The cmplete reporter.docVIP

PART ONE Reporting Today “The day of the printed word is far from ended.” “印刷的好日子远未结束。” That statement is as true today as it was when made by Erwin Canbam, long-time editor of the Christian Science Monitor, several decades ago during a period when the demise of the American newspapers was being predicted y countless futurists then enamored with television. Erwin Canbam曾经说的这句话在今天仍然有效， In fact, there may be even more printed words around today than ever before. Many people just may be reading or seeing them in new and different sources such as Web pages on the Internet and electronic mail. The explosion in the exlectronic delivery of news and information has brought dramatic changes to the newsroom just as it has to society, which in turn has presented journalists with a greater challenge than any they have faced in the past. The long-held belief that newspapers editors and reporters were writing and editing for a “typical” reader is no longer valid. Today, they try to reach a vastly segmented and rapidly changing, audience that has a wide choice of alternative sources of news, information and entertainment. Among the many changes that challenge editors and reporters to produce newspapers that are relevant to the needs and demands of the readers are the continuing change in the role of women in the workforce and as a consumer group; persons older than 65 in the general population; the mobility of the American family; and the public’s general mistrust of the news media. Those and many other changes in society mean that reporters today must have a far broader perspective than ever before. No longer can a reporter simply tell the reader, “Here’s what happened.” Readers want to know, “What does this mean to me?” and “What, if anything, can I do about it?” They want news they can use. An excellent example of that kind of news is the “Ms.Cheap” column created by veteran reporter Mary Hance for the Nashville Banner and continued in the Tennessean in Nashville after the Bann