Print Journalism A critical introduction Print Journalism: A critical introduction provides a unique and thorough insight into the skills required to work within the newspaper, magazine and online journalism industries. Among the many highlighted are: sourcing the news interviewing sub-editing feature writing and editing reviewing designing pages pitching features In addition, separate chapters focus on ethics, reporting courts, covering politics and copyright whilst others look at the history of newspapers and magazines, the structure of the UK print industry (including its financial organisation) and the development of journalism education in the UK, helping to place the coverage of skills within a broader, critical context. All contributors are experienced practising journalists as well as journalism educators from a broad range of UK universities. Contributors: Rod Allen, Peter Cole, Martin Conboy, Chris Frost, Tony Harcup, Tim Holmes, Susan Jones, Richard Keeble, Sarah Niblock, Richard Orange, Iain Stevenson, Neil Thurman, Jane Taylor and Sharon Wheeler. Richard Keeble is Professor of Journalism at Lincoln University and former director of undergraduate studies in the Journalism Department at City University, London. He is the author of Ethics for Journalists (2001) and The Newspapers Handbook, now in its fourth edition (2005). Print Journalism A critical introduction Edited by Richard Keeble First published 2005 by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX9 4RN Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada by Routledge 270 Madison Ave, New York, NY 10016 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2005. “To purchase your own copy of this or any of Taylor & Francis or Routledge’s collection of thousands of eBooks please go to www.eBookstore.tandf.co.uk.” Selection and editorial matter © 2005 Richard Keeble; individual chapters © 2005 the contributors All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data A catalog record for this book has been requested Print journalism : a critical introduction / edited by Richard Keeble. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. 1. Journalism. I. Keeble, Richard, 1948– PN4775.P73 2005 070.1′7–dc22 2005010422 ISBN 0-203-00676-3 Master e-book ISBN ISBN 0–415–35881–7 (hbk) ISBN 0–415–35882–5 (pbk) Contents Notes on contributors ix Introduction xiii Part I Context: History, Structure and Business of Print Media 1 1 The Print Industry – Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow: An Overview 3 MARTIN CONBOY 2 The Structure of the Print Industry 21 PETER COLE 3 Profits and the Public Interest: The Business of Newspapers and Magazines 39 IAIN STEVENSON Part II Practice: Sourcing, News, Features, Comment, Reviews, Production and Going Online 53 4 ‘Get Me a Great Quote’: Sourcing and Research 55 SHARON WHEELER 5 The Dos and Don’ts of Interviewing 63 SHARON WHEELER 6 Practice and Theory: What Is News? 73 SARAH NIBLOCK 7 Beyond the Inverted Pyramid: Developing News-writing 83 Skills SHARON WHEELER VI CONTENTS 8 Staying Calm under Pressure: The Role of the News Editor 95 SARAH NIBLOCK 9 News Subbing Simplified 105 SHARON WHEELER 10 What Makes a Good Feature? The Different Genres 117 JANE TAYLOR 11 The Right Idea at the Right Time: Pitching the Feature 129 TONY HARCUP 12 Doing It in Style: Feature Writing 139 TONY HARCUP 13 Facing the Challenge of Feature Editing 149 TIM HOLMES 14 Creating Identities, Building Communities: Why Comment? 159 TIM HOLMES 15 Getting Personal: How to Write Comment 169 TIM HOLMES 16 The Art of Reviewing 179 ROD ALLEN 17 Design for Print Media 189 CHRIS FROST 18 From Blogrolls and Wikis to Big Business: Going Online 225 NEIL THURMAN 19 Journalism in a Non-Linear, Screen-Based Environment: Practical Online Skills 235 NEIL THURMAN 20 From Nexus to Newslog: Online Journalism from the Grassroots NEIL THURMAN AND SUSAN JONES 251 CONTENTS VII Part III More Key Areas: Ethics, Law, Copyright and Politics 265 21 Is Virtuous Journalism Possible? A Critical Overview of Ethical Dilemmas 267 RICHARD KEEBLE 22 Courting Controversies: Law and the Journalist 279 RICHARD ORANGE 23 Getting It Right: Copyright and the Journalist 295 IAIN STEVENSON 24 Beyond the Parish Pump: Reporting Local and National Politics 301 RICHARD ORANGE Part IV And Finally: An Education Overview315 25 Preparing Reflective Practitioners 317 ROD ALLEN Glossary of terms 329 List of useful web sites 339 Index 341 Contributors Rod Allen is former Head of Journalism at City University, London. He was the publisher and editor of Broadcast before he joined the current affairs and features department of London Weekend Television as a producer. He subsequently became controller of international development at LWT. He has written and broadcast extensively on media topics and co-edited five volumes in the John Libbey series Current Debates in Broadcasting. Email: [email protected]. Peter Cole is Professor of Journalism at the University of Sheffield and head of the Department of Journalism Studies there. He was deputy editor of the Guardian, founder editor of the Sunday Correspondent and news review editor of The Sunday Times. He writes a weekly column on the media for the Independent on Sunday and has published academic articles and book chapters on various media issues. Email: p.g.cole@sheffield.ac.uk. Martin Conboy is a Reader in the Department of Journalism Studies at the University of Sheffield. He has worked for many years in Germany and Britain on critical and historical approaches to the press. He is the author of The Press and Popular Culture (Sage 2002), Journalism: A Critical History (Sage 2004) and the forthcoming Tabloid Britain: Constructing a Community Through Language (Routledge 2005). Email: m.conboy@sheffield.ac.uk. Chris Frost is Professor of Journalism at Liverpool John Moores University where he heads the Department of Journalism. He is the author of Media Ethics and Self- Regulation, Reporting for Journalists and Designing for Newspapers and Magazines. He was a newspaper journalist and editor for more than twenty years and is a former president of the NUJ. He is Chair of the Association for Journalism Education and Chair of the NUJ’s Ethics Council. Email: [email protected]. Tony Harcup has more than twenty years’ experience as a journalist and is now a senior lecturer in the Department of Journalism Studies at the University of Sheffield in the UK. He is the author of Journalism: Principles and Practice (Sage 2004) and has previously published research on news values, ethics and alternative media. He is currently working on a second book for Sage entitled The Ethical Journalist. Email: t.harcup@sheffield.ac.uk. Tim Holmes is Course Director for the PG.Dip. in Magazine Journalism, Cardiff University. After eighteen years as a magazine journalist, editor and publisher, he was appointed to lead Cardiff’s magazine diploma in 1995. His publications include ‘McLuhanism, Bricolage and the Custom Motorcycle’, a paper for the X CONTRIBUTORS ACA/PCA annual conference, 2004 and Subediting for Journalists (Routledge, with Wynford Hicks, 2003). Email: [email protected]. Susan Jones is an honorary research fellow at City University, London. She has worked on computer-based document processing, in various ways, since 1966. For seven years she was closely involved with the Masters course in Electronic Publishing at City while her book, Text and Context (Springer-Verlag 1991) covered text retrieval, digital media, hypertext and markup languages. Richard Keeble is Professor of Journalism at the University of Lincoln. Before that he taught for nineteen years at City University, London. His publications include Secret State, Silent Press (John Libbey 1997), The Newspapers Handbook (4th edn, Routledge 2005) and Ethics for Journalists (Routledge 2001). He is the editor of Ethical Space: The International Journal of Communication Ethics. Email: [email protected]. Sarah Niblock is a full-time lecturer and researcher in the Department of Journalism, City University, London. She began her career on the Birkenhead News and Liverpool Echo and has freelanced for Company and Cosmopolitan as well as national newspapers and radio. Her book, Inside Journalism (Blueprint), was published in 1996 and she has written widely on journalism, cultural studies and visual culture. Email: [email protected]. Richard Orange is a senior lecturer in journalism at the University of Lincoln and also runs a press agency, Orchard News Bureau. He has worked at the Banbury Guardian, Staffordshire Newsletter, Cheshire Chronicle and the Lincolnshire Echo. He has also edited and produced a series of travel guidebooks to Switzerland and is Press Officer of the Lincoln-based Circular Chess Society. Email: [email protected]. Iain Stevenson is Professor of Publishing Studies at City University. Previously he was a publishing executive with a number of international publishing com- panies including Longman, Macmillan, Pinter, Wiley and the Stationery Office. He has written widely on copyright, publishing history and serial publication and is currently working on a book on British publishing in the twentieth century. Email: [email protected]. Jane Taylor is Head of Journalism at the Surrey Institute of Art and Design, University College. She has a background in print journalism (the regional press and magazines, with a stint on LBC as a reporter). Her Ph.D. in creative and critical writing has been submitted. Most recent projects include papers for the Journal of Media Practice and guest editorship of Pretext.