The 'Net Without the Attitude   

The Online Journalist: Using the
Internet and Other Electronic
Resources
By Randy Reddick and Elliot King
Harcourt Brace College Publishers

The Online Journalist: Using the
Internet and Other Electronic
Resources
By Randy Reddick and Elliot King
Harcourt Brace College Publishers
251 pages, $16

There are dozens of books on the Internet and hundreds on reporters and reporting, but until now there's been little effort to bridge the gap with a book devoted to journalistic uses of the information-rich 'Net. Randy Reddick and Elliot King have taken on that challenge.

"The Online Journalist" is a concise, logically organized primer for 'Net virgins and other computerphobes who still seem to make up the majority of most newsrooms. It provides readable overviews of the complex world of the Internet and how reporters can find sources — both documents and people — that would be difficult or impossible to locate without computer assistance.

Reddick, journalism division head at Texas Tech University, and King, an assistant professor of media studies at Loyola College, also thankfully avoid the preachy, if-you-don't-get-on-board-today-you're-going-to-be-a-dinosaur hyperbole propagated by cyber-weenies.

If you're ready to bring the Internet into your journalistic arsenal, "The Online Journalist" will give you a solid and relatively painless start.

Unfortunately, the book ultimately falls far short of its promise.

First, the "other electronic resources" referred to in the title don't go far beyond computer bulletin boards. The authors ignore some of the most practical online systems for journalists, such as up-to-the-minute computer access to federal courts and campaign finance records at the Federal Election Commission. They should have jettisoned the non-Internet resources altogether or greatly beefed up those sections.

But the biggest disappointment is in the book's approach to the Internet. Reporters, faced with already overstuffed days and nights, need instant gratification, or close to it. Surfing around the vast Internet in the hopes of finding information to help a story isn't good enough. Journalists need, especially at the beginning, a list of surefire Internet sites that they know they can rely on.

Many sites critical to reporters are not included. For instance, state government data would probably be the first stop for many reporters, yet the authors list only a handful of states. And more important, the sites that are listed lack descriptions that would let reporters know what is available in each.

Despite its shortcomings, "The Online Journalist" is probably the best bet for reporters who want to jump onto the 'Net. However, with a rich, detailed list of practical sites, it could earn a place between the AP Stylebook and Webster's on a reporter's shelf.