The Associated Press Guide to News Writing [Paperback]

Rene J. Cappon (Author), Associated Press (Corporate Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 1991

This practical handbook is the ideal writing style guide for all reporters. writers, editors, and English and journalism students. It covers all the essentials of good writing--with lively examples from today's newspapers--and includes: what makes a good story; how to write a good feature story; how to cite sources; and more.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

This official guide, The Associated Press Guide to Newswriting, is recognized as the standard professional resource for both novice and experienced news writers. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

About the Author

Rene J. Cappon is the General News Editor of the Associated Press, the oldest and largest news orgnanization in the world, serving as a source of news, photos, graphics, audio and video for more than one billion people a day. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Arco Pub; 2nd edition (July 1991)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0130536792
• ISBN-13: 978-0130536792
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 5.8 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (25 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #262,768 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

27 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Not just for Journalists, November 23, 2002

By 

Anthony M. Frasca (East Setauket, NY USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Associated Press Guide to Newswriting (Study Aids/On-the-Job Reference) (Paperback)

This book is a must reference for journalists. It is small enough to be read and re-read many times. Every journalist should be forced to read this book, and be quizzed on it, every six months. It would save the rest of us from having to read the awful writing in the manistream press. Even a non-journalist would enjoy this book. It will give you some insight into how news stories are written. Also, if you catch a journalist breaking these simple "how to" rules, you can move on to another more well written story.
Personally, I would rather read a well written story about a topic in which I have no interest, than a poorly written story about something for which I am passionate.

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Concise, readable, and informative, December 7, 2001

By 

CT (Texas) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Associated Press Guide to Newswriting (Study Aids/On-the-Job Reference) (Paperback)

I wish I had had this book when I started writing.

Now that I copy edit, I've made our editor-in-chief buy it for all of the writers.

In a completely readable way, it demonstrates how to write clean, effective copy.

If you're vaguely dissastisfied with your writing, or if have any desire to write for publication, then get this book. It will improve your writing at least 100 per cent.

31 of 34 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars How to avoid an attack of The Elongated Yellow Fruit, May 26, 2004

By 

Celia Redmore "Celia Redmore" - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Associated Press Guide to News Writing (Paperback)

"The Associated Press Guide to News Writing" makes more points in 136 pages than do most writing books four times the size. One would expect no less from a master news editor like Rene Chappon. The formula Cappon follows is to write a very brief explanation of a problem; an example of the problem; a sentence dissecting the example; a rewriting of the problem sentence; and a summary of the topic. The result is almost always memorable. Consider this typical section on The Elegant Variation (capitalized words below are italicized in the original):

***
Writers who believe that the repetition of plain words within shouting distance of each other is crude take off on synonym safaris.... It's all the more grotesque as there are few true synonyms and the author may introduce misfits:

"The mayor's task force was asked to meet with the owners of the STRUCTURES, discuss whether they wanted their BUILDINGS preserved, and recommend ways to adapt older EDIFICES to new use."

STRUCTURES could be anything and EDIFICES is too grandiose; the story concerns commercial and apartment buildings. If the author didn't want to repeat BUILDINGS, a pronoun was the way out:

"...to meet with the owners of the buildings, discuss whether they wanted THEM preserved, and recommend ways to adapt the older ones to new uses."

The same craving for daintiness will convert elephants to PACHYDERMS, dogs to CANINES, cats to FELINES, tigers to STRIPED PREDATORS and cars to VEHICLES. Petroleum becomes BLACK GOLD, snow becomes WHITE POWDER (a justly forgotten poet once called it "God's dandruff"), a banana turns into THE ELONGATED YELLOW FRUIT.
***

The benefit of this style is that Cappon's admonitions pop up unasked whenever we commit one of the sins he identifies. I find that "elongated yellow fruit" frequently superimposes itself on my more tortured prose.