In Chapter 12, backpack journalism is discussed. Tompkins also talks about how, in journalism, things are changing, and it is becoming more expected that people are solo on their stories and handle all aspects of the story themselves. Self-reliance is key, according to Tompkins, as being a backpack journalist requires one to be able to edit and shoot video, track down interviews alone and sort useful information from the useless noise. While doing this, a journalist is also required to maintain their accuracy and be ethical. Some tips given from Tompkins for being a backpack journalist include:

• Park close
• Use tripod
• Use headphones for recording sound
• Ask for help
• Use the internet

Tompkins’ chapter four is about having a lead that is inviting to the reader. The lead should describe the key points that took place in the peak of the story, rather than attempting to summarize everything that happened in the entire story. The reason a writer would like to have some of the most intriguing pieces of the story in their lead is to get the reader to gain an interest in who was involved and what happened in detail. Along with engaging the reader, one wants to do so in a way that doesn’t confuse or overwhelm the reader. 

In chapter five, Tompkins discusses the uses of verbs and adjectives in writing. Tompkins spoke about how there should not be verbs that end in “-ing” used in writing and that he believes adjectives are overused by many writers in news stories in the current day media. The choice in a writer’s verbs or subjective adjectives can also reveal a bias and bring a journalist’s integrity to question. Bringing a variety of words into a story can keep a reader from getting bored and eventually not continuing to read. 

Chapter seven is about how important pictures are and how powerful they can potentially be to a reader’s emotions. When choosing a picture, it is an important that it does not overwhelm the reader with new information. Pictures are also not supposed to show exactly what a story is talking about, because words are used to explain images. Explaining an image allows a writer to add meaning to their work. While pictures are important, the most important part of a story is still how a writer uses their words to draw readers in. 

Chapter 18 includes information about fake stats or, “zombie stats”, as well as being critical when questioning. A reporter does not want to just take comments when gathering information for a story, questions that are addressed should be answered. Despite how credible a source may seem, there always should be a sense of skepticism and a desire to get further confirmation. Fake stats are used by politicians in their campaign as a way to boost themselves above their peers. “Zombie stats” includes corrupted polls as well. These polls could be very biased and lose credibility, which should make them meaningless in the grand scheme of a campaign. 

In the first two chapters from Tompkins, there were important aspects of storytelling brought up. 

Chapter one was titled “Aim for the Heart”, where the acronym F.A.I.T.H was discussed as a tool to use for storytelling. F.A.I.T.H was started by a television news director and general manager, Mike Kettenring and stands for: fair, accurate, interesting, thorough, human. Also discussed in the chapter was the difference between fact-telling and story-telling, because there is a need for a mix of both in journalism. In TV today there is often criticism that there is more story-telling than fact-telling. Tompkins addresses this in the chapter, as it was stated that producers and TV reporters often protest, “We do TV. You can’t be compelling and factual in a minute and 20 seconds.” Tompkins denies this and mentions the likes of Mark Twain, F. Scott Fitzgerald and Dorothy Parker learning their crafts by writing short stories due to the challenge that comes with mixing fact-telling and story-telling in a low-number count. 

Tompkins also discusses how in almost all levels of writing, from elementary school through being a professional writer and everything between, finding and aiming for the heart of the story is important. Good writing was described by Tompkins as, “… process of selecting, not compressing, what goes into our stories.” This means selecting the important information and highlighting that instead of getting caught on less important details of a story. The chapter was ended by emphasizing the importance in using soundbites that connect to the viewers’ heart. An example given was when a soldier comes home, using soundbites that showed the audience the true emotions of the soldier’s family who awaited their return. 

Chapter two was more focused on shaping a story, the order of the content, rather than the actual content itself. The first piece of advice given was about giving readers a surprise. Tompkins tied together the importance of giving a surprise and reaching the viewers heart, stating, “You reach the viewer’s heart by sneaking up on it.” Which means that in writing or on-air, you want to constantly give the viewer/reader a “gold coin” moment to ensure they stay interested. There was also a basic story-telling structure given for writers looking to put together a quick-story:

• Once upon a time, setting
• Suddenly, the complication
• Fortunately, the resolution
• As it turns out, the closing/summary

The structure given in the chapter allows for a writer to include all of the aspects that keep viewers and readers interested and informed. The components of this structure can also be flipped around, with the “As it turns out” component, jumping to the front of the structure. 

The emphasis on structure at every level of news-presentation, including sentences, was discussed in the chapter. Sentences should hold their most important pieces of information at the end. This means having things such as death, great success and other important details of news should be the end of sentences, as they will cause the reader to have it on their mind going into the statement that follows. 

Chapters one and two of Tompkins highlighted the two most important parts of telling a good story, having facts that interest and inform viewers/readers, and structuring it in a way that does the same.