Self-Taught Journalist Looking for Resources

April 27, 2013 7:09 AM

I'm about 5 years into a steady freelance career of journalism. I'm self-taught, with on-the-job training. I'm looking for books, textbooks, professional associations, articles, or even great examples of journalism. Especially interested in: investigative reporting, breaking news stories, following leads, interviewing people. I've done all this on the job, but I want to know how it has been done by experts. Not looking for the career side of it (pitching, dealing with editors.) I cannot (and do not want to) go back to school. I already have a master's degree in a subject area that has become my beat. I have access to a bunch of databases and the New Yorker archives.

thanks!

posted by Jason and Laszlo to Education (10 answers total)

I would recommend just checking out the Pulitzer Prize winner for the areas you're wanting to better yourself in for any given year and reading the stuff that won the prize.
posted by Fukiyama at 7:23 AM on April 27, 2013

Investigative Reporters and Editors is a group you ought to get to know.
posted by sacre_bleu at 7:53 AM on April 27, 2013 [2 favorites]

Writing for Story - Jon Franklin

The Art and Craft of Feature Writing - William Blundell
posted by timsteil at 8:00 AM on April 27, 2013

Hey! Journalist here as well. Not sure if you're looking for online resources as well, but P2PU - https://p2pu.org/ and Poynter's - http://www.newsu.org/ are good resources. I'd also check out Best Colleges Online's "The 50 Best Books for Journalism Students," slightly outdated to a journalist since it was compiled maybe 2-3 years ago, but still helpful, and found at http://www.bestcollegesonline.com/blog/2011/11/01/the-50-best-books-for-journalism-students/.
posted by lilacp at 8:06 AM on April 27, 2013

Longform features some pretty good journalism (of the, um, long-form variety) on a variety of topics, from a variety of publications.
posted by Rykey at 9:03 AM on April 27, 2013

Read The New New Journalism. It's all different writers talking about their respective processes. Do you use a notebook? Do you use tape recorders? When do you write? How do you edit? It's fascinating.
posted by Charity Garfein at 11:05 AM on April 27, 2013

NewsU has a bunch of free courses.

Tim Harrower covers everything in a very visual layout. His Inside Reporting text has lots of good example stories, often annotated why something was done a particular way. A lot of quotes and tips from professional journalists as well. (The past editions can be found for cheap)
posted by starman at 11:08 AM on April 27, 2013

Seconding Sacre_bleu : join the NICAR listserv
http://www.ire.org/resource-center/listservs/subscribe-nicar-l/
posted by PickeringPete at 11:15 AM on April 27, 2013 [1 favorite]

In addition to NICAR, check out the Guardian's resources/books.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/guardian-masterclasses/investigative-journalism-paul-lewis-heather-brooke
posted by PickeringPete at 11:18 AM on April 27, 2013

Chalmers Roberts, the late great diplomatic correspondent for the Washington Post, wrote a very dry autobiography in the late 1970s that I read in college which had one redeeming value... how he did his research.

Mr. Roberts would get library cards to all of the university libraries in Washington, DC. This allowed him access to not only books but also graduate students, capitol hill interns, and staffers who would otherwise not talk to journalists. They became his contacts and helped him land some very big stories (see Pentagon Papers).
posted by parmanparman at 5:46 PM on April 27, 2013 [1 favorite]