Broadcast News Handbook: Writing, Reporting, and Producing in the Age of Social Media

Broadcast News Handbook: Writing, Reporting, and Producing in the Age of Social Media enables students and professionals to become better writers and better journalists. Backed by 50 years of combined broadcast journalism experience, the authors provide helpful discussions and expert knowledge on crafting language, packaging stories, and overcoming the fundamental challenges of being a young broadcast journalist in the digital era. A new focus on social media brings students full force into the world of cutting-edge reporting.

Forrest Carr observed his 20th year in the news business in January 2000. He joined KGUN9-TV, the ABC affiliate in Tucson, Arizona, as news director in September of 1997. During his tenure KGUN9 has made waves locally and nationally with its innovations in viewer service and community-responsive journalism. KGUN9 solicited viewer input for a statement of principles, the only television station in the United States ever to have done that, and it appointed one of only three viewer ombudsmen in the country. Carr began his career as a radio reporter but quickly switched to television, serving at various times as a copy writer, reporter, newscast producer, managing editor, and assistant news director in the Memphis, San Antonio and Tampa markets before going to Tucson as news director. Carr has contributed to numerous scholarly and trade publications, and has won or shared credit in four dozen professional awards, including a regional Emmy for investigative reporting. He is a graduate of the University of Memphis.

Dr. Suzanne Huffman is Associate Professor of Journalism and Broadcast Journalism Sequence Head At Texas Christian University in Fort Worth, Texas. Her B.A. is from Texas Christian University. She earned her M.A. at the University of Iowa, and her Ph.D. at the University of Missouri-Columbia. Huffman has reported, anchored, and produced news at commercial television stations in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Santa Maria, California, and Tampa, Florida. She taught at three other universities before joining the TCU faculty, and her former students occupy newsroom positions at stations throughout the South and Southwest. Her research centers on the practice of broadcast journalism. It includes television station and newsroom workplace issues, such as the current proliferation of live reporting, the use of mission statements, coverage of women's sports, the history of broadcast journalism in Texas, and broadcast news writing practices and style. Her research has been presented at both regional and national symposia and has been published in numerous scholarly journals.

Dr. C. A. Tuggle began teaching on the university level in 1994 after a 16-year broadcasting career in local television news and media relations. He spent the majority of his career at WFLA-TV, the NBC affiliate in Tampa. He has held numerous newsroom positions, but spent the bulk of his career reporting and producing. He covered both news and sports, including six Super Bowls. Tuggle earned his undergraduate and masters degrees from the University of Florida in Gainesville, and his Ph.D. at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa. He is currently teaching electronic communication at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. His research has appeared in nearly a dozen scholarly journals and trade publications, and centers on television news practices and procedures. He regularly conducts writing workshops for local stations, professional and academic groups, and high school journalists. He has overseen student newscasts at three universities and helped develop more than 50 interns during his professional career.