This manual is a guide for journalists working in the republics of the former Soviet Union and is a practical textbook focusing on reporting, writing and editing for independent newspapers. The manual may also serve other professionals seeking to perfect their own practical basics of fundamental journalism.

This manual, written by Paul Hemp, has been translated into seven languages and has been used in developing countries around the world since 1991 to form basic professionals in the area of financial journalism. The third edition contains clear and pragmatic work and has some light revisions that await the anxious evolution of the world-wide economy of the latter years.

This is a manual for overseas journalism trainers. If you are new to this business, perhaps you have some reservations, some fears about it. Do I have a right to train anybody? What do I really know? And, even if I do know quite a lot about journalism, do I know how to teach it? And even if I know how to teach it, will I make a fool of myself in front of a bunch of foreigners? And, anyway, how do I know that my kind of journalism has any relevance where I'm going? Or, you might be coming to the subject from an entirely different perspective. You might be saying to yourself: This is...

We designed this manual to help journalists to better cover these kinds of issues, to elevate the beats that revolve around daily life to the same level of the politics, crime or entertainment beats. We have chosen to call these social issues because they deal with the way people in society interact with each other. Besides being neglected at many news organizations around the world, social issues involve special reporting challenges. Many of the issues are controversial or sensitive topics that some people would rather not discuss. They often require interviewing people who—unlike...