Table of Contents
Introduction 1 About This Book 1
Foolish Assumptions 2
Icons Used in This Book 2
Beyond the Book 3
Where to Go from Here 3
Part 1: Getting Started with Journalism 5
Chapter 1: Becoming a Journalist 7
Exploring the Many Roads to Journalism 8
The traditional road 8
Forging new paths 10
Understanding the Responsibility of a Journalist 12
Being truthful 13
Being accurate 14
Being fair 15
Identifying the Essential Skills You Need 17
Researching 17
Reporting 18
Interviewing 19
Fact-checking 20
Working in a Newsroom versus Working Independently 21
Barriers to entry 21
Having an editor 21
Having editorial control 22
Being flexible 22
Working on Different Platforms 22
Print 23
Digital 23
Television 23
Documentary video 23
Radio 23
Podcasting 24
Social media 24
Chapter 2: Defining Journalism 25
What Journalism Is 25
The “fourth estate” and democracy 26
Journalism beats 29
News versus opinion 30
What Journalism Isn’t: Blogs, Tabloids, and Gossip 32
Who Sets the Standards for Truth 34
Becoming a Journalist 35
Applying for a job 35
Interviewing 36
Taking writing and editing tests 36
What to Expect in a Journalism Job 37
The structure of a newsroom 37
The business goals of a media business 38
Chapter 3: Media Literacy: What It Is and Why It Matters 39
Understanding Media Literacy 40
Recognizing How Media Affects You 42
Your right to be informed 43
Your right to find the information you seek 43
Your right as a citizen to monitor those in power 44
Identifying Fake News 45
Seeing where fake news crops up 46
Distinguishing among the different types of fake news 47
Distinguishing what’s true from what’s false 49
Part 2: Understanding the Reporting Process 51
Chapter 4: Identifying Different Types of Stories 53
Looking at the Traditional Story Types 54
Breaking news 54
Meetings and events 56
Enterprise stories 57
Investigative work 58
Features and profiles 60
Obituaries 61
Editorials 62
Exploring Emerging Digital Forms 63
Aggregated stories 63
Listicles 64
Explainers 65
Interactive stories 65
Chapter 5: Determining What’s Newsworthy 67
Standards for Approving a Story Idea 68
The impact of the idea or event 68
The proximity of the occurrence to the news audience 69
The timeliness of the idea 70
The prominence of the people involved 71
The trendiness of the idea 71
How unusual a story is 72
How much conflict is present 72
What Drives Newsroom Decisions 73
Executive editors 73
Midlevel editors 74
Overall newsroom culture and interest 76
Working through Disagreements 77
Chapter 6: Finding Sources for a Story 79
What Is a Source 79
Types of Sources 81
Official and unofficial 81
Unofficial sources 82
Primary and secondary sources 84
People as Sources 85
Finding sources 85
Vetting sources 86
Developing long-term sources 87
The Voices Your Story Needs 88
What to include when reaching out 89
On or off the record? What it means 90
Chapter 7: Conducting Interviews 93
The Interview Process 94
Doing your research 94
Preparing questions 96
Taking care with vulnerable sources 97
After the Interview 100
Synthesizing interview discussions 100
Choosing quotes 101
Following up 102
How to Quote Interviewees 103
Paraphrase 103
Direct quote 104
Partial quote 105
Dialogue 105
Chapter 8: Doing Your Math 107
Getting Good Data 108
Finding the Average 111
Mean 112
Median 112
Calculating Change 114
Percent change 114
Percentage point change 115
Chapter 9: Fact-Checking a Story 117
Getting Everything Right While Working 118
Verifying during interviews 118
Recording and transcribing 119
Cross-checking sources 121
Finishing Up Correctly 122
Knowing what should be fact-checked 122
Referring to interview tape 124
Calling sources back 125
Finding reinforcement 125
Annotating a Finished Story 126
Making Corrections 127
What can and cannot be ethically corrected 127
Who is responsible for fixing mistakes 128
How to make corrections with transparency 129
Part 3: Working Within the Bounds Of Ethics and the Law 131
Chapter 10: Getting Clear on the Journalism Code of Ethics 133
Knowing Why Journalists Should Abide by a Code 133
Considering journalists’ responsibility to inform the public 134
Recognizing the importance of audience trust 135
Identifying Common Principles across Codes of Ethics 136
Truthfulness and accuracy 136
Impartiality and fairness 136
Independence 137
Looking at the Society of Professional Journalists Code of Ethics 138
Seeking truth and reporting it 138
Minimizing harm 139
Acting independently 140
Being accountable and transparent 141
Chapter 11: Knowing Your Rights as a Journalist 143
Understanding Your Rights as a Journalist to Cover the Government 144
Covering Trials and Courts 146
Official proceedings 147
Court records 147
Accessing Government Documents through the Freedom of Information Act 148
Understanding the law 149
Making a request 151
Knowing the legal limitations 153
Chapter 12: Coping with Common Legal Considerations 155
Identifying the Most Common Legal Issues Journalists Face 156
Privacy 156
Trespassing 156
Copyright infringement 157
Defamation/libel 163
Breach of contract 166
Contempt of court 166
Plagiarism 166
Sedition 166
Protecting Yourself as an Independent Journalist 166
Looking into your state’s reporter’s shield laws 167
Turning to the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press 167
Chapter 13: Using Artificial Intelligence Tools 169
Looking toward the Future with AI 170
Seeing How Newsrooms Are Currently Using AI 172
Research and reporting 172
Writing 173
Creating audio and video 174
Identifying Potential Issues to Look Out for with AI Tools 176
Inaccuracies and false sources 176
Plagiarism 177
Intellectual property 178
Part 4: Using Different Media Platforms 179
Chapter 14: Print and Digital 181
Working in Print: The First Form of Journalism 181
Seeing How Digital Differs from Print 183
Identifying the Traits of Top Print and Digital Journalists 184
Writing in Print Style 187
Following the inverted pyramid 189
Writing features and profiles 191
Using style guides 192
Looking at the Roles and Responsibilities in Print and Digital Journalism 196
People who write 196
People who edit 197
People who run the website 199
Chapter 15: Television and Documentary Video 201
Seeing Where Video Journalists May Work 202
Identifying the Traits of Strong Video Journalism Storytelling 204
Exploring Onscreen News and Long-Form Storytelling 205
Identifying the Traits of Top Video and Documentary Journalists 208
Making Great Video 210
Structuring a video story 210
Looking at news package forms and lengths 211
Working on longer-form videos 214
Identifying the Roles and Responsibilities of a Video Journalist 216
People who are on camera 217
People who are behind the camera 218
People who run the website 219
Chapter 16: Radio and Podcasting 221
Seeing Where You Can Work as an Audio Journalist 222
Understanding How Audio Differs from Other Forms of Journalism 222
Listening on the Dial and Long-Form Audio Storytelling 223
Identifying the Traits of Top Audio Journalists 225
Structuring a Story for Audio 227
News stories on the radio 228
Podcasts and long features 231
Looking at the Roles and Responsibilities of Audio Journalists 233
People who are on air 234
People who are behind the scenes 236
People who run the website 237
Chapter 17: Social Media 239
Looking at How Newsrooms Use Social Media 239
Seeing How Journalists Use Social Media 242
Identifying What Top Journalists Do Well on Social Media 246
Telling Stories Online 250
Starting a strategy for social media stories 250
Thinking through the differences in social media platforms 251
Considering whether the platform prioritizes visuals or text 252
Posting Online for Your Newsroom 256
Chapter 18: Working on the Margins 259
Writing Digital Marketing Content 260
Creating Social Media Content 262
Working in Public Relations 264
Part 5: the Part of Tens 267
Chapter 19: Ten Tips for Covering a Beat 269
Writing a Beat Report for Yourself 270
Meeting Other Journalists Who Cover Your Beat 270
Introducing Yourself to the Spokespeople of Small to Midsize Organizations 271
Getting on the Press Lists of Large Organizations 272
Going to Events Before You Need a Story 272
Getting Familiar with Past Stories 272
Learning Special Acronyms, Terms, and Other Language 273
Creating Google Alerts to Keep Up 273
Signing Up for Newsletters 274
Picking Up the Phone 275
Chapter 20: Ten Tips for Writing on Any Platform 277
Thinking through Your Structure 277
Writing an Outline Before You Write a Word 278
Using Words That You Would Use in Everyday Conversation 278
Giving Yourself More Time Than You Think You’ll Need 279
Getting More Information to Help with Writer’s Block 279
Editing Yourself First 280
Stepping Away and Coming Back Later 280
Using Style Guides 281
Reading Examples 281
Trusting Your Gut 282
Index 283
