Learn to ask good questions. These should be the right questions, ones that cannot be answered with a simple “yes” or “no” — they are also called open-ended questions. Closed-ended questions, which can be answered briefly and definitively, can sometimes be used as clarifying questions if you didn’t understand something and want to clear it up. Open-ended questions, however, give you more information, and the interviewee is forced to give more detailed responses. Questions like “Why?”, “Tell me how it all started,” or “What consequences will this lead to?” are examples. These cannot be answered in just a few words.

First and foremost, when we talk about the ability to ask questions, we mean during interviews. But even when writing articles or reports, you will still interact with people and ask questions. A good journalist is someone who can ask the right questions and listen carefully to the person they are speaking with. Beginner journalists often feel shy about asking something or don’t know how to delve deeper into a topic. Don’t stress about it — study the topic a bit and ask simple questions that regular people would ask. As a representative of society, a representative of ordinary people, you should ask the questions that interest ordinary people.

“How much money was invested in this project?” might be a good question if you’re writing for a business or economic publication. “What rides will this park have? And how much will a ticket cost?” are more relevant questions if you are writing or shooting a video for regular city residents. Ask what would be useful for ordinary people—your readers and viewers—to know.

Always prepare for an interview and write down your questions in advance. But also listen to your interviewee, improvise, and come up with new questions based on their answers.

Develop critical thinking. Question everything and ask yourself, “Is this true?” “Who benefits from this?” Journalism is not just about reporting events or neutrally conveying information; it’s often about analyzing and interpreting events. It’s very important to distinguish facts from opinions. “This is a profitable project for our city” is just the opinion of an expert, whereas the amount of taxes the project has brought into the city budget—that’s a number, that’s a fact.

First and foremost, we describe facts—something was built, opened, a law was passed, someone died, etc. But we also share opinions (usually not our own, but those of experts). The reader/viewer learns the facts from you, hears different opinions, and draws their own conclusions. Don’t spoon-feed them information like baby food. Let people “chew” on it themselves, think, and form their own opinions. That’s why you need to present different points of view, not just try to “push” a single perspective.

Another point—always verify information and sources. Often, simply entering a few queries into an online search engine is enough to understand how competent a particular specialist is, or to confirm whether or not a company in your city is indeed the only one that produces furniture, for example.

It’s also crucial to write clearly and understandably. You have no idea how complex and wordy beginner journalists can write at times—politicians and other verbose speakers could envy them. A skilled journalist with lots of experience understands that it’s important to write simply and to get to the point. “The city plans to build a water park. Nearby residents are against it, fearing noise and other issues that might arise during construction and operation. A meeting was held between business representatives and residents where all these concerns were discussed.” It’s all clear, it’s all simple (as much as possible), and that’s how it should be written.