Computer-assisted Reporting

Book excerpt: Reporters in the newsroom are becoming more involved in computer-assisted reporting and online news research than ever before. This edition introduces readers to computer-assisted reporting and to describe how leading journalists are using personal computers for news gathering in modern print, broadcast, and online newsrooms. It provides a thorough discussion of technology and its applications to news reporting. Computer Assisted Reporting focuses on the computerization of newsgathering, highlighting the fact that the computer assists journalists by making writing easier, and also makes gathering and organizing information more efficient. As it begins, the book demonstrates methods for journalists to get more from their computers, such as data retrieval, data analysis, information storage, and dissemination of that information in both processed and unprocessed forms. It concludes with a refined proposal, originally proposed in the first edition, for five stages for development of computer literacy in the newsroom.