Anna McKane provides a step-by-step guide to constructing a good news story, with good and bad examples and a detailed analysis of style, language and grammar.

Dynamics of News Reporting and Writing: Foundational Skills for a Digital Age shows students how to approach their stories and think on their feet in the evolving media landscape. Recognizing that well-crafted stories are founded on sharp prose, author Vincent F. Filak covers more foundational elements of a newswriting textbook, like lead writing, structure, and storytelling, while also teaching students how to think critically and determine what matters most to their readers. The Second Edition includes even more writing and grammar exercises, discussions of social media and digital media advancements, and additional career-related examples to help students succeed upon entering the field.

Learn how to deliver news in any and all media. This one volume teaches you how to master all of the skills needed to be a converged journalist. Don't think only broadcast or print. Think online, air waves, magazines, PDAs, cell phones and electronic paper. Convergent Journalism an Introduction explains what makes a news story effective today and how to recognize the best medium for a particular story. That medium may be the web, broadcast, radio, or a newspaper or magazine - or, more likely, all of the above. This text will explain how a single story can fulfil its potential through any media channel. Convergent Journalism an Introduction shows you, the news writer, editor, reporter, and producer how to tailor a story to meet the needs of various media, so your local news story can be written in a form appropriate for the web, print, PDA screen and broadcast.

"If you want a book that instructs you about all the technical skills you need to pass the examinations set by the National Council for the Training of Journalists (NCTJ) and embark on a career in journalism, then this is the book for you. It outlines the basic knowledge required to succeed as a trainee reporter. Shorthand, intros, writing styles, subbing, layout, the way newsrooms work and how to find things out are among the range of skills described." - Times Higher Education "Precisely what it says on the cover - a down-to-earth essential handbook for anyone embarking on a career in journalism. All you need to know about avoiding newsroom minefields and attracting the editor′s attention for the right reasons. If only it had been around in my day!′ - Bob Satchwell, Executive Director, Society of Editors This is a book for everyone who wants to be a journalist: a practical guide to all you need to know, learn and do to succeed as a trainee reporter in today′s newsroom. Although the world of journalism is changing fast, as technology blurs the boundaries between newspapers, radio, television and web-based media, the reporter′s core role remains the same: to recognise news, communicate with people, gather information, and create accurate, balanced and readable stories. Essential Reporting, written by an experienced NCTJ examiner, explains how to do this. Contents include: what makes a good reporter what is news, and how to find it how newsrooms work day-to-day life as a reporter key reporting tasks covering courts and councils successful interviewing writing news stories specialist reporting handling sound, pictures and the web It also contains a wealth of advice, tips and warnings from working journalists, a guide to NCTJ training and examinations, a glossary and a guide to further reading. It will be invaluable to anyone embarking on a career in journalism and is the NCTJ′s recommended introductory text for all students on college and university courses preparing them to become successful reporters.

This new and highly readable textbook by Richard M. Perloff introduces students to the complex world of contemporary news and its theoretical underpinnings, engaging with debates and ethical quandaries. The book takes readers on a concept-guided tour of the contours, continuities, and changing features of news. It covers a huge breadth of topics including: the classic theories of what news should do, its colorful history in America and popular myths of news, the overarching forces involved in contemporary news gathering, critical economic determinants of news and social system influences, and innovative trends in the future of journalism. Drawing on scholarship in the fields of journalism studies and sociology of news, Perloff offers readers a critical, in-depth exploration of news filled with relevant examples from newspapers, newscasts, and social media. Students of journalism, communication, sociology, politics, and related courses, as well as inquisitive scholars, will find this book’s intellectual focus enriching, the writing and examples engaging, and the thoroughness of its search of the contemporary media scene invigorating. Boxes summarizing theory and key concepts help students to deepen their understanding of both what news is now and its future.

The Basics of Media Writing: A Strategic Approach helps readers develop the essential writing skills and professional habits needed to succeed in 21st-century media careers. This research-driven, strategy-based media writing textbook digs deeply into how media professionals think and write in journalism, public relations, advertising, and other forms of strategic communication. Authors Scott A. Kuehn and Andrew Lingwall have created two comprehensive writing models to help students overcome their problems in finding and developing story topics by giving them “starting points” to begin writing. The Professional Strategy Triangle model shows students how to think critically about the audience, the situation, and the message before starting a news story or persuasive piece and the FAJA four-point model asks students a series of questions about their story type (Fact, Analysis, Judgment, or Action) to guide them to the right angle or organizational structure for their message. Rooted in classical rhetorical methods, this step-by-step technique enables readers to strategically approach each writing task, no matter the format.

On May 11, 2003, The New York Times devoted four pages of its Sunday paper to the deceptions of Jayson Blair, a mediocre former Times reporter who had made up stories, faked datelines, and plagiarized on a massive scale. The fallout from the Blair scandal rocked the Times to its core and revealed fault lines in a fractious newsroom that was already close to open revolt. Staffers were furious–about the perception that management had given Blair more leeway because he was black, about the special treatment of favored correspondents, and most of all about the shoddy reporting that was infecting the most revered newspaper in the world. Within a month, Howell Raines, the imperious executive editor who had taken office less than a week before the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001–and helped lead the paper to a record six Pulitzer Prizes for its coverage of the attacks–had been forced out of his job. Having gained unprecedented access to the reporters who conducted the Times’s internal investigation, top newsroom executives, and dozens of Times editors, former Newsweek senior writer Seth Mnookin lets us read all about it–the story behind the biggest journalistic scam of our era and the profound implications of the scandal for the rapidly changing world of American journalism. It’s a true tale that reads like Greek drama, with the most revered of American institutions attempting to overcome the crippling effects of a leader’s blinding narcissism and a low-level reporter’s sociopathic deceptions. Hard News will shape how we understand and judge the media for years to come.