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Dynamics of Media Editing
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Dynamics of Media Editing


Other Titles in:
Journalism

February 2019 | 248 pages | CQ Press

As traditional newsrooms staffed by journalists and managed by experienced editors become less and less common, there is an even greater need for all types of professional writers to be fluent in the editorial process. Dynamics of Media Editing emphasizes the broad value of editing as both a tool for journalistic management and an essential skill for individual writers of all stripes. Author Vince F. Filak recognizes editing as an essential process for improving the quality of published writing, something that is relevant and essential to investigative journalists, social media interns, celebrity bloggers, and everyone in between. By organizing the book around skills and by platforms, Dynamics of Media Editing shows students how the basic principles of good editing work across disciplines and media platforms.

 Key Features

  • The emphasis on transferrable skills and multiple platforms shows students how to use the basic principles of good editing for journalism, PR, advertising, or social media marketing.
  • The book takes a broad approach to editing, demonstrating that it’s not just a skill for managers at newspapers, but rather an essential process for improving all aspects of published writing. This addresses a critical course challenge, in that many students don’t see the relevance of editing in their planned careers.
  • The audience-centric method emphasizes the need to engage one’s audience in order to be a successful writer.
  • “Helpful Hints” boxes provide easy-to-consult lists of dos and don’ts for good writing.
  • “Thoughts From a Pro” boxes allow media professionals from a variety of backgrounds to demonstrate the essential function of the editing process in the workplace.

Instructors, sign in at study.sagepub.com/filakediting for test banks, additional exercises, and more!


 
Preface
 
Acknowledgments
 
About the Author
 
Chapter 1: Audience-Centric Editing
Editing for an audience

 
VIEW FROM A PRO: Brody Karmenzind

 
Media users today

 
How to define your audience

 
HELPFUL HINTS: How to Figure out Who Is in Your Audience

 
What attracts an audience?

 
The Big Three

 
 
Chapter 2: Editors as Leaders and Managers
Preparing to be an editor

 
The job of an editor

 
HELPFUL HINTS: Checklist of Important Skills

 
VIEW FROM A PRO: Penny Fisher

 
The editor as a manager

 
HELPFUL HINTS: Define Your Leadership Style

 
Coaching writers

 
The Big Three

 
 
Chapter 3: Law and Ethics
Freedom of the press and common misconceptions of it

 
Libel

 
VIEW FROM A PRO: Frank LoMonte

 
Techniques to avoid libel concerns

 
Defenses against libel

 
HELPFUL HINTS: How to Determine if Something Is Opinion

 
Communications Decency Act

 
Invasion of privacy

 
Copyright

 
Online limits to liability

 
HELPFUL HINTS: The Steps Under Ocilla

 
Creative Commons

 
Ways to Avoid Copyright Concerns

 
The Big Three

 
 
Chapter 4: Ethics
Ethics defined

 
Models of ethics

 
Audience standards and the Breakfast Test

 
Establishing rules and guidelines

 
HELPFUL HINTS: Defining Types of Information and Sources

 
Management and ethics

 
VIEW FROM A PRO: Allison Hantschel Sansone

 
Working with staff members

 
The balancing act

 
Visual ethics

 
An ethical thought process

 
The Big Three

 
 
Chapter 5: Punctuation
End Marks That Stop

 
Internal marks that pause

 
HELPFUL HINTS: Defining Key Terms

 
VIEW FROM A PRO: Brian Cleveland

 
Specialty marks that explain

 
HELPFUL HINTS: The 5-Minute AP Style Guide

 
The Big Three

 
 
Chapter 6: Improving sentences and using proper grammar
How to tighten writing

 
HELPFUL HINTS: Weak Adjectives and Adverbs

 
HELPFUL HINTS: Empty Phrases

 
Correct usage

 
VIEW FROM A PRO: Chris Drosner

 
Irregular verbs

 
Problem pronouns

 
Prepositions

 
The Big Three

 
 
Chapter 7: Editing for the bigger picture
Editing for the bigger picture

 
HELPFUL HINTS: Questions Regarding Accessibility

 
The editing process

 
Editing versus fixing

 
The first pass

 
The deeper edit

 
VIEW FROM A PRO: Reed Fischer

 
Cutting copy

 
Filling holes

 
How to criticize effectively

 
The Big Three

 
 
Chapter 8: Headlines
How headlines work

 
HELPFUL HINTS: How to Write an Audience-Centric Headline

 
HELPFUL HINTS: Basic Terms of Headlines

 
The core of a good headline

 
HELPFUL HINTS: Headlines and Style

 
Things to do before writing a headline

 
VIEW FROM A PRO: Lindsay Powers

 
Key Elements of Writing a Headline

 
HELPFUL HINTS: Mistakes That Can Lead to Bad Headlines

 
Things to do after writing a headline

 
HELPFUL HINTS: Headline Checklist

 
SEO and headlines

 
The Big Three

 
 
Chapter 9: Photography
Elements of a quality image

 
HELPFUL HINTS: Shots and Values

 
Working with photographers

 
VIEW FROM A PRO: Will Vragovic

 
Improving images as an editor

 
HELPFUL HINTS: Types of Photos

 
Caption writing

 
The Big Three

 
 
Chapter 10: Information Graphics
Basic Things a Graphic Should Do

 
HELPFUL HINTS: The Anatomy of a Good Graphic

 
The spectrum of graphics

 
VIEW FROM A PRO: Kori Rumore

 
The Big Three

 
 
Chapter 11: Publication Design
Basic principles associated with design

 
Design considerations for color and background

 
HELPFUL HINTS: Color Theory

 
Type

 
HELPFUL HINTS: Type terms

 
VIEW FROM A PRO: Kyle Ellis

 
Photos, graphics and other visuals

 
HELPFUL HINTS: Gestalt Principles

 
Creating your pages

 
 
HELPFUL HINTS: Design disasters to avoid
The Big Three

 
 
Chapter 12: Editing for News
Important editing issues related to news

 
VIEW FROM A PRO: Amy Fiscus

 
Story assignments

 
HELPFUL HINTS: Beat Reporting

 
Content consideration

 
Hyperlinking

 
HELPFUL HINTS: Thinking about Linking

 
Basic rules for linking

 
The Big Three

 
 
Chapter 13: Social media
Social media defined

 
Why Is Social Media Valuable?

 
Building a social media audience

 
HELPFUL HINTS: Tips for Tweeting

 
Social networking sites

 
Social news sites

 
VIEW FROM A PRO: Kelli Bloomquist

 
Web comments

 
Disadvantages of social media

 
The Big Three

 
 
Chapter 14: Editing for Public Relations
What Is PR?

 
Microediting in PR

 
VIEW FROM A PRO: Elizabeth Connor

 
Editing to accentuate the key elements of persuasive writing

 
HELPFUL HINTS: Key Elements to Include for News Releases

 
Advocacy

 
The Big Three

 
 
Chapter 15: Editing and marketing
Marketing basics

 
Editing for copy writing

 
Marketing your own organization digitally

 
HELPFUL HINTS: A Look at Analytics

 
VIEW FROM A PRO: Eve Peyton

 
Search engine optimization

 
How to optimize your site

 
Social media marketing

 
The Big Three

 
 
Glossary
 
Notes
 
Index

Supplements

Instructor Teaching Site
  • Test bank provide a diverse range of pre-written options as well as the opportunity to edit any question and/or insert your own personalized questions to effectively assess students’ progress and understanding
  • Chapter-specific PowerPoint® slides offer assistance with lecture and review preparation by highlighting essential content, features, and artwork from the book.
  • AP Style Exercises test your students' knowledge of AP style and provide opportunities for them to practice writing in this style.
  • Editing Assignments enable students to broaden their reporting skills and practice writing.

Nicely organized with a wide variety of examples of news editing rather than just relying on basic mechanics of editing.

Professor Elizabeth Haller
Languages, Literature, and Communication Studies, Northern State University
August 10, 2020

The text was very comprehensive for the students and it provided terrific examples.

Professor Byron Keys
Mass Communications Dept, Mississippi Valley State Univ
July 22, 2020

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