Values and Craft of American Journalism

This book is an idealistic yet practical guide for journalism scholars, analysts, students, and professionals. Reflecting the mission of the Poynter Institute to educate journalists and media leaders to better serve the citizens of our democracy, its essays offer an inspiring vision of the practice and promise of journalism. From all corners of the fast-changing world of news gathering and publication, the contributors include some of the finest minds in American journalism, a provocative group of practical scholars and reflective practitioners who take journalism seriously as a subject of study and as a democratic art. The book combines cutting-edge theory with the latest journalistic practices. It covers some of the most important issues facing journalists today: how to restore the credibility of journalism, how journalists see their craft and how they connect craft to values, how leadership is expressed in news companies, and how the practice of journalism connects with its purpose in a democratic society. Many aspects of the news media are considered: reporting, writing, news judgment, editing, visual journalism, ethics, community coverage, language, ownership and leadership, new media, and race and diversity. The authors create a vision of modern journalism that is timely, hopeful, responsible, and creative. At a time when society relies more than ever on the information it receives, The Values and Craft of American Journalism offers a blueprint for constructing a pioneering relationship between journalists and the citizens they serve.

Roy Peter Clark is senior scholar at the Poynter Institute and founder of its writing center. Cole C. Campbell has been editor of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, the Virginian-Pilot, and the Greensboro News and Record and has served as a Fellow at the Poynter Institute, the Kettering Foundation, and the Knight program for journalists at Stanford University.