Legendary Investigative Reporter, Now Author of 9 Books
Clarence Jones' Life and Careers
After 30 years of award-winning reporting in both newspapers and TV, Jones wrote a book that (these are his words)
"Teaches people like you how to cope with SOBs like me."
Some reviewers have called that book (Winning with the News Media) the "bible" of news media relations.
When it was published, he left reporting and for another 30 years was a crisis consultant/on-camera coach.
He occasionally works now with long-time clients who have media problems, but calls himself a full-time writer,
with nine non-fiction books in print (below) and a novel in the works.
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He's also a serious photographer, inventor, and do-it-yourselfer who can assemble, modify or fix anything but a broken heart.
He builds his own computers and lives in Bradenton, on the Gulf coast of Florida, where he sails his 28-foot Catalina boat.
Newspaper and TV Reporter
Jones always knew he would be a writer/reporter. He started a school newspaper in the third grade. Became editor of his junior and senior high school newspapers. Was a full-time reporter for a daily newspaper while he earned his journalism degree at the University of Florida.
He became state capitol correspondent for the Florida Times-Union
when he was just 23 years old.
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As one of the most promising young journalists in America, he was awarded a 1963-64 Nieman Fellowship at Harvard University,
then moved to the Miami Herald.
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There, he became the first reporter in the world
to use a computer to crunch numbers for a major story.
(above left, at the Herald's mainframe computer in 1968)
Jones finished his newspaper career
as Washington correspondent for the Herald.
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Then he moved to WHAS-TV in Louisville, where he went undercover for eight months with an assumed name, carrying a hidden camera into bookie joints every day to produce a series of documentaries showing how illegal gambling had corrupted politics and law enforcement there.
His reporting led to the creation of a special federal grand jury to investigate corruption in Louisville.
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In 1972 Jones returned to Miami as investigative reporter for WPLG-TV
(above, right) where he became the
first reporter for a local station to ever win 3 duPont-Columbia Awards
(TV's equivalent of the Pulitzer Prize)
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One book reviewer wrote:
"Jones' life reads like a murder mystery or a spy novel."
News Media Consultant/Book Author
When his first book was published in 1984, he left reporting and formed a company that for 30 years taught government and corporate executives news media strategies and on-camera skills.
In seminars all over America, he would setup a hypothetical crisis, then put execs on camera to film a tough, aggressive interview.
With instant replay he would critique their style and
performance, then teach them how to do it better.
He ended that career in 2015 to write full-time.
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His books currently in print (below) are:
Winning with the News Media -
A Self-Defense Manual When You're the Story
They're Gonna Murder You -
War Stories From My Life at the News Front
Sweetheart Scams -
Online Dating's Billion-Dollar Swindle
Webcam Savvy -
For the Job or the News
Webcam Savvy -
For Telemedicine
Filming Family History -
How to Save Great Stories for Future Generations
Sailboat Projects -
Clever Ideas and How to Make Them
More Sailboat Projects -
A Sequel
LED Basics -
Choosing and Using the Magic Light
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Print and Kindle versions are at www.amazon.com
All other e-book versions can be downloaded from www.smashwords.com
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