Journalistic Writing: Building the Skills, Honing the Craft

by Robert M. Knight

Aimed at those pursuing careers in creating public prose, this is the definitive handbook for aspiring journalists. Offering budding writers suggestions on how to improve their skills—even when faced with a tight deadline—this guide also reviews many elements essential to the occupation such as utilizing strong nouns and verbs, paring down adjectives and adverbs, describing with concrete detail, and avoiding clichés and the passive voice. Going beyond a standard presentation of information, this reference encourages students to put its methods into practice, making each and every word count and maintaining the appropriate energy level in their content. With expert analyses of real-world articles, this book also provides advice on avoiding poor sentence structure that can kill reader interest and includes perspectives on diversity sensitivity. Accessible, humorous, and engaging, this revised edition offers a practical approach for those seeking to improve their communication skills.

Genres: Writing, Journalism, Nonfiction

315 pages, Paperback

First published January 31, 1998

Reviews

[Peter · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great journalism textbook

[Adrienne · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm using this for a high school journalism class I'm teaching. I wouldn't use it as introductory material (for the most part--the chapter on ledes is good for beginners), but it's good for when you're ready to get into the nuts and bolts of cleaning up and strengthening writing.

[Eddie VanArsdall · Rating 5 out of 5]

Timeless Advice

I'm not a journalist by trade, but I admire the journalistic approach to writing. It's about cutting out the fluff and getting to the point. Anyone who writes can benefit from Robert M. Knight's book. Mr. Knight writes with an authoritative and sometimes humorous voice. The section on usage is a gold mine of clarity. As an added bonus, you get a section on the evolution of English. This book has now become one of my go-to references. I highly recommend it.

[Bart Schaneman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Essential for any beginning journalist. Well worth it for any practicing journalist who wants a refresher course. Combine this with "The Elements of Style" and Zinsser's "On Writing Well" and you have a solid foundation of guiding principles for good, clear writing.

[Sarah Telling · Rating 3 out of 5]

The examples drive the points made by Robert M Knight home. Many of the examples of what not to do are funny. The exercises at the end of each chapter also help, but in some cases it would have been nice if there was an answer key and sample corrections.

[Tracy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nothing I haven't read before, but a well-written, basic refresher course.

[Debbie Greco · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent useful materials. I am looking forward to using ideas in my classroom.

[Rick Graf · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book is informative and written well.

[Jess · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great book for journalist and writers.