We Interrupt This Newscast

Tom Rosenstiel designed the Project for Excellence in Journalism and directs its activities. He also serves as vice chairman of the Committee of Concerned Journalists. A journalist for more than twenty years, he is a former media critic for the Los Angeles Times and chief congressional correspondent for Newsweek magazine. Among his books, he is the author with Bill Kovach of The Elements of Journalism: What Newspeople Should Know and the Public Should Expect (2001). Marion R. Just is Professor of Political Science at Wellesley College. She is a co-author of Crosstalk: Citizens, Candidates and the Media in a Presidential Campaign (1996), Common Knowledge: News and the Construction of Political Meaning (1992), and The Election of 1996 (1997). Todd Belt is currently Assistant Professor of Political Science at the University of Hawaii', Hilo. He has published articles in the Journal of Health and Social Behavior, Columbia Journalism Review, Campaigns and Elections. He also co-authored the book Getting Involved: A Guide to Student Citizenship (2000). Alba Pertilla is currently a MacCracken Fellow in the Department of History at New York University, pursuing a doctoral degree in US History. As a Research Associate at the Project for Excellence in Journalism he published articles in Columbia Journalism Review and Electronic Media (now TelevisionWeek). Wally Dean is a 35-year broadcast news veteran who is a senior associate at the Project for Excellence in Journalism and director of broadcast training for the Committee of Concerned Journalists. Dante Chinni is a senior researcher for the Project for Excellence in Journalism and is a columnist for the Christian Science Monitor. He is a regular contributor to the Washington Post Magazine and has written for The Economist, the New York Times Magazine, Columbia Journalism Review, Salon and ESPN the Magazine among others.

"The book... is We Interrupt This Newscast. … Get it. Read it. And maybe, most important, buy a copy for your boss." Charles Gibson, ABC News, from his Paul White address to RTNDA, 2006

• Acknowledgments; 1. A prologue: what this book is for Dante Chinni and Tom Rosenstiel; 2. The knowledge base Tom Rosenstiel and Marion Just; 3. 'I-Teams' and 'Eye Candy': the reality of local TV news Wally Dean and Atiba Pertilla; 4. The myths that dominate local TV news: the X-structure and the fallacy of the hook and hold method of TV news Wally Dean, Atiba Pertilla and Todd Belt; 5. The magic formula: how to make TV that viewers will watch Todd Belt and Marion Just; 6. Steps to better coverage Todd Belt and Marion Just; 7. Putting it all into action: techniques for changing newsroom cultures Wally Dean; 8. The road ahead: the future of local TV news Tom Rosenstiel and Dante Chinni; Appendix A. Design team members; Appendix B. Quality grading criteria and value codes; Appendix C. Content analysis intercoder reliability analyses; Appendix D. Sample of local TV news stations; Appendix E. 2005 follow-up study; Notes; References; Index.