Designed to teach how to gather, write, and edit news stories, The Complete Reporter discusses the techniques
that are used every day in the news business. Through a combination of descriptive text, examples, demonstrations,
and exercises, this book makes fundamental concepts clear while instilling task-specific news and feature story
writing skills.
Along with introducing students to basic discussions about the field of reporting and basic writing, editing,
and design skills, this text provides them with key guidelines and tips for writing general and specialty stories
(see Parts IV-VII). Practical exercises throughout each chapter give readers experience with realistic writing
situations. Based on actual newspaper articles, the exercises present a series of reporter's notes prepared at
the scene of a story. Usable facts, libelous and/or unethical statements, and trivial tidbits are lumped together
in order to test and help build judgment skills and abilities to create tightly woven stories from a jumble of
information.
For anyone interested in basic news writing and reporting.
Table of Contents
All chapters include �Exercises.�
I. REPORTING TODAY.
1. Journalism as a Career.
A Writer on Current Events.
Reporting: Doorway to Many Vocations.
Qualifications of a Reporter.
A Craft or a Profession?
2. The Reporter in the News Organization.
Details of Organization.
The Library/Morgue.
News Channels.
Sources and Beats.
The Story Process.
3. What Is News?
News Values.
Measuring the Importance of News.
Story Types.
News Sources.
Codes of Ethics.
The Pitfalls of Libel.
Invasion of the Right of Privacy.
Nontraditional Claims Against the Media.
Other Legal Aspects of Journalism.
Internet Law.
II. WRITING THE NEWS LEAD.
6. The Simple News Lead.
The Five W's.
Playing Up a W.
Complete Reporting.
Testing the Lead.
7. The Complex News Lead.
Emphasizing an Outstanding Feature.
Other Leads.
Identifying the Features.
Combining Stories.
