From the publisher:
Al Tompkins reminds students about a disarmingly simple truth about broadcast journalism: people remember what they feel. If you aim for the heart with the copy you write and the sound and video you capture, you will never fail to grab your viewers and compel them to keep watching. With humor, honesty and directness, Tompkins bottles his years of experience and insight in a new second edition that offers students the fundamentals they need to master, with the practical know-how they can immediately put to use. Aim for the Heart is as close as you can get to having Tompkins’s training sessions at the ready, from which students:
• learn to listen when interviewing;
• write an inviting lead;
• get a memorable soundbite;
• see how to light, crop, frame and edit compelling video;
• learn the art of being a one man band, and
• translate their broadcast story into an interactive online story.

Paperback edition available through Amazon.com

ISBN 978-1-6087-1674-6
Publisher: CQ Press College; 2nd Edition
Published: February 2011

Al Tompkins also has a new e-learning course on Poynter’s NewsU. In the course, Reporting, Writing for TV and the Web: Aim for the Heart, you can learn how to connect with viewers by telling powerful stories that aim for their hearts.

You can buy the course for $14.95 or both the book and course for $35.95.