This is the eighth edition, and the last MacDougall was the sole author on. It is one of the best books on how to do reporting out there. MacDougall started his reporting in the '30s, and it informed his work. Objective was the goal, and keeping the reportage fair to the relevant ideas/issues was the question to be answered. This was written just before the age of newspapers ended, when most cities had more than one paper, and they were in competition, because the primary way for people to get news was newspapers. One needed to get the facts, and present them. A false sense of "objectivity" by showing, "all sides of the issues" even when some of the sides were ridiculous wasn't the aim.

Honestly, anyone who is looking to see what journalism could be, would be well served by this book. ( )