If you’ve signed on to teach journalism at the college level, either full time or as an adjunct, you’ll probably want to use a textbook. But how can you figure out which one works best for you? Take advantage of publishers’ review programs. Most will send you a text at no charge for review, often called a “desk copy”; even if you don’t adopt it for a course you can keep the text for your own use.
Here are a few suggestions to get you started. Our number one recommendation should be no surprise:
Advancing the Story: Broadcast Journalism in a Multimedia World (2nd edition) by NewsLab’s own Deborah Potter and Deb Halpern Wenger, University of Mississippi. CQ Press, 2011.
One reviewer called it “the first post-TV news-era textbook in the field.” Comes with a unique online workbook, making it “a multimedia-journalism textbook that is truly multimedia.”
Associated Press Broadcast News Handbook by Brad Kalbfeld. McGraw Hill, 2000.
A style guide that also includes tips on broadcast writing.
Broadcast News, 4th edition, by Mitchell Stephens. Wadsworth, 2004.
Widely used overview text for broadcast journalism courses.
Broadcast News and Writing Stylebook, 4th edition, by Robert Papper. Allyn & Bacon, 2009.
A style guide designed for broadcast journalists.
Broadcast News Handbook: Writing, Reporting, And Producing in a Converging Media World, 3rd edition, by C. A. Tuggle, Forrest Carr, Suzanne Huffman. McGraw-Hill Companies, 2006.
Comprehensive text for introductory broadcast courses.
Principles of Electronic Media 2nd edition, by Bill Davie and Jim Upshaw. Allyn & Bacon, 2005
Surveys the field: history, technology, business and ethics/law.
Television Field Production and Reporting, 5th edition, by Fred Shook, John Larson and John deTarsio. Allyn & Bacon, 2008.
An introduction to the art of visual storytelling
Television News, 3rd edition, Teresa Keller and Steve Hawkins. Holcomb Hathaway Publishing, 2009
Covers writing, reporting, shooting and editing TV news.
Writing News for Broadcast, 3rd edition, by Edward Bliss, Jr. and James L. Hoyt, Columbia University Press, 1994.
The best broadcast news writing text ever produced. Dated now, but still fun to read.
Check our writers’ bookbag for other suggestions. Click the links if you want to buy from Amazon (note: NewsLab makes a small commission on each sale) If you have other suggestions to add, please let us know.
