Brototi Roy
Wednesday 27th June, 15.00-17.00, UAB Campus
In 2016, with the two events of Brexit and the Trump elections, we learnt how easy it had become for the spread of lies, ineffectiveness of fact-checking, and populist propaganda to dominate in this post-truth era. In this world of click-baits and fake news, it thus becomes crucial to learn the art of writing for mass media, and be a part of citizen journalism. Writing for the press not only helps to disseminate our viewpoints to a larger audience, it also teaches us to write clearly and concisely, and without using too much of academic jargon.
This workshop aims to provide practical tips and advice, starting from identifying the kind of magazines and blogs you wish to write for depending on your interest and target audiences, to how to pitch to the journal and the style of writing and editing.
Most opinion pieces are 800-1000 words long and the opening 3-4 lines are the most crucial to hold attention of the reader, so in this workshop we also talk about ways in which you can get the crux of your message across. I also spend some time deliberating on the need to turn your academic articles into short media pieces for a wider outreach and how to do so.
Finally, since this would be one of the assignment format, I will also be introducing two blogs, one on degrowth and the other on environmental justice which could be potential places to submit the articles you write. We will also have hands-on training on how to pitch (for both single article and a series of articles) and how to draft a structure of the article in small groups of 3-4 people.