E-raamat: Writing & Reporting for the Media

"News organizations in other countries have not experienced the same decline in public trust. A study of public attitudes toward news media in 40 countries found that trust was lowest in the United States. Since Trump left the presidency, other politicians have adopted his tactic of attacking news reporters and their organizations in highly emotional terms. A Republican candidate for governor in Wisconsin criticized the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel for publishing a story about his donations of money to anti-abortion groups, churches and other organizations. The candidate, Tim Michels, said after publication of the article: "I believe people should just, just be ready to get out on the streets with pitchforks and torches with how the liberal media has become. People need to decide 'Am I going to put up with this? Am I going to tolerate this, taking somebody that gives money to churches or cancer research and use that as a hit piece in the media?' I'm appalled. It's disgusting." The executive editor of the Journal-Sentinel, George Stanley, defended the report and said it ran the same day as a piece about how much the Democratic candidate for U.S. senator was spending on security"--

Writing and Reporting for the Media introduces students to what reporters do-engage the world around them, generate story ideas, gather information, and effectively write a wide variety of story types. This classic text's reputation is built on its thorough grounding in the basic skills that aspiring reporters need.

Section One introduces students to the current journalism landscape and the foundational tools of journalism, including news judgement, newswriting style, and grammar and language choice. In Section Two, the text explores questions of libel, privacy, newsgathering issues, and ethics. Section Three teaches students to write summary and alternative leads; organize and write the body of a news story; interview sources and integrate quotations; write feature stories; write for broadcast news; and integrate photo, video, and audio elements. Finally, in Section Four, students learn about specific areas of journalism, including covering speeches and meetings; writing brights, follow-ups, roundups, sidebars, and obituaries; public affairs reporting; investigative reporting; and public relations.

The text engages students through its use of clear, accessible language and extensive examples, often drawn from recent news articles about important contemporary topics such as the COVID-19 pandemic, the Black Lives Matter movement, and the war in Ukraine. Extensive and realistic practice exercises at the end of each chapter give students the opportunity to apply and master the skills under discussion.