International News Reporting: Frontlines and Deadlines. Owen, John and Heather Purdey (eds.) (2009). West Sussex, U.K.: Wiley-Blackwell. pp. 280.

This collection, nicely put together by John Owen and Heather Purdey (both faculty of City University of London), is devoted to the nuts and bolts, as well as the real challenges, facing international news reporting. The book is composed of fourteen articles written by widely seasoned news professionals. The topics of the book include traumas and crises that reporters face: news staff’s personal safety, overall trends in international news, the operation and business of news agencies around the world, challenges derived from new media technologies, photo journalism, different kinds of reporting staff/careers, news sources, and diplomacy and international relations. One can immediately recognize from this list of topics that the book is rather comprehensive and incorporates all key issues that students who aspire to become international journalists must grasp. It is extremely rich with up-to-date information about the field and is full of details from great experiences that these veteran journalists and news managers share in their articles. [Read more...]