Book goes beyond '5Ws and H' of journalism
New Delhi: A new book goes into details of reporting, news writing and editing not only in print media but also broadcast journalism as well as digital platform.
The 48-chapter book "Beat Reporting and Editing: Journalism in the Digital Era" has essays on traditional beats like defence, politics, court, crime, sports and entertainment besides topics like rural reporting, storytelling, photo journalism and cartooning, social media reporting, misinformation and fake news, solution based journalism among others.
Co-edited by Surbhi Dahiya and Shambhu Das Sahu, it also includes emerging forms of journalism like Artificial Intelligence, blockchain and bots, podcast, mobile journalism (Mojo), drone journalism (Dojo) and data journalism in India.
The editors say the aim of the book, published by SAGE, is to equip budding journalists with the tools and best practices related to different thematic specialisations in journalism.
"In short, we want to institutionalise the experiences and best practices of reporters who have done some cutting edge work in their respective beats and make this vast repository of knowledge available to young minds," they write.
The book draws on a range of examples, case studies and first-hand experiences of eminent journalists and media educators to encourage media students to critically engage with all forms of journalistic writing in the digital era besides theory and practice.
"Beat Reporting and Editing" is divided into eight sections - Understanding Reporting; Beats as Specialised Reporting; Data Journalism and Visualisation; Journalism In The Digital Age; Visual Approach in Journalism; Opinion writing and Other Forms; Challenges and Solutions in Journalism: Misinformation, Fake News vs Ethics; and Understanding Editing.
There is a message from Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu in the book.
"The Fourth Estate plays a vital role in strengthening democracy and it is important for the students of journalism to be well versed with the functioning of various institutions of governance and jurisprudence," he writes.
Among the contributors are V S Chandrasekar (News: Sources and Art of Gathering); Pramod Kumar Singh (Political Reporting); Ashok Tuteja (Parliamentary Reporting); Pallava Bagla (Nuclear and Space Reporting); Vijay S. Satokar (Disaster Reporting); Sanjay Kapoor (Writing Editorial); Bhawana Somaaya (Writing Reviews); Sreemoyee Piu Kundu (Fashion, Lifestyle and Entertainment Reporting); and Tabeenah Anjum Qureshi and Mrinal Chatterjee (Photo Journalism).
