'The ultimate toilet book' - Observer 'A charming collection of stories that reminds you life could be so much worse' - Sunday Times ___________ The news can be overwhelming, with reports on post-Brexit food shortages, the underfunded NHS, and international trade wars, but local news is filled with many other serious headlines . . . Naked gardener puts neighbour off sausages Sports coach irate because KFC staff 'didn't cook him chicken' Fury after Morrisons wouldn't sell couple meat pies before 9am House fire started by squirrel disrupts funeral People across the UK are suffering the horrors of naked neighbours, large potholes, and parking fines. Packed with the best that regional journalism can offer, there are chapters on antisocial behaviour, transport hell and fast-food nightmares. Local issues may not be worthy of national headlines, but they certainly make people very, very angry . . .
Drawing on expert contributions from around the UK, this collection brings together a series of insights into the contemporary local and community news media landscape in the UK. Offering an analysis of the ongoing ‘crisis’ in the provision of local news, exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, the book provides a critical space for practitioners and scholars to reflect on emerging models for economically sustainable, participatory local news services. It showcases new scholarly analyses of local news provision and community news practices, giving voice to the experiences of practitioners from across the local news ecology. In a set of diverse contributing chapters, campaigners and practitioners map out the period of recent rapid change for local news, questioning contemporary government initiatives and highlighting the advent of diverse, entrepreneurial reactions to the spaces created by a decline in local mainstream news services. This book is a timely examination of what we can learn from the variety of approaches being taken across the local media landscape in the commercial, subsidised and non-profit sector, shining new light on how practices that place the engagement of citizens at their centre might be propagated within this policy and funding landscape. Reappraising Local and Community News in the UK is a valuable resource for students and scholars interested in local news and journalism, as well as for anyone interested in the evolving local media landscape in the UK.
Set against the background of the fundamental issues facing the industry today, The 21st Century Journalism Handbook is a comprehensive guide to the core principles and practices essential to the modern journalist. Convergence, online, the growth of magazine formats, challenges presented by technology and new demands in news and feature writing are all covered from conceptual and practical perspectives. A thorough grounding in the key debates and techniques is provided; while clear, no-nonsense practical advice helps you develop your journalism skills and make a success of your studies and career. Key Features: A combination of professional insight, academic study and practical exercises allows you to develop at your own pace Thinking it through activities at the end of each chapter allow you to think over the topics discussed and to think about how you could apply these skills Case studies and Closer Look boxes explore real-life examples in more depth Key points to remember and chapter summaries highlight the essential things you need to know Comprehensive but digestible coverage of the key elements of ethics, regulation and law ensures you are fully equipped with the essential frameworks for informed practice With an emphasis on developing the ‘whole journalist’, a creative and visual reporter who can think across different platforms, this text is ideal for all for journalism students training in newspapers, magazines and online reporting.
Medium-Sized Town, Fairly Big Story is packed full of unique stories from towns and villages the length and breadth of the country which somehow make the headlines in the local newspaper... and nowhere else.
CBC Radio's Information Morning history columnist Dianne Marshall is well known for the lively and surprising true stories she tells about Nova Scotia's past. Now the best of them have been gathered together in this enjoyable book. The stories cover 250 years of Nova Scotia history, often featuring people who don't make it into conventional history books. These incredible accounts include: the plot to assassinate US President Abraham Lincoln using germ warfare, hatched by several prominent Halifax businessmen and a visiting American doctor; a posse of 1,000 armed men swarming the city after a burglary, firing so many shots that some First World War vets thought war had broken out at home; and the story of Halifax madam Julia Donovan, whose prison term for keeping a bawdy house was commuted to a $100 fine in return for her work to elect the city's next mayor. Other stories in the collection feature characters from rum-running days at Smuggler's Cove in Digby County, and ghost-busters in Antigonish County. Dianne Marshall has an eye for character, a firm knowledge of historical context and a focus on what makes a good story. She brings many ordinary Nova Scotians with extraordinary experiences back to life in this readable collection.
Traces the crisis period leading up to America's entry in World War II, describing the nation's polarized interventionist and isolation factions as represented by the government, in the press and on the streets, in an account that explores the forefront roles of British-supporter President Roosevelt and isolationist Charles Lindbergh. (This book was previously featured in Forecast.)
"A reminder that even the smallest newspapers can hold the most powerful among us accountable."—The New York Times Book Review Watch the documentary Storm Lake on PBS. Iowa plays an outsize role in national politics. Iowa introduced Barack Obama and voted bigly for Donald Trump. But is it a bellwether for America, a harbinger of its future? Art Cullen’s answer is complicated and honest. In truth, Iowa is losing ground. The Trump trade wars are hammering farmers and manufacturers. Health insurance premiums and drug prices are soaring. That’s what Iowans are dealing with, and the problems they face are the problems of the heartland. In this candid and timely book, Art Cullen—the Storm Lake Times newspaperman who won a Pulitzer Prize for taking on big corporate agri-industry and its poisoning of local rivers—describes how the heartland has changed dramatically over his career. In a story where politics, agriculture, the environment, and immigration all converge, Cullen offers an unsentimental ode to rural America and to the resilient people of a vibrant community of fifteen thousand in Northwest Iowa, as much survivors as their town.
Author Cam Rascoe returns with a tale of a talented Pine Hills youth’s journey into higher learning and a different land. Ras Cat the College Years explores race relations on college campuses across America in the early 1990’s while telling the tale of a promiscuously misguided young man’s loss through his favorite vice. Mr. Rascoe continues to push boundaries, offering compelling characters in the most poignant of tales. Detailed narration, painting vivid pictures makes this book a real page turner. The Vilified Victim of the Valley of Varied Vixens is an exciting and entertaining cautionary tale of how we accomplish exactly what we work towards in life. Unfortunately for young Ras Cat he applied his energy and talents towards becoming intimate with as many co-eds as time would allow. Loss of focus leads to the loss of a dream, all for the lust of the varied vixens of the valley.
Some portion of the American public will react negatively to almost any new corporate initiative, as Disney discovered when it announced its plans to build an historical theme park in Virginia. Similarly, government efforts to change policy or shift budget priorities are invariably met with stiff resistance. In this enormously practical book, Lawrence Susskind and Patrick Field analyze scores of both private and public-sector cases, as well as crisis scenarios such as the Alaskan oil spill, the silicone breast implant controversy, and nuclear plant malfunction at Three Mile Island. They show how resistance to both public and private initiatives can be overcome by a mutual gains approach involving face-to-face negotiation, a strategy applied successfully by over fifteen hundred executives and officials who have attended Professor Susskind's MIT-Harvard "Angry Public" seminars.Susskind and Field outline the six key elements of this approach in order to help business and government leaders negotiate, rather than fight, with their critics. In the process, they show how to identify who the public is, whose concerns to address first, which people and organizations must be convinced of the legitimacy of action taken, and how to assess and respond to different types of anger effectively. Acknowledging the crucial role played by the media in shaping public perception and understanding, Susskind and Field suggest a way to develop media interaction which is consistent with the six mutual gains principles, and also discuss the type of leadership that corporate and government managers must provide in order to combine these ideas into a useful whole.We all need to be concerned about a society in which the public's concerns, fears and anger are not adequately addressed. When corporate and government agencies must spend crucial time and resources on rehashing and defending each decision they make, a frustrated and angry public contributes to the erosion of confidence in our basic institutions and undermines our competitiveness in the international marketplace. In this valuable book, Susskind and Field have produced a strong, clear framework which will help reduce these hidden costs for hundreds of executives, managers, elected and appointed officials, entrepreneurs, and the public relations, legal and other professionals who advise them.
