Abstract

Understanding Journalism provides an indispensable guide through the processes and decisions required to produce quality journalism. Starting from 'What is news?' and moving on to consider decisions about public interest, accuracy and reliability of sources, and ethics, this book provides a model for practice centering on developing skills in critical self-reflection. It will help answer the question of 'Where to begin?' - examining the processes used by journalists to define, identify, evaluate and create journalism. Understanding Journalism offers a guide to: Finding news - exploring the nature of news and the factors influencing news judgement Choosing news - considering the power journalists exercise in selecting the issues that become news and examining the ethical implications of these decisions Gathering news - focusing on primary research - specifically interviews Constructing news - explores the processes used in deciding what to omit and what to include in the news depending on a targeted audience Working With Words - explores the role of editing in journalism and how it affects media messages Understanding Journalism will be essential reading for all students of journalism.