You are here

Online Journalism
Share

Online Journalism
The Essential Guide

  • Steve Hill - Southampton Solent University, UK, Westminster University, UK
  • Paul Lashmar - Brunel University , UK, Sussex University, UK


December 2013 | 304 pages | SAGE Publications Ltd

"An essential guide for anyone hungry to learn how journalism should be practised today, and will be tomorrow. Hill and Lashmar encapsulate the transformative impact technology is having on journalism, but anchor those changes in the basic principles of reporting."
- Paul Lewis, The Guardian


"As the news business transforms, Online Journalism is a fantastic new resource for both students and lecturers. Informative, straightforward and easily digested, it’s a one-stop shop for the skills, knowledge, principles and mindset required for journalistic success in the digital age."
- Mary Braid, Kingston University


Online and social media have become indispensible tools for journalists, but you still have to know how to find and tell a great story. To be a journalist today, you must have not only the practical skills to work with new technologies, but also the understanding of how and why journalism has changed.

Combining theory and practice, Online Journalism: The Essential Guide will take you through the classic skills of investigating, writing and reporting as you master the new environments of mobile, on-demand, social, participatory and entrepreneurial journalism. You will also develop must-have skills in app development for smartphones and tablets, as well as techniques in podcast, blog and news website production.

What this book does for you:
  • Tips and advice from leading industry experts in their own words
  • QR codes throughout the book to take you straight to multimedia links
  • A fully up-to-date companion website loaded with teaching resources, detailed careers advice and industry insights
  • Exercises to help you hone your skills
  • Top five guided reading list for each topic, so you can take it further
Perfect for students throughout a journalism course, this is your essential guide!

 
Introduction
 
PART ONE: FOUNDATIONS OF ONLINE JOURNALISM
 
What are the Essential Skills?
 
Understanding Your Users
 
PART TWO: SKILLS FOR THE MULTIMEDIA JOURNALIST
 
Writing for the Web
 
Telling the Story with Images
 
Using Audio and Podcasts
 
Working with Video
 
Doing Investigative Reporting
 
PART THREE: BUILDING COMMUNITIES, INTERACTION AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP
 
Social Media and Building Online Communities
 
Blogging and Participatory Journalism
 
Freelancing and Entrepreneurial Journalism
 
Outputting For Web, Mobile and Tablet
 
PART FOUR: BECOMING A THINKING JOURNALIST
 
Ethics and Good Practice
 
Law and Regulation
 
How the Internet Transformed Journalism

As the news business transforms, Online Journalism is a fantastic new resource for both students and lecturers. Informative, straightforward and easily digested, it’s a one-stop shop for the skills, knowledge, principles and mindset required for journalistic success in the digital age.

Mary Braid
Kingston University

An essential guide for anyone hungry to learn how journalism should be practised today, and will be tomorrow. Hill and Lashmar encapsulate the transformative impact technology is having on journalism, but anchor those changes in the basic principles of reporting.

Paul Lewis
The Guardian

This book serves as a sharp and succinct guide to learning the skills for real-world journalism in the online era. Packed with the unusual mix of recent and relevant case studies, practical advice and the intellectual underpinnings of the practice, this serves as a very effective handbook indeed for those learning the trade.

James Ball
The Guardian

The steady decline in circulation of the print media continues to be a source of deep concern: there is much talk of the slow death of our trade. But Paul Lashmar shows how serious, cutting-edge reporting can not only survive but take a leap forward with the use of new technology.

Lashmar uses his vast experience as a renowned investigative journalist, armed with the best of the traditional skills of story getting and writing, to analyse and explain how to embrace and exploit the evolving opportunities. This book is invaluable not only to students entering the field but those already there who may feel daunted by what the future holds for our working lives.

Kim Sengupta
Defence and Diplomatic Correspondent, The Independent

No longer merely “writing for the Web”, “online journalism” is a term which now encompasses a range of skills as broad as journalism itself, including subjects that together could fill an entire undergraduate course: from online video and audio to data and visual journalism, social media and community management, advanced search techniques and verification, new ethical and legal considerations, and programming. Even “writing for the Web” requires an exploration of search engine optimisation, social media optimisation and Web analytics. Thankfully it’s clear that in writing Online Journalism: The Essential Guide, Steve Hill and Paul Lashmar have not underestimated the scale of the challenge: the book covers almost all of the areas listed above, as well as the increasingly entrepreneurial character of journalism online.

Paul Bradshaw, Birmingham City University,
Digital Journalism

A great book. Quite practical and easy to learn from.

Professor Abiodun Salawu
Department of Communication, Univesity of North-West
April 17, 2015

As the title says - essential reading.

Ms Mary Williams
School of Social Historical and Literary Studies, Portsmouth University
March 10, 2015

Very informative book. Recommended.

Professor Abiodun Salawu
Department of Communication, Univesity of North-West
January 12, 2015

A very useful, accessible and up-to-date handbook for online journalism. This will be incorporated into Online Journalism sessions that I do with both Sports Journalism and Journalism students.

Mr Tom Bradshaw
Fac of Media, Art & Communications, Gloucestershire University
January 7, 2015

The book is highly essential for many of our courses and we have decided to use it in additional five courses, i.e. during Fall semester for a group of circa 25 students. One of these courses also have an additional of circa 25 international exchange students. So in total we will have approximately 75-80 students per year reading and using the book as course literature.

Dr Ebba Sundin
School of Education and Communication, Jönköping University
April 15, 2014

Sample Materials & Chapters

Chapter One: What are the Essential Skills?


For instructors

Select a Purchasing Option


Rent or Buy eBook
ISBN: 9781446293232

Hardcover
ISBN: 9781446207345
$182.00

Paperback
ISBN: 9781446207352
$59.00

This title is also available on SAGE Knowledge, the ultimate social sciences online library. If your library doesn’t have access, ask your librarian to start a trial.