I'm a sucker for lists, especially lists for journalists. So I had to read the 25 commandments for journalists posted by a former editor of the Guardian. Tim Radford's "manifesto" is a useful reminder of what really matters in journalism, and it's not today's cool tools, …
One possible consequence of staff cuts in newsrooms is more collaboration between and among journalists. While it's always been possible for people in the same news organization to work on a story on a shared computer system, it's not so easy to include someone from …
It's easy to criticize TV and radio news. So much of it is shallow, sensational or both. It's also easy to dismiss the criticism as uninformed, ill intentioned or both. Much of it is. But when the criticism comes from someone like Ira Glass, it …
Have you ever watched a television news story or read something in print or online and wondered afterwards what on earth it was about? It happens all too often when stories have no focus. Reporters who spend much of their day collecting information, pictures and …
Those words and phrases recently banned by a top executive at Tribune Broadcasting have turned up on television. All 117 of them. In the same piece. I suppose it was a no brainer to poke fun at the list this way, but in a surprise move …
Mike Schuh has been covering daily news at the same station in Baltimore for 17 years, winning a Murrow and several Emmy awards along the way. His official title is general assignment reporter at WJZ-TV, but he prefers to describe himself as a storyteller. So …
When newsrooms cut editorial staff--as so many have in the past couple of years--are typos and grammatical errors the inevitable result? The Washington Post's ombudsman, Andy Alexander, admits there are more errors in the print paper and "clearly reduced staffing plays some role." But a bigger …
Shocking! Tragic! Unbelievable! Not the stories that came with those labels attached, but the way they're written. It's shocking how many worthless adjectives are being crammed into the average newscast! Tragic to think that many writers may not know better. And unbelievable that nothing is being …
KGO-TV reporter Wayne Freedman has been telling stories for 30 years, and for almost that long, he's been willing to tell the rest of us how he does it. In his book, It Takes More than Good Looks To Succeed at TV News Reporting, Wayne …
When it comes to writing, what works on TV or in print doesn't necessarily work on the Web. Stories that begin with an anecdotal lead may send online readers clicking away, if they can't figure out quickly what the story is about. Many broadcast journalists have …
One of my favorite quotes about writing comes from the journalist Gene Fowler: Writing is easy. All you do is stare at a blank sheet of paper until drops of blood form on your forehead. Producing a TV news story is easy, too. You just choose the …
Great writers read. They read fiction, non-fiction, and books about writing. Here are some suggestions to get you started. If you want to carry them all with you, consider a Kindle! And if you're teaching journalism, we also have a list of textbooks to consider. Advancing …
