Routledge Writing for News Media: The Storyteller’s Craft

Writing for News Media is a down-to-earth guide on how to write news stories for online, print and broadcast audiences. It celebrates the craft of storytelling, arguing for its continued importance in a modern newsroom. With dynamism and humour, Ian Pickering, a journalist with 30 years’ experience, offers readers practical advice on being a news journalist, with step-by-step guidance on creating a great story and writing the perfect news copy. Chapters include: extracts from published news articles to help illustrate the dos and don’ts of storytelling; the ten golden rules for structuring and putting together a successful news article, including ‘Nail the intro’, ‘Let it flow’ and ‘Keep it simple’; instruction on writing stories for different specialist subjects, including politics, court cases, economics, funnies and celebrity; help for readers on how to write for broadcast news; tips on how to write headlines, how to use pictures, how to make the most of quotations and how to avoid common style and grammar mistakes; glossaries covering a range of different aspects of news journalism, including types of news story, online and data journalism, typesetting and broadcasting. This is an instructive and insightful manual which champions brilliant storytelling and writing with flair. It introduces a set of key creative and analytical techniques that will help students of journalism and young professionals hone and refi ne their story-writing skills. Review ‘From raw trainees through to the most experienced journalists, this is an essential handbook for any writer. Writing for News Media has been created by someone who clearly loves words and knows the importance of using them correctly for effective storytelling.’ Dave Morgan, Head of Copy and Style, The Sun, UK About the Author Ian Pickering has spent more than 30 years as a journalist, working on print and digital publications in regional and national news organisations. He has trained and mentored many young journalists . . . and is still learning himself.