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News Writing
"Deserves to be on every journalism student’s reading list and every tutor’s book shelf. It is clear, straightforward and scholarly in a very accessible way... bursting with good advice and insight which should benefit all who all read it."
- Kate Jenner , School of Journalism and Digital Communication, University of Central Lancashire "A first-class no-nonsense guide to news writing... Anna McKane′s wealth of experience both as a journalist and a lecturer in journalism gives News Writing the edge over similar tomes."
- Kate Shanahan, Lecturer in Journalism, School of Media, Dublin Institute of Technology
The ability to hone and craft an eye-catching news story is fundamental to good journalism. It is an essential skill that the young journalist of today must carry with them. The growth of online journalism and the use of social media has meant that the skills required in news writing are evolving, opening up fresh challenges and exciting new possibilities. Anna McKane′s News Writing takes you step-by-step through the key aspects of writing news on both print and online platforms, equipping you with all that you need to become an articulate, accurate and engaging journalist. Crucially, the book will show you how • create an attention-grabbing intro or first paragraph • structure the content of your story effectively • use the appropriate language. Fully updated to account for the role of online journalism, this second edition guides you through the essentials of website presentation, from headlines and standfirsts to the use of smartphone images and links. An all-new chapter shows you how to use Twitter and online blogs to piece together a winning story, and up-to-date examples and exercises throughout encourage you to pick apart and analyse the techniques used in a variety of recent news stories across a range of platforms. This is the essential workbook to take you through your studies in Journalism and News Writing.
- Kate Jenner , School of Journalism and Digital Communication, University of Central Lancashire "A first-class no-nonsense guide to news writing... Anna McKane′s wealth of experience both as a journalist and a lecturer in journalism gives News Writing the edge over similar tomes."
- Kate Shanahan, Lecturer in Journalism, School of Media, Dublin Institute of Technology
The ability to hone and craft an eye-catching news story is fundamental to good journalism. It is an essential skill that the young journalist of today must carry with them. The growth of online journalism and the use of social media has meant that the skills required in news writing are evolving, opening up fresh challenges and exciting new possibilities. Anna McKane′s News Writing takes you step-by-step through the key aspects of writing news on both print and online platforms, equipping you with all that you need to become an articulate, accurate and engaging journalist. Crucially, the book will show you how • create an attention-grabbing intro or first paragraph • structure the content of your story effectively • use the appropriate language. Fully updated to account for the role of online journalism, this second edition guides you through the essentials of website presentation, from headlines and standfirsts to the use of smartphone images and links. An all-new chapter shows you how to use Twitter and online blogs to piece together a winning story, and up-to-date examples and exercises throughout encourage you to pick apart and analyse the techniques used in a variety of recent news stories across a range of platforms. This is the essential workbook to take you through your studies in Journalism and News Writing.
- GenresJournalism
192 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2006
6 people are currently reading
35 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
November 20, 2017
I enjoyed this read, which is not too heavy and deals straighforwardly with many aspects of news writing. Four and a half stars from me. I like that the book relates to Britain, and we are given one creative example of a breaking news story involving London Zoo, an escaped tiger and a jogging starlet.
I was surprised not to find the pyramid structure mentioned, just the reverse pyramid; that one is demonstrated to us many times. The pyramid style is also worth a mention and is used in softer stories, colour pieces, columns and such, where description of the situation comes first and then the major storyline or the hook follows. The author uses many instances of 'It is' or 'There are'. Bad example.
The main reason I would give four and a half rather than five stars is the wealth of typing which seems to be typing for the sake of typing. Don't mix up homonyms. There and their and they're. Councillor and counsellor. Fine. Do we need three and a half pages of examples? I don't, and if your reading and writing is so poor that you do, I'm wondering why you want to be a journalist. The news stories we read with mixups are often computer transcripts of speech. Many stories now are produced by computer including sports items and basic news reporting, with little human input bar grabbing a few quotes. Similarly we are given a few pages of shrinking phrases to contain basic words of one or two syllables, which might be needed for certain papers and stories but definitely not for all. And 22 pages are given to retyping what was in every major national newspaper over a few chosen dates. This all just comes across as padding.
Luckily the book does contain plenty of useful material, including the author sending out students to prowl around Covent Garden and pick up stories daily. Checklists, getting key facts into the story and a flow chart of how a news story is treated when it hits the office are the most interesting parts. As this was published in 2006 the ubiquitous phone and news feed has become more a fact of life so an update wouldn't go amiss.
I borrowed this book from the Dublin Business School library. This is an unbiased review.
I was surprised not to find the pyramid structure mentioned, just the reverse pyramid; that one is demonstrated to us many times. The pyramid style is also worth a mention and is used in softer stories, colour pieces, columns and such, where description of the situation comes first and then the major storyline or the hook follows. The author uses many instances of 'It is' or 'There are'. Bad example.
The main reason I would give four and a half rather than five stars is the wealth of typing which seems to be typing for the sake of typing. Don't mix up homonyms. There and their and they're. Councillor and counsellor. Fine. Do we need three and a half pages of examples? I don't, and if your reading and writing is so poor that you do, I'm wondering why you want to be a journalist. The news stories we read with mixups are often computer transcripts of speech. Many stories now are produced by computer including sports items and basic news reporting, with little human input bar grabbing a few quotes. Similarly we are given a few pages of shrinking phrases to contain basic words of one or two syllables, which might be needed for certain papers and stories but definitely not for all. And 22 pages are given to retyping what was in every major national newspaper over a few chosen dates. This all just comes across as padding.
Luckily the book does contain plenty of useful material, including the author sending out students to prowl around Covent Garden and pick up stories daily. Checklists, getting key facts into the story and a flow chart of how a news story is treated when it hits the office are the most interesting parts. As this was published in 2006 the ubiquitous phone and news feed has become more a fact of life so an update wouldn't go amiss.
I borrowed this book from the Dublin Business School library. This is an unbiased review.
March 1, 2020
A very good book on writing news stories: enlightening and concise, and funny sometimes. One of the best I’ve read in English so far. If you are a journalist or an editor, or want to understand how journalists work (maybe you are a PR person), give it a try.
July 2, 2020
Just Read The Book To Read It
I can't really give an opinion about the book. I just read it to learn something about being a reporter. The book was well written, and very informative.
I can't really give an opinion about the book. I just read it to learn something about being a reporter. The book was well written, and very informative.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews