Telling Stories/Taking Risks: Journalism Writing at the Century's Edge

by Alice Klement

Edited by a professor of journalism and a professor of English literature, this newswriting anthology focuses on the teaching of quality journalistic writing and the ways in which current writers approach the craft of storytelling. Through selected unabridged articles by nationally known writers (such as Dave Barry and Lisa Grunwald) as well as local journalists, this book investigates the question of how writers take risks--physical, psychological, stylistic, etc.--in the course of investigating and writing a story. The book deals with many of the standard issues of traditional journalism, such as objectivity, first-person vs. third-person accounts, reliability of sources, and the decision-making process of the writer, but with regard to the new challenges writers face in the nineties.

320 pages, Paperback

First published August 18, 1997

Reviews

[Hank Stuever · Rating 5 out of 5]

Disclosure: I had a story republished in this collection, which I was really excited about, to be included along with so many great reporters who were writing wonderful feature stories in the 1990s. I remember how great it was to get to know Alice Klement and share her enthusiasm for the work going on in so many newsrooms -- not just dailies but also weeklies, alt-weeklies and magazines. Her first question to me was if I kept a file of any stories by other writers that had inspired me, and, boy, I sure did, and I was happy to share it with her. Good times, a great era.

[Andrea Pye · Rating 3 out of 5]

What an inspiring book! It gave me multiple examples of how to keep journalism writing fresh and upbeat, not to mention unique. It can be very easy to get into a pattern with article writing, but this book reminds us that we don't have to stay there!