Missouri Group - News Reporting and Writing

Thirteenth Edition

The Missouri Group

• Brian S. Brooks
• Beverly J. Horvit
• Daryl R. Moen

• School of Journalism

• University of Missouri

For Bedford/St. Martins

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ISBN 978-1-319-23687-8 (epub)

Acknowledgments

Text acknowledgments and copyrights appear at the back of the book on , which constitute an extension of the copyright page. Art acknowledgments and copyrights appear on the same page as the art selections they cover.

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Many students are asking why they should go into journalism these days. The constant partisan attacks on the press at the national level roll like an avalanche down to the smallest news outlet. Trust in the media has suffered from the toxic atmosphere. Journalists are subjected to verbal and sometimes physical abuse.

So why become a journalist?

Now, perhaps more than ever, the country needs young people who are willing to ask questions of those in power. Who are willing to spend hours at meetings and hours poring over documents to reveal what public officials are doing. Who are willing to support democracy by doing the hard work of being watchdogs.

Fortunately, enrollment at many journalism schools is rising again. As some news organizations shrink and even disappear, others spring anew. All across the country, there are efforts to provide the coverage that people need to evaluate their public officials and report effectively and clearly about the state of their town, county or country.

This edition reports on journalisms problems, but also its possibilities. The thirteenth edition has been completely reframed, meeting students in the current state of the news industry, an ever-evolving landscape of media and reporting. The book is full of examples of the work journalists do from covering meetings to covering California wildfires; from covering politics in Washington to covering the city council in your hometown.

Students schooled in journalism do all that and more. They work for the news media, they work at advertising agencies and they work in public relations. Some take their skills to hundreds of other websites. Some use journalistic writing to support their careers in law and court proceedings. This edition of the book recognizes that the skills and knowledge taught in journalism classes are transferable to countless other careers. Thats why we have expanded our efforts to show and teach the central role that social media plays in the communication chain.

More than ever, the staff of todays converged newsrooms can agree that editors want journalists who report fully and write clearly, whether for an online news outlet, a professional blog, a cable news show or a print newspaper. When it comes to integrated media, we practice what we preach: The new edition of News Reporting & Writing combines print and digital media into a single accessible package. Callouts in the books margins link to videos on LaunchPad Solo for Journalism that offer insider perspectives on issues of modern journalism, including the legal rights of bloggers, journalistic ethics, the common ground between real news and fake news and the power of images. Our integrated media program takes News Reporting & Writing beyond the limits of the printed page.

Even as we expand further into the digital realm, we continue to stress the essential reporting and writing skills that are the foundations for both journalism and public relations, no matter the medium. Weve also updated our current examples and issues, while still modeling in these examples and in our own writing the clear and descriptive writing that journalism students must learn. Our emphasis on these topics in the textbook, combined with robust online support and practice opportunities, ensures that students will have more opportunities than ever before to practice and refine their skills.

We welcome to this edition our first new co-author since the first edition, published in 1980. Beverly J. Horvit is an experienced journalist who for six years has taught and served as coordinator of our basic news-writing class at the University of Missouri. After having used the book for even longer, she was able to make invaluable contributions to this edition with a fresh, diverse perspective.

She replaces retired colleagues George Kennedy and Don Ranly. Much of their work remains in this edition. We are grateful for their outstanding contributions through the first 12 editions and wish them well in retirement.

Revisions to the thirteenth edition of News Reporting & Writing address changes to the journalism landscape and provide additional opportunities for students to refine their reporting and writing skills in todays world. Specifically, this new edition offers the following features:

• , The State of the News Industry previously (The Future of Journalism), takes an unvarnished look at the declining profitability of print media and the ways media companies are attempting to solve the problem. The renaming and reframing of this chapter is centered around the understanding that students are writing and reporting in a media- and social media-heavy world. The chapter also examines the problem of news credibility and updates the outlook for jobs for those seeking to enter the news industry.