Preface
PART I: JOURNALISM AND JOURNALISTS
1 The Nature of News
Convergence in Journalism
What News Is
The Role of Journalism
Accuracy, Fairness and Bias
The Issue of Objectivity
What Is Not News
2 Convergence, Citizen Journalism and Emerging Media
How People Consume News Today
Distrust of the Media
Financial Challenges to Legacy Media
Convergence as a Response to Media Fragmentation
Embracing Citizen Journalism
New Financial Models for Web-Based Journalism
Jobs in Journalism Today
PART II: REPORTING TOOLS3 Interviewing
Building Trust
Preparing for the Interview
Broadcast Interviews
Telephone, Email and Skype Interviews
Setting Up the Interview
Preparing Questions
Interview Approaches
Ensuring Accuracy
Ending the Interview
What to Quote Directly
Quoting Accurately
4 Gathering and Verifying Information
Online Sources of Information
Evaluating Internet Sources
Traditional Sources of Information
5 Reporting with Numbers
Proportion
Interest and Compounding
Inflation
Taxes
Budgets
Financial Reports
Making Sense of Numbers from Polls
Mixing Numbers and Words
Currency Exchange
PART III: STORYTELLING
6 The Inverted Pyramid
The Importance of the Inverted-Pyramid Story
Finding the Lead
Variations on the Inverted-Pyramid Lead
Story Organization
Checking Accuracy and Attributions
7 Beyond the Inverted Pyramid
The Techniques of Narration
Chronology Structure
The News Narrative Structure
The Focus Structure
Service Journalism
PART IV: WRITING FOR SPECIFIC MEDIA
8 Writing News for Digital Media
The Web as a Unique Media Form
Readers’ Expectations of the Digital Media
Guidelines for Writing for the Web
Writing with Search Engines in Mind
Writing for Blogs
Promoting News on Facebook and Twitter
Tomorrow’s Readers
9 Writing News for Radio and Television
What Radio and Television Do Best
Criteria for Selecting Radio and Television News
Writing Radio and Television News
Using Social Media in Radio and Television
Preparing Radio and Television Copy
10 Writing for Public Relations
The Making of a PR Disaster
The Importance of Writing Skills
Public Relations Writing: A Different Approach
Public Relations Writing: The Main Focus
Public Relations Writing: A Matter of Persuasion
Writing News Releases That Get Attention
Approaches to Writing News Releases
Some Final Advice
PART V: BASIC STORIES
11 Covering a Beat
Beat Reporting in the 21st Century
Principles for Reporters on a Beat
Covering Important Local Beats
City and County Government Beats
Education Beat
Police Beat
Court System Beat
Scientific Beats: Environment, Science and Medicine
Sports Beat
12 Speeches, News Conferences and Meetings
Preparation
Covering Speeches, News Conferences and Meetings
Structuring and Writing Your Story
13 Writing Common Types of Stories
Your Preparation
Writing the Crime Story
Writing Accident and Fire Stories
Writing the Court Story
Other Issues in Crime and Court Reporting
Obituaries and Life Stories
PART VI: RIGHTS AND RESPONSIBILITIES
14 Law
Media Law in the Digital Age
First Amendment Rights
Libel
Invasion of Privacy
Protection of Sources and Notes
Access to Courts
Copyright and Fair Use
15 Ethics
The Public Perception of Journalism Ethics
Three Ethical Philosophies
Resolving Ethical Issues
Ethical Problems for Journalists
Plagiarism
Twitter Ethics
Appendix 1 Copy Editing and Proofreading Symbols
Appendix 2 Wire Service Style Summary
Appendix 3 Twenty Common Errors of Grammar and Punctuation
Glossary