What is
Journalism?
The
investigation and reporting of events, issues and trends for a mass audience
JOURNALISM is the practice of investigating and reporting events,
issues and trends to the mass audiences of print, broadcast and online media
such as newspapers, magazines and books, radio and television stations and
networks, and blogs and social and mobile media.
- The product generated by such activity is called
journalism.
- People who gather and package news and information for
mass dissemination are journalists.
- The field includes writing, editing, design and
photography.
With the idea in mind of informing
the citizenry, journalists cover individuals, organizations, institutions,
governments and businesses as well as cultural aspects of society such as arts
and entertainment. News media are the main purveyors of information and opinion
about public affairs.
What does a journalist do?
The main intention of those working in the journalism profession is to provide
their readers and audiences with accurate, reliable information they need to
function in society.
There are many different jobs in journalism. For instance, a news journalist
might be involved with:
Researching stories. Newspaper, magazine and web stories require research
before writing. All writers have to conduct research and gather information
before they can start writing. Journalists use three tools to gather
information for stories: observation, interview and background research.
Writing hard news and feature stories. Hard news stories are short, very timely
and focus on telling you what's just happened starting with the most important
thing first. Feature stories, on the other hand, are not as timely, yet need a
topical news peg (raison d'etre or reason for existence). Newspaper and
Web features, and magazine articles, are more in-depth and less rigidly
structured. They might be interviews, travel reports, how-to articles,
profiles, tear jerkers, etc.
Shooting photographs and video. Photojournalists in print and on the air use
their still and moving images to tell a story with very few words. Multitasking
is more and more a part of life in media, which makes photography a useful
skill for writers to have.
Editing stories. Editors prepare and improve the work of other people. They
correct grammar errors and straighten out organizational issues. They write
headlines and make sure the publication has a consistent style. At many
publications, copy editors are an endangered species and journalists are
expected to get it right the first time with no safety net.
Checking facts. Newspapers rarely employ people to check facts in articles.
Magazines still do check facts, but it's becoming less common.
Planning issues. Editors are responsible for all the content in a newspaper,
magazine or website. As journalists advance upward in job responsibility, they
do less actual writing and more planning and management of other writers,
editors and designers.
Laying out pages. Editors design and lay out pages mixing copy written by
reporters with photos shot by photographers and other art. At smaller papers,
reporters sometimes lay out pages in addition to writing the copy for them and
shooting the photos for them. Magazine editors, on the other hand, usually have
an art department to design pages. Whoever designs it, layout is accomplished
using software such as Quark XPress and Adobe InDesign. Ability to use those
programs is a valuable skill for a journalist.
Advocacy
journalism: a style of journalism in which a
reporter takes sides in controversial issues and develops a point of view. It
is the opposite of mainstream journalism, in which reporters are expected to be
objective.
Ambush journalism: aggressive tactics practiced by journalists who
suddenly confront and question people who otherwise do not wish to speak to a
journalist.
Articles: stories written about news topics that are considered notable
by the editors of a publication.
Attribution: credit given to who said what or the source of facts
Background: information that is not intended for publication
Byline: the name of the reporter
Celebrity journalism: also known as people journalism, it focuses on the
personal lives of celebrities, including movie and stage actors, musical
artists, models and photographers, sports figures, and notable people in the
entertainment industry, as well as people who seek attention, such as
politicians, and people thrust into the attention of the public, such as people
who do something newsworthy.
Checkbook Journalism: journalists paying a person or organization for a
news story.
Citizen journalist: the rapid rise of Internet technology, in particular
blogging, tweeting and social networking, have empowered persons without
professional training to function sometimes as journalists feeding information
to mass media. These practitioners now are known as a distinct category --
citizen journalists.
Columnist: an article writer who gives an opinion on a topic
Editor: the person who "edits" a story by revising and
polishing; the person whose job is to approve copy when it comes in and to make
decisions about what is published in a newspaper or magazine.
Editorial: an article expressing a newspaper or magazine owner's or
editor's position on an issue.
Feature articles: longer forms of news writing; topics covered in depth;
sometimes the main article on the front page of a newspaper, or the cover story
in a magazine. Feature writing is journalistic writing covering people, places
and events in greater depth and with less timeliness than an immediate hard
news story.
Five Ws and H: the primary questions a news story answers -- Who? What?
Where? When? Why? and How?
Gonzo journalism: a type of journalism popularized by Hunter S. Thompson
in the 1970s. It was characterized by a punchy style, rough language, and a
disregard for conventional journalistic writing forms and customs. The
traditional objectivity of the journalist was given up through immersion in the
story.
Inverted pyramid: the structure of a news story which places the
important facts at the beginning and less important facts and details at the
end, enabling the editor to cut bottom portion of the story if space is
required.
Investigative journalism: a story that requires a great amount of
research digging and hard work to come up with facts that might be hidden,
buried, or obscured by people who have a vested interest in keeping those facts
from being published; reporters research, investigate and expose unethical,
immoral, and illegal behavior by individuals, businesses and government
agencies.
Jazz journalism: the journalism fashion of the roaring twenties named
for its energetic style and illustrated tabloid layout.
Journalists: writers, editors, photographers, videographers, broadcast
presenters, producers and others who are the purveyors of information and
opinion in contemporary mass society.
Lead: the first sentence or first few sentences of a story
Managing editor: the person who co-ordinates all news departments by
collecting all copy and ensuring that all instructions for printer or typist
are clear and consistent; the person who meets and consults with the staff to
make a plan
New Journalism: an unconventional writing style popularized in the 1960s
by Tom Wolfe, Truman Capote, and Norman Mailer using the techniques of
fictional story-telling and characterization when writing nonfiction stories.
News: information about recent and important events.
News writing: the prose writing style used for news reporting in media
such as newspapers, magazines, radio, television, books and the Internet.
Pack journalism: reporters relying on each other for news tips and often
dependent on a single source for information
Print Journalism: the practice of journalism in newspapers, magazines
and other hard-copy printed publications.
Professional journalism: a form of news reporting which developed in the
United States at the beginning of the 20th century, along with formal schools
of journalism which arose at major universities.
Reporters: the people who gather facts for the stories they are assigned
to write
Science journalism: reporters convey news information on science topics
to the public. Science journalists are reporters who understand and interpret
detailed, technical information and jargon and write news stories about them so
they will be interesting to readers.
Source: a person who talks to a reporter on the record, for attribution
in a news story
Sports journalism: covers human athletic competition in newspapers,
magazines, radio, television, books and the Internet. Some don't consider
sports journalism to be true journalism, but the prominence of sports in
Western culture has justified the attention of journalists to not just the
competitive events in sports, but also to athletes and the business of sports.
Style: conformity of language use by all writers in a publication (e.g.,
AP style is conformity to the rules of language according to the Associated
Press)
Television journalism: over-the-air and cable transmission of news
stories enhanced by sound and video images.
Wire services: news gathering and delivery services, or agencies, that
provide news from around the world to publications that subscribe for a fee.
Best known are the Associated Press, Reuters, United Press International,
Agence France-Presse and Canadian Press. Wire services are co-operatives that
share news stories among members.
Yellow journalism: inflammatory publication tactics attributed to
newspaperman William Randolph Hearst and others in drumming up support for war
against Spain in the 1890s. Today, it is aggressive, lurid and irresponsible
journalism.
