Journalists speak at two Luxembourg schools about how to write articles, what happens in a newsroom and how to get into journalism

Two Luxembourg Times journalists swapped the newsroom for the classroom this week to talk to pupils about journalism, how to enter the job and how to write articles.

Marc Auxenfants and Heledd Pritchard visited the English section of the Athénée de Luxembourg in Luxembourg City where pupils follow the international curriculum and the International School of Differdange where the European curriculum is taught.

Both schools are taking part in a national journalism competition, known as concours jeune journaliste, where pupils are asked to put together articles on the topic of freedom of speech.

Luxembourg Times’ journalists talked to the pupils about the day-to-day running of a newsroom, what happens during a news conference and how journalists find and pitch story ideas.

They also spoke about how to research a topic, find sources and compile quotes, as well as how to go about writing a story and the most important elements.

Aisha Bové, an English teacher at the Athénée, said the pupils found it useful to learn about the different educational pathways to becoming a journalist and enjoyed hearing about journalistic writing styles, media law and ethics and how to build content.

“In a follow-up lesson, pupils mentioned that they felt encouraged to do more editing work on their texts, especially regarding the importance of headings and subheadings,” Bové added.

The concours jeune journaliste allows pupils to try out the work of reporters by coming up with their own story ideas and writing, editing and putting the article together visually.

The competition is open to all secondary schools and the winning paper or website will be decided by a jury of representatives from the press council, the centre for political education and coordination service for educational and technological research and innovation (SCRIPT).

Luxembourg Times, January 2019