As glamorous as the media professions can seem, there are a host of ethical, legal, and practical considerations that temper unbridled enthusiasm for working in the newsroom. Barnas and White do a superb job of demystifying and clarifying what it means to actually work behind the scenes and at every position necessary for making an effective news organization work. Broadcast News: Writing, Reporting, and Producing offers a remarkably thorough overview of the broadcast news industry, from an editorial and content creation perspective as well as a marketing, public relations, and technical perspective. Just when Broadcast News seems overly ambitious, the authors deliver on depth and clarity of content. Broadcast News is divided into four parts, for a total of seventeen chapters. The first part is called “Acquiring the News.” Barnas and White dive straight into the ethical and legal conundrums reporters and editors face when trying to be the first on the scene to report issues as fairly and accurately as possible. Chapter One covers everything from conflicts of interest and libel to the issues associated with editing and framing the news. Chapter two is about “locating the news,” and how to leverage access to sources. Developing stories is the substantive content of chapter three, which covers...

Chapter four addresses the issues associated with researching documents, including freedom of information requests and other government-related issues that come into play during investigative reporting. The tips the authors offer aspiring reporters are indispensible, but ultimately best put into practice via opportunities like an internship with a reputable newsroom or media agency.
The second part of Broadcast News is about writing the news. Unlike the first section of the book, this section includes helpful information about the mechanics and style of journalistic writing and reporting. Even for those interested more purely in vocal delivery need to master the art of writing and communicating stories effectively. Comprising chapters six through eight, this section is one of the shorter ones in the book but nevertheless includes information that is pertinent to students of journalism and media studies.

Reporting the news is the subject of section three of Broadcast News. Barnas and White discuss fieldwork in chapter nine, interviewing in chapter ten, planned events coverage in chapter eleven, live reporting in chapter twelve, and story formatting and voiceover issues in chapter…