Do you want to learn more about journalism but don’t know where to start? In this article, I’ve put together a list of three best journalism books for beginners you should read, even if you’re not a journalist (or not planning to become one). It’s intentionally short and contains only essential titles that will make you a better reader, writer, and citizen. Every news article you consume will be framed by your newly acquired knowledge about the purpose of journalism and how it’s produced in today’s complex media landscape. “Journalism and the elements of journalism should concern all citizens … because the distinction between citizen and journalist, reporter and editor, audience and producer are not vanishing but blurring,” writes Bill Kovach, one of the authors of The Elements of Journalism.
1. The Elements of Journalism, Revised and Updated 3rd Edition: What Newspeople Should Know and the Public Should Expect
Revised and updated with a new preface and material on the rise of social media, the challenges facing printed news, and how journalism can fulfill its purpose in the digital age.
Seventeen years ago, the Committee of Concerned Journalists gathered some of America’s most influential newspeople to ask the question, “What is journalism for?” Through exhaustive research, surveys, interviews, and public forums, they identified the essential elements that define journalism and its role in our society.
The result is this, one of the most important books on the media ever written, and winner of the Goldsmith Book Award from Harvard, the Society of Professional Journalists award, and the Bart Richards Award from Penn State University.
Updated with new material covering the rise of social media, sponsored content, a new, collaborative web-based journalism in which anyone—professional or citizen—can produce news, and much more, this third edition of The Elements of Journalism is an essential read for journalists, students, and anyone hoping to stay informed in the digital age.
Editor’s note: I recommend the third edition of the book instead of the fourth edition.
Related article: “What Is Journalism For?“
2. News Writing and Reporting: The Complete Guide for Today’s Journalist
News Writing and Reporting: The Complete Guide for Today’s Journalist, Second Edition, uses a multitude of reporting and writing examples from print, broadcast and online sources in order to deconstruct and reveal journalistic practices, techniques and philosophy to today’s students.
Building on a solid foundation of the three pillars of excellent journalism—process, coaching and storytelling—Chip Scanlan and Richard Craig shape students into successful journalists by providing them with the theoretical background and practical knowledge needed to transition into a new age of reporting.
3. Against the Corporate Media: Forty-two Ways the Press Hates You
The citizens of Western democracies have been relentlessly propagandized, lied to, and fed a steady diet of distortions and untruths by their media for decades.
Editor Michael Walsh brings together a stellar collection of critical thinkers and writers to explain how and why this is happening, its negative effects on our democracies, and what we can do to reverse it.
An informed electorate is a prerequisite for free and fair elections. But rather than striving for accuracy and objectivity, today’s journalists openly celebrate the death of objectivity, arguing that they have a “higher duty” to reject the conservatism, police speech, and suppress news that contradicts the liberal narrative.
Now, on the heels of his magisterial volume Against the Great Reset, editor Michael Walsh presents Against the Corporate Media, a collection of more than forty essays on the decline and fall of the American and international news media. The book’s list of distinguished contributors includes Lance Morrow, Andrew Klavan, John O’Sullivan, Elizabeth Nickson, Monica Crowley, Charlie Kirk, Glenn Reynolds, Steven F. Hayward, John Fund, Armond White, Michael Ramirez, Walsh, and others.
Readers around the world deserve to know how badly their media has been corrupted, how eagerly they have embraced the role of official propagandists, and what a threat to democracy they have become. This book marks an important strike against the corporate media, and its unholy alliance with the enemies of freedom everywhere.
Complement this list of three best journalism books for beginners with Aristotle on living a good life and Mortimer Adler who said, “All things noble are as difficult as they are rare.”
Featured image by Esther Vargas.
I’m a freelance writer with 6 years of experience in SEO blogging and article publishing. I currently run two websites: MindfulSpot.com and OurReadingLife.com. While you’re here, get the latest updates by subscribing to my newsletter.
