What
is Journalism?
·
Journalism is an activity or
profession of writing for newspapers or magazines or broadcasting news on radio
or television or internet.
·
Journalism is a form of
writing that tells people about things that really happened, but that they might
not have known about already.
·
People who write journalism
are called “journalists.” They might work at newspapers, magazines, web site or
for TV or radio stations.
·
The most important
characteristic shared by good journalists is curiosity.
·
Good journalists love to read
and want to find out as much as they can about the world around them.
·
Journalism is a
method of inquiry and literary style used in social and cultural
representation. It serves the purpose of playing the role of public service
machinery in the dissemination and analysis of news and information.
Journalism comes in several different forms:
I. News
A. Breaking
news: Telling about an event as it happens.
B. Feature
stories: A detailed look at something interesting that's not breaking news.
C.
Enterprise or Investigative stories: Stories that uncover information that few
people knew.
II. Opinion
A.
Editorials: Unsigned articles that express a publication's opinion.
B. Columns:
Signed articles that express the writer's reporting and his conclusions.
C. Reviews:
Such as concert, restaurant or movie reviews.
Online journalism also comes in the forms listed above:
● Blogs: Online diaries kept by individuals or
small groups.
● Discussion
boards: Online question and answer pages where anyone can
participate.
● Wikis: Articles that any reader can add to or
change.
The best journalism is easy to read and just sounds like
a nice, smart person telling you something interesting.
There are several different forms of journalism, all with
diverse audiences. In modern society, "prestige" journalism is said
to serve the role of a "fourth
estate", acting as a watchdog on the
workings of the government. Other forms of journalism feature in different
formats and cater to different audiences.
Some forms include:
·
Advocacy journalism – writing to advocate
particular viewpoints or influence the opinions of the audience.
·
Investigative journalism: the use
of investigation on a subject matter while uncovering news events.
The recent rise of social media has resulted in arguments
to reconsider journalism as a process rather than attributing it to particular
news products. From this perspective, journalism is participatory, a process
distributed among multiple authors and involving journalists as well as the
socially mediating public.
Writing for
good journalism
Here are the keys to writing good journalism:
● Get the facts, as many as you can.
● Tell your readers where you got every bit of
information you put in your story.
● Be honest about what you do not know.
● Don't try to write fancy.
● Keep it clear.
Start your story with the most important thing that
happened in your story. This is called your “lead.” It should summarize the
whole story in one sentence. From there, add details that explain or illustrate
what's going on. You might need to start with some background or to “set the
scene” with details of your observation. Again, write the story like you were
telling it to a friend. Start with what's most important then add background or
details as needed. When you write journalism, your paragraphs will be shorter
than you are used to in classroom writing. Each time you introduce a new source,
you will start a new paragraph. Each time you bring up a new point, you will
start a new paragraph. Again, be sure that you tell the source for each bit of
information you add to the story.
Whenever you quote someone's exact words, you will put
them within quotation marks and provide “attribution” at the end of the quote.
Sometimes, you can “paraphrase” what a source says. That
means that you do not use the sources exact words, but reword it to make it
shorter, or easier to understand. You do not use quote marks around a
paraphrase, but you still need to write who said it.
Journalistic integrity is based on the principles of
truth, accuracy and factual knowledge.
Journalistic mediums can vary diversely, from print
publishing to electronic broadcasting and from newspaper to television
channels, as well as to the web, and to digital technology.
In modern society, the news media is the
chief source of information and opinion about public affairs.
Journalism, however, is not always confined to the news
media or to news itself, as journalistic communication may find its way into
broader forms of expression, including literature and cinema.
In a democratic society, however, access to free
information plays a central role in creating a system of checks and balance,
and in distributing power equally between governments, businesses, individuals,
and other social entities.
Access to verifiable information gathered by independent
media sources, which adhere to journalistic standards, can also be of service
to ordinary citizens, by empowering them with the tools they need in order to
participate in the political process.
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