journalistic essay introduction

Introductory essay

Written by the educators who created Covering World News, a brief look at the key facts, tough questions and big ideas in their field. Begin this TED Study with a fascinating read that gives context and clarity to the material.

At the newsstand, on our smartphones and while watching the evening news, we learn about faraway people and places from the journalists, stringers and correspondents who work for news agencies and other media outlets around the globe. Global news is everywhere — from the front page news read by a New Yorker on Madison Avenue to the government radio station broadcasting in Pyongyang.

However, it would be a mistake to consider this a completely new phenomenon or to overstate its pervasiveness. Many people tend to think that global news is both a recent phenomenon and one that we can credit to advances in technology. If we think of 'news' in terms of newspaper articles or television reporting, then news is only as old as the technologies of press and video, and dates back to the first newsletters that circulated in Europe in the 17th century.

But in reality, humans have shared information about current affairs within and across borders for thousands of years, starting with the news networks of the ancient Phoenicians. The historical record also describes merchants sharing political news along ancient trade routes, minstrels and other traveling artists whose fictional performances also carried information about social change, and criers in medieval town squares.

If news is not a product of modern technologies, it's nevertheless true that technological change has had a dramatic impact on how news is made and consumed: where once we had printed newsletters distributed twice a day, now we have Twitter feeds refreshed twice a minute, and carrying information from an ever-widening array of sources. We live, as media critics like Marshall McLuhan have argued, in a global village.

The trouble with this vision of 'global news' is that it's not nearly as complete as we imagine it to be. According to the World Bank, of the world's seven billion people, only 80% have access to electricity (or the gadgets like computer and televisions that depend on it), 75% have access to mobile phones, and a meager 35% to the Internet. Most people on the planet aren't connected to what we think of as the 'global media' at all. As Global Voices founder Ethan Zuckerman points out in his TED Talk, "There are parts of the world that are very, very well connected, [but] the world isn't even close to flat. It's extremely lumpy."

Just as critically, the content that makes up the 'global media' is still heavily focused on a few key centers of power. In her TED Talk, Public Radio International's Alisa Miller shares a powerful map of the news consumed by American audiences in 2008: most of it focused on the U.S., and to a lesser extent, on countries with which the U.S. has military ties. Ethan Zuckerman points out that this lack of global coverage is pervasive, whether it's at elite news outlets like The New York Times or on crowdsourced digital information platforms like Wikipedia.

Moreover, Zuckerman argues, it's not just about the stories that get made — it's about what stories we choose to listen to. Thirty years ago, Benedict Anderson made waves when he argued that political structures (like states) depend upon a set of shared values, the 'imagined community,' and that the media plays a key role in creating those values. Zuckerman, however, argues that in today's world the disconnect between what we imagine to be our community, and the community we actually live in, is a major source of global media inequality. We connect to the Internet, with its technological capacity to link up the whole world, and imagine that we live in a global village. But in practice, we spend most of our time reading news shared by our Facebook friends, whose lives and interests are close to our own. Zuckerman calls this 'imagined cosmopolitanism.'

Compounding the problem, the stories we do attend to can be heavily distorted, reducing whole countries or societies to a single stereotype or image. As author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie explains in her TED Talk about the 'single story,' when all the tales we hear about a country follow the same pattern, we begin to imagine that this pattern is all there is know. The 'single story' can affect all of us, rich and poor: Adichie talks of her own misconceptions about Nigeria's rural poor, of her surprise at encountering the diversity of life in Mexico, and of her college roommate's reductive vision of Africa as poor and underdeveloped. The difference, she argues, is that there are simply more stories out there about powerful countries than about less powerful ones, and that makes it harder for us to reduce those societies to 'single stories' in our minds.

What can we do?

First, we can tell different stories about the places that are prone to reduction. In her TED Talk, Yemeni newspaper editor Nadia Al-Sakkaf takes us to the Yemen she lives in — where terrorism and political upheaval are real problems, but far from the whole picture. Moreover, in her account, each image can tell many stories. A woman with a veiled face can represent the role of fundamentalist Islam in Yemeni society, but she argues that a look behind the veil shows us that many of these women are holding down jobs and earning income, and in so doing, changing their role within their own families and in Yemeni society more broadly.

Second, we can find ways to invest in journalism. As Alisa Miller argues, a major obstacle to a truly global news media is the cost of production, of keeping bureaus in every country and paying for journalists to produce deep, investigative stories. The great paradox of media economics in the digital age is that the Internet makes it possible for us to consume more content, but falling advertising revenues means that each piece of content must cost a little less to produce. That pushes news outlets, even wealthy ones, in the direction of gossip and regurgitated press releases that can be produced by a reporter who hasn't left her desk.

One way to break this cycle, Ethan Zuckerman argues, is to make small and targeted investments in local journalists in the developing world. He describes a blogger training program in Madagascar that became a newsroom overnight when world media outlets needed verified content from a country undergoing revolution. He highlights the critical work of professional curators like Amira Al Hussaini at Global Voices or Andy Carvin at the Associated Press.

At the heart of these recommendations is a shift in the way we understand the mission of journalists — or rather, a return to an old way of thinking about news.

Right up until the early 20th century, all journalists were assumed to be opinion writers. Reporters went places to report, made up their own minds about a topic, and wrote an account that included not only facts, but an argument for what position readers at home should take and what political actions might follow. George Orwell's colorful and opinionated essays from South East Asia, for example, were published as reportage.

Then the Cold War started, and in the democratic West, journalists began to strive for objective impartiality, to distinguish their work from the obvious, state-sponsored propaganda of the Soviet bloc. Many critics at the time questioned whether 'true' objectivity was possible, but no major western news organization disputed that it was the ideal.

Today, we're seeing a return to the older understanding of journalism, towards an acceptance that even independent reporting carries a viewpoint, shaped by the people who produce it. Moreover, contemporary journalists are increasingly coming to see this viewpoint as a strength rather than as a weakness, and using social media to be more transparent to readers about the values they bring to stories. New York University's Jay Rosen, for example, has argued powerfully that the 'view from nowhere' advocated by 20th century western reporters is dangerous because it can lead journalists to treat 'both sides' of a story equally even when one side is telling objective falsehoods or committing crimes.

Many of the speakers in Covering World News describe their journalism — whether it is Global Voices or the Yemen Times — as having an explicit moral and political mission to change our perceptions of under-covered regions of the world.

But no speaker is more passionate on this subject than TED speaker and photojournalist James Nachtwey, who credits the activist context of the 1960s for inspiring him to enter journalism, using photography to "channel anger" into a force for social change. Nachtwey's work has brought him, at times, into partnership with non-profit aid organizations, an alliance that is increasingly common in today's media world but would surely not have fit within the 'objective' media of a half-century ago. Nachtwey sees himself as a 'witness' whose place in the story is not to be invisible, but to channel his own humane outrage at war or social deprivation in order to drive social and political change: in one case, a story he produced prompted the creation of a non-profit organization to collect donations from readers.

This kind of work is a form of 'bridge building,' a theme that emerges in many of our talks. For while there may not be one 'global media' that includes all communities equally and reaches all parts of the globe, there are many individuals whose skills and backgrounds enable them to go between the connected and less connected pockets of the world, bridging gaps and contributing to mutual understanding. That, perhaps, is the way forward for international journalism.

Let's begin our study with Public Radio International CEO Alisa Miller, an ardent advocate for a global perspective in news programming. In her TEDTalk "The news about the news," Miller shares some eye-opening statistics about the quantity and quality of recent foreign reporting by American mainstream media organizations.

Alisa Miller

How the news distorts our worldview, relevant talks.

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

The danger of a single story.

Ethan Zuckerman

Listening to global voices.

James Nachtwey

My wish: let my photographs bear witness.

Nadia Al-Sakkaf

See yemen through my eyes.

How to Write a Journalistic Essay

Jessica cook.

A journalistic essay is a combination of journalistic reporting and personal essay writing. A newspaper article contains straight journalistic reporting most of the time, while a personal essay tells a story. In a journalistic essay, you must combine these elements in order to tell a story with a factual basis in reporting.

Do your research. The basis of a journalistic essay must be factual; you should use your skills as a journalist to interview the people involved with the story you want to tell and research any available background information. Record interviews, take notes, and spend time at the library or online researching the information you need for the story. Take photos as you conduct your research so you can add them to your essay or at least use them to help you remember important information.

Organize your facts. Begin your essay by outlining your factual information and organizing it in a manner that is easy to understand. You do not always have to tell a story in chronological order; instead, consider how to tell the story in a way that will keep your readers interested from beginning to end.

Write your essay in a clear and concise manner. Avoid overly flowery or confusing sentences; you should strive to make your point clear, not to impress your reader with your vast vocabulary skills.

Let the story be the important part of your essay, not your writing. Your writing should showcase the story in the best light, hooking your reader's interest and keeping it until the end.

• 1 The Guardian: How Journalists Write, by Peter Cole

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Introduction to Journalism

Checked : Yusel A. , Abigail C.

Latest Update 20 Jan, 2024

Table of content

If the events occur closest to the recipient

If the information is about well-known people, stories with conflict, a recent event, types of print media, what characteristics make a journalist.

Journalism can be defined as an act of writing news related themes for print and non-print media. It also involves a complex process of taking information, sieving, and placing it into context. A journalist is always faced with the burden of telling the truth.

Journalism serves as the watchdog and whistleblower for society. It combines everything from “hard news” to politics, public affairs, softer news (human interest and celebrity stories). In other words, journalism is also a source of entertainment. And most importantly, modern journalism also gives lifestyle messages, medical updates, education, and more.

Before anything can be published as newsprint or read from a telecast, it must go through the hands of an individual –the journalist. Journalistic writing is very different from other forms of writing; this is why a journalist must have gone through a formal education system for their profession. Several steps of journalism begin with gathering news from different sources and end with sharing the same through various channels.

The majority of people across the globe rely on journalism for information. This is because it acts as the eyes and ears of an average person. Without   journalism, the world would be without a mouthpiece for the governed. Governments or individuals would embezzle funds, and no one would know. One thing to note is that journalism has been on a rampant expansion over the past few decades. The biggest question, however, remains about what type of people is journalists. Research shows that the majority of journalists today are white makes, and it has been so since the 1970s. Even though many media outlets claim to focus on diversity, there is still a huge gap. Again, a journalist must have a specific set of skills, first an education in journalism, and then the ability to write excellent, or otherwise a nose for news. Hence, a journalism student must understand what the course is all about.

A good journalist must not only practice how to create words into an engaging, intriguing, and thought-provoking idea, but they must also understand what type of information can be considered news. News is defined as a retelling of an event, an event, or a fact that will pull people interest. It is usually about a recent incident and tries to avoid libel and slander on other people. A piece of information is not news unless it meets several conditions:

Such information becomes of the most significant interest to the people. Other happenings in other parts of the world tend to be of little relevance in their daily lives.

For instance, if a piece of information is referring to the recent events about a political leader in a community, such would be of great interest to the said community. Hence, such information is noteworthy and newsworthy. It may or may not impact directly to the trials and tribulations, or successes and failures of the person’s daily life, and it creates a great distraction for the monotony of their daily activities.

Conflict is always a source of debate and discussion. As such, a story that involves conflicting ideas or individuals may captivate an audience.

When a story such as a gulf oil spill goes on for many days, people begin to lose. Today's news revolves around a 24-hours cycle. Besides, today more people rely on audio and video than print; therefore, there is a lot of information to go around.

News can either be in the form of print media or   broadcast media . This means it can either be written for the audience to read to themselves, or spoken for the audience to listen. And news is the backbone of journalism; without news, there is not journalism.

Print journalism is the oldest form of the industry. It was already around decades before motion pictures were invented. Besides, journalism is all about writing interesting stories that can be read by or for the audience. Hence, is it vital for a beginning journalist to understand the various types of print. The three main divisions are;

Like the international weekly, Sunday edition, national, and many others.

These are separated to form another broad category of print media. They cater for different ages and subjects ranging from business, the arts, teen fashions, and many others. Magazines are usually printed on glossy paper with lots of colors and illustrations. They are designed for entertainment reading, except those intended to deliver hard-hitting news. Besides, they come after a certain period and offer educational information.

Book date back to the earliest days. They are the largest form of print media and cover different topics on a more extensive scale. Books offer a better view of the beginnings of journalism and writing before the invention of the printing press.

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First, journalists are considered a special breed of people. They have a set of skills that no other individual do, perhaps a common fascination shared by all is the printed word. All journalists love playing with words for their edification as well as professional purpose.

Journalists are professional and very cautious and conscious. They always tend to check their sources, wording, quotes, and even spelling. They are required to adhere to journalistic standards and ethics. They make mistakes, but they always know how to come back. They always abide by deadlines, datelines, and bylines and they give credit to their sources. Journalists report without fear or bias on the developing stories. This is perhaps the reason becoming a journalist may be hard than many think.

Journalism is one of the backbones of modern society. It has been serving generations, as the watchdogs and whistleblowers, ensuring balance in e every aspect of human existence. Even though technology has changed things today – with the introduction of social media and the internet, the essence of journalism remains the same. For a beginning journalist, it is critical to understand all the aspects of the industry. Note that journalism touches almost every area of society; hence it is one of the most important subjects in the world.

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Journalistic writing is, as you might expect, the style of writing used by journalists. It is therefore a term for the broad style of writing used by news media outlets to put together stories.

Every news media outlet has its own ‘house’ style, which is usually set out in guidelines. This describes grammar and style points to be used in that publication or website. However, there are some common factors and characteristics to all journalistic writing.

This page describes the five different types of journalistic writing. It also provides some tips for writing in journalistic style to help you develop your skills in this area.

The Purpose of Journalistic Writing

Journalistic writing has a very clear purpose: to attract readers to a website, broadcaster or print media. This allows the owners to make money, usually by selling advertising space.

Newspapers traditionally did not make most of their money by selling newspapers. Instead, their main income was actually from advertising. If you look back at an early copy of the London Times , for example (from the early 1900s), the whole front page was actually advertisements, not news.

The news and stories are only a ‘hook’ to bring in readers and keep advertisers happy.

Journalists therefore want to attract readers to their stories—and then keep them.

They are therefore very good at identifying good stories, but also telling the story in a way that hooks and keeps readers interested.

Types of Journalistic Writing

There are five main types of journalistic writing:

Investigative journalism aims to discover the truth about a topic, person, group or event . It may require detailed and in-depth exploration through interviews, research and analysis. The purpose of investigative journalism is to answer questions.

News journalism reports facts, as they emerge . It aims to provide people with objective information about current events, in straightforward terms.

Feature writing provides a deeper look at events, people or topics , and offer a new perspective. Like investigative journalism, it may seek to uncover new information, but is less about answering questions, and more about simply providing more information.

Columns are the personal opinions of the writer . They are designed to entertain and persuade readers, and sometimes to be controversial and generate discussion.

Reviews describe a subject in a factual way, and then provide a personal opinion on it . They are often about books or television programmes when published in news media.

The importance of objectivity

It should be clear from the list of types of journalistic writing that journalists are not forbidden from expressing their opinions.

However, it is important that any journalist is absolutely clear when they are expressing their opinion, and when they are reporting on facts.

Readers are generally seeking objective writing and reporting when they are reading news or investigative journalism, or features. The place for opinions is columns or reviews.

The Journalistic Writing Process

Journalists tend to follow a clear process in writing any article. This allows them to put together a compelling story, with all the necessary elements.

This process is:

1. Gather all necessary information

The first step is to gather all the information that you need to write the story.

You want to know all the facts, from as many angles as possible. Journalists often spend time ‘on site’ as part of this process, interviewing people to find out what has happened, and how events have affected them.

Ideally, you want to use primary sources: people who were actually there, and witnessed the events. Secondary sources (those who were told by others what happened) are very much second-best in journalism.

2. Verify all your sources

It is crucial to establish the value of your information—that is, whether it is true or not.

A question of individual ‘truth’

It has become common in internet writing to talk about ‘your truth’, or ‘his truth’.

There is a place for this in journalism. It recognises that the same events may be experienced and interpreted in different ways by different people.

However, journalists also need to recognise that there are always some objective facts associated with any story. They must take time to separate these objective facts from opinions or perceptions and interpretations of events.

3. Establish your angle

You then need to establish your story ‘angle’ or focus: the aspect that makes it newsworthy.

This will vary with different types of journalism, and for different news outlets. It may also need some thought to establish why people should care about your story.

4. Write a strong opening paragraph

Your opening paragraph tells readers why they should bother to read on.

It needs to summarise the five Ws of the story: who, what, why, when, and where.

5. Consider the headline

Journalists are not necessarily expected to come up with their own headlines. However, it helps to consider how a piece might be headlined.

Being able to summarise the piece in a few words is a very good way to ensure that you are clear about your story and angle.

6. Use the ‘inverted pyramid’ structure

Journalists use a very clear structure for their stories. They start with the most important information (the opening paragraph, above), then expand on that with more detail. Finally, the last section of the article provides more information for anyone who is interested.

This means that you can therefore glean the main elements of any news story from the first paragraph—and decide if you want to read on.

Why the Inverted Pyramid?

The inverted pyramid structure actually stems from print journalism.

If typesetters could not fit the whole story into the space available, they would simply cut off the last few sentences until the article fitted.

Journalists therefore started to write in a way that ensured that the important information would not be removed during this process!

7. Edit your work carefully

The final step in the journalistic writing process is to edit your work yourself before submitting it.

Newsrooms and media outlets generally employ professional editors to check all copy before submitting it. However, journalists also have a responsibility to check their work over before submission to make sure it makes sense.

Read your work over to check that you have written in plain English , and that your meaning is as clear as possible. This will save the sub-editors and editors from having to waste time contacting you for clarifications.

Journalistic Writing Style

As well as a very clear process, journalists also share a common style.

This is NOT the same as the style guidelines used for certain publications (see box), but describes common features of all journalistic writing.

The features of journalistic writing include:

Short sentences . Short sentences are much easier to read and understand than longer ones. Journalists therefore tend to keep their sentences to a line of print or less.

Active voice . The active voice (‘he did x’, rather than ‘x was done by him’) is action-focused, and shorter. It therefore keeps readers’ interest, and makes stories more direct and personal.

Quotes. Most news stories and journalistic writing will include quotes from individuals. This makes the story much more people-focused—which is more likely to keep readers interested. This is why many press releases try to provide quotes (and there is more about this in our page How to Write a Press Release ).

Style guidelines

Most news media have style guidelines. They may share these with other outlets (for example, by using the Associated Press guidelines), or they may have their own (such as the London Times style guide).

These guidelines explain the ‘house style’. This may include, for example, whether the outlet commonly uses an ‘Oxford comma’ or comma placed after the penultimate item in a list, and describe the use of capitals or italics for certain words or phrases.

It is important to be aware of these style guidelines if you are writing for a particular publication.

Journalistic writing is the style used by news outlets to tell factual stories. It uses some established conventions, many of which are driven by the constraints of printing. However, these also work well in internet writing as they grab and hold readers’ attention very effectively.

Continue to: Writing for the Internet Cliches to Avoid

See also: Creative Writing Technical Writing Coherence in Writing

Intro to Journalism Handbook: An Open Educational Resource for Journalism Students

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Michael Downing, Kutztown University of Pennsylvania

Copyright Year: 2024

Publisher: The Pennsylvania Alliance for Design of Open Textbooks (PA-ADOPT)

Language: English

Formats Available

Conditions of use.

• Table of Contents
• About PA-ADOPT
• About the Author
• Part One: Introduction 
• Part Two: Key Concepts in Journalism 
• Part Three: Format and Style
• Part Four: Obits, Hard News, Press Releases, Sports, Opinions 
• Part Five: Checklists for Covering Various Stories 
• Part Six: The Impact of Social Media on Journalism
• Part Seven: Artificial Intelligence and Journalism
• Part Eight: Journalistic Code of Ethics 
• Part Nine: Careers 
• Part Ten: BLS: New Analysts, Reporters, Journalists 
• Part Eleven: Exercises, Self Tests, and Useful Tools
• Part Twelve: Resources 
• Part Thirteen: Appendix 

Ancillary Material

About the book.

This book is intended as an open educational resource for beginning journalism students. It contains information on such topics as the First Amendment, 5 Ws (and H), the inverted pyramid, headlines and subheads, AP and in-house style, writing and editing exercises, and guidance on strategies for covering various stories and/or events. 

This book essentially replicates the structure of the author’s journalism classes, which are writing-intensive classes. As such, it focuses upon helping student writers begin working on reasonably serious, campus-level journalism assignments as quickly and effectively as possible. The goal is to submit stories, photos, and occasionally video to a university newspaper for publication, all the while following professional standards related to accuracy, clarity, grammar, and AP style.

About the Contributors

Michael Downing has worked as a professional technical writer and journalist for many years and has taught literature and writing courses at the college level for decades. Currently, he is part of the Professional Writing Program at Kutztown University of Pennsylvania. In addition to completing this OER book project, he is also working on a collection of poetry, as well as a series of UK travel writings posted to his blog. 

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News Writing Fundamentals

One of the most fundamental differences between journalism and other forms of writing is the way journalists obtain the information they write about. Journalists obtain information through a variety of reporting techniques, which can include interviewing sources, looking through government documents, researching old articles, and observing events firsthand.

Good news writing begins with good, accurate reporting. Journalists perform a public service for citizens by presenting truthful facts in honest, straight-forward articles.

News Values

Journalists commonly use six values to determine how newsworthy a story or elements of a story are. Knowing the news values can help a journalist make many decisions, including:

What information to give first in a news article, and in the lede

Which articles to display on a newspaper’s front page

What questions to ask in an interview

The six news values are:

Timeliness- Recent events have a higher news value than less recent ones.

Proximity- Stories taking place in one’s hometown or community are more newsworthy than those taking place far away.

Prominence- Famous people and those in the public eye have a higher news value than ordinary citizens.

Uniqueness/oddity- A story with a bizarre twist or strange occurrences. “Man bites dog” instead of “dog bites man.”

Impact- Stories that impact a large number of people may be more newsworthy than those impacting a smaller number of people.

Conflict- “If it bleeds, it leads.” Stories with strife, whether it’s actual violence or not, are more interesting.

The newsworthiness of a story is determined by a balance of these six values. There is no set formula to decide how newsworthy a story is, but in general, the more of these six values a story meets, the more newsworthy it is.

Libel is defined as the published defamation of a person’s character based on misleading or inaccurate facts. Newspaper reporters can often run into issues of libel because it is their job to write truthful articles about people that might not always be flattering.

Even though we live in a country with a free press, journalists cannot write anything they want. Reporters do not have the right to state something about a person that could damage their reputation and that is untruthful.

One of the easiest ways to protect oneself from libel is to make sure to always do accurate reporting and to attribute all information in an article. If you write something about someone that you’re unsure about, just ask yourself if it’s true, and how you know it’s true. Rumors, gossip, and information you received from an anonymous or unreliable source are all dangerous to report, and they could run you the risk of a libel case.

The lede (or lead) of a news article is the first sentence, usually written as one paragraph, that tells the most important information of the story. When writing a lede, it is helpful to use the “tell a friend” strategy. Imagine you had to sum up to a friend, in one sentence, what your story is about. How would you sum up quickly what happened? A story’s lede answers the “Five W’s” in a specific order: Who? What? When? Where? Why?

For example:

The Atlanta Police Department will hold a memorial service Wednesday at Holy Christ Church in Buckhead for fallen officer Lt. James Montgomery.

WHO: The Atlanta Police Department WHAT: will hold a memorial service WHEN: Wednesday WHERE: Holy Christ Church in Buckhead WHY: for fallen officer Lt. James Montgomery

Other Examples:

Gwinnett County Public Schools was awarded $250,000 early Wednesday as a finalist for what’s considered the Nobel Prize of public education.

A man beat an Army reservist in front of a Morrow Cracker Barrel, yelling racial slurs at her as he kicked her in the head, Morrow police said.

Examples courtesy of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Inverted Pyramid

News articles are written in a structure known as the “inverted pyramid.” In the inverted pyramid format, the most newsworthy information goes at the beginning of the story and the least newsworthy information goes at the end.

After you have written your story’s lede, order the information that follows in terms of most important to least important. There is NO formal conclusion in a journalism article the way there is in an essay or analysis paper.

Attributing information

ALL information in a news article MUST be attributed to the source where the reporter got his/her information. The reporter must indicate in his/her article where material was obtained from – from an interview, court documents, the Census, a Web site, etc. Direct quotes and paraphrasing can be used to attribute information obtained in an interview with a source.

According to a police report, the suspect threatened the cashier with a gun before running away with the money.

In a 500-page government report, investigators reported evidence that the army had committed crimes against humanity.

Integrating quotes

The first time a source is introduced in an article, you should use that source’s full name and title. After this initial reference, use the last name only.

“The swine flu vaccine is an incredible advance in modern medicine,” said Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius.

When attributing a direct quote, always use the verb “said” and never any other verbs such as “explained,” “whispered,” etc. It is also more common to use the format “XXX said” instead of “said XXX.”

“The housing crisis is growing out of control,” Bernanke said.

Even when information from a source is not used in a direct quote and is paraphrased instead, it still must be attributed to that source.

Bernanke said the recession is probably over. The recession will most likely begin to recede in six to eight months, Bernanke said.

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How to Write a News Article: The Intro or Lede

• What Is News?
• How to Interview
• The Intro or Lede
• Article Format/Narrative
• How To Write A Review
• Writing News Style
• Naming Sources
• Revising/Proofreading
• Photos/Graphics
• The Future of News?

About Ledes

The introduction to a news article is called the 'lede' and is usually in the first paragraph as in an essay. The 'lede' is a deliberate misspelling of 'lead' to prevent confusion in the days when printing was done with lead type.

The lede not only tells what the story is about, it also invites the reader to read further. Ledes answer the classic 5 W's and an H questions of journalism:

What happened? What could happen?

Who did it? Who did it happen to? Who else was involved?

Where did it happen? Where else will be impacted?

When did it happen? When is it going to happen?

Why did it happen? Why will your reader care?

How did it happen? How does it work?

Some specific types of ledes -

• The summary lede or 'hard news' lede delivers the 5 W's and an H in the 1st paragraph, getting to the most important or compelling information immediately - A California mother is recovering from second- and third-degree burns after colored rocks her family collected from beach unexpectedly caught fire while in her pocket.
• An analysis lede introduces a story where the basic facts are already known and where readers are looking for explanation - The suspension of US sanctions in Myanmar in response to political reforms gives a green light to US firms looking for business opportunities.
• A blind lede is a summary lede that leaves out particularly confusing details - World leaders say they are committed to soothing financial markets to prevent an economic calamity.
• A narrative lede sets the scene for the article by introducing the main players - Eight California high-schoolers with the same last name pull off a witty stunt.
• A scene-setter lede introduces the article by highlighting a key location in the story - A broken-down cargo ship drifts towards the fringes of Australia's Great Barrier Reef amid fears of major damage to the World Heritage-listed site.

Tips for writing and revising ledes -

• Read your lede OUT LOUD - Do you stumble over words? Does it sound like something you would tell a friend? Eliminate any words you trip over or that are confusing.
• Cut out extra words - See how many words you can eliminate. Have you put in description that could come later in the article? Have you added details that slow down readers' scanning? Have you used only words that will catch a reader's attention?
• Especially look for passive verbs - is playing should be plays .
• Check for accuracy - Have you spelled names correctly? Did you give the right locations, times, and dates? Is what you said what you meant to say? Is what you said what actually happened?
• Avoid cliche and cute -Clichés are overused expressions that have stopped being original. Think carefully about whether you're using phrases or words that you hear everyday, even popular ones, and work for something more original.

More About Ledes

• 5 Steps to Writing a Great Lede
• How to write a good lede
• How to Write a Lede
• How to Write Good Story Leads
• The Lede Desk: Fighting the Scourge of Boring Writing
• A Lede Should …
• The Lexicon of Leads
• The Power of Leads
• Writing a Strong Lede is Half the Battle

Examples of Ledes

• Cliche Leads
• A Couple of Leads that Get Right to the Point
• Finding Ledes
• Writing Effective Leads
• Writing Ledes for Feature Stories
• << Previous: How to Interview
• Next: Article Format/Narrative >>
• Last Updated: May 19, 2024 12:30 PM
• URL: https://spcollege.libguides.com/news

Purdue Online Writing Lab Purdue OWL® College of Liberal Arts

Associated Press Style

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Introduction

Associated Press style provides guidelines for news writing. Many newspapers, magazines and public relations offices across the United States use AP style. Although some publications such as the New York Times have developed their own style guidelines, a basic knowledge of AP style is considered essential to those who want to work in print journalism.

This Web page is intended to provide an introduction to AP style and a summary of some AP style rules; however, the Associated Press Stylebook includes more than 5,000 entries – far more than can be covered here. For a complete guide to AP style, writers should consult the most recent edition of the Associated Press Stylebook or visit the AP Stylebook website .

The content of newspapers and other mass media is typically the result of many different writers and editors working together. AP style provides consistent guidelines for such publications in terms of grammar, spelling, punctuation and language usage. Some guiding principles behind AP style are:

• Consistency

AP style also aims to avoid stereotypes and unintentionally offensive language.

Common Style Guidelines

The Associated Press Stylebook provides an A-Z guide to issues such as capitalization, abbreviation, punctuation, spelling, numerals and many other questions of language usage. What follows are summaries of some of the most common style rules.

Abbreviations and Acronyms

Some widely known abbreviations are required in certain situations, while others are acceptable but not required in some contexts. For example, Dr., Gov., Lt. Gov., Rep., the Rev. and Sen. are required before a person’s full name when they occur outside a direct quotation. Please note, that medical and political titles only need to be used on first reference when they appear outside of a direct quote. For courtesy titles, use these on second reference or when specifically requested. Other acronyms and abbreviations are acceptable but not required (i.e. FBI, CIA, GOP). The context should govern such decisions.

As a general rule, though, you should avoid what the Associated Press Stylebook calls “alphabet soup.” Consult the Associated Press Stylebook for specific cases.

For numbered addresses, always use figures. Abbreviate Ave., Blvd., and St. and directional cues when used with a numbered address. Always spell out other words such as alley, drive and road . If the street name or directional cue is used without a numbered address, it should be capitalized and spelled out. If a street name is a number, spell out First through Ninth and use figures for 10th and higher. Here are some examples of correctly formatted addresses: 101 N. Grant St., Northwestern Avenue, South Ninth Street, 102 S. 10th St., 605 Woodside Drive.

For ages, always use figures. If the age is used as an adjective or as a substitute for a noun, then it should be hyphenated. Don’t use apostrophes when describing an age range. Examples: A 21-year-old student. The student is 21 years old. The girl, 8, has a brother, 11. The contest is for 18-year-olds. He is in his 20s.

Books, Periodicals, Reference Works, and Other Types of Compositions

Use quotation marks around the titles of books, songs, television shows, computer games, poems, lectures, speeches and works of art. Examples: Author Porter Shreve read from his new book, “When the White House Was Ours.” They sang “The Star-Spangled Banner” before the game.

Do not use quotations around the names of magazine, newspapers, the Bible or books that are catalogues of reference materials. Examples: The Washington Post first reported the story. He reads the Bible every morning.

Do not underline or italicize any of the above.

Dates, Months, Years, Days of the Week

For dates and years, use figures. Do not use st, nd, rd, or th with dates, and use Arabic figures. Always capitalize months. Spell out the month unless it is used with a date. When used with a date, abbreviate only the following months: Jan., Feb., Aug., Sept., Oct., Nov. and Dec.

Commas are not necessary if only a year and month are given, but commas should be used to set off a year if the date, month and year are given. Use the letter s but not an apostrophe after the figures when expressing decades or centuries. Do, however, use an apostrophe before figures expressing a decade if numerals are left out. Examples: Classes begin Aug. 25. Purdue University was founded May 6, 1869. The semester begins in January. The 1800s. The ’90s.

If you refer to an event that occurred the day prior to when the article will appear, do not use the word yesterday. Instead, use the day of the week. Capitalize days of the week, but do not abbreviate. If an event occurs more than seven days before or after the current date, use the month and a figure.

Newspapers use datelines when the information for a story is obtained outside the paper’s hometown or general area of service. Datelines appear at the beginning of stories and include the name of the city in all capital letters, usually followed the state or territory in which the city is located. The Associated Press Stylebook lists 30 U.S. cities that do not need to be followed by the name of a state. See states and cities below. Examples:

• DENVER – The Democratic National Convention began...
• ST. PAUL, Minn. – The Republican National Convention began...
• YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – President Bush spoke to a group...

When writing about height, weight or other dimensions, use figures and spell out words such as feet, miles, etc. Examples: She is 5-foot-3. He wrote with a 2-inch pencil.

Use figures for any distances over 10. For any distances below 10, spell out the distance. Examples: My flight covered 1,113 miles. The airport runway is three miles long.

Always use a person’s first and last name the first time they are mentioned in a story. Only use last names on second reference. Do not use courtesy titles such as Mr., Mrs., Miss or Ms. unless they are part of a direct quotation or are needed to differentiate between people who have the same last name.

Never begin a sentence with a figure, except for sentences that begin with a year. Examples: Two hundred freshmen attended. Five actors took the stage. 1776 was an important year.

Use roman numerals to describe wars and to show sequences for people. Examples: World War II, Pope John Paul II, Elizabeth II.

For ordinal numbers, spell out first through ninth and use figures for 10th and above when describing order in time or location. Examples: second base, 10th in a row. Some ordinal numbers, such as those indicating political or geographic order, should use figures in all cases. Examples: 3rd District Court, 9th ward.

For cardinal numbers, consult individual entries in the Associated Press Stylebook. If no usage is specified, spell out numbers below 10 and use figures for numbers 10 and above. Example: The man had five children and 11 grandchildren.

When referring to money, use numerals. For cents or amounts of $1 million or more, spell the words cents, million, billion, trillion etc. Examples: $26.52, $100,200, $8 million, 6 cents.

Punctuation

Use a single space after a period.

Do not use commas before a conjunction in a simple series. Example: In art class, they learned that red, yellow and blue are primary colors. His brothers are Tom, Joe, Frank and Pete. However, a comma should be used before the terminal conjunction in a complex series, if part of that series also contains a conjunction. Example: Purdue University's English Department offers doctoral majors in Literature, Second Language Studies, English Language and Linguistics, and Rhetoric and Composition.

Commas and periods go within quotation marks. Example: “I did nothing wrong,” he said. She said, “Let’s go to the Purdue game.”

States and Cities

When the name of a state name appears in the body of a text, spell it out. State abbreviations should also be avoided in headlines where possible. States should be abbreviated when used as part of a short-form political affiliation. Examples: He was travelling to Nashville, Tenn. The peace accord was signed in Dayton, Ohio. The storm began in Indiana and moved west toward Peoria, Ill. Updated guidance to AP style notes that state names can also be abbreviated for the following purposes:

• Naming states in dateline text
• Naming states in photo captions
• Naming states in lists or tables
• Naming states in in editor's notes and credit lines

Here is how each state is abbreviated in AP style (with the postal code abbreviations in parentheses):

You will notice that eight states are missing from this list. That is because Alaska, Hawaii, Idaho, Iowa, Maine, Ohio, Texas and Utah are never abbreviated.

AP style does not require the name of a state to accompany the names of the following 30 cities:

The exact time when an event has occurred or will occur is unnecessary for most stories. Of course, there are occasions when the time of day is important. In such cases, use figures, but spell out noon and midnight . Use a colon to separate hours from minutes, but do not use :00 . Examples: 1 p.m., 3:30 a.m.

Generally, capitalize formal titles when they appear before a person’s name, but lowercase titles if they are informal, appear without a person’s name, follow a person’s name or are set off before a name by commas. Also, lowercase adjectives that designate the status of a title. If a title is long, place it after the person’s name, or set it off with commas before the person’s name. Examples: President Bush; President-elect Obama; Sen. Harry Reid; Evan Bayh, a senator from Indiana; the senior senator from Indiana, Dick Lugar; former President George H.W. Bush; Paul Schneider, deputy secretary of homeland security.

Technological Terms

Here are the correct spelling and capitalization rules for some common technological terms:

• BlackBerry, BlackBerrys
• eBay Inc. (use EBay Inc. when the word begins a sentence)
• e-book reader
• Google, Googling, Googled
• IM ( IMed, IMing ; for first reference, use instant messenger )
• iPad, iPhone, iPod (use IPad, IPhone, or IPod when the word begins a sentence)
• social media
• Twitter, tweet, tweeted, retweet
• World Wide Web, website (see the AP's tweet about the change) , Web page

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Journalism: A Very Short Introduction (1st edn)

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Journalism: A Very Short Introduction examines how we get information and the many practical, political, and professional decisions that the journalist has to make. It argues that the core principles of ‘freedom of the press’ and the necessity of exposing the truth are as vital today as they ever were. The goals of journalism do not change. Almost everyone reads a newspaper, browses the Internet, listens to the radio, or watches TV. Journalism has an indelible effect on our worldview. Is journalism the ‘first draft of history’ or a dumbing-down of our culture and a glorification of the trivial and intrusive?

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What's the difference between academic and journalistic writing?

I'm not talking about "boring" academic papers that are 99% science and 0% interesting. But in comments on a draft of my senior thesis, my teacher made the comment that my writing style was quite "journalistic" and ought to be more academic.

I assume that a journalistic writing style is a bit more sensational, perhaps, but what are the differences between journalistic writing and academic writing? Since writing is often concerned with different scopes (paper, section, paragraph, sentence, etc.), what differences manifest themselves in different scopes? Obviously an academic paper is largely different from a journalistic one, but as the scope narrows, what are the specific differences?

Edit: Note, I'm not asking how to improve my paper or what a thesis looks like - I'm asking a general question of the stylistic difference between types of writing.

• academic-writing

• 3 Since it is the tutor who has drawn you in to this confusion, why don't you directly ask this from your tutor? You can gain more knowledge and even discuss with him / her to clarify each and every doubtful areas. :-) –  user18951 Commented May 12, 2016 at 12:53

7 Answers 7

I don't have any special knowledge of journalism, but I have a fair amount of experience with academic writing as well as giving advice to my grad students. Here's my take, all at the paper level:

You're right about the possibility of sensationalism. I tell some of my students to imagine someone reading their work twenty years from now. Too much enthusiasm about a well-known result--or possibly an overturned result--will seem odd.

Newspaper and magazine articles are written for a much broader audience than academic papers, and they assume a lot less about the reader's background knowledge. It's possible to explain too much or to overwrite in academic writing.

In some long-form magazine articles, we read a story that gradually unfolds. That's less appropriate in academic writing, when you want to tell readers the conclusion up front, and then explain how you got there. Even if some research solved a mystery, it's conventional to present it with the resolution at the beginning.

• 2 I'm new to Writers.SE too, but this is a great answer, thank you! (Also, from my experience on other sites on the stack exchange network i can say this is a quality answer. :) –  Thomas Shields Commented Apr 13, 2012 at 2:04
• +1 since I also believe this is a good answer. The second paragraph about how you should review your own writing was particularly insightful. –  Alexandre Martins Commented Apr 13, 2012 at 14:32

Well, having been a Social Science major and a Journalism minor who has written several academic papers and worked for a variety of newspapers and magazines here is the difference for me.

In academic writing you generally introduce a topic by presenting a thesis or a hypothesis, then you lay out the premise of the discussion, then you discuss the topic and then review the discussion. In other words: You tell 'em what you're gonna tell 'em, you tell them, and then you tell 'em what you told them. The 'meat' of the discussion will generally be in the middle or towards the end.

In journalistic writing you write in what's called the inverted pyramid style. The 'meat' of the article will almost always be in the first paragraph, called the lede [or lead. Sometimes called a whatta (as in "what it's all about") or a nut graph, as in ("in a nutshell")]. The lede should be a paragraph that's so dense it could choke a horse. If you read nothing but the lede you will still know the who, what, when and where of the story.

After the lede you follow up with the how and -maybe- the why and other information of secondary and tertiary importance. If you've ever heard the phrase "buried the lede", that's what happens when you lead with interesting but less important information and the stuff of primary importance is 'buried' deep inside the article. This tactic is useful for academic writing but it's antithetical to journalistic writing. One other big difference is that instead of putting a nice summary conclusion at the end that neatly wraps everything up, like an academic paper, your journalistic article will simply stop at the end when you've run out of useful information.

The reason for this top-heavy style difference is twofold: One, readers of newspapers and magazines (this also applies to web) will generally stop reading after a few paragraphs. If you "bury the lede", the reader will stop reading before they get the most important information. Two, Copy editors realize they have limited space, especially in print. So when it comes time to chop your article to fit they aren't going to read the whole damn thing and edit it to make sense - they're just going to lop off as much stuff as they need to off the end assuming you've placed the most important stuff at the top. If the important bit is at the end, there's a good chance it'll just get cut or never even be read.

There are other differences, of course. Journalistic writing should be simpler and more accessible to the general public than academic writing. It doesn't have to be Dr. Seuss but it should be easily read by an educated 10th or 11th grade high school student. You should also keep in mind that your job is merely the inform the audience and present a balanced viewpoint; it is not your job to advocate for one side or the other. That's what the opinion page is for.

• Spot-on. This matches my experience as a student and student journalist. –  Monica Cellio Commented Aug 28, 2014 at 13:52

I teach in a journalism program, so I'm often answering this question from the opposite perspective, helping students make the transition from academic prose to journalistic writing. Here are what I see as the major differences:

Journalistic: Short, simple declarative sentences. Attention to length and rhythm. Active voice.

Academic: Longer sentences with clauses often necessary to get across more complicated ideas.

Journalistic: In news stories, a sentence or two long. Direct quotations get their own paragraphs. One-sentence transitions to change topics.

Academic: First sentence introduces the topic (topic sentence). This is followed by several sentences that explore the topic.

Journalistic: Attribution is included in the same sentence as the direct or indirect quotation (Smith said, she acknowledged), usually at the end of the sentence. Quotations are rarely longer than two sentences.

Academic: Source of information is always included in footnotes, endnotes or works cited page. In-text parenthetical citation or super-script notation. Source may or may not be included in the text itself. Longer quotations indented as a text block.

Journalistic: Several forms depending on the type of story. Hard news is usually written with a summary paragraph at the top and then information in order of decreasing importance (inverted pyramid). Feature and longer explanatory stories might start with a vignette or scene-setter. Text organized by topic or chronologically.

Academic: Five-paragraph essay or an extended version of the essay: Introduction and context, middle organized by topic, acknowledgement of counter-argument, conclusion.

Journalistic: Presentation of facts or explanations for a general audience. Opinions come from people quoted in the story, not the writer. Points of view from different perspectives.

Academic: Writers are making an argument for a particular point of view (hypothesis) and using evidence and logic to prove or disprove it. Counter-arguments acknowledged near the end of paper primarily to be argued against. Hope that's what you were looking for.

Maybe this is not the answer you're looking for but, have you tried to ask your supervisor what are the concrete complaints he has about your style?

Unless your field of research is related to journalism, it is possible that your supervisor actually doesn't know how to structure a journalistic text well or at all.

On the other hand, he knows scientific writing well and had some concrete aspects in mind when making that, hard to understand, metaphor.

Ask your supervisor to be more details on what he thinks you should improve. If you do that, you will surelly get much better feedback than you will ever obtain here.

• 1 +1, this is useful, but like you said - not exactly what I'm looking for. I'll edit the question to clarify, but I'm not asking so I can change my paper; I'm asking a more general question. But thanks though, good point –  Thomas Shields Commented Apr 12, 2012 at 23:55
• 1 I see your goal. And I think I'll tag along and monitor this question as well. You might get interesting answers. :D –  Alexandre Martins Commented Apr 13, 2012 at 1:02

Note that this answer comes 8 years and 4 months after the question was asked. It's probably not useful to the original poster (who likely has a spouse, two kids, a career, and a mortgage to worry about now), but may be of use to others.

At any rate...

The difference between journalistic and academic writing is mainly the difference between rhetorical and analytical modes of persuasion. In brief:

• The rhetorical mode tries to persuade by 'painting a picture' that people can intuitively grasp. It relies on the innate capacity of the reader to sympathetically engage with a narrative, and uses that narrative to lead the reader to the author's conclusion.
• The analytical mode tries to persuade by laying out an assortment of 'facts' and demonstrating that these 'facts' can only be understood within a particular structure of logic and reason. The analytical mode tends to break narrative structures by forcing the reader to confront logical inconsistencies.

Good journalists and good academics will obviously do a bit of both in their writing, but if we think in terms of the ancient Greek triad of logos , pathos , and ethos — appeals to logic, emotions, and moral sense, respectively — academic work learn towards logos , journalism leans towards pathos , and both try to structure an ethos in which their conclusions stand out as meaningful and correct. Neither mode is right or wrong; they are both useful and appropriate in their proper context.

Younger writers tend to write rhetorically; this is a given. They use colloquial speech to give their writing emotional depth and power; they gloss over analytical arguments on the assumption that the reader will intuitively understand the point; they worry more about issues of self-presentation and appearance than about leveraging substantive 'facts' within a structured argument. People in general have a journalistic bent, preferring a good narrative over sound reasoning, so it is common to see senior theses with a distinctly journalistic flavor. No worries. Developing the skill of analysis is an uphill battle for most people (not to diminish the skills involved in journalistic writing), because analysis asks people to give up their normal expectation of sympathetic understanding and write from an uncomfortably cold, depersonalized perspective. But it is a rewarding battle for anyone, even if one is only going to write journalistically.

I know exactly what that means.

I used to get that a lot too.

I am guessing you are writing for a history class, a political theory class, or something like that?

Journalistic writing simply means, your writing style is too lyrical, too much like storytelling, too colorful.

Academic style is much colder, uses far fewer adjectives, employs a lot more data and figures (statistics), and has far fewer (if any) dialogues.

Academic writing is making an argument for a hypothesis (particular point of view) and using evidence and logic to prove or disprove it. Counter-arguments acknowledged near the end of paper primarily to be argued against. Academic writing is intended to be persuasive and usually attempts to convince the readers to agree with a specific point of view which is supported by academic research and analysis. On the other hand a Newspaper is meant to convey presentation of facts or explanations for a general audience. Opinions come from people quoted in the story, not the writer and is generally designed to inform and entertain.

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Convergent Journalism: An Introduction

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Convergent Journalism: An Introduction is the pioneering textbook on practicing journalism in the 21st century, now in its third edition, offering chapters by industry experts covering key components for today’s convergenced media landscape.

Each chapter of this book is written by an expert in the field, offering practical and key skills for the different aspects that make up the practice of journalism today. This new edition, written from the ground up, shifts the discussion toward a model of responsible and audience-centric journalism and demonstrates the ways journalists can use new media tools as both senders and receivers. The bedrock tenets of journalism remain at the core of this book, including information dissemination, storytelling, and audience engagement. This book offers readers:

• A number of pedagogical features to improve learning and retention, including examples, exercises, breakout boxes and more

• Coverage of additional topics such as issues of law and ethics in digital media, and also writing for mobile platforms and social media

• Individual chapters written by subject experts, giving readers the necessary know-how for converged media by proven leaders in the field

Students looking for the practical skills and ethical background necessary for producing journalism in the contemporary media landscape will find this book an invaluable resource. It is perfect for students in courses such as Convergent Journalism, Digital Media, Online Journalism, and Multimedia Journalism.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Chapter 1 | 6  pages, the current journalism landscape, chapter 2 | 14  pages, writing across platforms, chapter 3 | 12  pages, finding stories, chapter 4 | 15  pages, reporting beyond the basics, chapter 5 | 11  pages, structure and storytelling, chapter 6 | 21  pages, photography, chapter 7 | 19  pages, information graphics, chapter 8 | 16  pages, audio and video journalism, chapter 9 | 16  pages, data journalism, chapter 10 | 15  pages, social media, chapter 11 | 11  pages, multimedia journalism, chapter 12 | 14  pages, the law and convergent journalism, chapter 13 | 11  pages, ethics in the digital age.

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journalism , the collection, preparation, and distribution of news and related commentary and feature materials through such print and electronic media as newspapers , magazines , books , blogs , webcasts, podcasts, social networking and social media sites, and e-mail as well as through radio , motion pictures , and television . The word journalism was originally applied to the reportage of current events in printed form, specifically newspapers, but with the advent of radio, television, and the Internet in the 20th century the use of the term broadened to include all printed and electronic communication dealing with current affairs.

The earliest known journalistic product was a news sheet circulated in ancient Rome: the Acta Diurna , said to date from before 59 bce . The Acta Diurna recorded important daily events such as public speeches. It was published daily and hung in prominent places. In China during the Tang dynasty , a court circular called a bao , or “report,” was issued to government officials. This gazette appeared in various forms and under various names more or less continually to the end of the Qing dynasty in 1911. The first regularly published newspapers appeared in German cities and in Antwerp about 1609. The first English newspaper, the Weekly Newes , was published in 1622. One of the first daily newspapers, The Daily Courant , appeared in 1702.

At first hindered by government-imposed censorship , taxes, and other restrictions, newspapers in the 18th century came to enjoy the reportorial freedom and indispensable function that they have retained to the present day. The growing demand for newspapers owing to the spread of literacy and the introduction of steam- and then electric-driven presses caused the daily circulation of newspapers to rise from the thousands to the hundreds of thousands and eventually to the millions.

Magazines , which had started in the 17th century as learned journals, began to feature opinion-forming articles on current affairs, such as those in the Tatler (1709–11) and the Spectator (1711–12). Appearing in the 1830s were cheap mass-circulation magazines aimed at a wider and less well-educated public, as well as illustrated and women’s magazines. The cost of large-scale news gathering led to the formation of news agencies , organizations that sold their international journalistic reporting to many different individual newspapers and magazines. The invention of the telegraph and then radio and television brought about a great increase in the speed and timeliness of journalistic activity and, at the same time, provided massive new outlets and audiences for their electronically distributed products. In the late 20th century, satellites and later the Internet were used for the long-distance transmission of journalistic information.

Journalism in the 20th century was marked by a growing sense of professionalism . There were four important factors in this trend: (1) the increasing organization of working journalists, (2) specialized education for journalism, (3) a growing literature dealing with the history , problems, and techniques of mass communication , and (4) an increasing sense of social responsibility on the part of journalists.

An organization of journalists began as early as 1883, with the foundation of England’s chartered Institute of Journalists. Like the American Newspaper Guild, organized in 1933, and the Fédération Nationale de la Presse Française, the institute functioned as both a trade union and a professional organization.

Before the latter part of the 19th century, most journalists learned their craft as apprentices, beginning as copyboys or cub reporters. The first university course in journalism was given at the University of Missouri (Columbia) in 1879–84. In 1912 Columbia University in New York City established the first graduate program in journalism, endowed by a grant from the New York City editor and publisher Joseph Pulitzer . It was recognized that the growing complexity of news reporting and newspaper operation required a great deal of specialized training. Editors also found that in-depth reporting of special types of news, such as political affairs, business, economics , and science , often demanded reporters with education in these areas. The advent of motion pictures, radio, and television as news media called for an ever-increasing battery of new skills and techniques in gathering and presenting the news. By the 1950s, courses in journalism or communications were commonly offered in colleges.

The literature of the subject—which in 1900 was limited to two textbooks, a few collections of lectures and essays, and a small number of histories and biographies—became copious and varied by the late 20th century. It ranged from histories of journalism to texts for reporters and photographers and books of conviction and debate by journalists on journalistic capabilities, methods, and ethics .

Concern for social responsibility in journalism was largely a product of the late 19th and 20th centuries. The earliest newspapers and journals were generally violently partisan in politics and considered that the fulfillment of their social responsibility lay in proselytizing their own party’s position and denouncing that of the opposition. As the reading public grew, however, the newspapers grew in size and wealth and became increasingly independent. Newspapers began to mount their own popular and sensational “crusades” in order to increase their circulation. The culmination of this trend was the competition between two New York City papers, the World and the Journal , in the 1890s ( see yellow journalism ).

The sense of social responsibility made notable growth as a result of specialized education and widespread discussion of press responsibilities in books and periodicals and at the meetings of the associations. Such reports as that of the Royal Commission on the Press (1949) in Great Britain and the less extensive A Free and Responsible Press (1947) by an unofficial Commission on the Freedom of the Press in the United States did much to stimulate self-examination on the part of practicing journalists.

By the late 20th century, studies showed that journalists as a group were generally idealistic about their role in bringing the facts to the public in an impartial manner. Various societies of journalists issued statements of ethics, of which that of the American Society of Newspaper Editors is perhaps best known.

Although the core of journalism has always been the news, the latter word has acquired so many secondary meanings that the term “ hard news ” gained currency to distinguish items of definite news value from others of marginal significance. This was largely a consequence of the advent of radio and television reporting, which brought news bulletins to the public with a speed that the press could not hope to match. To hold their audience, newspapers provided increasing quantities of interpretive material—articles on the background of the news, personality sketches, and columns of timely comment by writers skilled in presenting opinion in readable form. By the mid-1960s most newspapers, particularly evening and Sunday editions, were relying heavily on magazine techniques, except for their content of “hard news,” where the traditional rule of objectivity still applied. Newsmagazines in much of their reporting were blending news with editorial comment.

Watergate’s legacy: How the scandal changed politics and journalism .

Journalism in book form has a short but vivid history. The proliferation of paperback books during the decades after World War II gave impetus to the journalistic book, exemplified by works reporting and analyzing election campaigns, political scandals, and world affairs in general, and the “new journalism” of such authors as Truman Capote , Tom Wolfe , and Norman Mailer .

The 20th century saw a renewal of the strictures and limitations imposed upon the press by governments. In countries with communist governments, the press was owned by the state, and journalists and editors were government employees. Under such a system, the prime function of the press to report the news was combined with the duty to uphold and support the national ideology and the declared goals of the state. This led to a situation in which the positive achievements of communist states were stressed by the media, while their failings were underreported or ignored. This rigorous censorship pervaded journalism in communist countries.

In noncommunist developing countries , the press enjoyed varying degrees of freedom, ranging from the discreet and occasional use of self-censorship on matters embarrassing to the home government to a strict and omnipresent censorship akin to that of communist countries. The press enjoyed the maximum amount of freedom in most English-speaking countries and in the countries of western Europe.

Whereas traditional journalism originated during a time when information was scarce and thus highly in demand, 21st-century journalism faced an information-saturated market in which news had been, to some degree , devalued by its overabundance. Advances such as satellite and digital technology and the Internet made information more plentiful and accessible and thereby stiffened journalistic competition. To meet increasing consumer demand for up-to-the-minute and highly detailed reporting, media outlets developed alternative channels of dissemination, such as online distribution, electronic mailings, and direct interaction with the public via forums, blogs, user-generated content, and social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter .

In the second decade of the 21st century, social media platforms in particular facilitated the spread of politically oriented “fake news,” a kind of disinformation produced by for-profit Web sites posing as legitimate news organizations and designed to attract (and mislead) certain readers by exploiting entrenched partisan biases. During the campaign for the U.S. presidential election of 2016 and after his election as president in that year, Donald J. Trump regularly used the term “fake news” to disparage news reports, including by established and reputable media organizations, that contained negative information about him.

How to Write a News Article

News articles report on current events that are relevant to the readership of a publication. These current events might take place locally, nationally, or internationally.

News writing is a skill that’s used worldwide, but this writing format—with its unique rules and structure—differs from other forms of writing . Understanding how to write a news story correctly can ensure you’re performing your journalistic duty to your audience.

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What is a news article?

A news article is a writing format that provides concise and factual information to a reader. News stories typically report on current affairs that are noteworthy—including legislation, announcements, education, discoveries or research, election results, public health, sports, and the arts.

Unlike blog and opinion posts, a strong news article doesn’t include personal opinion, speculation, or bias. Additionally, the diction and syntax should be accessible to any reader, even if they’re not deeply familiar with the topic. News stories, therefore, don’t contain jargon that you might find in a research paper or essay.

What are the rules for writing a news article?

Whether you’re learning how to write a short news story for a school assignment or want to showcase a variety of clips in your writing portfolio , the rules of news writing hold true.

There are three types of news articles:

• Local: reports on current events of a specific area or community. For example, “College Football Team Welcomes Legendary NFL Coach” or “School District Announces New Grading Policy.”
• National: reports on current affairs within a particular country. For example, “NASA’s James Webb Telescope Captures Surreal Images of the Cosmos.”
• International: reports on social issues or current affairs of one or more countries abroad. For example, “UK’s Record Heat Wave Expected to Continue Next Week.”

Regardless of the type of news article you’re writing, it should always include the facts of the story, a catchy but informative headline, a summary of events in paragraph form, and interview quotes from expert sources or of public sentiment about the event. News stories are typically written from a third-person point of view while avoiding opinion, speculation, or an informal tone.

How is a news article structured?

While many news stories are concise and straightforward, long-form or deeply investigated pieces may comprise thousands of words. On the shorter side, news articles can be about 500 words. 

When it comes to how to structure a news article, use an inverted pyramid. Organizing your content this way allows you to thoughtfully structure paragraphs :

• Begin with the most important and timely information
• Follow those facts with supporting details
• Conclude with some less important—but relevant—details, interview quotes, and a summary

The first paragraph of a news article should begin with a topic sentence that concisely describes the main point of the story. Placing this sentence at the beginning of a news article hooks the reader immediately so the lede isn’t buried. 

At a traditional newspaper, this practice is described as “writing above the fold,” which alludes to the biggest, most pressing news being visible at the top of a folded newspaper. 

How to write a news article

There are a handful of steps to practice when writing a news story. Here’s how to approach it.

1 Gathering information

Source the five Ws about your news topic: who, what, where, when, and why. Lock down a keen understanding of the timeline of events so you can correctly summarize the incident or news to your reader. The key is to position yourself as a credible and reliable source of information by doing your due diligence as a fact gatherer.

2 Interviewing subjects

Consider who you want to interview for the new article. For example, you might choose to interview primary sources , such as a person who is directly involved in the story. 

Alternatively, secondary sources might offer your readers insight from people close to or affected by the topic who have unique perspectives. This might be an expert who can offer technical commentary or analysis, or an everyday person who can share an anecdote about how the topic affected them.

When interviewing sources, always disclose that you’re a reporter and the topic that you’re writing on.

3 Outlining

Draft an outline for your news article, keeping the inverted-pyramid structure in mind. Consider your potential readership and publication to ensure that your writing meets the audience’s expectations in terms of complexity. 

For example, if this news article is for a general news publication, your readership might include a wider audience compared to a news article for a specialized publication or community.

Brainstorm a snappy headline that concisely informs readers of the news topic while seizing their interest. Gather the most important points from your research and pool them into their respective pyramid “buckets.” These buckets should be based on their order of importance.

4   Writing

Get to writing! The paragraphs in a news article should be short, to the point, and written in a formal tone. Make sure that any statements or opinions are attributed to a credible source that you’ve vetted. 

5   Revising

Reread your first draft aloud. In addition to looking for obvious typos or grammar mistakes , listen for awkward transitions and jarring tense or perspective shifts. Also, consider whether your first draft successfully conveys the purpose of your news story.

Rework your writing as needed and repeat this step. Don’t forget to proofread your work.

6 Fact-checking

Strong news stories are built on facts. If any statement or information is shaky or unsupported, the entire work is compromised. Before publishing a news article, double-check that all the information you’ve gathered from the beginning is accurate, and validate the information that your interview sources provided, too. 

How to write a news article FAQs

What is a news article  .

A news article informs readers within a community of current events that are relevant to them. It typically revolves around a topic of interest within a publication’s readership, whether the information is about local, national, or international events.

News articles are structured like an inverted pyramid. The most important or crucial information is always presented to the reader up front, followed by additional story details. A news article concludes with less important supporting information or a summation of the reporting. 

The general rules for writing a news article involve accuracy and integrity. Report on the details of a story in a factual, unbiased, and straightforward way. When writing a news article, do not editorialize or sensationalize the information, and keep your content free of your opinion. 

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Constructive Journalism: An Introduction and Practical Guide for Applying Positive Psychology Techniques to News Production

The Journal of Media Innovations

We propose to expand the boundaries of the news process by introducing, defining and subsequently coining the interdisciplinary concept of constructive journalism as an emerging form of journalism that involves applying positive psychology techniques to news processes and production in an effort to create productive and engaging coverage, while holding true to journalism’s core functions. First, we review the critical issues in journalism that highlight the need for this approach. Next, we coin constructive journalism and situate the concept in the field. Finally, we outline techniques by which constructive journalism can be practiced, including the psychological frameworks supporting these applications. Overall, this essay suggests a needed direction for journalism by means of constructive reporting which aims to positively impact journalism’s diminished reputation and weary news audiences.

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Introduction

Journalism is one of the largest areas in the media. This direction affects many spheres in the life of society. Internet users consume information through newspapers, services, and a variety of resources. At the same time, each site or blog has an impact on each reader, using the necessary writing skills, as well as journalistic ethics. This article describes the key benefits of journalism that can help students learn and write various academic essays.

Journalistic Ethics and the purpose of its being

Every journalist who works in the media must adhere to the rules of journalistic ethics. There are quite a few rules that summarize the work of a journalist and are standards for quality material. Among them are usually distinguished:

• Truth & Accuracy. Journalists need to present information to readers in a way that makes it interesting to read. However, more important than this can only be that journalists must write truthful and reliable information that is accurate. Otherwise, the material will not make sense.
• Independence. The journalist must have a justified point of view, and it should not depend on the statements or opinions of other sources. Each journalist conducts research on the event on his own, after which he writes an article based on data analysis.
• Fairness and Impartiality. A journalist cannot embellish information with personal reasoning, as this deprives the material of objectivity. Any journalistic article is, first of all, not an artistic material, but a document that helps readers to objectively assess the situation.
• Humanity. It is better for a journalist to refrain from harsh statements that level people on various grounds – race, gender, orientation, health, and so on. To describe sensitive situations, a journalist needs to use vocabulary that is emotionally neutral.
• Accountability. In case the journalistic material is in any way inconsistent, the journalist must be responsible for his work and be able to correct the errors.

In fact, all these rules are mandatory for a journalist and completely optional for a student. However, if the student uses this approach while writing academic essays, the quality of the materials will increase significantly. At the same time, professors rate such works much higher.

What is common between journalism and essay writing

Journalism and academic writing for college are closely related and quite similar. These are two areas in which the writing aspect is one of the key and important factors influencing the quality of materials.

• In both areas, the writer needs to research the material before writing a document. The difference lies in the fact that information research is carried out taking into account the characteristics of different target audiences.
• The writing style is also quite similar between journalism and essay writing. In academic essays, it is rarely necessary to preserve the artistic presentation of the material, so here and in journalism, writers need to maintain a fairly formal TOV and use the appropriate vocabulary.
• In essays and journalistic materials, it is necessary to use only those materials that are verified and are true. Verification of information is important not only in these two areas. However, when writing essays that require the student to express their own opinion about an event, this rule may not be observed, since the student shares his experience and vision of the situation, so it is impossible to verify the objectivity of his words.
• In two areas, it is extremely important to observe the structure of the text, which is one of the requirements for the assignment. In order for writers in the fields of journalism and essay writing to create good material, they must follow a document writing plan. Depending on the chosen topic, target audience, and other important requirements, the structure of each document must be precise and writers must not deviate from it.

Journalism is an interesting field of study that can be useful while learning new skills. In addition, studying journalism can help improve the ability to competently and interestingly write various documents on varied topics. The research and analysis that is essential to being a journalist is also a useful skill for students – by being able to analyze information, people can write much better essays that make sense. Also, journalism teaches people to correctly express their thoughts and clearly explain problems and solutions to various problems to ordinary readers. Journalism and writing are closely related to each other, so this skill is also necessary to become a great writer.

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Top 100 journalism topics for research.

When pursuing communication or media studies, students are asked to write academic papers and essays about unique journalism topics. Journalism entails gathering and distributing information to different media channels. These channels include radio, TV, social media, and newspaper. As such, journalism is a broad field.

When looking for journalism research topics, learners have many ideas to explore. But, students should avoid too broad ideas that may need a lot of time and resources to research and write about. Instead, they should narrow the available ideas into specific research questions. This will give them an easier time when it comes to research. It will also enable them to focus more on key issues that readers want to know about specific issues that relate to journalism.

However, this is not easy for most learners. Some students pick journalist project topics and eventually realize that they can’t get the information required to complete the task. Others get bored after choosing the wrong ideas for their projects. Unfortunately, writing a paper or essay about a topic that you can’t find adequate information for or feel bored about will only earn you a poor grade. That’s why learners need ideas to inspire them when choosing the topics to write about. Here are some of the best ideas to consider when choosing your journalism topic for a research paper or an essay.

Fresh and Unique Journalism Topics

Do you want to spend your time researching and writing about something unique in the journalism field? If yes, work with one of the ideas presented by these journalism topics for students.

• A journalist should be well-versed in different topics about local and international news- Explain
• Explain how the role of professional is seen in the media
• Are modern journalists more inclined towards glamour instead of providing better authentic news?
• How has COVID-19 revealed about the role of journalists at a global level?
• Have journalists played any role in the management of the COVID-19 pandemic?
• How does the media facilitate the stereotypical representations of females by portraying them as materialistic objects?
• Discuss how influential people control the freedom of journalists and the media
• Discuss the major problems that are experienced by journalists as they discharge their duties
• How have technological and scientific developments affected journalism?
• How has social media affected modern journalism?
• Are social media websites making third-persons journalists?
• What are the duties and roles of a professional journalist?
• How can journalists change the perception of women as being materialistic?
• Can journalism be used to help improve marginalized sections in society?
• How can journalists help the masses understand topical issues better?
• How are electronic media channels shaping modern-day journalism?
• Is social media making print media obsolete?
• How has technology affected the mediums that journalists used to reach people?
• How do high-profile personalities interfere with the freedom of journalists and the media?
• Explain the challenges that journalists in varying topographical situations face every day.

This category has some of the best literary journalism topics to research and then write about. However, students should be ready to conduct in-depth research before they start writing. They should introduce new information that readers will find interesting.

Investigative Journalism Topics

This category comprises journalism research paper topics that allow the author to investigate an issue deeply. When writing a paper or essay on these ideas, students must identify visual arguments, research about the issues or problems, and then draw conclusions based on their findings. Here are examples of investigative research topics in mass communication and journalism.

• How politicians in developing countries continue to lure the masses with vague promises about the education systems and job creation.
• How the media is helping call centers to create jobs and help the unemployed members of society.
• Politicians no longer have the ideological drive- A keen look into how political parties market their ideas
• Can the negative global image of Pakistan/Iraq/Afghanistan be improved? How the mass media fosters stereotypes and establish images
• How the media makes the USA look like the ultimate ruler
• How corruption has become synonymous with modern politics
• A critical analysis of how the UPA government functions
• The Italian roots of Sonia Gandhi
• How mainstream media is promoting the upsurge of public misinformation and fake news
• How journalists can maintain high-quality reporting without necessarily spending more
• How the media is helping rebrand some countries- Case study of Nigeria
• How influential politicians make key decisions for some media houses
• An assessment of the challenges facing information freedom in developing countries
• How the front covers for health magazines use sexual content to attract readers
• How magazine covers are used to get more sales
• What are moral lines that separate investigative journalism from the violation of people’s privacy?
• An investigation into the key stakeholders of modern media houses
• How the COVID-19 pandemic is likely to affect the Chinese economy
• How the government continues to censor the media
• How some governments silence investigative journalists

Some of these topics are also great for debates and speeches. However, extensive research is required to come up with quality and relevant content that readers will find interesting.

Interesting Journalism Thesis Topics

Journalism studies require learners to choose considerate topics that allow them an easy time to research and write quality papers. Essentially, students should enjoy working on their topics. Here are some of the most interesting thesis topics for journalism students.

• How significant is the media in the war against crimes?
• A look into democracy, human rights, and freedom of expression
• Media use by kids and adolescents
• Technology versus modern media
• How the media influence political patterns
• Use of media and subsequent effects
• How the media portrays popular culture and identity
• Use of mainstream media in strategic communication
• Media censorship and propaganda
• Media psychology- How it applies to communication
• Mainstream media versus art-house
• How the media affects a country’s socio-economic dimension
• Do video games form a part of the media?
• How the media influences violence
• Influence of the media on socio-economic sanity
• Scare strategies that the media use to accomplish goals
• A qualitative evaluation of modern media outlets
• Mass media implications to the ethical well-being of a society
• How the media influences immorality
• How society benefits from a free media

These topics to consider when writing a journalism thesis. That’s because most students will enjoy researching and writing about them. What’s more, most people will enjoy reading papers on these topics.

Great Journalism Essay Topics

Many students struggle to choose topics when it comes to journalistic essay writing. But, this shouldn’t be the case because there are many ideas that learners can explore. Here are some of the ideas that you can explore when asked to write a journalism essay.

• The role of mass media in society
• Who is a good mass media personality?
• What is the effect of mass media on the economy?
• How media houses benefit from advertising
• Modern society can’t do without mass media
• Influence of mass media on technological advancements
• How the media influences rivalry in politics
• How the media affects the political class in a country
• How important are reliable advertisements to the media
• How does the media spread awareness?
• What makes reliable media?
• How does partisan media affect society?
• What makes a non-partisan media?
• How media violence can lead to social violence
• Key stakeholders of modern media
• How does a society benefit from the media
• How the media has evolved over the years
• How the media influences the articulation of major social matters
• How media addiction affects the economy
• How the media pre-empt situations

Good Journalism Topics for Students in High School

High school students and those joining colleges are sometimes asked to write essays on their preferred topics. Those interested in mass media studies can opt to write about journalism. Here are great journalism topics for high school to consider.

• How media can foster education
• Hidden messages that are passed through the media
• How media images represent different entities
• Why radio remains popular
• The Disney phenomenon- New mythology or the media?
• Types and styles of media
• How politics and media are intertwined
• Could virtual reality be the future of modern media?
• Does the media create or react to events?
• How does the internet influence the development of the media?
• Media regulation and policy in different countries
• What is a media campaign?
• What is an international journalism
• Role of the media during wartime
• Does the media enhance or prevent panic during disasters?
• Does the media censor or promote controversial topics?
• Origin of the media
• How speech freedom impacts the media
• What are the main aspects of the media?
• How the media use the hype phenomenon

Students have many journalism thesis ideas to consider. However, every learner should be keen to pick a narrow and interesting idea to explore when researching and writing an essay or dissertation on journalism. If you need assistance, hire our paper writer and get assistance today.

What Is Literary Journalism?

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Literary journalism is a form of nonfiction that combines factual reporting with narrative techniques and stylistic strategies traditionally associated with fiction. This form of writing can also be called  narrative journalism or new journalism . The term literary journalism is sometimes used interchangeably with creative nonfiction ; more often, however, it is regarded as one type of creative nonfiction.

In his ground-breaking anthology The Literary Journalists , Norman Sims observed that literary journalism "demands immersion in complex, difficult subjects. The voice of the writer surfaces to show that an author is at work."

Highly regarded literary journalists in the U.S. today include John McPhee , Jane Kramer, Mark Singer, and Richard Rhodes. Some notable literary journalists of the past include Stephen Crane, Henry Mayhew , Jack London , George Orwell , and Tom Wolfe.

Characteristics of Literary Journalism

There is not exactly a concrete formula that writers use to craft literary journalism, as there is for other genres, but according to Sims, a few somewhat flexible rules and common features define literary journalism. "Among the shared characteristics of literary journalism are immersion reporting, complicated structures, character development, symbolism , voice , a focus on ordinary people ... and accuracy.

"Literary journalists recognize the need for a consciousness on the page through which the objects in view are filtered. A list of characteristics can be an easier way to define literary journalism than a formal definition or a set of rules. Well, there are some rules, but Mark Kramer used the term 'breakable rules' in an anthology we edited. Among those rules, Kramer included:

• Literary journalists immerse themselves in subjects' worlds...
• Literary journalists work out implicit covenants about accuracy and candor...
• Literary journalists write mostly about routine events.
• Literary journalists develop meaning by building upon the readers' sequential reactions.

... Journalism ties itself to the actual, the confirmed, that which is not simply imagined. ... Literary journalists have adhered to the rules of accuracy—or mostly so—precisely because their work cannot be labeled as journalism if details and characters are imaginary." 

Why Literary Journalism Is Not Fiction or Journalism

The term "literary journalism" suggests ties to fiction and journalism, but according to Jan Whitt, literary journalism does not fit neatly into any other category of writing. "Literary journalism is not fiction—the people are real and the events occurred—nor is it journalism in a traditional sense.

"There is interpretation, a personal point of view, and (often) experimentation with structure and chronology. Another essential element of literary journalism is its focus. Rather than emphasizing institutions, literary journalism explores the lives of those who are affected by those institutions."

The Role of the Reader

Because creative nonfiction is so nuanced, the burden of interpreting literary journalism falls on readers. John McPhee, quoted by Sims in "The Art of Literary Journalism," elaborates: "Through dialogue , words, the presentation of the scene, you can turn over the material to the reader. The reader is ninety-some percent of what's creative in creative writing. A writer simply gets things started."

Literary Journalism and the Truth

Literary journalists face a complicated challenge. They must deliver facts and comment on current events in ways that speak to much larger big picture truths about culture, politics, and other major facets of life; literary journalists are, if anything, more tied to authenticity than other journalists. Literary journalism exists for a reason: to start conversations.

Literary Journalism as Nonfiction Prose

Rose Wilder talks about literary journalism as nonfiction prose—informational writing that flows and develops organically like a story—and the strategies that effective writers of this genre employ in The Rediscovered Writings of Rose Wilder Lane, Literary journalist. "As defined by Thomas B. Connery, literary journalism is 'nonfiction printed prose whose verifiable content is shaped and transformed into a story or sketch by use of narrative and rhetorical  techniques generally associated with fiction.'

"Through these stories and sketches, authors 'make a statement, or provide an interpretation, about the people and culture depicted.' Norman Sims adds to this definition by suggesting the genre  itself allows readers to 'behold others' lives, often set within far clearer contexts than we can bring to our own.'

"He goes on to suggest, 'There is something intrinsically political—and strongly democratic—about literary journalism—something pluralistic, pro-individual, anti-cant, and anti-elite.' Further, as John E. Hartsock points out, the bulk of work that has been considered literary journalism is composed 'largely by professional journalists or those writers whose industrial means of production is to be found in the newspaper and magazine press, thus making them at least for the interim de facto journalists.'"

She concludes, "Common to many definitions of literary journalism is that the work itself should contain some kind of higher truth; the stories themselves may be said to be emblematic of a larger truth."

Background of Literary Journalism

This distinct version of journalism owes its beginnings to the likes of Benjamin Franklin, William Hazlitt, Joseph Pulitzer, and others. "[Benjamin] Franklin's Silence Dogood essays marked his entrance into literary journalism," begins Carla Mulford. "Silence, the persona Franklin adopted, speaks to the form that literary journalism should take—that it should be situated in the ordinary world—even though her background was not typically found in newspaper writing." 

Literary journalism as it is now was decades in the making, and it is very much intertwined with the New Journalism movement of the late 20th century. Arthur Krystal speaks to the critical role that essayist William Hazlitt played in refining the genre: "A hundred and fifty years before the New Journalists of the 1960s rubbed our noses in their egos, [William] Hazlitt put himself into his work with a candor that would have been unthinkable a few generations earlier."

Robert Boynton clarifies the relationship between literary journalism and new journalism, two terms that were once separate but are now often used interchangeably. "The phrase 'New Journalism' first appeared in an American context in the 1880s when it was used to describe the blend of sensationalism and crusading journalism—muckraking on behalf of immigrants and the poor—one found in the New York World and other papers... Although it was historically unrelated to [Joseph] Pulitzer's New Journalism, the genre of writing that Lincoln Steffens called 'literary journalism' shared many of its goals."

Boynton goes on to compare literary journalism with editorial policy. "As the city editor of the New York Commercial Advertiser in the 1890s, Steffens made literary journalism—artfully told narrative stories about subjects of concern to the masses—into editorial policy, insisting that the basic goals of the artist and the journalist (subjectivity, honesty, empathy) were the same."

• Boynton, Robert S. The New New Journalism: Conversations with America's Best Nonfiction Writers on Their Craft . Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, 2007.
• Krystal, Arthur. "Slang-Whanger." The New Yorker, 11 May 2009.
• Lane, Rose Wilder.  The Rediscovered Writings of Rose Wilder Lane, Literary Journalist . Edited by Amy Mattson Lauters, University of Missouri Press, 2007.
• Mulford, Carla. “Benjamin Franklin and Transatlantic Literary Journalism.”  Transatlantic Literary Studies, 1660-1830 , edited by Eve Tavor Bannet and Susan Manning, Cambridge University Press, 2012, pp. 75–90.
• Sims, Norman. True Stories: A Century of Literary Journalism . 1st ed., Northwestern University Press, 2008.
• Sims, Norman. “The Art of Literary Journalism.”  Literary Journalism , edited by Norman Sims and Mark Kramer, Ballantine Books, 1995.
• Sims, Norman. The Literary Journalists . Ballantine Books, 1984.
• Whitt, Jan. Women in American Journalism: A New History . University of Illinois Press, 2008.
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