Librarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the 欧宝娱乐 data base.
In his career he has collaborated with British newspapers, Africans, Americans and Russians. He is senior editor of the "Independent on Sunday" in London.
Calling this work a textbook seems too rigid. I found it an extremely well written, honest and thoughtful guide to the practice of journalism, with many references to good and bad examples. Several times I laughed aloud.
From war reporting to doorstepping celebrities or phoning grieving parents, you will find it all here; advice mingles with warnings as to what would get you fired, derided or demoted. Avoid euphemisms, inventions, hoaxes and cliches. A very good section is about handling your sources. Whether it's celeb gossip or the Watergate scandal, the journalist and editor have to keep control of the story and decide what to print, not the source. And ask yourself why the source is telling you this information. Do they stand to gain? Or for revenge? This may mean the information isn't accurate.
At the end we are reminded to read constantly, and read lots of nonfiction. This expands vocabulary, knowledge and fields of interest. Reading also helps to give the writer an authoritative and personal voice. Various books on journalism are recommended, the main thrust being to read books by journalists about their experiences.
I did notice some misspellings, such as a word with three eees in the middle; I imagine these crept in when editions were being updated as the added text was not checked. This is the best book about journalism skills and experience that I have read to date. Enjoy.
I borrowed this book from the Dublin Business School library. This is an unbiased review.
When I read this book I had higher expectations, because everyone of my teachers was talking about it like it was an amazing book. Unfortunately, I didn't find it that spectacular. It has some very good tips and really good guidelines. But that's about it.
This was an incredibly well put together informative book on journalism. I've heard that it's been used as textbooks in college classes, but it doesn't read like a textbook at all. Each chapter discusses a different aspect of reporting from "where do good stories come from," to "writing for newspapers" and "how to write a good intro," yet does so in a way where it doesn't feel like a pile of information has been thrown at you. The content is super accessible and easy to follow and you get a lot out of it. I often found myself wanted to read the next chapter. Extra texts to check out are at the end of the book as well. I highly recommend this to anyone who's interested in journalism.
I purchased this book out of what could only be described as a growing disillusionment with my education at journalism school. Or, to put it more bluntly, I feel like I've barely learned anything in the past year. Somehow in a whole semester there is never much room for depth or a more insightful examination of things in discussions. This book gave that depth to me. Or at the very least it gave me the reassertion that there is some semblance of depth in journalism -- that I haven't somehow haven't already hit a brick wall. And while I might not have fully agreed with some of the statements made in this book, it's a book I hope to come back to every few months, reconsidering those statements.
This was required reading for my Journalism 101 course. It's stuffy, a little outdated and the author makes cracks at "bloggers" on the "world wide web" with the grumpiness of an old man sitting beside his typewriter looking down at all those dang kids with their new-fangled smart cell phones and their Facebook pages and whatnot, harrumph harrumphadoodle.
I jest though. Despite its old-school attitude towards digital media and lack of coverage on the current state of Internet-era journalism, this is still packed with facts on how to build a story, how to sub-edit, how to properly seek interview subjects and work with your sources. Good for newbies in the journo field, though I got way more outta this book on my second read (which was after a year working at an actual newspaper) than I did back in school.
This is an excellent example of writing as well as presenting a topic.
I came to understand that the so called journalism that focuses on drama and boobs we are used to seeing today is a watered down version of a badass reporting that aimed to present facts and change the world. Who would've known.
While while detailed account of how's and why's, the book reads fresh even though some of its examples come from 1889. It's fun to read that the author sees American journalists as ones having more integrity than those from Great Britain. Times surely change.
All in all, a great read for those aspiring to write and those that have read a news story ever in their lives.
>>"It is as if the story is being translated into another language by an angry man with a limited vocabulary." >>"News are things that actually happened, not what people say."
o mais pr贸ximo que j谩 li de uma B铆blia para quem quer fazer algo em jornalismo ou apenas para quem quer passar um bom bocado a ler sobre escrita e not铆cias, cada dica pr谩tica vem acompanhada de hist贸rias caricatas, gafes mas tamb茅m exemplos de como fazer bem n茫o 茅 t茫o dif铆cil assim.
Ho letto questo libro (che assomiglia un po鈥� a un manuale) dietro consiglio del giornalista Francesco Costa, trovandolo ricco di spunti interessanti nonostante sia stato pubblicato quasi 30 anni fa. Alcune osservazioni:
i) interessante (o forse sconvolgente) come la stampa italiana non segua la maggior parte dei consigli e delle buone pratiche illustrate da David Randall - per citare due dei tanti vizi della stampa italiana: il virgolettato e la pubblicit脿 occulta!
ii) mi sono trovata molte volte a sorridere di fronte ad alcune osservazioni dell鈥檃utore relative alla tecnologia e all鈥� improbabile (al tempo) sorpasso della stampa online rispetto a quella di carta.
iii) pi霉 volte ho pensato a quanto sarebbe interessante avere un volume aggiornato ai nostri giorni, sia per sapere l鈥檕pinione dell鈥檃utore sui nuovi mezzi di informazione sia per vedere riportati alcuni esempi su come i giornali di tutto il mondo abbiano raccontato avvenimenti importanti degli ultimi 20/30 anni (come l鈥�11 settembre, ad esempio).
Lettura consigliata a tutti gli appassionati di giornalismo e, perch茅 no, anche a chi vorrebbe approcciarsi a questo mestiere.
Every aspect of journalism is well-covered in Randall's series. Like many a good reporter, Randall brings humor and a bit of his own flavor to the instruction. There is a wealth of information, quotations of good (and bad) journalism, additional resources, and more within these pages. I believe any writer, whether or not they have their eyes set on a journalistic career, will find self-improvement within the guide.
Non 猫 un manuale di giornalismo. 脠 piuttosto un libro che parla come essere un bravo giornalista. Molto orientato al giornalismo di cronaca, 猫 utile a chiunque voglia scrivere bene un articolo su qualsiasi tematica. A mio avviso, sarebbe utile che lo leggessero anche i blogger che vogliono comunicare efficacemente dei fatti.
Turb奴t vienintel臈 ir geriausia knyga - vadov臈lis visiems, kas domisi 啪urnalistika arba nori tapti 啪urnalistais. Ai拧kiai ir paprastai apra拧yti pavyzd啪iai ir patarimai. Vienintelis tr奴kumas - knyga labiau pritaikyta XX a. pabaigos MKP, bet patarimai vis tiek universal奴s ir naudingi.
Puiki knyga apie 啪iniasklaid膮, 啪urnalisto misij膮 ir jos i拧拧奴kius 拧iandienos medijoje. Joje perskai膷iau gausyb臋 nauding懦 patarim懦, kurie pravers ateities darbuose.
A book about old journalism, written by an old journalist
The Universal Journalist is clearly a must-read for any writer interested in the business of news reporting (mostly) and overall journalism (in general). It is a good read too, as Randall is clearly a skilled writer with many years under his belt. Any journalist wishing to get better at the craft should definitely pick it up.
That, if they can stand the discouraging lack of currency throughout the entire book.
The Universal Journalist may provide a comprehensive view of the industry, but journalism is not just on paper anymore and it is most definitely changing rapidly. Advocating for the need to be absolutely impartial in news, for instance, is a concept which applies to some fields, but is not encouraged in others (especially some trade magazines and most online publications).
I approached this book hoping to find "universal journalism" tips useful to be successful in any role in the digital age. I found, instead, a book clinging onto a lot of old or outdated concepts, such as the need for reviews to be descriptive and informative, rather than intimate yet balanced. Today, the journalist or publication heeding such advice is destined to drown in an ocean of irrelevance. Although there are some invaluable concepts to be pulled out from Randall's book.
One more thing to note is that Randall has clearly done his research for this book. This is both positive, as it validates the weight of his opinions, but also tedious at times, especially when he stuffs pages and pages with examples, stories and anecdotes which risk diluting the point he is trying to make, rather than making it stronger. After a while, you will get used to his pattern of explaining one thing and telling a journalism story about it - and you may just start skipping those digressions altogether. Some of them are fascinating, but the book might benefit from losing a good dozen of those here and there. Which will leave room for more considerations on online journalism, perhaps.
Regardless of all this, be wise and look at his advice with a degree of skepticism. There is much to learn from an experienced journalist like him - but do not fall into the trap of believing this will be the ultimate book about all sides of journalism.
Tai tikra klasika ir b奴tina knyga kiekvienam asmeniui, turin膷iam ka啪k膮 bendro su 啪urnalistika ar papras膷iausiu turinio k奴rimu. Nors 拧i knyga yra i拧versta 寞 lietuvi懦 kalb膮, bet j膮 atrasti gali b奴ti sud臈tinga. Nuo拧ird啪iai patarsiu visiems siejantiems savo gyvenim膮 su 啪urnalistika, susirasti j膮, ar jei sugebate, skaityti angli拧k膮 variant膮. Kuo 拧i knyga nusipelno tiek daug pagyr懦? Ogi daugybe patarim懦, kaip pasiekti geresni懦 rezultat懦 啪urnalistikoje. 艩ioje knygoje rasite patarim懦 nuo to, kaip susitarti su 拧altiniais iki antra拧t臈s ra拧ymo ir parinkimo. Reikia 啪inoma atkreipti d臈mes寞, kad knyga i拧leista dar tais laikais, kai internetas buvo ka啪kas paslaptingo ir moksli拧ko (1996 m.), tad patarim懦 su jo naudojimu daug nerasite. Ta膷iau visas pagrindas, viskas, kas susij臋 su 啪urnalisto sumanumu, informacijos gavimu ir jos pateikimu 鈥� visk膮 rasite 膷ia.
As a beginner to the field of journalism this book was recommended to me by a colleague. It was in his words " A must read". I have come to agree with that opinion as this book has helped me tremendously. I have just finished the book and will be combing it over the next couple of weeks in order to take notes and continue to learn. I have nothing but good things to say and am completely dumbfounded by the amount of work that awaits me. Simply put, this book will help anyone to become a better reporter.
The focus of The Universal Journalist is on newspapers, so this content was less applicable to the kind of articles I write. However, the final third of the book does address the component pieces of a good article. There was also a section on asking questions, which is helpful advice for our interviews.
Thus, there was plenty of interest here. If I were still focused on writing articles, then this would be a useful book to read again, or at least the relevant parts. Much as I enjoyed this book, I probably need to search now for a similar title focused on editing and proofreading.
The reporting advice on how to avoid statistical traps and stupid PR tricks is fairly useful. The writing advice is less applicable - many of the examples are drawn from a more flowery, less regulated age. And for a book about how journalists ought to be careful, it has an appalling number of typos, mostly in names. I will probably still suggest it to students over big padded doorstops covering the same material, just because it's not a big padded doorstop.
As a future MA student in journalism, "The Universal Journalist" provided me with an excellent introduction to my future study and hopefully, job. Randall tackles with a healthy dose of humour the different professions in the journalistic field and their respective tasks, while also delivering precious advices and warnings for rookie journos. I spent a great time reading this work and I am certain, that it will come in handy during my study.