Working the Story: A Guide to Reporting and News Writing for Journalists and Public Relations Professionals is far more than a textbook for students and newcomers to news reporting and public relations. It is an invaluable reference guide for professionals in both fields. Best of all, it follows its own teachings: it is concise and to the point, easy to read, and clearly understandable. Unlike other works in the field, it does more than just offer advice to writers on how to write. It provides the background every reporter and public relations professional needs to do the job, from how governmental bodies work to how to cover a board meeting. Douglas Perret Starr and Deborah Williams Dunsford not only explain what to look for and how to write a news article but also offer advice on how news stories should be written for greatest impact or how to generate copy for different media types, from the printed page to the computer screen to the radio and television broadcast. Drawing on a lifetime of study and practice, Starr and Dunsford cover a vast array of topics: techniques for interviewing, covering, and writing hard news stories, features, columns, and arts reviews; what public relations is, what it is not, and how it interrelates to newswriting; and speech ghostwriting and preparing corporate spokespersons for crises, briefings, and hostile interviews. Working the Story also includes eminently practical appendices on everything from keyboard shortcuts to common word definitions and usages in news reporting, from freelancing to applying for a job. Intended for beginners and seasoned professionals alike, Working the Story should sit near the keyboard of every student, every reporter, and every public relations officer and publicist.
About the Author: Douglas Perret Starr has had three careers: 20 years of field experience as a reporter (13 as an Associated Press newsman) covering government, politics, and the Civil Rights Movement in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Florida; 7 years as a public relations speech ghostwriter; and 39 years as a professor teaching journalism and public relations. Deborah Williams Dunsford is an agricultural journalism graduate of Kansas State University who has more than twenty years' experience in public relations, media writing, and account service. Her clients included Monsanto, BASF, Asgrow Seed, Sea Ray Boats, Azimuth Yachts, Armstrong Energy Service, and Union Planters Bank (now Regions Bank).