Journalism of Ideas

Journalism of Ideas

by Daniel Reimold
Released June 2013
Publisher(s): Routledge
ISBN: 9781136206283

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Book description

Journalism of Ideas is a comprehensive field guide for brainstorming, discovering, reporting, digitizing, and pitching news, opinion, and feature stories within journalism 2.0. With on-the-job advice from professional journalists, activities to sharpen your multimedia reporting skills, and dozens of story ideas ripe for adaptation, Dan Reimold helps you develop the journalistic know-how that will set you apart at your campus media outlet and beyond.


The exercises, observations, anecdotes, and tips in this book cover every stage of the story planning and development process, including how news judgment, multimedia engagement, records and archival searches, and various observational techniques can take your reporting to the next level. Separate advice focuses on the storytelling methods involved in data journalism, photojournalism, crime reporting, investigative journalism, and commentary writing. In addition to these tricks of the trade, Journalism of Ideas features an extensive set of newsworthy, timely, and unorthodox story ideas to jumpstart your creativity. The conversation continues on the author’s blog, College Media Matters.


Reimold also shows students how to successfully launch a career in journalism: the ins and outs of pitching stories, getting your work published, and navigating the post-graduation job search. Related sections of the book highlight the art of freelancing 2.0, starting an independent site, blogging, constructing quality online portfolios, securing internships, and building a social media following.

Table of contents

  1. Cover
  2. Half Title
  3. Title Page
  4. Copyright Page
  5. Dedication
  6. Table of Contents
  7. Acknowledgements
  8. Chapter 1 The Idea Stage
    1. WOW Stories
    2. Published Gold
    3. Journalism of Ideas, Online
    4. A Thumping Pulse
    5. A Standout Story Idea
  9. Chapter 2 A Journalism Life
    1. Curiosity is King
    2. Assignment Alert: The Wallet Exercise
    3. Three Notes
    4. Ideas, Online: College Problems
    5. The Stuff of Life
    6. Assignment Alert: A Dirt-Level Report
    7. Assignment Alert: The Reporter and the Record Egg
  10. Chapter 3 People Stories
    1. People Often Profiled
    2. Assignment Alert: The Graveyard in the Garden
    3. Stereotyped Sources
    4. Assignment Alert: A Trip to the Corner
    5. Ideas, Online: The Gavin Project
    6. The Little Guys
    7. Assignment Alert: Quiet Campus Heroes
    8. Ideas, Online: Crowdsourcing
    9. Assignment Alert: Overheard on Campus
  11. Chapter 4 Fresh Perspectives
    1. Three Perspectives to Seek Out
    2. Assignment Alert: The Groundhog Day Story
    3. The Opposite Attraction
    4. Assignment Alert: The Game of Opposites
    5. The Inanimate Perspective
    6. Assignment Alert: The Story Ideas Sack
    7. Phantom Story Syndrome
    8. Assignment Alert: Same Old Stories
    9. An Exchange of Ideas: A Matter of Opinion
    10. Assignment Alert: One Word Focus
    11. Ideas, Online: One Word
  12. Chapter 5 Words, Letters, and Lots of Ideas
    1. Some Word Stories
    2. Assignment Alert: Brainstorm Something
    3. Post-Mortem: WKU, A to Z
    4. Ideas, Online: Wordy Web Checks
    5. Read Everything
    6. Assignment Alert: Cover to Cover
    7. An Exchange of Ideas: From One Word to 1,500 Words
    8. Ideas, Online: Six-Word Memoirs
  13. Chapter 6 Timely Ideas
    1. Times Worth Featuring
    2. The Power of Old
    3. Assignment Alert: Time for a Follow-Up
    4. Special Days
    5. Assignment Alert: A Special Edition
    6. Assignment Alert: Harness the Strangeness
    7. The Long News
    8. Assignment Alert: The Next Millennium News Game
    9. Ideas, Online: Real-Time Reporting
  14. Chapter 7 Trendy Ideas
    1. Common Trend Stories
    2. Spring Cleaning
    3. Assignment Alert: Reexamine, Reinvent, or Scrap
    4. Trendspotting Fever
    5. Assignment Alert: Cure the Fever
    6. Ideas, Online: The Spirit of the Times
  15. Chapter 8 Criminal Ideas
    1. An Exchange of Ideas: Paper, People, Victims, Context
    2. Everyday Crimes
    3. Assignment Alert: Everyday Crime Report
    4. Ideas, Online: Interactive Campus Crime
    5. Post-Mortem: Move the Story Forward
    6. Criminal Elements
    7. Assignment Alert: Nearby, Offenders
    8. Post-Mortem: The Tweetalong
  16. Chapter 9 Location, Location, Location
    1. Some Featured Places
    2. Assignment Alert: The Dartboard of Observation
    3. Over & Back
    4. Assignment Alert: The International Exchange
    5. Questionable Places
    6. Ideas, Online: Worlds Without People
    7. Mapping
  17. Chapter 10 The Local Angle
    1. To Fit Your Readership
    2. Assignment Alert: Localize This
    3. Post-Mortem: The Tucson Shooting
    4. Peer-to-Peer Story Sharing
    5. Assignment Alert: Student Press Visits
    6. Ideas, Online: Daily College Checks
  18. Chapter 11 Building a Beat
    1. Most Common Beats
    2. Breaking Down a Beat
    3. Assignment Alert: The Beat Blueprint
    4. The Micro-Beat
    5. Assignment Alert: Pick a Beat, Any Beat
    6. Post-Mortem: The Homicide Beat
    7. Babysitting a Piece of Glass
    8. Assignment Alert: Find Common Ground
    9. Assignment Alert: Colorful, Happy Memories
  19. Chapter 12 Records Reporting
    1. An Exchange of Ideas: A Reporter's Main Course
    2. Ideas, Online: The April 16th Documents
    3. Assignment Alert: Performer Contracts
  20. Chapter 13 Data Journalism
    1. An Exchange of Ideas: Numbers are the Story
    2. Ideas, Online: Data Visualization
    3. An Exchange of Ideas: The Relational Element
    4. Assignment Alert: Start with the Census
  21. Chapter 14 Photojournalism Ideas
    1. Where the Elephants are
    2. Assignment Alert: Capture the Change
    3. Look Look Look
    4. Assignment Alert: The Eye Test
    5. Ideas, Online: Lomography
    6. The Subject Stories
    7. Assignment Alert: The Verb Test
    8. Ideas, Online: Dear Photograph
    9. Don't Be Afraid of the Dark
    10. Assignment Alert: The Vampire Photographer
    11. Assignment Alert: Dare to Suck
    12. Ideas, Online: Photo Slideshows
  22. Chapter 15 An Immersion of Ideas
    1. Types of Immersion
    2. Stunt Work Prompts
    3. An Exchange of Ideas: A Change of Routine
    4. Post-Mortem: The Video Game Challenge
    5. Ethics Alert: The Bicycle Theft
    6. Ideas, Online: The Snowball Fight
  23. Chapter 16 Idea Lists
    1. Top 10 List of Lists
    2. Assignment Alert: Campus Bucket List
    3. Ideas, Online: Lists as Inspiration
    4. The Facebook Timeline
    5. Assignment Alert: Shuteye Stories
  24. Chapter 17 Digital and Mobile Story Mining
    1. Taming the Wild Web
    2. Ideas, Online: 10 Sites Bursting with Ideas
    3. Go Mobile
    4. Story Planning 2.0
    5. Ideas, Online: In Package Form
  25. Chapter 18 Journalism Hackathon
    1. Prep Work
    2. OK, Let's Hack
    3. Some Other Suggestions
    4. Assignment Alert: 100 Ideas in 15 Minutes
    5. Three Stages of Story Development
  26. Chapter 19 Field Notes
    1. “The Magic of Being a Mascot”
    2. A Pure Garbage Report
    3. Crazy Campus Traditions
    4. Pepsi, Coke, Cash
    5. Two Ideas in One: Eating Too Healthy, Exercising Too Much
    6. Staff Salary Database
    7. Anonymous Confessions
    8. Student Debt Tales
    9. Post-Mortem: “Tragedy in Transition”
    10. “The Cost of Convenience”
    11. Thrifting
    12. Student Suicide
    13. Walking Backward, Showing Off
    14. Handicapped Spot Check
    15. The “Academic Steroid”
    16. “Can You Dub It?”
    17. Rat Rod Culture
    18. Academic Hyperinflation
    19. “Concussions and Repercussions”
    20. Human Sexuality, Under Debate
    21. Never Have I Ever …
    22. Essay Ban
    23. Two Ideas in One: Animals, Alive and Stuffed
    24. Costs of Campus 911
    25. “The Anticipation, Not the Nudity”
    26. Two Ideas in One: Internet Famous
    27. “Is it Vandalism or is it Art?”
    28. Recreation Sports Fees
    29. Meal Plan Waste
    30. Two Ideas in One: Gender Matters
    31. Traumarama
    32. Student Shooters
    33. Off-Campus Housing
    34. Students with Disabilities
    35. Two Ideas in One: Book Nooks and Rare Finds
    36. Pay-For Internships
    37. Male Capper
    38. Rise of the Speedy Senior
    39. Bringing the Sidelines to Life
    40. Sexual Activism
    41. Two Ideas in One: An Alcohol Education
    42. The Pledge Process
    43. Bed Bug Bites
    44. Calling Foul
    45. Married Students
    46. Extinguisher Exploration
    47. Addiction, on the Run
    48. Two Ideas in One: “A Simple Prick, Slash, or Burn”
    49. A “Balance Sport Revolution”
    50. Early Classes, Higher Grades
    51. Two Ideas in One: Weight of a (Fresh) Man
    52. Fighting Worldsuck
    53. Two Ideas in One: Bike Shares, Long Boards
    54. Sleep Texting
    55. “The Experience of Homesickness”
    56. “The Whole Premise of Annual Giving”
    57. The Fight for Two-Ply
    58. Sugar Babies
    59. Two Ideas in One: Common Readings and Campus Portraits
    60. YOLO
    61. Two Ideas in One: The Snitch is Loose, Harry is Lost
    62. Unusual Courses, Majors
    63. Revolution, While Abroad
    64. Two Ideas in One: Helicopters and Boomerangs
    65. Edible Dumpster Diving
    66. The Shoe Licker
  27. Chapter 20 The Sales Pitch
    1. The Art of the Pitch
    2. Assignment Alert: The 10-Second Pitch
    3. Freelance, Freelance, Freelance
    4. Your Personal Freelance Vehicle
    5. Networking
    6. An Exchange of Ideas: Land a Job and Impress People
    7. How to Un-Impress People
  28. Conclusion Rebellious Reporter Child
  29. Bibliography
  30. Index

Product information

  • Title: Journalism of Ideas
  • Author(s): Daniel Reimold
  • Release date: June 2013
  • Publisher(s): Routledge
  • ISBN: 9781136206283