The Elements of Journalism, Revised and Updated 4th Edition


Book Description

A timely new edition of the classic journalism text, now featuring updated material on the importance of reporting in the age of media mistrust and fake news—and how journalists can use technology to navigate its challenges More than two decades ago, the Committee of Concerned Journalists gathered some of America’s most influential newspeople and asked them, “What is journalism for?” Through exhaustive research, surveys, interviews, and public forums, the committee identified the essential elements that define journalism and its role in our society. The result is one of the most important books on media ever written—winner of the Goldsmith Book Prize from Harvard, a Society of Professional Journalists Award, and the Bart Richards Award for Media Criticism from Penn State University. Updated with new material covering the ways journalists can leverage technology to their advantage, especially given the shifting revenue architecture of news—and with the future of news, facts, and democracy never more in question—this fourth edition of The Elements of Journalism is the authoritative guide for journalists, students, and anyone hoping to stay informed in contentious times.




The Elements of Journalism


Book Description

In July 1997, twenty-five of America's most influential journalists sat down to try and discover what had happened to their profession in the years between Watergate and Whitewater. What they knew was that the public no longer trusted the press as it once had. They were keenly aware of the pressures that advertisers and new technologies were putting on newsrooms around the country. But, more than anything, they were aware that readers, listeners, and viewers — the people who use the news — were turning away from it in droves. There were many reasons for the public's growing lack of trust. On television, there were the ads that looked like news shows and programs that presented gossip and press releases as if they were news. There were the "docudramas," television movies that were an uneasy blend of fact and fiction and which purported to show viewers how events had "really" happened. At newspapers and magazines, celebrity was replacing news, newsroom budgets were being slashed, and editors were pushing journalists for more "edge" and "attitude" in place of reporting. And, on the radio, powerful talk personalities led their listeners from sensation to sensation, from fact to fantasy, while deriding traditional journalism. Fact was blending with fiction, news with entertainment, journalism with rumor. Calling themselves the Committee of Concerned Journalists, the twenty-five determined to find how the news had found itself in this state. Drawn from the committee's years of intensive research, dozens of surveys of readers, listeners, viewers, editors, and journalists, and more than one hundred intensive interviews with journalists and editors, The Elements of Journalism is the first book ever to spell out — both for those who create and those who consume the news — the principles and responsibilities of journalism. Written by Bill Kovach and Tom Rosenstiel, two of the nation's preeminent press critics, this is one of the most provocative books about the role of information in society in more than a generation and one of the most important ever written about news. By offering in turn each of the principles that should govern reporting, Kovach and Rosenstiel show how some of the most common conceptions about the press, such as neutrality, fairness, and balance, are actually modern misconceptions. They also spell out how the news should be gathered, written, and reported even as they demonstrate why the First Amendment is on the brink of becoming a commercial right rather than something any American citizen can enjoy. The Elements of Journalism is already igniting a national dialogue on issues vital to us all. This book will be the starting point for discussions by journalists and members of the public about the nature of journalism and the access that we all enjoy to information for years to come.




Journalism Next


Book Description

The Third Edition of Journalism Next: A Practical Guide to Digital Reporting and Publishing is the most informed, practical, and succinct guide to digital technology for journalists. Author Mark Briggs’ forward-thinking techniques and accessible style prepares today’s journalists for tomorrow’s media landscape transformations. Readers will learn how to effectively blog, crowdsource, use mobile technology, mine databases, and expertly capture audio and video to report with immediacy, cultivate community, and convey compelling stories. Briggs helps readers quickly improve their digital literacy by presenting the basics and building on them to progress towards more specialized skills within multimedia. Readers will become equipped to better manage online communities and build an online audience. Journalism Next is a quick yet valuable read that provides a detailed roadmap for journalists to reference time and time again.




Principles of American Journalism


Book Description

Designed to engage, inspire and challenge students while laying out the fundamentals of the craft, Principles of American Journalism introduces readers to the core values of journalism and its singular role in a democracy. From the First Amendment to Facebook, the new and revised edition of this popular textbook provides a comprehensive exploration of the guiding principles of journalism and what makes it unique: the profession's ethical and legal foundations; its historical and modern precepts; the economic landscape of journalism; the relationships among journalism and other social institutions; the key issues and challenges that contemporary journalists face. Case studies, exercises, and an interactive companion website encourage critical thinking about journalism and its role in society, making students more mindful practitioners of journalism and more informed media consumers.




The Complete Idiot's Guide to Journalism


Book Description

Never has the world of journalism been so explosive, so global, and so competitive. Forget hourly news flashes; we live in a world of 24-hour breaking news with radio and TV stations and Internet sites updating stories by the minute and newspapers adjusting to stay fresh, in-depth, and relevant. While the number of newspapers and TV and radio stations has dropped over the last half century in the United States, instant, free-access Internet news portals have grown precipitously to not only fill any gaps in coverage but to force Big Media to change its game plans or risk losing readership. But in no way does this suggest any aspect of journalism is heading for the garbage heap-especially newspapers. Never before have Americans been so engaged in their world, and many mediums are needed to satiate that collective appetite for knowledge.




Always Get the Name of the Dog


Book Description

Always Get the Name of the Dog is a guide to journalistic interviewing, written by a journalist, for journalists. It features advice from some of the best writers and reporters in the business, and takes a comprehensive view of media interviewing across multiple platforms, while emphasizing active learning to give readers actionable steps to become great media interviewers. Through real scenarios and examples, this text takes future journalists through the steps of the interview, from research to source identification to question development and beyond. Whether you are a journalism student or an experienced reporter looking to sharpen your skills, this text can help make sure you get all you need from every interview you conduct.




Newsmakers


Book Description

Will the use of artificial intelligence (AI), algorithms, and smart machines be the end of journalism as we know it—or its savior? In Newsmakers, Francesco Marconi, who has led the development of the Associated Press and Wall Street Journal’s use of AI in journalism, offers a new perspective on the potential of these technologies. He explains how reporters, editors, and newsrooms of all sizes can take advantage of the possibilities they provide to develop new ways of telling stories and connecting with readers. Marconi analyzes the challenges and opportunities of AI through case studies ranging from financial publications using algorithms to write earnings reports to investigative reporters analyzing large data sets to outlets determining the distribution of news on social media. Newsmakers contends that AI can augment—not automate—the industry, allowing journalists to break more news more quickly while simultaneously freeing up their time for deeper analysis. Marshaling insights drawn from firsthand experience, Marconi maps a media landscape transformed by artificial intelligence for the better. In addition to considering the benefits of these new technologies, Marconi stresses the continuing need for editorial and institutional oversight. Newsmakers outlines the important questions that journalists and media organizations should consider when integrating AI and algorithms into their workflow. For journalism students as well as seasoned media professionals, Marconi’s insights provide much-needed clarity and a practical roadmap for how AI can best serve journalism.




High School Journalism


Book Description

High school journalists share the same objectives as professional reporters--finding the story, writing the story, and packaging the story so that it appeals to an audience. Understanding how to best accomplish these objectives is key to the student on the newspaper, yearbook or Web site staff, but the fundamental art of storytelling and story presentation are not always at the center of high school journalism classes. Student journalists must first understand that storytelling, at its most basic level, is about people, and that understanding the audience is essential in deciding how to present the story. This handbook for high school journalists and teachers offers practical tips for all elements of school journalism. The author covers the essential components that students must understand: information gathering, writing, standard and alternative coverage and packaging. Students will find valuable information about identifying news, interviewing, research, narrative writing style, editing, visual presentation and layout. The book also covers the legal rights of student journalists, objective vs. opinion writing, staff planning and organization and Web-based journalism. Each chapter includes study guides for practical applications of the concepts discussed. Instructors considering this book for use in a course may request an examination copy here.




Beyond News


Book Description

For a century and a half, journalists made a good business out of selling the latest news or selling ads next to that news. Now that news pours out of the Internet and our mobile devices—fast, abundant, and mostly free—that era is ending. Our best journalists, Mitchell Stephens argues, instead must offer original, challenging perspectives—not just slightly more thorough accounts of widely reported events. His book proposes a new standard: “wisdom journalism,” an amalgam of the more rarified forms of reporting—exclusive, enterprising, investigative—and informed, insightful, interpretive, explanatory, even opinionated takes on current events. This book features an original, sometimes critical examination of contemporary journalism, both on- and offline. And it finds inspiration for a more ambitious and effective understanding of journalism in examples from twenty-first-century articles and blogs, as well as in a selection of outstanding twentieth-century journalism and Benjamin Franklin’s eighteenth-century writings. Most attempts to deal with journalism’s current crisis emphasize technology. This book emphasizes mindsets and the need to rethink what journalism has been and might become.




Writing for Journalists


Book Description

Contains chapters on writing news; writing features; writing reviews; style and a glossary of terms used by journalists.