Journalism Primer 6

[Mike Gange]

Good writers are also readers. And you should too.

In your classes, you should have some of these items.

1. Rolling Stone magazine.

Maybe the best example of our current state of culture.

2. Sports Illustrated.

Short stories, not always about heroes or goats. The knock on SI is that too many of the stories are male-centric. But this allows you to explain hegemony. Excellent photography. Remember this is the mag that helped break the stories about Michael Vick and dog fights. Avoid the swimsuit issue. Its just too filled with opportunities to get you into trouble.

3. Time magazine.

Tightly written news stories. Hardly an adjective to be found in their copy.

4. Be True To Your School: A Diary of 1964 by Bob Greene

The publisher said: Today, Bob Greene is a celebrated, nationally-syndicated columnist. In 1964, he was a seventeen-year-old Ohio high school kid. And he kept a diary.
It's all here. The teenage girl who got away. The twenty-seven-year-old woman who didn't. The first beer. The first job. A series of bad haircuts. Friendship and betrayal, griping and groping, a daily account of one boy's struggle. 

Bob Greene could be one of your students. We forget the kinds of angst that comes with high school.

5. The Night of the Gun: A Reporter Investigates the Darkest Story of His LIfe by David Carr

A gripping, scary story, told in a brutally honest manner. The passage on him abusing his girlfriend is so compelling and yet sickening that it will motivate a whole week's worth of discussion.

 

Recommended text book?

6. Journalism Today by Donald Ferguson et al.

Very American, so if you are not in the U.S. you will need to add some local legal matters, but in general, a well written book with on-line up-dates and resources. A student work book is available so you don't have to re-invent the wheel. Worth spending the money on, even if your school won't spring for it, you should get the workbook.