Journalism

Journalism is one of the most important professions in the modern world, because it
informs people about events in their community, nation and the rest of the world,
helping them in forming their opinions about current affairs.
What is journalism?
Journalism is the investigation and reporting of events, issues and trends to a broad audience.
Journalism is both a profession and a craft, since journalists draw on specialized skills and
adhere to common standards.
Though there are many variations of journalism, the ideal is to inform the intended audience
about topics ranging from government and business organizations to cultural aspects of
society, such as arts and entertainment.
The central purpose of journalism is to provide citizens with accurate and reliable
information they need to function in a free society.
News media
The news media are those elements of the mass media that focus on delivering news to
the general public or a target public.
In modern society, news media have become the chief provider of information and
opinion about public affairs; but the role and status of journalism, along with other
forms of mass media, are undergoing changes resulting from the Internet.
This has resulted in a shift toward reading on e-readers, smartphones, and other electronic
devices rather than print media, and has faced news organizations with the ongoing problem
of monetizing on digital news.
What is news?
The answer to the question What is news? may seem obvious news is what is new; its
whats happening.
In the dictionary, news is described as a report of recent events or previously unknown
information, but most of the things that happen in the world every day dont find their way
into the newspapers, or onto the air in a newscast.
What makes a story newsworthy enough to be published or broadcast?
Generally speaking, news is information that is of broad interest to the intended
audience, so whats big news in Buenos Aires may not be news at all in London.
Journalists decide what news to cover based on the news values hard news and
soft news.

Hard news
Hard news is essentially the news of the day its what you see on the front page of the
newspaper or the top of the Web page, and what you hear at the start of a broadcast news
report.
For example, war, politics, business, and crime are frequent hard news topics.
A strike announced by the citys bus drivers that leaves thousands of commuters
unable to get to work is hard news.
Its timely, controversial, and has a wide impact close to home. The community needs
the information right away, because it affects peoples daily lives.
Soft news
A human-interest story involving a prominent person whose (un)usual life story people
would likely discuss with their friends.
In most cases, there is no compelling reason why it has to be published or broadcast on any
particular day, and, by definition, that makes it a feature story.
Many newspapers and online-news sites have separate feature sections for stories about
lifestyles, home and family, sports, the arts, and entertainment.
Larger newspapers even may have weekly sections for specific kinds of features on food,
health, education, and so forth.

The Journalists Role

New technologies have made it possible for anyone with a computer to disseminate
information as widely as the largest news organizations, but a well-designed Internet site, no
matter how well its written or how often its updated, is not necessarily a reliable source of
news.
The truth is that in a complex world where information is no longer a scarce commodity, the
role of the journalist has become more important than ever.
Unlike a propagandist or a gossip, the journalist sorts through the information available and
determines how much of it is valuable and reliable before passing it on to the public.
News stories, whether hard news or features, must be accurate.
Journalists not only collect the information they need to tell the story, they have to verify the
information before they can use it.
Journalists rely on first-hand observation whenever possible and consult multiple sources to
make sure the information they receive is reliable.

Journalists, except on rare occasions, identify the sources of their information so the audience
can evaluate its credibility.
Good journalists strive to tell an accurate and authentic story, one that reflects reality, not
their own perception of it or anyone elses.
Good journalists do original reporting, they do not confuse fact with opinion or rumor, and
they make sound editorial decisions.
Unlike other purveyors of information, journalists owe their primary allegiance to the
public.
As Canadas Montreal Gazette states in its code of ethics, A newspapers greatest
asset is its integrity. Respect for that integrity is painfully won and easily lost.
To maintain that integrity, journalists work hard to avoid conflicts of interest, real or
perceived.
Objectivity and Fairness
The concept of objectivity in journalism developed almost a century ago, as a reaction to the
sensational, opinion-driven reporting that was common in most newspapers of the day.
The term objectivity was originally used to describe a journalistic approach or method;
journalists would seek to present the news in an objective way, without reflecting any
personal or corporate bias.
Many journalists today concede that total objectivity is impossible.
In 1996, the U.S. Society of Professional Journalists dropped the word objectivity from its
code of ethics, because, as they said, journalists are human beings, after all they care about
their work and they do have opinions, and by claiming that they are completely objective
suggests that they have no values.
Instead, journalists have largely agreed that they must be aware of their own opinions so they
can keep them in check, so the audience should not be able to tell from the story what the
journalists opinion is.
By using an objective, scientific method for verifying information, journalists can report
stories that do not reflect their own personal views. The story itself, in other words, should be
impartial and fair.
Regardless of all these new demands, the heart of good journalism remains the same,
and there are some clear principles that journalists in a democratic society agree on
and that citizens have a right to expect:
Journalisms first obligation is to the truth.
Its first loyalty is to citizens.

 Its essence is a discipline of verification.

Its practitioners must maintain an independence from those they cover.
Journalism must serve as an independent monitor of power.
It must provide a forum for public criticism and compromise.
It must strive to make the significant piece of information both interesting and relevant.
It must keep the news comprehensive and proportional.
Its practitioners must be allowed to exercise their personal conscience.
These values distinguish journalism from all other forms of communication.
Journalism genres
Advocacy journalism writing to advocate particular viewpoints or influence the opinions
of the audience.
Broadcast journalism writing or speaking which is intended to be distributed by radio or
television broadcasting, rather than only in written form for readers.
Investigative journalism writing which seeks to add extra information to explain,
or better describe the people and events of a particular topic.
Tabloid journalism writing which uses opinionated or wild claims.
Yellow journalism (or sensationalism) writing which emphasizes exaggerated
claims or rumors.
Advocacy journalism
Advocacy journalism is a genre of journalism
that intentionally and transparently adopts a non-objective viewpoint, usually for
some social or political purpose.
Because it is intended to be factual, it is distinguished from propaganda.
Traditionally, advocacy and criticism are restricted to editorial and op-ed pages,
which are clearly distinguished in the publication and in the organization's internal
structure.
Editorial
An editorial is an opinion piece written by the senior editorial staff or publisher of a
newspaper or magazine.
Editorial
Editorials are supposed to reflect the opinion of the periodical.

 In Australian and major United States newspapers, such as the New York Times and
the Boston Globe, editorials are often classified under the heading "opinion".
Op-Ed
An op-ed (abbreviated from opposite the editorial page) is a newspaper article that
expresses the opinions of a named writer, who is usually unaffiliated with the newspapers
editorial board.
These are different from editorials, which are usually unsigned and written by editorial board
members.
Periodical
Periodical publication (also called a periodical publication or simply a periodical) is
a published work that appears in a new edition on a regular schedule.
The most familiar examples are the newspaper, often published daily, or weekly; or
the magazine, typically published weekly, monthly or as a quarterly.
Other examples would be a newsletter, a literary journal or learned journal, or
a yearbook.
Newspaper
A newspaper is a scheduled publication containing news of current events,
informative articles, diverse features, editorials, and advertising.
It is usually printed on relatively inexpensive, low-grade paper such as newsprint.
By 2007, there were 6,580 daily newspapers in the world selling 395 million copies a
day.
Magazines
Magazines are publications that are generally published on a regular schedule and
contain a variety of content.
They are generally financed by advertising, by a purchase price, by pre-paid
magazine subscriptions, or all three.
At its root, the word magazine refers to a collection of a sort. In the case of written
publication it is a collection of written articles.
Broadcast journalism
Broadcast journalism refers to the field of news and journals which are "broadcast",
that is, published by electronic methods, instead of the older methods, such as printed
newspapers and posters.

 Broadcast methods include radio (via air, cable, and Internet), television (via air,
cable, and Internet), and diverse means of electronic devices, especially recently,
computers, mobile phones and portable gadgets (tablets, etc.) via Internet.
Such media disperse pictures (static and moving), visual text, and/or sounds.
Radio
Radio was the first and the most popular medium for broadcast journalism.
Later, television displaced radio and newspapers as the main news sources for most of the
public in industrialized countries.
In radio news, stories include speech "soundbites", the recorded sounds of events
themselves, and the anchor or host.
Television
Television (TV) news is currently considered by many to be the most influential medium
for journalism.
For most of the American public, local news and national TV newscasts are the primary news
sources.
Television is dominated by attractive visuals (including beauty, action, and shock), with
short soundbites and fast "cuts" (changes of camera angle).
Television journalism viewership has become fragmented, with the 24-hour United States
cable news television channels such as Cable News Network (CNN) starting in 1980, Fox
News Channel and MSNBC in the 1990s.
Some major world news services
On-line convergence
Convergence is the sharing and cross-promoting of content from a variety of media,
which in theory might all converge and become one medium eventually.
In broadcast news, the Internet is key part of convergence.
Frequently, broadcast journalists also write text stories for the Web, usually
accompanied by the graphics and sound of the original story.
Web sites offer the audience an interactive form where they can learn more about a
story, can be referred to related articles, can offer comments for publication, and can
print stories at home, etc.
Investigative journalism

 Investigative journalism is a form of journalism in which reporters deeply investigate

a single topic of interest, often involving crime, political corruption, or corporate
wrongdoing.
An investigative journalist may spend months or years researching and preparing a
report.
Most investigative journalism is done by newspapers and are written by
freelance journalists.
Tabloid journalism
Tabloid journalism tends to emphasize topics such as sensational crime stories,
astrology, gossip columns about the personal lives of celebrities and sports stars, etc.
Such journalism is commonly associated with tabloid sized newspapers like
the National Enquirer, Globe or the Daily Mail and the former News of the World.
Yellow journalism
Yellow journalism, or the yellow press, is a type of journalism that presents little or no
legitimate well-researched news and instead uses eye-catching headlines to sell more
newspapers.
Techniques may include exaggerations of news events, scandal-mongering,
or sensationalism.
By extension, the term yellow journalism is used today as a pejorative to describe any
journalism that treats news in an unprofessional or unethical fashion.