Writing & Reporting for the Media

Winner of the Textbook & Academic Authors Association's McGuffey Longevity Award

Writing and Reporting for the Media introduces students to what reporters do--engage the world around them, generate story ideas, gather information, and effectively write a wide variety of story types. This classic text's reputation is built on its thorough grounding in the basic skills that aspiring reporters need.

Section One introduces students to the current journalism landscape and the foundational tools of journalism, including news judgement, newswriting style, and grammar and language choice. In Section Two, the text explores questions of libel, privacy, newsgathering issues, and ethics. Section Three teaches students to write summary and alternative leads; organize and write the body of a news story; interview sources and integrate quotations; write feature stories; write for broadcast news; and integrate photo, video, and audio elements. Finally, in Section Four, students learn about specific areas of journalism, including covering speeches and meetings; writing brights, follow-ups, roundups, sidebars, and obituaries; public affairs reporting; investigative reporting; and public relations.

The text engages students through its use of clear, accessible language and extensive examples, often drawn from recent news articles about important contemporary topics including the COVID-19 pandemic, the Black Lives Matter movement, and the war in Ukraine. Extensive and realistic practice exercises at the end of each chapter give students the opportunity to apply and master the skills under discussion.

John R. Bender is a William H. Kearns Professor Emeritus at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

Lucinda D. Davenport is a University Distinguished Professor at Michigan State University.

Michael W. Drager is an Associate Professor at Shippensburg University of Pennsylvania.

Fred Fedler taught journalism at the University of Central Florida for thirty-eight years until his retirement in 2008.