The New News

The New News offers an approachable, practical guide to the 21st-century newsroom, equipping journalists with the skills needed to work expertly, accurately, and efficiently across multiple media platforms.

Emphasizing the importance of verification and authentication, the book shows how journalists adapt traditional practices of information-gathering, observation, interviewing, and newswriting for online publications. The text includes comprehensive coverage of key digital and multimedia competencies – capturing multimedia content, "doing" data journalism, mobile reporting, working in teams, participating with global audiences, and building a personal brand.

Features developed exclusively for this book include innovative visuals showing the multimedia news structures and workflows used in modern newsrooms; interviews with prominent journalists about their experiences in contemporary journalism; a glossary of up-to-date terms relevant to online journalism; and practical exercises and activities for classroom use, as well as additional downloadable online instructor materials.

The New News provides excellent resources to help journalism students and early-career professionals succeed in today’s digital networked news industry.

The authors are donating all royalties to nonprofit LION's programs to support local online news publications.

Joan Van Tassel, Ph.D. (Annenberg School for Communications/USC, 1988) is an educator, author, and journalist. She’s written seven research-based books about the information, telecommunication, and entertainment industries, including Managing Media: Making, Marketing, & Moving Digital Content.

Dr. Van Tassel taught journalism at the National University, Pepperdine University, and UCLA Extension School. She produced news, documentaries, and TV movies for CBS, NBC, ABC, and PBS. Her work won numerous awards, including the Cable Industry Book Award, an Emmy nomination, the Kenny Rogers/UN Prize, Los Angeles and San Diego Press Club Award, and New Media Institute Standard of Excellence.

Mary Murphy is an Associate Professor at the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism. A Press Club award-winning journalist in print, TV, and online, she was on the staffs of Esquire, New York, New West, ​and ​TV Guide magazines, ​and the ​St. Louis Post-Dispatch​ and the​ Los Angeles Times. She was an on-air correspondent for Entertainment Tonight.

Currently, she writes a blog for TheWrap.com and other digital publications. She co-authored Blood Cold, an investigation of the Robert Blake case, and is working on another book about Hollywood.

Murphy sits on the Boards of Directors of the Broadcast Television Critics Association and Fordham/Marymount University​.​

Joseph Schmitz, Ph.D. (Annenberg School for Communications/USC, 1990), is an educator, researcher, and author. Joe developed and tested the Social Influence Model of Communication Technology. He chaired the International Communication Association’s Communication and Technology Division. Schmitz was the co-principal investigator and primary research methodologist for National Science Foundation, Technology Opportunity, and US-EU Trans-Atlantic grants. He helped develop the City of Santa Monica’s innovative Public Electronic Network.

Schmitz taught research methods and organizational communication at Pepperdine University, The University of Southern California, Tulsa University, and Western Illinois University. Joe collaborated with students to frame important questions and guide their discoveries toward logical, fact-based empirical answers.