View all newsletters
Sign up for our free email newsletters

Fighting for quality news media in the digital age.

  1. Archive content
June 16, 2005updated 22 Nov 2022 3:44pm

Book offers inside track on being ‘great journalist’

By Press Gazette

“There
are jobs that are guaranteed to make you admired… There are jobs that
are lucrative… There are jobs that are treated with respect… And
then there’s journalism.”

This is the forthright introduction to
Telegraph editorial director Kim Fletcher’s book The Journalist’s
Handbook: An Insider’s Guide to Being a Great Journalist.

Fletcher
is a former editor of the Independent on Sunday who started his career
on the Sheffield Star, making his way on to Fleet Street by the
traditional route of working casual shifts on the nationals.

His
book is full of the sort of practical advice rarely taught on
journalism courses: like how to get on with your colleagues, how to
jump from regional to national press and the intriguingly titled
chapter “What to do When You’re 40”.

Fletcher said: “I hope it
communicates the excitement of journalism but also that to succeed in
journalism youneed to work hard and with real drive.”

When asked
for the secret of succeeding as a journalist he said: “It’s drive,
drive, drive. You can’t work it as a nine to five job, you can’t work
it if you’re not excited by what you’re doing. You have to maintain
that level of drive, enthusiasm and excitement and you have to believe
whatever you’re putting in the newspaper that day is the best that you
can do.”

The book contains other useful bread and butter advice
such as check the spelling of every name, don’t act like a prima donna
if the subs mess with your copy and always remember the people who give
you your breaks.

Content from our partners
MHP Group's 30 To Watch awards for young journalists open for entries
How PA Media is helping newspapers make the digital transition
Publishing on the open web is broken, how generative AI could help fix it

But most of all it conveys his evident
enthusiasm for the business and the fact that journalists get paid to
do exciting things and then write about them. As Fletcher puts it in
the book: “You would do it even if they didn’t pay you.”

The Journalist’s Handbook is published by MacMillan and priced £14.99.

Email pged@pressgazette.co.uk to point out mistakes, provide story tips or send in a letter for publication on our "Letters Page" blog

Select and enter your email address Weekly insight into the big strategic issues affecting the future of the news industry. Essential reading for media leaders every Thursday. Your morning brew of news about the world of news from Press Gazette and elsewhere in the media. Sent at around 10am UK time. Our weekly does of strategic insight about the future of news media aimed at US readers. A fortnightly update from the front-line of news and advertising. Aimed at marketers and those involved in the advertising industry.
  • Business owner/co-owner
  • CEO
  • COO
  • CFO
  • CTO
  • Chairperson
  • Non-Exec Director
  • Other C-Suite
  • Managing Director
  • President/Partner
  • Senior Executive/SVP or Corporate VP or equivalent
  • Director or equivalent
  • Group or Senior Manager
  • Head of Department/Function
  • Manager
  • Non-manager
  • Retired
  • Other
Visit our privacy Policy for more information about our services, how New Statesman Media Group may use, process and share your personal data, including information on your rights in respect of your personal data and how you can unsubscribe from future marketing communications.
Thank you

Thanks for subscribing.

Websites in our network