BOOK REVIEWS
Getting the most out of
online journalism
Journalism
Online By Mike Ward Focal Press, 214 pp., $65.95
Review by
Julian Sher
Mike Ward, a former
BBC journalist, is a lecturer in journalism at the University
of Central Lancashire in the UK. He helped build the university’s
pioneering MA in Online Journalism. His experience shows in this
short, but handy book.
Ward argues that online
journalism is a “distinctive medium because it is user-driven
and multi-faceted.” But he also insists “core journalistic principles
and processes should inform all stages” of Web journalism — a
valid point too often ignored by some of the shabbier news Web
sites.
He notes pointedly
— in these days of dot bombs and AOL anxieties — that doing journalism
well requires resources, not cutbacks.
Many professional
journalists will find this book too basic. Several of the chapters
on core journalism and online research and reporting are aimed
more at students or beginner journalists. Teachers of journalism
should definitely consider using this book as a guide. For
more advanced journalists, even the basic chapters provide good
background and context — for example, a bibliography of journalism
guidelines and principles.
Ward also provides
a useful guide to mailing lists, newsgroups and other Web resources.
(A conflict-of-interest disclosure here: Ward kindly calls my
site a “goldmine of Web resources” — but, hey,who am I to disagree?)
But all journalists will benefit from Ward’s look at online story
construction.
Too often those of
us who have to rewrite newspaper stories for a Web site simply
dump over the original, dead-tree version. Ward talks instead
about leveraging the strength of the medium — especially linking
immediacy and interactivity. He explores techniques such as “chunking”your
story — making it not only easier to read, but creating various
entry points — and increasing your page views while you’re at
it.
There is also a quick
guide to HTML and Web-page design. As an added feature, you can
download parts of the book and check for updates at Ward’s Web
site at www.journalismonline.co.uk.
If you’re required
to feed your company’s Web site on a regular basis and not just
its news pages or airwaves, or if you are working full-time on
Web news sites — or hoping to start a new online career — use
this book as your basic bible.
Julian Sher, the
creator and web master of Journalism Net (www.journalismnet.com),
does Internet training in newsrooms around the world. He can be
reached by email at jsher@journalismnet.com.
This article and many other columns from Media magazine are available
onlinewith hot links on the JournalismNet Tips page at www.journalismnet.com/tips
Forcing more
government accountability.
The Complete
Annotated Guide to Federal Access to Information 2002 By Colonel
Michel W. Drapeau and Marc-Aurèle Racicot Carswell, 815 pp., $82.00
Review by Julian
Sher
John Grace calls this
book “an essential guide through a statute of deceptive complexity.”
He should know. As Canada’s first P r i v a c y Commissioner and
then as the country’s Access to Information Commissioner for eight
years, Grace was often a fierce critic of the n e e d l e s s
complexity and deception people face when they try to get basic
information from government.
In his foreword to
this massive and detailed guide to our access laws, Grace notes
that there are more than 20,000 formal access requests every year.
Unfortunately, most of those are not filed by journalists. Consequently,
many reporters, especially those working on daily deadlines, are
intimidated by the lengthy legal hassles involved in filing an
access request.
This book won’t diminish
their fears. It is not a beginner’s guide; there is no hand-holding
here. It is aimed mainly at lawyers and “access professionals”—
that growing body of people who work full-time with the law. Only
60 of the 800 pages in this book provide concrete help and guidelines.
The book is divided
into three sections. Part
One details the legislative history of access laws — interesting,
but not something most journalists will want to take notes about.
Part Two looks at each
section of the law and case summaries of various decisions and
rulings. Here you can find a detailed explanation of what every
paragraph in the law means. It is a vital tool to understanding
what your rights are. There are also case precedents for fighting
various exemptions the government often uses for withholding information.
Part Three deals with
“Doctrine, Procedure and Practice.”Here you’ll find sample written
requests and complaint guides. Of particular use is an exhaustive
list of phone numbers and Internet addresses for key access personnel
throughout the government.
Colonel Michel Drapeau
is well-known to many journalists. He fought the department of
national defense for many years by using the access law and became
a familiar face on TV as a media analyst and columnist.
Marc-Aurèle Racicot
is currently a lawyer with the Office of the Information Commissioner.
This book is not bedtime reading. But no newsroom in Canada should
be without it. It’s the job of journalists to pry open doors many
would prefer stay shut — and this book will give you some of the
keys.
Perpetuating
the myth
King Ralph:
The Political Life and Success of Ralph Klein; By Don Martin;
Key Porter Books, Toronto, 256 pp.; $29.95.
Review by Jim
Cunningham
First, a little disclosure:
Don Martin crossed my picket line.
In November, 1999,
I was one of the 117 journalists locked out of the Calgary Herald
newsroom after we formed a union and tried to negotiate a first
contract. Martin, the author of King Ralph, the new biography
of Alberta Premier Ralph Klein, never signed a union card. But
for the first few weeks of what became a legal strike, he also
stayed away. He soon tired of solidarity, however, and returned
to work, proclaiming his change of heart in a front-page column,
which suggested he had gone back because of his family.
This little digression
is offered in case anyone should wonder about my personal perspective
in reviewing Martin’s first book. In fact, I give King Ralph a
qualified thumbs up. The book is good, lightweight fun.It’s a
true insider’s biography, which, if not authorized, sure as heck
has been blessed by its subject.
It only got written
because the author agreed to turn over half his royalty cheque
to a charity of the Klein family’s choice.
And the quibbles? Martin’s
regular references to himself (the book is written in the first
person) begin to look self serving after a while. We learn, for
example, that the author has taken a pee in the premier’s home
washroom, has golfed with him, dined with him, talked politics
with him and then-Ontario Premier Mike Harris, and quaffed more
than a few pints with Klein. One or two such references might
help establish the reporter’s credibility,but the repeated references
are really too much.
A more serious problem
is the whole Legends of Ralph premise of the book. There’s nothing
wrong, of course, with writing from an insider’s point of view.
Good biographies are often produced by those who know their subjects
well. Nor is there any rule that states journalists cannot be
insiders. After all,getting close enough to a source to learn
his secrets is one of the goals of the profession. Rather, the
problem is balance. While much can be learned from a good close-up,
there’s also a time to pull back the viewfinder and look at the
subject’s surroundings.
Getting a look at the
great man’s relationship with, and impact upon, his community
can reveal things that aren’t obvious at close range. This is
especially true of politicians. People in public life constantly
interact with others. The decisions they make have consequences
great and small, positive and negative. Trying
to understand a public person without actually investigating that
person’s impact first-hand is like attempting to explain the cosmos
without looking at the night sky.
While King Ralph is
an interesting portrait of an intriguing individual, it’s only
half the story and the familiar part to boot. At no time does
the author allow our gaze to stray from the rumpled profile of
Klein himself. After 150 pages or so, the reader can’t help but
wonder whether there’s anybody else out there. Some other voices,
besides those of Klein, Rod Love and their pals, would really
help.
Since he entered public
life in 1980, Klein’s greatest gift has been to make a story of
his own life and tell it in such a way that neither the media
nor the public could resist tuning in. While Klein deserves high
marks for both his honesty and skill in manufacturing his own
myth, it’s well past time the media moved beyond this now-familiar
tale and began allowing other voices with stories to tell about
this era to be heard.
Ralph may not like
yielding the spotlight, but until he does, we won’t really know
what his premiership has meant, for good or ill. One more Since
he entered public life in 1980, Klein’s greatest gift has been
to make a story of his own life and tell it in such a way that
neither the media, nor the public, could resist tuning in.
Jim Cunningham
covered Alberta politics for The Calgary Herald
and now teaches journalism.
