Journalistic Writing

"An indispensable guide." Richard Lederer, author of The Write Way, Sleeping Dogs Don't Lay, and Comma Sense --

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

ABOUT THE BOOK "Basic Grammar for Journalistic Writing: An Introductory Text" is relevant in the enrichment of writing and speaking skills of journalists and all other learners of English Grammar. Most books on journalistic writing treat stages and appeals in writing but neglect practical application of grammar and mechanics. However, this book takes excellent steps in surmounting the challenge most students and even professionals of journalism and English Grammar have in writing good stories and articles as regards grammar and mechanics. It gives due consideration to the general structure of English Grammar, squeezing the numerous rules on usages into a better understandable number. The book vividly treats English Grammar in the first five chapters and then delves into application of the rules of grammar in writing journalistic forms - news, feature, editorial, commentary, column, interpretation, investigation and review. This resource material also treats how high school students can identify grammatical names and functions of certain expressions in examination situations and otherwise. The practical application of the basics of English Grammar in sample pieces (including online pieces) makes the book "a must read" for students of Mass Communication, trained journalists, English Language Instructors, Citizen Journalists (ordinary people who report events on the internet) and all learners of English Grammar.

An encounter between philosophy and journalism recurs across the modern philosophical tradition. Images of reporters and newspaper readers, messengers and town criers, announcements and rumors populate the work of such thinkers as Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, and Benjamin. This book argues that these three thinkers’ preoccupation with journalism cannot be separated from their philosophy “proper” but plays a pivotal role in their philosophical work, where it marks an important nexus between their theories of history, time, and language. Journalism, in the tradition Vandeputte brings to light, figures before anything else as a cipher of the time in which philosophy is written. If the journalist and newspaper reader characterize what Kierkegaard calls “the present age,” that is because they exemplify a present marked by the crisis of the philosophy of history—a time after the demise of history as a philosophizable concept. In different ways, the pages of the newspaper appear in the European philosophical tradition as a site where teleological and totalizing representations of history must founder, together with the conceptions of progress and development that sustain them. But journalism does not simply mark the end of philosophy; for Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, and Benjamin, journalistic writing also takes on an exemplary role in the attempt to think time and history in the wake of this demise. The concepts around which these attempts crystallize—Kierkegaard’s “instant,” Nietzsche’s “untimeliness,” and Benjamin’s “actuality”—all emerge from the philosophical confrontation with journalism and its characteristic temporalities.

A first-of-its-kind guide for new media times, this book provides practical, step-by-step instructions for writing first-person features, essays, and digital content. Combining journalism techniques with self-exploration and personal storytelling, First-Person Journalism is designed to help writers to develop their personal voice and establish a narrative stance. The book introduces nine elements of first-person journalism—passion, self-reporting, stance, observation, attribution, counterpoints, time travel, the mix, and impact. Two introductory chapters define first-person journalism and its value in building trust with a public now skeptical of traditional news media. The nine practice chapters that follow each focus on one first-person element, presenting a sequence of "voice lessons" with a culminating writing assignment, such as a personal trend story or an open letter. Examples are drawn from diverse nonfiction writers and journalists, including Ta-Nehisi Coates, Joan Didion, Helen Garner, Alex Tizon, and James Baldwin. Together, the book provides a fresh look at the craft of nonfiction, offering much-needed advice on writing with style, authority, and a unique point of view. Written with a knowledge of the rapidly changing digital media environment, First-Person Journalism is a key text for journalism and media students interested in personal nonfiction, as well as for early-career nonfiction writers looking to develop this narrative form.

George Orwell set out ‘to make political writing into an art’, and to a wide extent this aim shaped the future of English literature – his descriptions of authoritarian regimes helped to form a new vocabulary that is fundamental to understanding totalitarianism. While 1984 and Animal Farm are amongst the most popular classic novels in the English language, this new series of Orwell’s essays seeks to bring a wider selection of his writing on politics and literature to a new readership. In Why I Write, the first in the Orwell’s Essays series, Orwell describes his journey to becoming a writer, and his movement from writing poems to short stories to the essays, fiction and non-fiction we remember him for. He also discusses what he sees as the ‘four great motives for writing’ – ‘sheer egoism’, ‘aesthetic enthusiasm’, ‘historical impulse’ and ‘political purpose’ – and considers the importance of keeping these in balance. Why I Write is a unique opportunity to look into Orwell’s mind, and it grants the reader an entirely different vantage point from which to consider the rest of the great writer’s oeuvre. 'A writer who can – and must – be rediscovered with every age.' — Irish Times

Practical Journalism: How to Write News introduces the beginner to the skills needed to become a journalist in the digital age. The book draws on interviews with dozens of working journalists. They share their thoughts on the profession and we watch them work - selecting stories, carrying out interviews and writing scripts. There are chapters on interviewing, research techniques and news writing. Further chapters cover working in broadcasting and online. Media law and ethics are also included. Most journalists believe they work ethically although few have set rules and others admit to being pressured to behave underhandedly. This book looks at how journalists can work more ethically and provides a guide for beginners. The book is easy to read. Each chapter concludes with activities and a list of further reading. A glossary of terms is included at the end of the book.

Practical Journalism: How to Write News introduces the beginner to the skills needed to become a journalist in the digital age. The book draws on interviews with dozens of working journalists. They share their thoughts on the profession and we watch them work - selecting stories, carrying out interviews and writing scripts. There are chapters on interviewing, research techniques and news writing. Further chapters cover working in broadcasting and online. Media law and ethics are also included. Most journalists believe they work ethically although few have set rules and others admit to being pressured to behave underhandedly. This book looks at how journalists can work more ethically and provides a guide for beginners. The book is easy to read. Each chapter concludes with activities and a list of further reading. A glossary of terms is included at the end of the book.