Aim for the Heart

Book Description
Al Tompkins is Broadcast and Online Group Leader for the prestigious Poynter Institute for Media Studies. In Aim for the Heart, he shares the secrets of great storytellers and writers, and helps professional broadcast journalists write clearer, stronger stories. Aim for the Heart offers practical, specific advice on how to: • Find a laser-beam story focus • Decide whom to interview • Select the most memorable soundbites • Write tighter copy • Find the story lead and open • Create memorable characters Aim for the Heart gives reporters, producers and writers page after page of practical advice on how to avoid clichés, passive verbs and "news jargon" that viewers hate. This book goes beyond the story to help reporters and producers find their leadership voices. Tompkins shows journalists how to deal with difficult people in the newsroom, and how to coach others to higher performance, rather than fixing the same frustrating mistakes over and over. Tompkins is the co-author of the Radio and Television News Directors Foundation ethics workbook. In Aim for the Heart, he includes advice for how to make tough ethics calls on deadline. He helps journalists: • Think through when it is appropriate to "go live" with a story • Draft guidelines on when and how to identify juveniles • Decide when and how to use confidential sources • Cover difficult stories thoughtfully and aggressively


About the Author
Al Tompkins is one of America's most honored local broadcast journalists. He is the recipient of the National Emmy, five National Headliner Awards, the Japan Prize, two Iris Awards, the Robert F. Kennedy Award, the National Bar Association Silver Gavel and The Clarion Award. The National Press Photographers Association awarded him the Jack Lemon award in 2001 for outstanding service to photojournalism. In his 25 years of working in local broadcast news he has been a photojournalist, reporter, producer, investigative reporter, director of special projects and investigations, assistant news director and news director.


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The goal of this book is to help professional broadcast reporters, producers, and photojournalists tell stronger stories. It can serve as a guide for news managers whose job it is to train, coach, and inspire others. Veteran journalist Al Tompkins is Broadcast and Online Group Leader for the prestigious Poynter Institute for Media Studies.


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