The Basics of Media Writing
A Strategic Approach
- Scott A. Kuehn - Clarion University of Pennsylvania, USA
- Andrew Lingwall - Clarion University of Pennsylvania, USA
Media Writing
The Basics of Media Writing: A Strategic Approach helps readers develop the essential writing skills and professional habits needed to succeed in 21st-century media careers. This research-driven, strategy-based media writing textbook digs deeply into how media professionals think and write in journalism, public relations, advertising, and other forms of strategic communication. Authors Scott A. Kuehn and Andrew Lingwall have created two comprehensive writing models to help students overcome their problems in finding and developing story topics by giving them “starting points” to begin writing. The Professional Strategy Triangle model shows students how to think critically about the audience, the situation, and the message before starting a news story or persuasive piece and the FAJA four-point model asks students a series of questions about their story type (Fact, Analysis, Judgment, or Action) to guide them to the right angle or organizational structure for their message. Rooted in classical rhetorical methods, this step-by-step technique enables readers to strategically approach each writing task, no matter the format.
| Welcome to Media Writing! |
| Media Consumption and Production, All at Once |
| Media Responsibilities and Challenges |
| The Role of Skilled Writing |
| Understanding Yourself as a Writer |
| The Media Writer’s Self-Perception (MWSP) Scale |
| The Grammar, Spelling, Punctuation (GSP) Test |
| Summary |
| Key Terms |
| Discussion Questions |
| Chapter Exercises |
| Additional Resources |
| 21st-Century Media: A Rapidly Changing Landscape |
| Overview of the Major Media Professions |
| Professional Media Writing Strategy |
| Using the FAJA Points in Your Writing |
| Summary |
| Key Terms |
| Discussion Questions |
| Chapter Exercises |
| Additional Resources |
| Style: Your Audiences Are Counting on It |
| Media Writing Style Conventions |
| The Connection Between Thinking and Writing |
| Style Guides |
| Selected Points of AP Style |
| Additional Language Rules |
| Grammar, Spelling, and Punctuation |
| Summary |
| Key Terms |
| Discussion Questions |
| Chapter Exercises |
| Additional Resources |
| Journalism: A Higher Calling |
| The First Amendment Guarantee |
| Professional News Writing Standards |
| The Converged Media Environment |
| Applying the Professional Strategy Triangle to Reporting |
| News Reporting |
| Interviewing |
| Summary |
| Key Terms |
| Discussion Questions |
| Chapter Exercises |
| Additional Resources |
| Versatility Is the Key |
| The Multiplatform Story |
| Writing the Hard News Story |
| Using Quotations |
| Writing the Feature Story |
| Summary |
| Key Terms |
| Discussion Questions |
| Chapter Exercises |
| Additional Resources |
| The Electronic Media Professions |
| What Do Broadcast Journalists Do? |
| The Professional Strategy Triangle for Broadcast News |
| Actualities and Sound Bites: Sound on Tape |
| Television News Copy |
| Promotional and Housekeeping Copy |
| Summary |
| Key Terms |
| Discussion Questions |
| Chapter Exercises |
| Additional Resources |
| Copy Editors: The Critical Link |
| Overview of the Copyediting Profession |
| Copyediting in News and Public Relations Settings |
| Copyediting in the Digital Environment |
| Copyediting Techniques |
| Summary |
| Key Terms |
| Discussion Questions |
| Chapter Exercises |
| Additional Resources |
| Media Law and Ethics Work Together |
| The Fundamental Freedoms of the First Amendment |
| Libel: Damage to Reputation Through False Content |
| Privacy Law |
| Copyright and the Law of Intellectual Property |
| Access to Government Information and Government Meetings |
| Ethics in the Media |
| Special Considerations for Public Relations and Advertising |
| Other Approaches to Ethical Decision-Making |
| Summary |
| Key Terms |
| Discussion Questions |
| Chapter Exercises |
| Additional Resources |
| It’s Both Personal and Professional |
| The Media Industry and Social Media |
| Planning Social Media Campaigns |
| Social Media Copywriting |
| Key Style Elements for Social Media Copy |
| Social Media Copywriting: Length Matters |
| Summary |
| Key Terms |
| Discussion Questions |
| Chapter Exercises |
| Additional Resources |
| The Omnipresent World Wide Web |
| Web Copywriting |
| Middle-Form Web Copy: Style |
| Long-Form Web Copy: Blogs |
| Summary |
| Key Terms |
| Discussion Questions |
| Chapter Exercises |
| Additional Resources |
| Persuasion: A Timeless Skill |
| Key Persuasion Theories |
| Persuasion, Ethics, and Professionalism |
| Using the FAJA Points for Persuasion |
| Example 1: Using Judgment for Public Relations Writing |
| Example 2: Using Action for Advertising Writing |
| Putting Persuasion Topic Points to Work |
| Moving Audiences to Action With Motive Appeals |
| Summary |
| Key Terms |
| Discussion Questions |
| Chapter Exercises |
| Additional Resources |
| Public Relations Is Everywhere |
| The Three Types of Media: Paid, Earned, and Owned |
| Uncontrolled and Controlled Media |
| Professional Media Writing Strategy |
| Public Relations Writing Tools |
| Summary |
| Key Terms |
| Discussion Questions |
| Chapter Exercises |
| Additional Resources |
| Advertising: A Timeless Enterprise |
| The Advertising Profession |
| The Art and Science of Copywriting |
| Writing the Print Advertisement |
| Writing the Online Advertisement |
| Writing the Radio Commercial |
| Writing the Television Commercial |
| Summary |
| Key Terms |
| Discussion Questions |
| Chapter Exercises |
| Additional Resources |
| Business Communication: Anything but Boring! |
| The Corporate Communication Profession |
| Business Communication Flows Four Ways |
| Using the Professional Strategy Triangle for Business Communication |
| Summary |
| Key Terms |
| Discussion Questions |
| Chapter Exercises |
| Additional Resources |
Supplements
SAGE edge for Instructors supports teaching by making it easy to integrate quality content and create a rich learning environment for students.
- Test banks provide a diverse range of pre-written options as well as the opportunity to edit any question and/or insert personalized questions to effectively assess students’ progress and understanding
- A sample course syllabus provides suggested models for structuring one’s course
- Editable, chapter-specific PowerPoint® slides offer complete flexibility for creating a multimedia presentation for the course
- Multimedia content appeals to students with different learning styles
- Chapter-specific discussion questions help launch classroom interaction by prompting students to engage with the material and by reinforcing important content.
- Lively and stimulating ideas for class activities can be used in class to reinforce active learning.
SAGE edge for Students provides an easy-to-use learning environment, featuring:
- mobile-friendly eFlashcards and quizzes to strengthen your understanding of key terms and concepts;
- a complete online action plan to keep you on track and enhances your learning experience;
- learning objectives that reinforce the most important material; and
- multimedia resources, carefully chosen to support and expand on the concepts presented in each chapter.
“I really love the layout and design of the text… I have found a lot of the content is what I currently use in Writing for Media, but have to seek out and find on my own… I think the opening chapter sets the tone. I found it to be warm, positive and encouraging. I love the approach of this textbook and would find it a valuable resource not only for the students, but for me as an instructor.”
This book helps the instructors how to guide students to develop the basics of writing skills for the media across the platforms. Skills are needed to succeed as professionals and choose the best media career in this competitive age of 21st-century--that could be either in basic journalism (print to online), public relations, (media) marketing, advertising, online reporting and other forms of communication/mass communication strategies. The step-by-step technique enables students to approach writing writing tasks for different formats.
