Dynamics of Media Writing: Adapt and Connect

This fully updated Second Edition of Dynamics of Media Writing helps students learn transferable skills that can be applied across all media platforms―from traditional mass media formats like news, public relations and advertising, to digital and social media platforms.  Whether writing a story, press release or a tweet, today’s media writers must adapt their message to each specific media format in order to successfully connect with their audience. 

New to the Second Edition:

• A new chapter on social media discusses the latest developments in this rapidly changing area.
• New Helpful Hints boxes help students hone their media writing skills.
• New and updated information on interviewing, dictionary usage, lead structure and more bring the book fully up-to-date.
• Themes from the former Chapter 14 are now woven through the book to stress the importance of clarity and accuracy, lifelong learning and transferable skills.
• Fake news is now covered in multiple sections to help students both understand and spot it when reviewing the news.
• Additional photos and graphics illustrate the various elements of storytelling to make the information easier for students to apply.
• New "Give It a Try" features at the end of the Adapt and Connect boxes allow students to try out the skills outlined.

Bundle the new edition with the student workbook and save!

Your students save when you bundle this text with a corresponding student workbook.
Order using bundle ISBN 9781544361970. 

Give your students the SAGE edge!

Vincent F. Filak, Ph.D., is an award-winning teacher and scholar who serves as a professor of journalism at the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh, where he primarily teaches courses on media writing and reporting. Prior to his arrival at UWO, he served on the faculty at Ball State University and also taught courses at the University of Missouri and the University of Wisconsin–Madison. He also previously worked for the Wisconsin State Journal and the Columbia Missourian newspapers. He was also unanimously voted and selected as the next editor of Journalism & Mass Communication Educator by the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication.

The Associated Collegiate Press honored him as part of the organization’s inaugural class of Pioneer Award Winners in 2022. The Scholastic Journalism Division of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication presented him with the Educator of the Year award in 2021, a year after he was honored by the National Society of Leadership and Success with an Excellence in Teaching award. In 2019, he received the Friend of KEMPA award for his work with high school journalism students through the Kettle Moraine Press Association. In addition, he has received awards from the College Media Association (CMA) and the National Scholastic Press Association for his work as a college media adviser and a mentor to high school journalists.

As a scholar, Filak has received thirteen top conference paper awards, including those from the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication, the Broadcast Education Association, and the International Public Relations Society of America. He has published more than thirty scholarly, peer-reviewed articles in top-tier journals, including Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly, Journalism and Mass Communication Educator, the Newspaper Research Journal, the Atlantic Journal of Communication, Journalism: Theory, Practice and Criticism, the Howard Journal of Communication, Educational Psychology, and the British Journal of Social Psychology. He is also the winner of CMA’s Nordin Research Award, which goes to the best research paper completed on a topic pertaining to media advisers within a given year.

He has published several textbooks in the field of journalism, including Dynamics of Media Writing (SAGE), Dynamics of News Reporting and Writing (SAGE), Dynamics of Media Editing (SAGE), Convergent Journalism (Focal), and The Journalist’s Handbook to Online Editing (with Kenneth Rosenauer; Pearson). He also blogs about media-related topics at DynamicsOfWriting.com.

xxivHe lives outside Auroraville, Wisconsin, with his wife, Amy, and their daughter, Zoe.