Intro to Journalism Handbook: An Open Educational Resource for Journalism Students
Michael Downing, Kutztown University of Pennsylvania
Copyright Year:
Publisher: The Pennsylvania Alliance for Design of Open Textbooks (PA-ADOPT)
Language: English
Formats Available
Conditions of Use
Attribution-NonCommercial
CC BY-NC
Reviews
The text provides brief information on major areas of journalism. I find it to be an appropriate text to be used for introductory journalism classes. read more
Reviewed by Hyeri Jung, Associate Professor, Radford University on 1/3/25
Comprehensiveness
The text provides brief information on major areas of journalism. I find it to be an appropriate text to be used for introductory journalism classes.
Content Accuracy
Content is accurate.
Relevance/Longevity
The text is up-to-date with the current place of journalism in terms of social media and AI. It's important to note that due to the nature of journalism's entanglement with technologies, the text will require frequent updates.
Clarity
The text is easy to read and understand.
Consistency
The text is consistent in terms of framework.
Modularity
The text is written in a way that's easy to divide into smaller reading sections. Its modularity is consistent and clear.
Organization/Structure/Flow
The topics are organized in a logical way.
Interface
The text should have more images/charts.
Grammatical Errors
There are no grammatical errors to my knowledge.
Cultural Relevance
The text is devoid of culturally inclusive examples. It should have more diverse examples in terms of races, ethnicities, genders, and international issues.
CommentsN/A
This book covers all of the basics to get students writing in journalistic style quickly. Key concepts like 5W/H, inverted pyramid, leads, libel, AP Style, & types of stories are all touched upon. read more
Reviewed by Heather Lubay, Faculty, Portland Community College on 11/12/24
Comprehensiveness
This book covers all of the basics to get students writing in journalistic style quickly. Key concepts like 5W/H, inverted pyramid, leads, libel, AP Style, & types of stories are all touched upon.
Content Accuracy
Information is concise & accurate.
Relevance/Longevity
Can’t tent is up to date & will not get dated quickly. Any necessary updates would be easy enough to implement.
Clarity
This book explains everything clearly & concisely and is student-focused.
Consistency
The test is consistent throughout.
Modularity
The book is very well organized & in a logical order. Readings are concise but thorough & could easily be broken up into shorter readings. It also could be taught out of order without being confusing.
Organization/Structure/Flow
Very well organized in a way that would be logical to teach the information.
Interface
No issues were observed either digitally or when printed.
Grammatical Errors
No mistakes observed.
Cultural Relevance
Many examples were PA focused due to he author teaching there, but could easily be remixed to include personalized or relevant examples.
CommentsThis is a great beginning writing book for new journalism students. Very few frills & straight to the point. Materials are accessible & explained clearly.
Table of Contents
- About PA-ADOPT
- About OER
- About the Author
- Table of Contents
- Part One: Introduction
- Part Two: Key Concepts in Journalism
- Part Three: Format and Style
- Part Four: Obits, Hard News, Press Releases, Sports, Opinions
- Part Five: Checklists for Covering Various Stories
- Part Six: The Impact of Social Media on Journalism
- Part Seven: Artificial Intelligence and Journalism
- Part Eight: Journalistic Code of Ethics
- Part Nine: Careers
- Part Ten: BLS: New Analysts, Reporters, Journalists
- Part Eleven: Exercises, Self Tests, and Useful Tools
- Part Twelve: Resources
- Part Thirteen: Appendix
About the Book
This book is intended as an open educational resource for beginning journalism students. It contains information on such topics as the First Amendment, 5 Ws (and H), the inverted pyramid, headlines and subheads, AP and in-house style, writing and editing exercises, and guidance on strategies for covering various stories and/or events.
This book essentially replicates the structure of the author’s journalism classes, which are writing-intensive classes. As such, it focuses upon helping student writers begin working on reasonably serious, campus-level journalism assignments as quickly and effectively as possible. The goal is to submit stories, photos, and occasionally video to a university newspaper for publication, all the while following professional standards related to accuracy, clarity, grammar, and AP style.
About the Contributors
Author
Michael Downing has worked as a professional technical writer and journalist for many years and has taught literature and writing courses at the college level for decades. Currently, he is part of the Professional Writing Program at Kutztown University of Pennsylvania. In addition to completing this OER book project, he is also working on a collection of poetry, as well as a series of UK travel writings posted to his blog.