Abstract

Who are the greatest reporters in history? This unique book is the first to try and answer this question. David Randall searched nearly two centuries of newspapers and magazines, consulted editors and journalism experts worldwide, and the result is The Great Reporters - 13 in-depth profiles of the best journalists who ever lived.

Each profile tells of the reporter's life and his or her major stories, how they were obtained, and their impact. Packed with anecdotes, and inspiring accounts of difficulties overcome, the book quotes extensively from each reporter's work. It also includes an essay on the history of reporting, charting the technologies, economics, and attitudes that made it the way it is - from the invention of the telegraph to the Internet. The Great Reporters is not just the story of 13 remarkable people, it is the story of how society's information hunter-gatherers succeed in bringing us all what we need to know.
'American newsrooms need to buy this inspiring book by the carton. David Randall's gripping collection of profiles in inky courage demonstrates that our current malaise amounts to ignorance of the perpetual siege of newsrooms by the powerful and the parsimonious. The Great Reporters is rich with the kind of lore that needs to inform the culture of newspaper journalism'
Dean Miller, The Poynter Institute for Media Studies
'Entertaining, amusing, even inspirational. Above all, what every good reporter aims to deliver, a great read'
Peter Cole, professor of journalism at the University of Sheffield