News Writing

Whether one believes that the news is our umbilical cord to the world at large or, as cultural critic Neil Postman puts it, a means by which we "dispense illiteracy" (he was referring to TV news), today's reporter (print, radio, or TV) needs a much broader education than his 19th century forerunners. In the Annenberg/CPB Project's latest series, journalist/educator Peter Berkow takes journalism students behind the scenes in this engaging 15-part examination of contemporary news reporting which ranges from tips on writing good leads to media ethics and questions of law. Interviewing a wide assortment of journalists, including Bob Woodward, NPR's Joyce Davis, Dave Barry, Gene Siskel, Larry King, Charles Kuralt, Elizabeth Arnold, and MTV's Kurt Loder, each of the 15 half-hour programs focuses on a particular issue and combines incisive interview commentary with real-life situations in the field and the newsroom. While aimed primarily at incoming journalism students, many of the individual episodes of News Writing (such as The Ethics of Journalism and What is News?) ask questions that concern us all, while the series as a whole makes us better informed consumers of the news. Highly recommended. (R. Pitman)