The easiest way to develop migraine as an editor is to have poor scripts on your table more often than not. Valuable time is usually lost in remedying poor scripts. Though journalism is a job in a hurry, is that a justification for journalists to churn out poor scripts? Certainly not!

Mohammad Rabiu’s Journalistic Skills for Professional Excellence is a well-researched book by a seasoned journalist and media scholar to improve the art of writing by media practitioners and journalism students. At 828 pages, this book is whooper, and the richness of its content is in tandem with its bulk structured in eleven parts.

The Curtain Raiser introduces us to the culture of journalism. The world of a journalist, we are told, requires extraordinary energy and intellectual accomplishments under the constant pressure of daily deadlines. It ushers us into the character and characteristics of journalism, the skeptical and cynical aspect of the journalistic culture, the demands of a news organisation, dealing with sources, the need for objectivity and fairness, as well as ethical demands.

The imperative of cultivating good writer underscores the second part of the book entitled “Journalistic Proficiency”.  A bad writer poses a problem of first magnitude the media house he represents and the consumer of the stories written by him. Thus, this part dwells on the characteristics of good writing from grammatical demands to steps taken to come up with a good script.

Besides, the second part furnishes the reader with valuable ideas surrounding a news story from its conception to its contents and types. His concerns under this segments also include how to write editorials, book reviews, everything you need to know about the writing process, enriching your style and achieving clarity. Borne out of the fact that journalism has a relationship with literature, the author takes time to explain the three genres of literature and their intricacies.

In the third part of the book, the author examines “News, The Information Industry”. Here, we are led into the essence of journalism –news –which holds the audience spellbound. Questions, such as –what determines news? What are the elements of news? What’s the dividing line between hard news and soft news? How can reporters cover the news? –are answered in details. Newsroom procedures and organisation, as well as newsgathering are highlighted.

The rudiments of journalistic writing are led bare in the fourth chapter as the author introduces us to news coverage. All the information you need to know concerning advance story, coverage story and follow-up story are expatiated the same way Rabiu sheds light on in-depth reporting, investigative reporting. He also introduces you to feature writing and its characteristics, editorial writing and styles.

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In the subsequent chapter, he traces the similarities between newspapers and magazine and why newspapers and magazines have survived the onslaught of the electronic media. If you are interested in the broadcast media, the six chapter will surely delight you as the author explains the sound and sight journalism, including news production, radio/television news script, and sundry broadcast contents.

What techniques are required in editing the newspaper and magazine? This is answered in the seventh part of the book. Examples are given concerning how to revise and eliminate wordiness. In addition, approaches to effective editing are treated. Among others, he says that a good copy editor requires a thorough knowledge of English grammar, usage, sentence structure and style. What are the ten things editor does to a script? What are the do’s and don’ts of editing? Answers are contained in this book.

The eight chapter continues on the ingredients of good writing. Also, he guides us on how to write for the web. Writing for the web demands much that writing in any other medium demands, he says. Its peculiarity, according to him, is basically the use of hypertext. “Hypertext is non-linear. The text is broken into bits and structured so that a reader can begin at a number of points and decide which sequence suits his/her purpose,” he explains on page 623.

Part Nine dwells on “Print Media and Me”. Here, the author publishes fourteen excerpts of his previous journalistic writings culled from Sunday New Nigeria, Kaduna; Trends Magazine, Maiduguri; and Abuja Newsday. These excerpts show the author as a journalist with depth and unique style.

New technology isn’t left out in this book. In the tenth chapter, we are introduced to online journalism, which has taken the world by storm as a result of changes brought by new communication technology. Tools for the multimedia and online journalist are found here, just as how to how to report for the web is explained.

Given that journalism is in a state of constant unrest and change, Rabiu dedicates the eleventh chapter of the book to the present and future of journalism. Areas of concerns and optimism are enumerated. Careers for journalists are treated, too. Public relations, as well as what it takes for job-hunting also come up here.

Rabiu’s Journalistic Skills for Professional Excellence can pass for the bible of journalism both in prodigious size and robust flavours. The author demonstrates a meticulous approach to research and knowledge impartation such that students of journalism and practicing journalists themselves will find most useful. This is a rare goldmine in journalism literature from a scholarly gem.