Handbook for scribes
Amar Chandel

Essentials of Practical Journalism
by Vir Bala Aggarwal. Concept Publishing, New Delhi. Pages 539. Rs 180.

Journalism in India has seen exponential growth, particularly after the advent of TV channels, but still the working of the profession is not known to those outside the domain. Those intending to join it are a little confused about the structure and its intricacies. This book strives to answer their queries in a simple and straightforward manner.

Aimed at students, it throws light at various aspects of journalism such as nature of news, organisation and working of newspapers, designing, page making, picture editing, structure of a news story, editing of news, art of interviewing, investigative reporting, online reporting, feature writing, editorial writing, press laws and writing news for broadcast.

All these have been explained in a modern, Indian context and illustrated with examples from real life. Various points have been substantiated with the help of latest examples from newspapers and magazines. Long annexures supplement the information included in the main text.

The author is currently the Chairperson of the Department of Journalism and Mass Communication, Himachal Pradesh University, Shimla. She has put her doctoral thesis in the area of ‘Mass Media’ to good use in targeting the book at students and teachers alike, because she knows the practical needs of both first hand. What will particularly appeal to the student community is the fact that its price has been kept considerably low.

As the author herself points out, a book can only acquaint a person with a topic. What is unavoidable is hands-on experience.

This is a companion volume of her earlier Handbook of Journalism and Mass Communication, which she had co-authored with V. S. Gupta. Since this is the first edition, several typographical errors have crept in. These, hopefully, will be eliminated in the next editions.

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