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BOOK REVIEW: Journalism Principles and Practice, by Tony Harcup (Sage, £18.99)
138/Eileen Jones
Did you hear the one about the off-duty reporter who spotted an ad in the local shop window offering a substantial reward for the return of a rare parrot? Turns out it wasn’t lost, but stolen by an international smuggling syndicate who were abducting exotic birds to order.
Cracking front-page story. And it illustrates the notion that once upon a time there were just two schools of thought on the training of journalists. One offered apprenticeship on the coat tails of a senior hack trudging from court to council chamber; the other offered nothing: journalists could not be taught.
A news-hound was born with the scent of a good story and a native grasp of the language with which to communicate it. Since then, alongside the proliferation of meejah courses, came the proliferation of practical texts and theoretical tomes. But seldom, if ever, have the practical and the theoretical been so well assimilated as in Tony Harcup's treatment of the “parrot” sketch.
Harcup, senior lecturer at the Centre for Journalism at Trinity and All Saints in Leeds, was himself a hack with a conscience for some 20 years, so he’s well positioned to challenge those whose eyebrows rise at the juxtaposition of the words “journalism” and “principles”. And to bridge the “gap of understanding that too often separates those who study media from whose who produce media”.
He does so with insight - and humour - to rise above the temptation to cynicism in the age of “churnalism”, and explore the journalist’s social role, which is more than merely reflecting reality. Harcup’s reality is illustrated by substantial contributions from contemporary working journalists, and enlightened by thoughtful reference to a wide range of theorists. The parallel analysis of the academic and the practical is facilitated by a novel, user-friendly layout, and simple but effective typographical devices.
Deliberately, there’s no separate section or chapter on ethics; the ethical dimension, Harcup believes, is not to be compartmentalised but to be raised in all aspects of journalistic practice. It’s a thread that runs through the entire text of this exhilarating and inspiring work.
Last modified: Sunday, March 30, 2008
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Notices
Events & Announcements
World Press Freedom Day
More reporters are currently imprisoned in Turkey than in any other country in the world. Only a matter of weeks ago lawyers failed to persuade a Turkish court to release a 76-year-old journalist from a Turkish internet news station.
World Press Freedom Day on Friday May 3, 2013 is being marked in Britain by a rally to highlight the dangers facing journalists in Turkey and in this podcast, Nicholas Jones speaks to Barry White, Organiser at the Campaign for Press and Broadcasting Freedom, and Sam Bamford, the TUC's policy officer for Eastern Europe and Africa about the importance of a campaign to highlight international press freedom.
The World Press Freedom Day rally is being staged by the National Union of Journalists at the NUJ head office, Gray’s Inn Road, London WC1 on Thursday May 2, 6pm-8pm.
DATELINE: 27/4/13
UK launch of EU media campaign
DATELINE: 13/3/13
The UK launch of a 'European Citizens' Initiative' calling for EU rules against concentration of media power will take place on Thursday March 21 from 11:00am – 12:30pm in Committee Room 4A at the House of Lords, London. Guest speakers will include actor and activist Hugh Grant (pictured), media consultant Claire Enders, Professor Steven Barnett, Barry McCall (President of the NUJ) and Marc Gruber (Director of the European Federation of Journalists).
A European Citizens' Initiative is an official petition, like a Downing Street petition. If it succeeds in gathering a million signatures across the EU, the Commission is obliged to respond.
This petition calls for the EU to act to protect media pluralism and press freedom.
CPBF Annual General Meeting
DATELINE: 1/3/13
Make a note in your diary
Saturday 13 July 2013 from 10.00am
NUJ HQ, 308/312 Gray's Inn Road, London WC1.
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DATELINE: 26/3/10
Download Freepress in PDF, ePub or mobi format. Issue 194 now available.
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DATELINE: 26/3/10
The media’s job is to inform and entertain us but we rely on them too to tell us what our rulers and representatives are up to. In the run-up to the Iraq war the government used spin and disinformation in the media to create panic and mislead people. The truth is coming out now, but we need stronger, more independent media to be able to scrutinise governments and make informed choices.
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Previous stories
Miscellany
BBC: Wrong or Wronged?
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Labour’s TV Policies: Book Launch
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