BOOK REVIEW - newsgathering and writing

A critical review of Newsgathering and writing: An Introductory Text by Omoruyi Gentle and Ogunboyowa Adebola, first edition, published 2013 by Jes Printers and Publications Ltd, Edo, Nigeria, with the International Standard Book Number (ISBN): 978-27124-6-2.

Introduction

The authors, Late Omoruyi Gentle and Ogunboyowa Adebola were both journalists and lecturers in Auchi Polytechnic, Edo State, Nigeria, before the former died February 2017 a year after becoming the Dean of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and five years after this publication.  Omoruyi was appointed by Auchi Polytechnic as a lecturer in 1998 in the department of mass communication where he became the Head of Department before been appointed Dean of ICT in 2016. Ogunboyowa Adebola studied Communication and Language Arts in her hometown, University of Ibadan, Nigeria and she is the only surviving author of Newsgathering and Writing.

The book is an introductory text for students of mass communication and people who would love to learn and writing as communication artist. The book is written in simple, clear and readable English Language

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Content

The book is written in 12 chapters of 136 pages with its contents ranging from varieties of topics in journalism or mass communication. Chapter one explained who journalists are, where they work and why their work is important. According to the author, a journalist is someone who practices the craft of journalism, that is to say, who collects, selects, presents or supervises news and feature for publication in a newspaper... Journalists collect and process large quantities of information and present it in ways that are understandable and interesting to readers. Journalists communicate information to members of the public and take the views, concerns of the public to those in power.
Chapter two, the book introduced readers to what news is all about, know what is news and how news can be gathered. According to the authors, “...news is what my editor says it is”.
That is, the news is what editors accept and publish in a newspaper. In general, a news story does not have a globally accepted definition as some scholars defined it as a current event while others defined it as what is bad.  

Chapter three take the readers on the newspaper world, the source of income and roles of journalists. It tells much about the different section inside the newspaper we read every day. How each section is share and used for different kinds of news stories. Not many details and explanation is giving to source income of newspaper establishment. Although the authors agree that much revenue is derived from advertisement rather than selling (circulation) copies of the newspaper, no much emphasis is giving on how they get this ad or how ads get into the pages of a newspaper. 

The organisational structure of a newspaper establishment is present in chapter four. 

Chapter five give insight into news structure and the primary elements of a news story (who, what, when, where, why and how) called 5Ws and H. 

Chapter six of the book explained the first paragraph of a news story, what journalists know as news lead. 

Chapter seven take on the question of ethics as the main title. It tells readers and journalists how to write news stories fairly without damaging someone reputation or image and why there are needs for balance, objective and fairness in news reporting. Moreover, the authors do well in presenting hindrances to effective newsgathering and writing. The author's lists and explained reasons why reporters or journalists may not cover or report news stories the way members of the public expected them to do or the way it should be reported.

Chapter eight and nine throws light on a press release and obituaries respectively.

Chapter ten discusses the various ways a journalist interview a source to get information or news. Chapter ten, also, discusses difference kind of interviews in the newsgathering process. 

Chapter eleven, focus on specialised reporting. Specialised reporting can be; court reporting, reporting meeting, reporting politics and government/election and sports reporting. 

The last chapter takes readers attention to the writing style of media houses. Although the reporting process is the same, the writing style of media houses differs. The stylebook of media speaks different writing style to their reporters and editor. The authors explained the different ways media house report on radio, television and newspaper in terms of using quotations, names and titles, abbreviations and punctuations.

Evaluation and Conclusion 

Despite writing the textbook in simple, clear and readable language, in some part of this book, errors, which I believe is from the publisher or typewriter, may make readers feel bored, as you may not understand the author's ideas at some point.

Repetition of phrases or word, to me, is proofing fact that professional editor and proofreader did not edit the book.

Despite the few challenges discussed, the binding, trimming, white spaces, fonts type, font size and the back cover used of the book and the book is portable,  it is well recommendable for readers of any level. 

I believed, in the next edition, the surviving author will take care of the few challenges in the book by producing quality and error-free textbook. 

I recommend the book for beginner’s students of journalism or mass communication and the public who may have passion and interest in mass communication writing.