Print journalism

Print Journalism

A critical introduction

Print Journalism: A critical introduction provides a unique and thorough insight into

the skills required to work within the newspaper, magazine and online journalism

industries. Among the many highlighted are:

sourcing the news

interviewing

sub-editing

feature writing and editing

reviewing

designing pages

pitching features

In addition, separate chapters focus on ethics, reporting courts, covering politics

and copyright whilst others look at the history of newspapers and magazines,

the structure of the UK print industry (including its financial organisation) and the

development of journalism education in the UK, helping to place the coverage of

skills within a broader, critical context.

All contributors are experienced practising journalists as well as journalism

educators from a broad range of UK universities.

Contributors: Rod Allen, Peter Cole, Martin Conboy, Chris Frost, Tony Harcup,

Tim Holmes, Susan Jones, Richard Keeble, Sarah Niblock, Richard Orange, Iain

Stevenson, Neil Thurman, Jane Taylor and Sharon Wheeler.

Richard Keeble is Professor of Journalism at Lincoln University and former

director of undergraduate studies in the Journalism Department at City University,

London. He is the author of Ethics for Journalists (2001) and The Newspapers

Handbook, now in its fourth edition (2005).

Print Journalism

A critical introduction

Edited by Richard Keeble

First published 2005

by Routledge

2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX9 4RN

Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada

by Routledge

270 Madison Ave, New York, NY 10016

Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group

Selection and editorial matter © 2005 Richard Keeble;

individual chapters © 2005 the contributors

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted

or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any

electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter

invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any

information storage or retrieval system, without permission

in writing from the publishers.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data

A catalog record for this book has been requested

Print journalism : a critical introduction / edited by Richard Keeble.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

1. Journalism. I. Keeble, Richard, 1948–

PN4775.P73 2005

070.1′7–dc22

2005010422

ISBN 0–415–35881–7 (hbk)

ISBN 0–415–35882–5 (pbk)

This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2005.

“To purchase your own copy of this or any of Taylor & Francis or Routledge’s

collection of thousands of eBooks please go to www.eBookstore.tandf.co.uk.”

ISBN 0-203-00676-3 Master e-book ISBN

Contents

Notes on contributors ix

Introduction xiii

Part I Context: History, Structure and Business

of Print Media 1

1 The Print Industry – Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow:

An Overview 3

MARTIN CONBOY

2 The Structure of the Print Industry 21

PETER COLE

3 Profits and the Public Interest: The Business of Newspapers

and Magazines 39

IAIN STEVENSON

Part II Practice: Sourcing, News, Features, Comment,

Reviews, Production and Going Online 53

4 ‘Get Me a Great Quote’: Sourcing and Research 55

SHARON WHEELER

5 The Dos and Don’ts of Interviewing 63

SHARON WHEELER

6 Practice and Theory: What Is News? 73

SARAH NIBLOCK

7 Beyond the Inverted Pyramid: Developing News-writing 83

Skills

SHARON WHEELER

8 Staying Calm under Pressure: The Role of the News Editor 95

SARAH NIBLOCK

9 News Subbing Simplified 105

SHARON WHEELER

10 What Makes a Good Feature? The Different Genres 117

JANE TAYLOR

11 The Right Idea at the Right Time: Pitching the Feature 129

TONY HARCUP

12 Doing It in Style: Feature Writing 139

TONY HARCUP

13 Facing the Challenge of Feature Editing 149

TIM HOLMES

14 Creating Identities, Building Communities: Why Comment? 159

TIM HOLMES

15 Getting Personal: How to Write Comment 169

TIM HOLMES

16 The Art of Reviewing 179

ROD ALLEN

17 Design for Print Media 189

CHRIS FROST

18 From Blogrolls and Wikis to Big Business: Going Online 225

NEIL THURMAN

19 Journalism in a Non-Linear, Screen-Based Environment:

Practical Online Skills 235

NEIL THURMAN

20 From Nexus to Newslog: Online Journalism from the

Grassroots

NEIL THURMAN AND SUSAN JONES 251

VI CONTENTS

Part III More Key Areas: Ethics, Law, Copyright and Politics 265

21 Is Virtuous Journalism Possible? A Critical Overview of

Ethical Dilemmas 267

RICHARD KEEBLE

22 Courting Controversies: Law and the Journalist 279

RICHARD ORANGE

23 Getting It Right: Copyright and the Journalist 295

IAIN STEVENSON

24 Beyond the Parish Pump: Reporting Local and National Politics 301

RICHARD ORANGE

Part IV And Finally: An Education Overview315

25 Preparing Reflective Practitioners 317

ROD ALLEN

Glossary of terms 329

List of useful web sites 339

Index 341

CONTENTS VII

Contributors

Rod Allen is former Head of Journalism at City University, London. He was the

publisher and editor of Broadcast before he joined the current affairs and features

department of London Weekend Television as a producer. He subsequently

became controller of international development at LWT. He has written and

broadcast extensively on media topics and co-edited five volumes in the John

Libbey series Current Debates in Broadcasting. Email: r.allen@city.ac.uk.

Peter Cole is Professor of Journalism at the University of Sheffield and head of the

Department of Journalism Studies there. He was deputy editor of the Guardian,

founder editor of the Sunday Correspondent and news review editor of The Sunday

Times. He writes a weekly column on the media for the Independent on Sunday

and has published academic articles and book chapters on various media issues.

Email: p.g.cole@sheffield.ac.uk.

Martin Conboy is a Reader in the Department of Journalism Studies at the

University of Sheffield. He has worked for many years in Germany and Britain

on critical and historical approaches to the press. He is the author of The Press

and Popular Culture (Sage 2002), Journalism: A Critical History (Sage 2004) and

the forthcoming Tabloid Britain: Constructing a Community Through Language

(Routledge 2005). Email: m.conboy@sheffield.ac.uk.

Chris Frost is Professor of Journalism at Liverpool John Moores University where

he heads the Department of Journalism. He is the author of Media Ethics and Self￾Regulation, Reporting for Journalists and Designing for Newspapers and Magazines.

He was a newspaper journalist and editor for more than twenty years and is a

former president of the NUJ. He is Chair of the Association for Journalism

Education and Chair of the NUJ’s Ethics Council. Email: c.p.frost@livjm.ac.uk.

Tony Harcup has more than twenty years’ experience as a journalist and is now

a senior lecturer in the Department of Journalism Studies at the University of

Sheffield in the UK. He is the author of Journalism: Principles and Practice (Sage

2004) and has previously published research on news values, ethics and alternative

media. He is currently working on a second book for Sage entitled The Ethical

Journalist. Email: t.harcup@sheffield.ac.uk.

Tim Holmes is Course Director for the PG.Dip. in Magazine Journalism, Cardiff

University. After eighteen years as a magazine journalist, editor and publisher,

he was appointed to lead Cardiff’s magazine diploma in 1995. His publications

include ‘McLuhanism, Bricolage and the Custom Motorcycle’, a paper for the

ACA/PCA annual conference, 2004 and Subediting for Journalists (Routledge, with

Wynford Hicks, 2003). Email: holmesta@cardiff.ac.uk.

Susan Jones is an honorary research fellow at City University, London. She has

worked on computer-based document processing, in various ways, since 1966.

For seven years she was closely involved with the Masters course in Electronic

Publishing at City while her book, Text and Context (Springer-Verlag 1991)

covered text retrieval, digital media, hypertext and markup languages.

Richard Keeble is Professor of Journalism at the University of Lincoln. Before

that he taught for nineteen years at City University, London. His publications

include Secret State, Silent Press (John Libbey 1997), The Newspapers Handbook

(4th edn, Routledge 2005) and Ethics for Journalists (Routledge 2001). He is the

editor of Ethical Space: The International Journal of Communication Ethics. Email:

rkeeble@lincoln.ac.uk.

Sarah Niblock is a full-time lecturer and researcher in the Department of

Journalism, City University, London. She began her career on the Birkenhead

News and Liverpool Echo and has freelanced for Company and Cosmopolitan as well

as national newspapers and radio. Her book, Inside Journalism (Blueprint), was

published in 1996 and she has written widely on journalism, cultural studies and

visual culture. Email: S.Niblock@city.ac.uk.

Richard Orange is a senior lecturer in journalism at the University of Lincoln and

also runs a press agency, Orchard News Bureau. He has worked at the Banbury

Guardian, Staffordshire Newsletter, Cheshire Chronicle and the Lincolnshire Echo.

He has also edited and produced a series of travel guidebooks to Switzerland and

is Press Officer of the Lincoln-based Circular Chess Society. Email:

rorange@lincoln.ac.uk.

Iain Stevenson is Professor of Publishing Studies at City University. Previously

he was a publishing executive with a number of international publishing com￾panies including Longman, Macmillan, Pinter, Wiley and the Stationery Office.

He has written widely on copyright, publishing history and serial publication and

is currently working on a book on British publishing in the twentieth century.

Email: w.i.stevenson@city.ac.uk.

Jane Taylor is Head of Journalism at the Surrey Institute of Art and Design,

University College. She has a background in print journalism (the regional

press and magazines, with a stint on LBC as a reporter). Her Ph.D. in creative

and critical writing has been submitted. Most recent projects include papers

for the Journal of Media Practice and guest editorship of Pretext. Email: jetaylor

@surrart.ac.uk.

Neil Thurman is a senior lecturer in the Department of Journalism at City

University, London and since 1999 he has directed the Master’s Programme

in Electronic Publishing. Previously, in editorial and management roles with

Interactive Learning Productions, Yorkshire International Thomson Multimedia

and Granada Learning, he produced more than fifteen interactive videos and

multimedia CD-Roms. His research into the globalisation of journalism online

and reader contributions to news web sites has been presented as far afield as

South Korea and Austin, Texas. Email: neilt@soi.city.ac.uk.

X CONTRIBUTORS

Sharon Wheeler is Field Chair in Journalism and Professional Writing at the

University of Gloucestershire. She has been a print journalist since 1985, covering

everything from top rugby matches to flower shows. Sharon has extensive

experience of feature writing, reviewing, music writing, sports reporting and

production work on a range of newspapers, magazines, academic journals

and web sites. She is editor of <http//www.reviewingtheevidence.com>. Email:

swheeler@glos.ac.uk or shazw@hotpress.com.

CONTRIBUTORS XI

Introduction

This is a unique textbook for journalism, communication and media studies students.

It attempts to draw together for the first time in a single volume a wide range of the

elements of print journalism. The prime focus is on the practical skills, but the

treatment is always critical and placed within broader economic, historical and

theoretical contexts.

Journalism education tends to get a bad press. Within the print industry,

widespread scepticism persists about the value of studying the subject (paradoxically,

since the vast majority of entrants are university graduates). Why bother, say, with

the history of the press in the nineteenth century or explore the ideology of

objectivity? Isn’t it better to get stuck into the business of bashing out news stories

on time – and to the right word length?

This text represents a serious and sustained response to that approach. All the

contributors are journalists but they are also teaching the subject in higher educa￾tion institutions across the country. And underlying all the chapters is the belief

that studying journalism offers enormous practical, political, ethical, theoretical

challenges and, in addition, prepares students to be reflective, critical practitioners

in a range of careers.

Significantly, a lot of the contributors stress the difficulties of the tasks. Strangely,

journalism and media studies are dubbed ‘soft’ subjects in mainstream newspapers.

Yet the evidence suggests it remains extremely rare to gain a first-class honours

degree in journalism (or in a degree combining journalism with another subject such

as sociology, politics or English). And this is not surprising given the range of skills

involved.

First, journalists need to have a deep understanding of the historical roots of the

media, being able to analyse the factors impacting on the changes in technology,

news values and professional routines. Martin Conboy’s chapter focuses on the

history of the print media in Britain, arguing both originally and persuasively that

the impact of magazines on the development of newspapers has to date been

inadequately acknowledged. Historians and media sociologists have tended to

prioritise the role of the print media in relation to the world of politics. In contrast,

Conboy highlights the ways in which the mainstream print media, with magazines

at the forefront, have responded creatively over the centuries to the entertainment

and lifestyle requirements of their readerships.

Journalism as a genre of literature only comes alive when directed at a specific

target within a clearly defined market. Thus Peter Cole’s chapter examines the

structure of the British mainstream print industry and the organisational routines

readership number of

people who read paper

as opposed the number

of copies sold.

at individual publications. Following on from this, Iain Stevenson, in the final

‘Context’ chapter, looks into the business of producing newspapers and magazines,

exploring important concepts such as ‘revenue streams’ and ‘cost management’.

Moving on to more practical matters, Sharon Wheeler and Sarah Niblock

look at news writing, journalistic research techniques (with a special focus on the

interview), the role of the news editor and the sub. But underpinning all of

the practical tips lies an exploration by Sarah Niblock of that crucial question: what

is news?

News appears ‘natural’ and a doddle to bash out. In fact, journalistic registers are

complex: they have to be learned – and practised regularly. Capturing the main angle

of event appropriate for your publication is often no simple task. Condensing it into

a lively intro section and following that up with a tightly structured story, maybe

combining quotes, information, colour and background is equally difficult.

Though the featurisation of news gathers pace, there is still value in examining

features separately. Thus Jane Taylor identifies the seemingly infinite variety of

genres (which often demand different writing styles, tones and research techniques)

while Tony Harcup and Tim Holmes draw from their wide journalistic experiences

to offer advice on pitching, feature writing and editing.

There is clearly a creative, subjective dimension to all print journalism. But it

is most apparent in personal opinion columns, and reviews and tips on these are

provided by Tim Holmes and Rod Allen. Newspapers and magazines are, in many

ways, like people and thus they only work effectively when words and design

combine to create a distinct, attractive ‘identity’. Chris Frost’s chapter, therefore,

explores the principles of design and their applications in print publications while,

at the same time, leading you confidently into that strange world of production

jargon – bastard measure, em-rule, puff, raster dot and so on.

The overall impact of the Internet on the print industry – both in the UK and

around the world – has been massive and, not surprisingly, all journalism courses

now include online skills in core units. Thus Neil Thurman and colleagues explore

the history of newspapers’ uneasy, shifting relationship with the web; they offer

advice on writing and designing online. And they end with an original focus,

exploring blogs and wikis, both of which are throwing up important challenges to

journalists’ professionalism and privileged position within the public sphere.

As the debate over alleged dumbing-down, tabloidisation, infotainment and

junk journalism reaches fever pitch, questions over legally and ethically responsible

journalism, highlighted by Richard Orange, Richard Keeble and Iain Stevenson

become even more important. A separate chapter on ethics is in danger of suggesting

that such issues can be isolated from the practice of journalism. In fact, as a number

of other writers here stress, it is impossible to engage in any form of reflective

journalism without confronting ethical/political issues. Thus, the chapter has the

simple ambition of highlighting a few major strategies and controversies while

its questioning approach and focus on alternative media seeks to challenge the

mainstream consensus and inspire responsible action.

Most beginning journalists will at some stage have to cover local politics.

Investigative reporter Richard Orange does more than explain the intricacies of local

government. He shows how to a curious and knowledgeable reporter seemingly dull

council committee minutes can easily be excellent sources of news.

XIV INTRODUCTION

background section

of news or feature story

carrying information

which serves to

contextualise main

elements. Also, in

computer jargon,

indicates hyphenation

and justification system

is operating while copy

is being input.

colour section of

newspaper copy

focusing on

descriptions or

impressions. Thus a

colour feature is one

which puts emphasis on

description and the

subjective response of

the journalist though the

news element may still

be strong.

em the square of the

body height of the

typesize. See mutton.

feature as distinct

from news story, tends

to be longer, carry more

background information,

colour, wider range of

sources and journalist’s

opinion can be

prominent.

intro opening of news

or feature story usually

containing main angle.

Not necessarily just

single par. Also known

as ‘lead’. US: nose.

measure width of a

block of text measured

in 12 pt ems.

puff advert for editorial

material inside a

publication.

quote abbreviation for

quotation; also when a

reporter files copy over

phone ‘quote’ then

means first inverted

commas. End quote

marks are often known

as ‘unquote’.