Title: Book Review: Living Journalism: Principles & Practices for an Essential Profession
Abstract: Rich Martin Living Journalism: Principles & Practices for an Essential Profession. Scottsdale, AZ: Holcomb Hathaway, 2011. 169 pp.We have all seen the headlines and heard stories about an erosion of respect for and for those who practice it. A Google search for the term public trust in journalism returned more than 8 million hits linking to articles or blogs with such provocative headlines as,* Why Should the Trust Journalists?* Restoring Journalism Trust: Is It Too Late?* American Journalism Is in a Crisis.And the trend is not new. Those headlines appeared in 2000, 2005, and 2008, respectively. A January 2010 conference at the University of Missouri-Columbia followed a premise that Public Trust in Journalism Has Been Eroding for Decades.In such a climate, the time could not be better for a book that celebrates the best of and offers aspiring journalists a guide for following the most vaunted traditions in the field. Such are the achievements of the new book by Rich Martin, a longtime self-described newspaperman and now head of the University of Illinois- Urbana/Champaign department.Martin's book offers sixteen chapters of information, hints, and ideas on many essential aspects of the journalistic enterprise-from how to nurture your curiosity and ask good questions to the importance of being accurate and admitting mistakes when they occur. Martin interweaves general precepts with many compelling and pertinent stories from practitioners of their proudest moments as well as illustrative cautionary tales of what they learned from mistakes. While Martin celebrates the best of journalistic practice and its transformative potential for communities and society, he is not an apologist for the profession and cites bad examples along with exemplary ones.Martin's tome would be a useful and inspiring guidebook for professionals, particularly those with less experience. However, it is focused with the student audience in mind. Each chapter ends with a checklist, highlighting key points in the chapter, along with two or more suggested assignments for learning or reinforcing the lessons on each topic. Yet despite the focus for a student audience, this book would be more appropriate for advanced classes than for beginners. It is not organized for those just learning elements such as AP style, attribution, leads, and nut graphs. It would be a wonderful primary or secondary text for, say, an advanced reporting course in which students are delving deeper into learning professional practice and have already had a chance to try what they have learned in introductory classes. …
Publication Year: 2012
Publication Date: 2012-05-07
Language: en
Type: article
Indexed In: ['crossref']
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