Includes bibliographical references and index.

pt. 1. Journalism and journalists. The nature of news -- The state of the news industry -- pt. 2. Reporting tools. Gathering and verifying information -- Interviewing -- Quotations and attributions -- Using news releases as sources -- Reporting with numbers -- pt. 3. Storytelling. The inverted pyramid -- Writing to be read -- Alternatives to the inverted pyramid -- pt. 4. Writing for specific media. Writing for digital media -- Writing news for radio and television -- pt. 5. Basic stories. Covering a beat -- Speeches, news conferences and meetings -- Other types of local stories -- Business and consumer news -- pt. 6. Specialized techniques. Investigative and data-driven reporting -- Public relations -- pt. 7. Rights and responsibilites. Media law -- Ethics -- g Appendix 1. 20 common errors of grammar and punctuation -- Appendix 2. Wire-service style summary -- Appendix 3. Society of professional journalists' code of ethics.