Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 11
 A ground-breaking book August 20, 2006
Alan Jacobson (Norfolk, VA USA)
15 out of 15 found this review helpful
Newspaper editors bemoan the unpreparedness of the entry-level reporters they hire right out of college. You need only look at the typical college journalism texts to see part of the problem. These ancient tomes read and look as if they were prepared a century ago - and many of them were.
This is not the case with Tim Harrower's "Inside Reporting: A practical guide to the craft of journalism." This amazing book is chock-full of everything that motivated me to become an ink-stained wretch 30 years ago. It's relevant, compelling and interesting in ways you'd never expect from a textbook.
Harrower has written the book not just on reporting, but on how to produce a college textbook on any subject -- with an editing style and design that is absolutely captivating.
This book will do for newspaper reporting what "All the President's Men" did for journalism a generation ago - encourage a whole new generation of young people to take up today's digital tools and get the story.
A GREAT book! February 13, 2007
Alan G. Foster (Harrisburg, PA United States)
11 out of 11 found this review helpful
I've been a reporter and journalism instructor for 20 years and have used everything out there during that time. I've also used Tim's other text "The Newspaper Designer's Handbook" in my editing sections. This book is a joy to use --- last night I went over chapter 4 during a 6-9 p.m. class and as I added my anecdotes to the lecture, two hours flew by thanks to the slick structure of this text.
All instructors think they could do it better when assembling a textbook, but I can't say that any more. Tim has done it. This book covers everything I could ever think of and more. He discusses style. He includes tests and exercises and there is even an anthology he uses as a "morgue." Get a desk copy and require it for your students. It is a great book, one that will not be sold at the end of the semester, but kept on the shelf and used as a reference for years to come. He stresses convergence and the move from print to the web in a way that makes us old timers feel less of the pain. This is the new basic text for me. Wow what a book!
Best journalism text ever May 7, 2007
James Tortolano (Garden Grove, CA)
8 out of 8 found this review helpful
I am both a veteran journalist and a veteran college journalism teacher and "Inside Reporting" is the best introductory book ever. Interesting, accurate, visually pleasing and fun to read, it is the new "gold standard" of books with which to teach news writing and reporting. I am adopting it as the required text for the fall semester, and I keep my own copy handy to remind me of what I should be doing.
If you want to learn or teach journalism, this is the book.
Good night and good luck.
The way all textbooks should be May 23, 2007
kswaterman
6 out of 6 found this review helpful
I have purchased dozens of books on journalism over the past few months, but nothing matches the content, style or ease in finding information of this great book.
While there are many great books on journalism, most if not all of them are much the same as any other textbook, pages and pages of text which you must read and interpret to find what you want.
This book is visual in the most unique way I have ever seen in a textbook. Almost like a cross between a real newspaper and a comic book, all the information is presented in little snippets and pictures that are easy to understand and easy to digest.
As an example it has a page in the news writing section about writing a lead for a plane crash and gives examples of how different leads could be written highlighting the who, what, when, where and why. Most texts have something like this, but most would not go to the lengths that this author has done to enable the reader to understand the benefits and pitfalls of leading with a particular method.
The text has dozens of tips and information from working journalists and I liked the section in the back called the Morgue which contains examples of the stories used in the text.
The text has great background information on journalism which I would otherwise have ignored in other texts because of the way it is normally presented and overall I would rate this from a student's perspective as the single best investment I have made so far.
It is simply a gem of a book that is easily lost in Amazons catalogue. Decide for yourself if this book is for you but I would be surprised if anyone interested in journalism could not come away from reading this book and not have learned anything.
excellent February 17, 2009
Larissa M. Garza (USA)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Regarding the order, the book got to my house on the day they predicted. I am very pleased with my order and will surely purchase books from them next time. Regarding the book, I this book is not like other text books, it has a many illustrations and a newspaper type layout that gives you the impression of reading a newspaper or a magazine. It is very easy to read, and also fun.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 11
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