the long-standing role of journalists' being people’s key to knowledge, and a mouthpiece for those who would otherwise be drowned out.

This idea has been present throughout history, when those who have something to hide have always rushed to silence the sharing of stories – from the 1933 Nazi book burnings to Trump's funding cuts to pro-democracy media outlets and the ‘Great Firewall’ of China.

Mr Batt continued with a Frank Miller quote: “The day you write to please everyone, you are no longer in journalism. You are in show business.” before reminding us of the perspective that journalists write the first rough draft of history. This conversation was food-for-thought, from which we could begin to explore our intentions as journalists – from wanting to record history to finding a way to represent a stifled opinion.

The masterclass moved on to learning about journalistic techniques. We learned about the ‘inverted news pyramid’, where the most newsworthy piece of information comes first in the article, a section in which we should answer at least three of the big WHs (Who? What? Why? Where? When? How?), and further details follow in order of importance. This is a key technique when under the pressure of a wordcount or the limited space of a newspaper column.

Mr Batt then taught us about utilising the concept of a ‘persona’:

Creating an imaginary character who you are writing for to ensure all choices are appropriate for the target audience. Along with a catchy headline, this is essential to capturing a potential reader’s attention.

He recommended we come up with a headline after writing the article so that we can maximise intrigue, without potentially damaging our journalistic integrity by misleading the audience.

However, word choices aren’t sufficient to craft a great news story; facts, quotations and sources are essential to making our writing convincing. According to Mr Batt, the three most important qualities of a quotation were being authentic, credible and human. This allows the story to connect with its readers on both a logical and emotional level.

Whether attendees have ambitions for a career in journalism or were looking to improve their writing skills, the session proved to be an enriching and thought-provoking way to spend the last lunchtime of the academic year.  A huge thank you to Mr Batt for his generosity and dedication, and to the staff at Kendrick, especially Mrs Shaw and Ms Kattirzi, for supporting the Kendrick Journalism Club in our endeavours. We look forward to welcoming regular as well as new attendees to the Journalism Club as it resumes for more exciting events this term.