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This study aims to evaluate the needs and difficulties of news writing skills in English by undergraduate program graduating class of 2016 E.C. students studying JoCo/Journalism and Communication at Assosa University. The undergraduate graduating class of 2016 E.C. students studying Journalism and Communication at Assosa University faced difficulties in writing news in English. During the actual classes, these students encountered problems in producing the required news. General objective of the study is to evaluate the needs and difficulties of JoCo student’s news writing skills in English. The study used a mixed research approach to examine the needs and difficulties of news writing skills in English by undergraduate program graduating class of 2016 E.C. students studying JoCo at Assosa University. The study population were 46 undergraduate program graduating class of 2016 E.C. Assosa University JoCo students and 3 JoCo instructors. Convenience sampling technique was used to select the study area. This was primarily because the researcher was teaching this class and had an opportunity to personally experience how the students had hardly worked on news writing in English. Census sampling was employed to take all the 46 undergraduate program graduating class of 2016 E.C. JoCo students and 3 JoCo instructors. Ten interviewees were selected from the study population using a stratified sampling technique. Stratified sampling was also used to select students’ document for the document analysis. The academic writing document analysis was conducted on three news writing courses: News Writing and Reporting for Print (course code JoCo2061), Broadcast News Writing and Reporting (course code JoCo2081), and Newspaper Production (course code JoCo4067), focusing on students’ assignments in news writing. In this research, three data-gathering tools—questionnaires, interviews, and document analysis—were employed to collect data. These tools facilitated the collection of both quantitative and qualitative data. A questionnaire consisting of 47 items, coded into two categories and organized under 18 thematic areas, was distributed to 46 respondents. All respondents completed and returned the questionnaire. The returned questionnaire was tallied and tabulated. Then, the tabulated data were interpreted and analyzed. Data collected through the questionnaire were analyzed using descriptive statistical analysis- frequency, mean, standard deviation, and percentage. The qualitative data were collected through interviews and document analysis. For the interview, 10 students and 3 instructors were interviewed. For document analysis, 71 documents were used from 46 individual student assignments, and 25 papers were used from group assignments. The data collected from students and instructors interview were subjected to a thematic analysis using word descriptions. The data collected from sampled academic writing documents was analyzed through content analysis. The findings show a clear demand for tailored courses and support programs to enhance students' confidence and skills in news writing in English, emphasizing areas like grammar instruction, writing skills development, and familiarity with English-language news style conventions. The results from questionnaires, interviews, and documents overall the insights gleaned from this study can inform curriculum development and interventions aimed at better preparing JoCo students for their future careers in a globalized media landscape.
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