Journalism is mainly defined as reporting news.
Although there is much variation within journalism, the ideal is to inform the citizenry. Journalists are expected to research and report not only on events, but also on issues and trends. "Watchdog journalism" helps to keep power in check.
Journalism also includes opinion and analysis. Besides covering powerful organizations and institutions such as government and business, journalists also cover cultural areas, such as sports, arts and entertainment. Features include profiles of interesting and noteworthy people.
Although journalism mainly refers to reporting, the field also includes other jobs, such as editors and visual journalists.
Johann Carolus's Relation aller Fürnemmen und gedenckwürdigen Historien, published in 1605 in Strassburg, is often recognized as the first newspaper. The first successful English daily, the Daily Courant, was published from 1702 to 1735.[1]
Since then News media have become the chief purveyors of information and opinion about public affairs in modern society. But the role of and status of journalism, along with other forms of mass media, are undergoing changes resulting from the Internet, especially Web 2.0.
Styles, fields and genres
Newspapers and periodicals often contain features (see Feature style) written by journalists, many of whom specialize in this form of in-depth journalistic writing.
Feature articles are usually longer forms of writing; more attention is paid to style than in straight news reports. They are often combined with photographs, drawings or other "art." They may also be highlighted by typographic effects or colors.
Writing features can be more demanding than writing straight news stories, because while a journalist must apply the same amount of effort to accurately gather and report the facts of the story, he or she must also find a creative and interesting way to write it. The lead (or first two paragraphs of the story; see Nut graph) must grab the reader's attention and yet accurately embody the ideas of the article.
In the last half of the 20th Century the line between straight news reporting and feature writing has blurred. Journalists and publications today experiment with different approaches to writing. Tom Wolfe, Gay Talese, Hunter S. Thompson are some of these examples. Urban and alternative weekly newspapers go even further in blurring the distinction, and many magazines include more features than straight news.
Some television news shows experimented with alternative formats, and many TV shows that claimed to be news shows were not considered as such by traditional critics, because their content and methods do not adhere to accepted journalistic standards. National Public Radio, on the other hand, is considered a good example of mixing straight news reporting, features, and combinations of the two, usually meeting standards of high quality. Other US public radio news organizations have achieved similar results. A majority of newspapers still maintain a clear distinction between news and features, as do most television and radio news organizations.
Role of journalism in a democracy
Main article: Freedom of the pressIn the 1920s, as modern journalism was just taking form, writer Walter Lippmann and American philosopher John Dewey debated over the role of journalism in a democracy. Their differing philosophies still characterize a debate about the role of journalism in society and the nation-state.
Lippmann understood that journalism's role at the time was to act as a mediator or translator between the public and policy making elites. The journalist became the middleman. When elites spoke, journalists listened and recorded the information, distilled it, and passed it on to the public for their consumption. His reasoning behind this was that the public was not in a position to deconstruct the growing and complex flurry of information present in modern society, and so an intermediary was needed to filter news for the masses. Lippman put it this way: The public is not smart enough to understand complicated, political issues. Furthermore, the public was too consumed with their daily lives to care about complex public policy. Therefore the public needed someone to interpret the decisions or concerns of the elite to make the information plain and simple. That was the role of journalists. Lippmann believed that the public would affect the decision-making of the elite with their vote. In the meantime, the elite (i.e. politicians, policy makers, bureaucrats, scientists, etc.) would keep the business of power running. In Lippman's world, the journalist's role was to inform the public of what the elites were doing. It was also to act as a watchdog over the elites, as the public had the final say with their votes. Effectively that kept the public at the bottom of the power chain, catching the flow of information that is handed down from experts/elites.
Dewey, on the other hand, believed the public was not only capable of understanding the issues created or responded to by the elite, it was in the public forum that decisions should be made after discussion and debate. When issues were thoroughly vetted, then the best ideas would bubble to the surface. Dewey believed journalists should do more than simply pass on information. He believed they should weigh the consequences of the policies being enacted. Over time, his idea has been implemented in various degrees, and is more commonly known as "community journalism."
This concept of community journalism is at the centre of new developments in journalism. In this new paradigm, journalists are able to engage citizens and the experts/elites in the proposition and generation of content. It's important to note that while there is an assumption of equality, Dewey still celebrates expertise. Dewey believes the shared knowledge of many is far superior to a single individual's knowledge. Experts and scholars are welcome in Dewey's framework, but there is not the hierarchical structure present in Lippman's understanding of journalism and society. According to Dewey, conversation, debate, and dialogue lie at the heart of a democracy.
While Lippman's journalistic philosophy might be more acceptable to government leaders, Dewey's approach is a better description of how many journalists see their role in society, and, in turn, how much of society expects journalists to function. Americans, for example, may criticize some of the excesses committed by journalists, but they tend to expect journalists to serve as watchdogs on government, businesses and actors, enabling people to make informed decisions on the issues of the time.
The elements of journalism
According to The Elements of Journalism, a book by Bill Kovach and Tom Rosenstiel, there are nine elements of journalism [1]. In order for a journalist to fulfill their duty of providing the people with the information they need to be free and self-governing. They must follow these guidelines:
- Journalism's first obligation is to the truth.
- Its first loyalty is to the citizens.
- Its essence is discipline of verification.
- Its practitioners must maintain an independence from those they cover.
- It 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 interesting, and relevant.
- It must keep the news comprehensive and proportional.
- Its practitioners must be allowed to exercise their personal conscience.
In the April 2007 edition of the book [2], they have added one additional element, the rights and responsibilities of citizens to make it a total of ten elements of journalism.
Professional and ethical standards
In the UK, all newspapers are bound by the Code of Practice of the Press Complaints Commission[2]. This includes points like respecting people's privacy and ensuring accuracy. However, the Media Standards Trust has criticised the PCC, claiming it needs to be radically changed to secure public trust of newspapers.[3]
This is in stark contrast to the media climate prior to the 20th Century, where the media market was dominated by smaller newspapers and pamphleteers who usually had an overt and often radical agenda, with no presumption of balance or objectivity.
Failing to uphold standards
Such a code of conduct can, in the real world, be difficult to uphold consistently. Journalists who believe they are being fair or objective may give biased accounts—by reporting selectively, trusting too much to anecdote, or giving a partial explanation of actions. (See Media bias.) Even in routine reporting, bias can creep into a story through a reporter's choice of facts to summarize, or through failure to check enough sources, hear and report dissenting voices, or seek fresh perspectives.
A news organization's budget inevitably reflects decision-making about what news to cover, for what audience, and in what depth. Those decisions may reflect conscious or unconscious bias. When budgets are cut, editors may sacrifice reporters in distant news bureaus, reduce the number of staff assigned to low-income areas, or wipe entire communities from the publication's zone of interest.
Publishers, owners and other corporate executives, especially advertising sales executives, can try to use their powers over journalists to influence how news is reported and published. Journalists usually rely on top management to create and maintain a "firewall" between the news and other departments in a news organization to prevent undue influence on the news department. One journalism magazine, Columbia Journalism Review, has made it a practice to reveal examples of executives who try to influence news coverage, of executives who do not abuse their powers over journalists, and of journalists who resist such pressures.
Self-censorship is a growing problem in journalism, particularly in covering countries that sharply restrict press freedom. As commercial pressure in the media marketplace grows, media organizations are loath to lose access to high-profile countries by producing unflattering stories. For example, CNN admitted that it had practiced self-censorship in covering the Saddam Hussein regime in Iraq in order to ensure continued access after the regime had thrown out other media. CNN correspondent Christiane Amanpour also complained of self-censorship during the invasion of Iraq due to the fear of alienating key audiences in the US. There are claims that the media are also avoiding covering stories about repression and human rights violations by the Israeli and Iranian regimes in order to maintain a presence in those countries.
Reporting versus editorializing
Generally, publishers and consumers of journalism draw a distinction between reporting — "just the facts" — and opinion writing, often by restricting opinion columns to the editorial page and its facing or "op-ed" (opposite the editorials) page. Unsigned editorials are traditionally the official opinions of the paper's editorial board, while op-ed pages may be a mixture of syndicated columns and other contributions, frequently with some attempt to balance the voices across some political or social spectrum.
The distinction between reporting and opinion can break down. In the UK, the Press Complaints Commission states that "the Press, whilst free to be partisan, must distinguish clearly between comment, conjecture and fact"[4] but some commentators have suggested there can sometimes be a blurring of opinion and fact.[5] Complex stories often require summarizing and interpretation of facts, especially if there is limited time or space for a story. Stories involving great amounts of interpretation are often labelled "news analysis," but still run in a paper's news columns. The limited time for each story in a broadcast report rarely allows for such distinctions.
Legal status
Main article: Freedom of the pressJournalists around the world often write about the governments in their nations, and those governments have widely varying policies and practices towards journalists, which control what they can research and write, and what press organizations can publish. Many Western governments guarantee the freedom of the press, and do relatively little to restrict press rights and freedoms, while other nations severely restrict what journalists can research and/or publish.
Journalists in many nations have enjoyed some privileges not enjoyed by members of the general public, including better access to public events, crime scenes and press conferences, and to extended interviews with public officials, celebrities and others in the public eye. These privileges are available because of the perceived power of the press to turn public opinion for or against governments, their officials and policies, as well as the perception that the press often represents their consumers. These privileges extend from the legal rights of journalists but are not guaranteed by those rights. Sometimes government officials may attempt to punish individual journalists who irk them by denying them some of these privileges extended to other journalists.
Nations or jurisdictions that formally license journalists may confer special privileges and responsibilities along with those licenses, but in the United States the tradition of an independent press has avoided any imposition of government-controlled examinations or licensing.[citation needed] Some of the states have explicit shield laws that protect journalists from some forms of government inquiry, but those statutes' definitions of "journalist" were often based on access to printing presses and broadcast towers. A national shield law has been proposed.
In some nations, journalists are directly employed, controlled or censored by their governments. In other nations, governments who may claim to guarantee press rights actually intimidate journalists with threats of arrest, destruction or seizure of property (especially the means of production and dissemination of news content), torture or murder.
Journalists who elect to cover conflicts, whether wars between nations or insurgencies within nations, often give up any expectation of protection by government, if not giving up their rights to protection by government. Journalists who are captured or detained during a conflict are expected to be treated as civilians and to be released to their national government.
Right to protect confidentiality of sources
Main article: Protection of sourcesJournalists' interaction with sources sometimes involves confidentiality, an extension of freedom of the press giving journalists a legal protection to keep the identity of a source private even when demanded by police or prosecutors; withholding sources can land journalists in contempt of court, or in jail.
The scope of rights granted to journalists varies from nation to nation; in the United Kingdom, for example, the government has had more legal rights to protect what it considers sensitive information, and to force journalists to reveal the sources of leaked information, than the United States. Other nations, particularly Zimbabwe and the People's Republic of China, have a reputation of persecuting journalists, both domestic and foreign.
In the United States, there has never been a right to protect sources in a federal court. Some states provide varying degrees of such protection. However, federal courts will refuse to force journalists to reveal sources, unless the information the court seeks is highly relevant to the case, and there's no other way to get it. Journalists, like all citizens, who refuse to testify even when ordered to can be found in contempt of court and fined or jailed.
Current state
In 2008, journalism came under heavy fire. The decline of print newspapers has led to a sharp increase in job cuts for journalists. In 2008 alone, approximately 16,000 journalists were terminated[6] – a budgetary response to declining subscription dollars and the inability to adapt to a free-news-driven society. With advertising revenues taking a harsh rapping from the transitional shift of a subscription-based/advertising model to online ad placements, the discrepancy in advertising revenue is making it difficult for traditional newspapers to survive.
The Tribune Company (owner of the Los Angeles Times) filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy;[7] The Rocky Mountain News (one of the country's oldest newspapers) closed its doors after 150 years of business;[8] The Christian Science Monitor transitioned from its daily newspaper edition to online distribution;[9] 120 newspapers closed their doors in the first three months of 2009;[10] newspaper circulation was down 7% in the first six months of 2009.[11]
Newspapers are forced to maximize their current staff in a response to declining advertising and circulation revenue.[12] As formerly relied upon revenues shore-up, newspapers are exploring radically new ways of reaching readers. The New York Times has partnered with Amazon's Kindle DX to bring current subscribers and Kindle users NYT content.[13] This, along with other social media properties, are ways in which traditional media are fighting to stay relevant in the digital age.
See also
| Journalism portal |
- Creative nonfiction
- History of journalism
- History of American newspapers
- Journalism ethics and standards
- Journalism education and Journalism school
- Journalism genres
- Objectivity (journalism)
- Reporters without borders
- Yellow journalism
References
- ^ Concise History of the British Newspaper in the Eighteenth Century
- ^ http://www.pcc.org.uk/cop/practice.html; Press Complaints Commission Code of Practice
- ^ Roy Greenslade - Media watchdog attacks PCC as ineffective, unaccountable and opaque; http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/greenslade/2009/feb/09/pcc-newspapers
- ^ Press Complaints Commission's Code of Practice
- ^ http://www.journoworld.co.uk/Comment_in_Newspapers.html; JournoWorld - Writing Comment
- ^ Desperate Battle to Save America's Struggling Newspapers
- ^ Tribune Co. files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection
- ^ Rocky Mountain News Closes Its Doors
- ^ CSM Online Only
- ^ Newspapers fold as readers defect and economy sours
- ^ Newspaper Circulation Declines 7% in the last six months
- ^ Media Trends
- ^
External links
| Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Journalism |
| Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Journalism |
| Wikinews has news related to: Journalism |
- Journalism at the Open Directory Project
- Journalism, Democracy, and Class Struggle by Robert W. McChesney
- The Problem of the Media, ISBN 978-1-58367-106-1, by Robert McChesney
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Bernadette known to her DZMM colleagues as Ate B is one of the newest additions to the station s roster of multimedia talents She anchors TV Patrol Weekends and Radyo Patrol Balita Alas Dose over DZMM Bernadette a Business Administration graduate from the University of the Philippines started her professional career by working for a bank She then shifted to journalism and worked for several stations before joining abs cbn bernadette sembrano bernadette known to her DZMM colleagues as Ate B is one of the newest additions to the station s roster of multimedia talents She anchors TV Patrol Weekends and Radyo Patrol Balita Alas Dose over DZMM Bernadette a Business Administration graduate from the University of the Philippines started her professional career by working for a bank She then shifted to journalism and worked for several stations before joining abs cbn bernadette sembrano
Laura Burns
ue, 16 Sep 2008 19:38:17 GM
After a crazy first week of school, which I tried to blog about while multitasking and failed miserably, I flew to Atlanta on Wednesday, September 3rd to be an intern at the Society of . Professional Journalists. Convention and National ...
Q. I'm planning on majoring in music performance next year at the University of Denver. I'm just worried that I may not be able to find a job once I graduate. What would you suggest as a minor or even another major in which I could combine it with music. I thought about journalism or even international studies but I'm not really sure.
Asked by Troubled Musician - Tue Jun 17 20:15:42 2008 - - 1 Answers - 0 Comments
A. Education comes to mind first, as many musicians are teachers for at least part of their careers. A marketing/business minor will help you get jobs if you're self-employed, and it may lead to other band-leader jobs in music or sales departments in other fields. Psychology may be helpful if you want to transition into music therapy or something similar. Journalism sounds good if you really like to write. International studies may be interesting, but I'm not sure how to combine it with music career-wise.
Answered by Y? - Tue Jun 17 20:31:17 2008
