Writing the News A Guide for Print Journalists

by Fox, Walter

• ISBN13: 9780813822488
• ISBN10: 0813822483
• Edition: 3rd
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2001-06-18
• Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell

Summary

The third edition of Writing the News continues the tradition of its predecessors by providing journalists with a clear and concise introduction to the craft of newswriting. In addition to updating and adding to the number of examples from the contemporary press, this new edition includes a section on the increasingly popular narrative form of the news feature and an expanded chapter on news style.

Author Biography

Walter Fox has more than four decades of experience as a professional journalist, editor, communications specialist and journalism professor

Table of Contents

Preface to the Third Edition	p. vii
Writing for Newspapers	p. 3
Early newspaper style
Structuring the news
Stripped-down prose
The electronic revolution
Interpretative news
The electronic newsroom
Writing the Lead	p. 15
Lead structure
Lead language
Other considerations in lead writing: attribution and indentification
Memorable leads
Developing the Story	p. 33
Secondary leads
The fractured paragraph: key words, transitional devices, pronoun references
Information weaving
Ending the story
The Elements of News Style	p. 47
Choosing the right word
Writing good sentences: sentence style, sentence criteria
The Spoken Word in Print	p. 63
To quote or not to quote: direct quotes, paraphrase, accuracy
The mechanics of quoting: attribution, partial quotes, substitutes for "said."
Varieties of the Basic Structure	p. 75
The multi-element story
The "hourglass" structure
The speech story: the advance text, note taking, speech story structure
The meeting story
The obituary
News in Context	p. 97
Making connections
Providing context
Localizing news
Using background
Developing news
Featurizing the News	p. 109
Traditional alternatives: page brighteners or brights, sidebars
Contemporary alternative: the new graphics, featurized news, weekly feature styles
Writing the Feature Story	p. 125
Feature techniques
Feature development
Forms of the feature: the news feature, human-interest stories, personal profiles, narratives
Suggested Readings	p. 151
Index	p. 153
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