Local television newscasts around the country look alike and are filled with crime, accidents, and disasters. Interviews with more than 2,000 TV journalists around the country demonstrate that news looks this way because of the ingrained belief that ???eye-ball grabbers??? are the only way to build an audience. This book contradicts the conventional wisdom using empirical evidence drawn from a five-year content analysis of local news in more than 154 stations in 50 markets around the country. The book shows that ???how??? a story is reported is more important for building ratings than what the story is about. Local TV does not have to ???bleed to lead???. Instead local journalists can succeed by putting in the effort to get good stories, finding and balancing sources, seeking out experts, and making stories relevant to the local audience.

Local television newscasts around the country look alike and are filled with crime, accidents, and disasters. Interviews with more than 2,000 TV journalists around the country demonstrate that news looks this way because of the ingrained belief that 'eye-ball grabbers' are the only way to build an audience. This book contradicts the conventional wisdom using empirical evidence drawn from a five-year content analysis of local news in more than 154 stations in 50 markets around the country. The book shows that 'how' a story is reported is more important for building ratings than what the story is about. Local TV does not have to 'bleed to lead'. Instead local journalists can succeed by putting in the effort to get good stories, finding and balancing sources, seeking out experts, and making stories relevant to the local audience.

The Book That Every Citizen and Journalist Should Read
"What this book does better than any single book on media history, ethics, or practice is
weave . . . [together] why media audiences have fled and why new technology and megacorporate ownership are putting good journalism at risk." --Rasmi Simhan, "Boston Globe"
"Kovach and Rosenstiel's essays on each [element] are concise gems, filled with insights worthy of becoming axiomatic. . . . The book should become essential reading for journalism professionals and students and for the citizens they aim to serve." --Carl Sessions Stepp, "American Journalism Review"
"If you think journalists have no idea what you want . . . here is a book that agrees with you. Better--it has solutions. The Elements of Journalism is written for journalists, but any citizen who wonders why the news seems trivial or uninspiring should read it." --Marta Salij, "Detroit Free Press"

The elements of journalism are:
* Journalism's first obligation is to the truth.
* Its first loyalty is to citizens.
* Its essence is a discipline of verification.
* Its practitioners must maintain an independence from those they cover.
* It must serve as an independent monitor of power.
* It must provide a forum for public criticism and compromise.
* It must strive to make the significant interesting and relevant.
* It must keep the news comprehensive and proportional.
* Its practitioners must be allowed to exercise their personal conscience.

Written by leading professional journalists and classroom-tested at schools of journalism, "Thinking Clearly" is designed to provoke conversation about the issues that shape the production and presentation of the news in the twenty-first century. These case studies depict real-life moments when people working in the news had to make critical decisions. Bearing on questions of craft, ethics, competition, and commerce, they cover a range of topics -- the commercial imperatives of newsroom culture, standards of verification, the competition of public and private interests, including the question of privacy -- in a variety of key episodes: Watergate, the Richard Jewell case, John McCain's 2000 presidential campaign, and the Columbine shooting, among others.

NPR Best Book of 2017 A polished and gripping political debut that Michael Connelly calls "an edge of your seat thriller," Shining City is set in DC amid a harrowing Supreme Court nomination fight. "Amazing. . . . Pulses with momentum. . . . A debut that will be remembered for years." --Michael Connelly Peter Rena is a "fixer." He and his partner, Randi Brooks, earn their living making the problems of the powerful disappear. They get their biggest job yet when the White House hires them to vet the president's nominee for the Supreme Court. Judge Roland Madison is a legal giant, but he's a political maverick, with views that might make the already tricky confirmation process even more difficult. Rena and his team go full-bore to cover every inch of the judge's past, while the competing factions of Washington D.C. mobilize with frightening intensity: ambitious senators, garrulous journalists, and wily power players on both sides of the aisle. All of that becomes background when a string of seemingly random killings overlaps with Rena's investigation, with Judge Madison a possible target. Racing against the clock to keep his nominee safe, the President satisfied, and the political wolves at bay, Rena learns just how dangerous Washington's obsession with power--how to get it and how to keep it--can be. Written with razor-sharp political insight and heart-pounding action, Shining City is a hugely impressive debut that announces a major new talent.

An intelligent and propulsive international political thriller in which political fixer Peter Rena is hired by the president to investigate the bombing of an American military base overseas When a shadowy American diplomatic complex is attacked in North Africa, the White House is besieged by accusations of incompetence and wild conspiracy theories. Eager to learn the truth, the president and his staff turn to Peter Rena and his partner, Randi Brooks. The investigators dive headfirst into the furtive world of foreign intelligence and national security, hoping to do it quietly. That becomes impossible, though, when it blows up into an all-out public scandal: Congress opens hearings and a tireless national security reporter publishes a bombshell expose. Now, Rena and Brooks are caught in the middle. The White House wants to prevent debilitating fallout for the president, the military appears to be in shutdown mode, the press is hungry for another big story, and rival politicians are plotting their next move. Rena learns the hard way that secrets in Washington come with a very high price. With intelligence, style, and a breakneck pace, The Good Lie explores the contours of secrets, lies, and the dangers of a never-ending war. Praise for Shining City: "One of the smartest thrillers in recent memory." --Dallas Morning News "A debut that will be remembered for years." --Michael Connelly "Skillful and memorable." --Wall Street Journal