1st Edition

Advanced Reporting Essential Skills for 21st Century Journalism

By Miles Maguire Copyright 2015
    262 Pages
    by Routledge

    262 Pages
    by Routledge

    News gathering is a large, complicated and often messy task that has traditionally been viewed by journalists as irretrievably idiosyncratic, best learned through trial and error. Advanced Reporting takes the opposite approach, focusing on reporting as a process of triangulation based on three essential activities: analyzing documents, making observations and conducting interviews. In this readable book, veteran journalism professor Miles Maguire shows how the best reporters use these three tools in a way that allows them to cross-check and authenticate facts, to reduce or eliminate unsupportable allegations and to take readers and viewers to a deeper level of insight and understanding.

    This book will help to prepare students for a profession marked by increasing complexity and competition. To succeed in this environment, journalists must learn to make the most of digital media to intensify the impact of their work. At the same time, reporters must contend with a host of sophisticated public relations techniques while engaging with news audiences that no longer just consume journalism, but also collaborate in its creation. Discussion questions and exercises help students put theory into practice.

    Part I: The Elements of Reporting  1. Connecting the DOT  2. Defining News  3. Digging Into Documents  4. The Eyes Have It  5. Talking Your Way to the Story  Part II: From Principle to Practice  6. Getting Started  7. The Journalistic Core  8. Specialized Topics  9. Specialized Forms  10. Enterprise Reporting  Part III: 21st Century News Reporting  11. Technology  12. Public Relations and News Management  13. Journalism That Makes a Difference

    Biography

    Miles Maguire is a professor of journalism at the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh, where he teaches writing, editing and reporting. He has worked as a beat writer, columnist, Washington bureau chief and monthly magazine editor, and his innovative approach to journalism has been recognized in programs such as the Knight-Batten Awards and the Great Ideas for Teachers (GIFT) competition sponsored by the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication. His media scholarship and criticism have appeared in Folio:, American Journalism Review, Newspaper Research Journal, Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly, Journal of Media Economics, The International Journal on Media Management and the Journal of Information Technology & Politics. He currently serves as an associate editor of Literary Journalism Studies.

     "To those who say great reporting is all about innate skills, Miles Maguire offers a powerful and practical rebuke. Advanced Reporting breaks down the basic elements of journalism, walks us through real-life examples, and guides us on a clear path to the critical thinking where all good reporting begins. It is deeply researched and thoughtfully presented, and will lead journalists of the future well beyond the usual "how to" texts on reporting."
    —Ann Cooper, Columbia Journalism School

    "Advanced Reporting is an important contribution to our understanding of journalistic practice in our globalized and digital world. All journalists, people who want to be journalists and people who teach and research journalism who are serious about their trade should read this book."
    —Leon Barkho, Jönköping University, Sweden