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Stovall, James Glen. Journalism: Who, What, When, Where, Why and How. Boston: Pearson Allyn and Bacon, 504 pp, ISBN 0-205-37204-X ($53.33)

There are not many textbooks today written by senior full professors at the top of their game and intellectual insight. This book is one of them, and that is one of the reasons this book works so well. Written as an introduction to journalism for high school and/or college students, this book is readable and full of substantive information about the field.

Using the five Ws and one H as a basic theme for the organization of this book, Dr. Stovall starts out with an exploration of the place of news in society and then proceeds through the entire content of journalism. He explores what the field requires and how to become a journalist. He then describes the role of newspaper, magazine, and television writing and how a person does these things and provides specific advice on topics of interest. For instance, in the section on newspapers, there is a table that lists the key concepts to keep in mind as a person covers a beat for the news.

There is also a highlighted section that deals with things to remember when interviewing someone. In Chapter 10 on writing news and feature stories, there is advice on writing. One of the suggestions mentioned is a reference to Mark Twain: “Use words precisely. Mark Twain: The difference between the right word and the almost right word is the difference between lightening and the lightening bug” (170). Another such section is an interview with one of Dr. Stovall’s former students that discusses how to make the news relevant to peoples lives (335). Dr. Stovall then discusses the differences between straight, inverted pyramid style news writing and feature writing, which uses anecdotes, suspended interest, and question and answer formats.

He delves into issues of style, including gender issues, and he describes the role of editors and gives specific suggestions on how to accomplish this job. Web journalism, graphic and visual arts, and principles of layout and design are also covered, and there is an excellent section--four chapters long--that focuses on the history of journalism, followed by two chapters on legal and ethical issues in publishing. Of special note, many of the pen and ink artistic renditions of historical figures are done by Dr. Stovall, who is also an accomplished visual artist and painter.

Underpinning the content of each chapter are structural and organizational features that insure that students focus on key concepts. Further, there are the right kinds of support and distraction for those with short attention spans. All of the chapters begin with a listing of the key concepts to be covered. Many of the chapters begin with anecdotes, real in origin, that provide students with a sense of the excitement and urgency about journalistic inquiry. They excited me. They will excite students. For instance, the one at he beginning of Chapter 1 talks about how a reporter with CNN on vacation near the Pennsylvania crash site on 9/11 managed to get access to the site as a journalist using a Georgia driver’s license and a CNN baseball cap. (He had left his official identification in Atlanta.) Another anecdote at the beginning of Chapter 2 describes how the Chicago Tribune covered the crash of John F. Kennedy junior’s plane in the summer of 1999 as if it were a local story, even though it didn’t happen in Chicago. This anecdote illustrates how some stories affect everyone locally even though they originate and take place elsewhere.

Another useful feature that supplements the content of the text are quotations from journalists and news figures like Carl Hiassen, a novelist and a reporter for the Miami Herald, H.L. Mencken, and Joseph Pulitzer to Mahatma Gandi and T.S.Elliot. Other kinds of inclusions in the text from time to time are sections called “What Do You Think.” For instance, one piece discusses the number of stories major newspapers have devoted to the Kobe Bryant case, the Michael Jackson Case, and the Slobodan Milosevic case in the World Court. Milosevic engaged in atrocities that resulted in multiple deaths, yet his story has received little attention compared to that of Jackson and Bryant. The question posed by Dr. Stovall : “Whose trial would you rather read about (or hear about on television)—Slobodan Milosevic or Kobe Bryant and Michael Jackson” (16)?

At the end of each chapter are a list of web sites appropriate for the topic of that chapter and a list of references. Some chapters include useful exercises to allow students to practice concepts discussed. Finally, brief discussions of concepts ancillary to the major point of the chapter are included when necessary. When you add on a website that accompanies the text and provides lesson plans and further illustrative materials, and an instructor’s manual that provides ideas on ways for teachers to engage students with the text, there is not much left to chance with this book.

This book is not, however, teacher proof. It provides all of the support a teacher needs to pay attention to the details of journalistic activity, to the larger philosophical issues that drive the profession, and to the practical ones of how to become a journalist. But it is still up to the teacher to take the “music” in this book and “orchestrate” it into a classroom experience. This is simply one of the best textbooks on any topic I have seen in a long time, and I highly recommend it to you.

Publisher’s web page for the book:
http://ablongman.com/catalog/academic/product/0,1144,020537204X,00.html

Read a review of Web Journalism by Jim Stovall.

Read an interview with author Jim Stovall

Reviewed by Edgar H. Thompson, Emory & Henry College, ehthomps@ehc.edu