News writing is offered as a fundamental journalism course in many programs. According to the Media College website, students learning to write a basic news story are taught how to report on the five "W's": who, what, when, where and why. News-writing courses usually cover the basic elements of a news story, including what information to include, how to report on the topic and the kind of writing style required.
Feature writing is a different kind of journalism. Feature stories also require the journalist to write factual, informative sentences, but feature pieces tend to include elements that cater to general human interest. A feature story may be about trends and written with a voice that examines the topic beyond the requirements of news story. A feature story typically includes interesting points that provide more information than a news piece. Feature stories are an important part of newspapers, magazines and websites.
Many colleges go a step further than teaching about writing and story structure. Many professors instruct students about how to research and investigate for their stories. They teach students where to find information, how to ask for information, the laws that revolve around gaining access to public and private information and how to record it.
Some colleges offer broadcast journalism courses. These courses focus on speaking and reporting for a camera. Although many journalists work behind the scenes, instead of in front of the camera, broadcast journalists deliver stories they write or are written for a camera. Students must learn to speak clearly, deliver stories with an engaging tone and interact with others on camera.
Many college journalism courses focus on the journalist's code of ethics. According to Journalism.org, many journalists have obligations to fulfill when reporting to the public. These courses focus on the ethics of obtaining and writing about information, accuracy, truth and how to deal with bribery from people who want journalists to write (or not write) a specific story. Many of these courses teach the rules and ethics revolving around capturing photos and conflicts of interest.
Specific courses cover travel journalism. Travel journalists visit locations and write about them. These courses instruct students on what to write about, how to write for their audience and how to interview locals. Travel pieces are often considered features, but their main focus is on delivering information about locations in a certain way. Taking a college travel journalism course may enlighten hopeful travel journalists.