The Associated Press Guide to News Writing

by Rene J. Cappon

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 writing--with lively examples from today's newspapers--and what makes a good story; how to write a good feature story; how to cite sources; and more.

Genres: Writing, Journalism, Nonfiction, Reference, Adult, Academic

256 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1982

Reviews

[Billie Pritchett]

Associated Press Guide to News Writing is a short manual of style for writing news stories and contains good tips for writing in general. Ernest Hemingway claimed he learned to write from the advice his editor gave him. With any luck, a book like this will help you write clearer prose. Here are a half-dozen guidelines writing rules from the first twenty some-odd pages:

1. Writers should ask themselves three questions before letting go of a story: (a) Have I said what I intended to say? (b) Have I put it as concisely as possible? (c) Have I put things as simply as possible?

2. Strong writing relies on nouns and verbs. Use adjectives, adverbs, anything else sparingly. Remember that the verb, particularly in the active voice, is the ringmaster of the sentence.

3. Prefer the short word to the long.

4. Prefer the familiar word to the fancy.

5. Prefer the specific word to the abstract.

6. Use no more words than necessary to make your meaning clear.

If you dig these, you'll dig the book.

[Alex Mitchell]

Essentially a book that condensed a pointless class last semester into about a 120 page, two-hour-long read. Sometimes I feel like I'm wasting my time majoring in journalism that's better learned through practice and application than theory. But who knows, when it's required for a job application, I guess that will help. Maybe I'm speaking empty words because onto another school year I go . . . Is there any other path though?

[Bethany]

Rated PG (although how do you really rate a how-to book?)

WOW. I started working as a newspaper reporter earlier this year, and I picked this up to get a crash course on journalistic writing.

It was amazing. I learned so much more about the news-writing field as compared to the academic-writing field. I can't recommend it highly enough, because it has basic writing guides as well as journalistic writing advice. I love this and can't wait to return to it again (although I feel now like I'm making all sorts of horrible errors as I write).

[Tatia Kobidze]

თავიდან ეს წიგნი მხოლოდ ჟურნალისტებისთვის იყო, მაგრამ ახლა, როცა ყველა, ვინც კი სოციალურ მედიაში რამეს პოსტავს, ფაქტობრივად, მოქალაქე ჟურნალისტია, ამ წიგნის მკითხველთა რაოდენობაც საგრძნობლად გაიზარდა. ეს არის ძალიან კარგი გზამკვლევი იმის გასაგებად, თუ როგორ მოყვე ამბავი, ზედმეტი სიტყვების, აღტყინებისა და გადაჭარბების გარეშე. როგორ არ გააუფასურო ან გააკომიკურო ამბავი და მიიტანო მკითხველამდე ზუსტად ისე, როგორც ხედავ.

მართალია, წიგნი ინგლისური ენის თავისებურებებსაც ეთმობა, მაგრამ კითხვისას, თითქმის ყველა მაგალითზე მახსენდებოდა ქართული ანალოგიაც. აქ ახსნილია ესა თუ ის სიტყვა რატომ არ არის სინონიმები ან რამდენად უადგილოა ზოგჯერ ზედსართავებისა თუ კავშირების გამოყენება, ანაც უფრო უარესი, როგორ აითქვიფა ჟურნალისტიკა და იურისპუდენცია ისე, რომ მთხრობელისა და პროცესის მონაწილის ტექსტის ერთმანეთისგან განსხვავება შეუძლებელი გახდა. მოკლედ, კარგი წიგნია მათთვის, ვისაც ჟურნალისტიკა და ამბის თხრობა აინტერესებს.

[Benedict Tan]

A good handbook on news writing, but with guidelines, personal tips and examples that go beyond its scope. This sentence probably sums up Rene Cappon's philosophy: By and large, though, the most effective journalistic tone in the '90s would seem to be the plain and unadorned. (p.58)

I learned that being concise and clear is extremely important for all forms of communication.

This short book is full of examples and Cappon's wit. He identifies common writing pitfalls and helpfully offers suggestions to improve them. He also advocates for simplicity, writing against the overuse of metaphors, cliches, redundant phrases.

Though not a journalist, I appreciated this book and will frequently refer to it for practical wisdom.

[sarah jackie]

this his the length all books on reading should be (take notes, elements of journalism) there were a lot of examples and sometimes i would get confused on if they were examples of what to do or examples of what not to do… but overall a good book i learned stuff👍

[Andy]

Search the author's name for the updated version of this book (different title). Some stuff really is out of date.

[Geoffrey]

Everyone should read this. This book teaches the importance of communicating effectively with facts and brevity.

[Frank Pick]

3+, this is a handbook on writing well and worth revisiting

[Rachel]

We used this as one of our textbooks for my Advanced Media Writing class at BYU-Idaho. Cappon gives a lot of good tips, and excellent examples of what makes good and bad news writing. I think you'd need to have some knowledge of writing for media already to really apply what he's demonstrating here, but it's a lot of good information and has helped me improve my writing.

[Dave]

This book was incredibly helpful in my quest to write better articles for Wired.com. I plan on reading it again at some point. The real world tips and hints for saying what you mean succinctly. The section about writing ledes was also wonderfully eye-opening.

[Annalisa]

I use this as the textbook for the Advanced Journalism class I teach. We read one chapter a week and discuss in detail. The students' work improves with each discussion, as they become aware of their own usage. It's wonderfully to watch. An excellent resource

[Benjy]

I'm taking the journamalism crash course for my NY Sun job.

[Joy]

Very helpful

[elizabeth]

necessary for writers, essential for editors. And not nearly as boring as its title suggests.

[Becky C. Hennessy]

Much like Strunk and White's little book, this was produced in the same vein. It's invaluable. Highly recommend.

[Michael]

Buy it. Read it. Enjoy it.

[Marwan Asmar]

Good news writing

[Adam Cogbill]

Not really sure how to rate this, since I don't have much to compare it to. Seemed like a brief but informative discussion of News Writing though.

[Lindsay Coppens]

It only took a few hours to read, and for an almost textbook-like guide to journalistic writing, this book was surprisingly interesting with thought-provoking examples.

[Amber Hunt]

Twenty years in the news business, and I still find it useful to flip through this now and again to dust off some cobwebs.