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.

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.

Dynamics of Writing: An Exercise Guide gives you multiple opportunities to practice your writing skills in-class or as take-home assignments. Each chapter focuses on a different aspect of the newswriting process and offers short-answer, multiple-choice, and writing-prompt activities to help you master the concepts and skills presented in Vincent F. Filak’s comprehensive book. Additional exercises built around the unique demands of online newswriting will prepare you to meet the demands of a changing media landscape. Key Features: “Writing Exercises” enable you to recall & demonstrate your understanding of various elements found in each chapter in Dynamics of News Writing and Reporting. “Practice Writing” exercises empower you to apply their knowledge in a safe, in-class environment. “Live-Action Exercises” encourage you to expand their knowledge and experience through out-of-class reporting and writing opportunities.

Newspapers, magazines, and other periodicals reached a peak of cultural influence and financial success in Britain in the 1850s and 1860s, out-publishing and out-selling books as much as one hundred to one. But although scholars have long known that writing for the vast periodical marketplace provided many Victorian authors with needed income—and sometimes even with full second careers as editors and journalists—little has been done to trace how the midcentury ascendancy of periodical discourses might have influenced Victorian literary discourse. In The Dynamics of Genre, Dallas Liddle innovatively combines Mikhail Bakhtin’s dialogic approach to genre with methodological tools from periodicals studies, literary criticism, and the history of the book to offer the first rigorous study of the relationship between mid-Victorian journalistic genres and contemporary poetry, the novel, and serious expository prose. Liddle shows that periodical genres competed both ideologically and economically with literary genres, and he studies how this competition influenced the midcentury writings and careers of authors including Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Harriet Martineau, Anthony Trollope, George Eliot, and the sensation novelists of the 1860s. Some Victorian writers directly adopted the successful genre forms and worldview of journalism, but others such as Eliot strongly rejected them, while Trollope launched his successful career partly by using fiction to analyze journalism’s growing influence in British society. Liddle argues that successful interpretation of the works of these and many other authors will be fully possible only when scholars learn to understand the journalistic genre forms with which mid-Victorian literary forms interacted and competed.

Dynamics of Media Writing Third Edition gives students transferable skills that can be applied across all media platforms—from traditional mass media formats like news, public relations, and advertising to emerging digital media platforms. Whether issuing a press release or tweeting about a new app, today’s media writers need to adapt their message for each specific media format in order to successfully connect with their audience. Throughout this text, award-winning teacher and college media adviser Vincent F. Filak introduces fundamental writing skills that apply to all media, while also highlighting which writing tools and techniques are most effective for specific media formats and why. User-friendly and loaded with practical examples and tips from professionals across mass media, this is the perfect guide for any student wanting to launch a professional media writing career.

As traditional newsrooms staffed by journalists and managed by experienced editors become less and less common, there is an even greater need for all types of professional writers to be fluent in the editorial process. Dynamics of Media Editing emphasizes the broad value of editing as both a tool for journalistic management and an essential skill for individual writers of all stripes. Author Vince F. Filak recognizes editing as an essential process for improving the quality of published writing, something that is relevant and essential to investigative journalists, social media interns, celebrity bloggers, and everyone in between. By organizing the book around skills and by platforms, Dynamics of Media Editing shows students how the basic principles of good editing work across disciplines and media platforms. Key Features The emphasis on transferrable skills and multiple platforms shows students how to use the basic principles of good editing for journalism, PR, advertising, or social media marketing. The book takes a broad approach to editing, demonstrating that it’s not just a skill for managers at newspapers, but rather an essential process for improving all aspects of published writing. This addresses a critical course challenge, in that many students don’t see the relevance of editing in their planned careers. The audience-centric method emphasizes the need to engage one’s audience in order to be a successful writer. "Helpful Hints" boxes provide easy-to-consult lists of dos and don’ts for good writing. "Thoughts From a Pro" boxes allow media professionals from a variety of backgrounds to demonstrate the essential function of the editing process in the workplace.

This book focuses on the social process of conflict news production and the emergence of public discourse on war and armed conflict. Its contributions combine qualitative and quantitative approaches through interview studies and computer-assisted content analysis and apply a unique comparative and holistic approach over time, across different cycles of six conflicts in three regions of the world, and across different types of domestic, international and transnational media. In so doing, it explores the roles of public communication through traditional media, social media, strategic communication, and public relations in informing and involving national and international actors in conflict prevention, resolution and peace-keeping. It provides a key point of reference for creative, innovative, and state-of-the-art empirical research on media and armed conflict.