The Associated Press Guide to News Writing

by Peterson's

The Associated Press Guide to News Writing, is the standard professional resource for both novice and experienced news writers. This practical handbook is the ideal writing style guide for all reporters, writers, editors, and English and journalism students. It covers all the essentials of good news writing, according to the styles and guidelines set forth by the Associated Press--with lively examples from today's newspapers. This authoritative guide includes:

Professional advice about crafting a good feature story In-depth reviews of important principles in news writing Expert guidance on writing concise, informative copy, source citations, and more. Clear and instructive discussions of specialized styles.

Genres: Journalism, Writing

176 pages, Paperback

Published November 12, 2019

Reviews

[Ailema · Rating 4 out of 5]

I absolutely hoovered up the first half of this. Whether you're a writer or an editor, it's full of brilliant, clear, analytical advice to tighten your copy, and it systematizes many style points I find myself raising with my team in a way that can be used as permanent reference.

The only reason this isn't five stars is that it seemed to run out of steam part way through: some of the advice becomes generic, and the edition I have aims to say something meaningful about writing for broadcast in just a few pages, which I don't think it really manages. Nonetheless, I am planning to make it into a big checklist for the reporters and editors on my team.

[Margot Note]

"There are no absolute rules of good writing--generalizations are instantly riddled with exceptions--but the principle of the 16-word average comes closest" (43).

"Good quotes should summarize what's on a person's mind, crystallize an emotion or attitude or offer an individual perspective of some sort--preferably in a concise and interesting way" (77).

[Zac McCray · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’ve read a lot of journalistic writing books, many of them 500+ page texts. This one takes all of the information chronicled across the genre and distills it down to a cool <200 pages. You know, like journalists are supposed to do.