About the Author

This is the updated, 9th Edition of a classic handbook first published in 1983. Author Clarence Jones knows what he's writing about. As a legendary investigative reporter for 30 years in both newspapers and TV, he said he wrote this book "to teach people like you how to cope with SOBs like me." Then he left reporting to become a nationally-recognized news media consultant, crisis manager, on-camera coach. Nobody in America has comparable experience, insight, and know-how. He began as a full-time reporter for the Florida Times-Union while he was earning his journalism degree at the University of Florida. Nine years later, as one of the nation's most promising young journalists, he was granted a Nieman Fellowship at Harvard University. He wound up his 16-year newspaper career as Washington correspondent for The Miami Herald. Then he went to WHAS-TV in Louisville, Kentucky to work under cover, investigating law enforcement corruption there. Eight months of street surveillance and smuggling a lunchbox camera into illegal bookie joints for his daily visits led to two documentaries that gained immediate national attention. After two years in Louisville, he returned to Miami as investigative reporter for WPLG-TV, specializing in organized crime and government corruption. His work there earned three duPont-Columbia Awards (television's equivalent of the Pulitzer Prize). No other reporter for a local TV station has ever won the award three times. His work in Miami also won four Emmys and the prestigious Robert F. Kennedy Award. While he was still reporting, he also taught broadcast journalism for five years as an adjunct professor at the University of Miami. He published his memoirs in 2013 - They're Gonna Murder You - War Stories From My Life At The News Front. Reviewers of that book say it reads like a murder mystery or spy novel. His other books include Sailboat Projects - Clever Ideas and How to Make Them - For a Pittance, Webcam Savvy, and Shortcuts for Windows PCs. He frequently publishes magazine articles showing how to make modifications he invented for his sailboat.