Journalism:

Definition: Journalism is the activity of gathering, assessing, creating, and

presenting news and information. It is also the product of these activities.
or
Journalism refers to the activity of collecting, compiling, and delivering fact-based
news and other related information to the general public in an unbiased manner.

Types of Journalism:
Print Journalism
● With Print Media being the most traditional type of Journalism, it is mainly
concerned with the practice of reporting news and related content through
newspapers, magazines and periodicals.
● In earlier times, newspapers were the most powerful medium for those
wanting to voice certain issues that are prevalent in society.
Broadcast Journalism
● Broadcast journalism is an umbrella term that refers to any reporting that is
broadcast on television, radio, or the internet.
● Common types of broadcast journalism include day-to-day breaking news
stories, entertainment, investigative, opinion, and sports journalism.
Business Journalism:
● Business journalism aims to keep readers and viewers up-to-date on the
trends and changes in the business world.
● It can cover many different topics, including stock trading, economic policy,
business mergers, and technological advances.
Entertainment journalism
● Entertainment journalism covers various topics, including celebrities, film,
music, festivals, and awards ceremonies.
● This form of journalism also includes profiling celebrities, actors, and
musicians.

Investigative journalism
Investigative reporters’ goal is to shine a light on a particular topic or injustice. The
biggest investigative stories stir public debate, inform politics, and shape
history—like investigative journalist Bob Woodward’s reporting on the Watergate
scandal.
Opinion journalism
● Opinion journalism is a field that showcases the writer’s opinion rather than
solely reporting new data or events.
 ● Most opinion journalism pieces centre on a particular subject, which the
journalist discusses either briefly or at length before providing their opinion
on the matter.
● Advice columns, op-eds, reviews, and letters from the editor all fall under the
umbrella of opinion journalism.
Photojournalism
● Photojournalism is the art of taking pictures to tell news
stories—whether it’s a shot of a burning building, a melting glacier, or a
group of people in a warzone.
● Photojournalism shoots can either be candid, heat-of-the-moment
reporting, or can occur under calmer circumstances, where the
journalist documents action like daily life or environmental changes.
Political journalism
Political journalism keeps the readership informed of the political happenings in a
particular area—whether local government, national government, or international
policy.
Sports journalism
Sports journalism covers sports-related topics, including coverage of games and
discussion of players and strategy, and profiles that spotlight specific players,
coaches, or teams.
Watchdog journalism
● Watchdog journalism aims to protect society from illegal activities or
corruption, especially within their governments or economic structures.
● Watchdog journalists monitor the actions of particular organisations—from
governments to political campaigns to large corporations—to ensure that
illegal activities are not occurring.
● If they discover corruption, watchdog journalists will report the findings
immediately to hold the organisation responsible.

Role of Journalism and How it has changed over the years:

1. The greatest change is the conception of the journalist as an individual with

singular powers to steer the direction of public discourse.
2. In more formal terms, it’s the power to set the “news agenda,” which
determines which topics and issues are included in the news— and those
which are omitted.In truth, this gatekeeping function of journalism held sway
for a relatively limited period of time
3. Journalism is experiencing considerable changes linked to social, cultural,
economical, and technological transformations.
4. Social media brings new characteristics like interactive dialogue and social
interactions. Journalists can now have real conversations with their audience.
5. Without journalism, the world would be ignorant. Journalism is important
because it gives current and relevant information and news to the public.
 6. The history of journalism is a complex thing. The first form of journalism was
the newspaper. It progressed over time and became more digital
7. Over the years, journalism has changed a lot. Now a lot of journalism is
digital. There’s television, radio, computers and phones, and there is social
media. With people nowadays, it’s important to know everything
8. The fourth pillar of democracy is the media: It is a connecting link between
government and people in a way that provides citizens with knowledge about
government acts, policies and inefficiencies.

News Values and News Sense:

● News Sense:It is that intuitive feeling that a particular topic will make a good
story. For journalists, it's an ability to know what will connect with their
readers
● News Values: Journalists focus on maintaining news values to increase
newsworthiness. The importance of news is a common principle that
determines how media outlets give priority to the news story. The 12 news
values in journalism are:
● Proximity- Proximity refers to the area of the event where the incident takes
place. It also indicates the location of the news event.
● Controversy- Controversy means a conflicting news story that adds
newsworthiness. It is also known as disagreement of the news event: the more
controversial the news, the more critical the report to the readers.
● Personal Influence- Personal influence refers to the prominence of the person
to the newsworthiness. A famous person always plays a significant role in
increasing the news value
● Suitability- Suitability denotes the involvement of the public in the topics. The
news story is more newsworthy if more people are involved with the issue.
● Impact- Impact refers to the physical influence of news writing on a large
audience
● Bizarre- Journalists publish strange events to attract audiences. It added value
to the news and boosted circulation.
● Human-Interest- Human-interest news stories get attention from a massive
number of people automatically. It includes the much-talked events and issues
of the country.
● Timelines-Timeliness in journalism means providing information to the
audience quickly. The quicker the news is published, the more important
getting to the audience
● Progress-Progress news in journalism refers to the sensational update of the
current news or events that journalists focus on to attract more audiences, and
delivered through press conferences and seminars.
● Genuineness-Genuine news means an authentic story collected from a
trustable source. People always want to know the facts of the news.
 ● Completeness-Complete news includes 5Ws and 1 H news writing methods.
The five Ws and one H rules of report writing denote the who, what, when,
where, why, and how. A journalist should find all these questions’ answers to
make the report comprehensive for the audience.
● Negativeness-Negative news spreads faster than positive. People discuss and
share negative events more than ordinary news.

3 Principles:

● Accuracy: Accuracy is a very important feature of communication. It includes

both accurate information and accurate expression. The information should
be correct and well-expressed. Overwriting, wrong spellings, grammatically
incorrect structures— these are some reasons for misunderstanding. Accuracy
of expression requires that there should not be any errors of spellings,
punctuation, grammar or usage.
● Brevity: Brevity is the quality of being brief. It is a striking feature of written
communication. Brevity means giving maximum information in the minimum
number of words possible. It can be achieved by avoiding wordiness and
repetition. It saves the time of the writer and the reader also.
● Clarity: The message should be clear, well-planned and expressed in a logical
way. It should not be ambiguous. Clearly written messages avoid
misunderstanding and save time. Vague or ambiguous expressions must be
avoided. Clarity paves way for readability.

Roles and Responsibilities of a Journalist:

● Journalists have a duty to report the news thoroughly and without bias.

Responsibilities:

1. Collect, verify and analyse thoroughly newsworthy information.

2. Assemble findings into a stable story.
3. Write and deliver news stories with the reader's perspective in mind.
4. Publish or broadcast news stories.
5. Receive assignments or investigate news leads/tips.
6. Abide by journalism's ethics and codes.
7. Contact, interview and research sources
8. Maintain notes and audio recordings
9. Cooperate with reporters, chief editor, producers etc
10. Stay up-to-date with the latest current events in the “beat” by studying
papers, attending events etc.

Roles:

1. To Inform the public

 2. The journalist places the public good above all else and uses
certain methods – the foundation of which is a discipline of
verification – to gather and assess what he or she finds.
3. Journalists must strive to present an accurate, well-balanced
explanation of the stories they cover. For example, they have an
obligation to present all sides of an issue, and to conduct
extensive research and talk to several sources knowledgeable
about the subject.
4. Serving the Public as a Watchdog: They should hold the
government and others in power accountable to the citizens. By
being independent from the government, they can monitor
power and serve as an information source and not a propaganda
mouth.
5. Upholding the Truth through Verification; A journalist is
responsible for reporting the truth, This means that he should
consistently test every fact used in his story, including
researching all information shared with him by his sources,

Fake News & Disadvantages:

Fake news is false or misleading information presented as news. Fake news often has
the aim of damaging the reputation of a person or entity, or making money through
advertising revenue.
The spread of fake news can have both personal and academic consequences. In a
perfect world everything reported would be based only on facts and you would be
able to trust that the media you consume is reliable. But unfortunately that’s not the
case. You should learn to spot false information because fake news can:
● Call into question the credibility of your sources
● Provide you with false, misleading, or deceptive information used to make a
decision or take action
● Confirm your biases.
● Lead to lack of belief or trust in scientific findings
The rapid spread of Fake News and disinformation online can have profound
consequences. Examples include:
• Distrust in the media

• Undermining the democratic process

• Platforms for harmful conspiracy theories and hate speech

• Spread of false or discredited science – e.g. anti-vax movement

Media Bias and Social Media:
 ● The job of journalists is not to stamp out bias. Rather, the journalist should
learn how to manage it. And to do that, the journalist needs to become
conscious of the biases at play in a given story and decide when they are
appropriate and may be useful, and when they are inappropriate.
● Media bias is the bias of journalists and news producers within the mass
media in the selection of many events and stories that are reported and how
they are covered.
● Social-media platforms are an important gateway to the work of journalists,
who must learn to operate on them.
● Within the platforms, we have the ability to also hop in and define our
relationship, how we’re going to access them and how we’re going to
communicate through them.”
● Social media and journalism go hand in hand and, despite what many purists
would say, the increased digitisation of our society has only enhanced this
field. In fact, we would go as far as to say that social media changed the
journalistic field forever
● journalists not only benefit from the exposure that digital environments bring,
but also have unlimited amounts of information available at their fingertips.
● the Internet and social media are polluted with a ton of fake news and
misinformation. As everything that spills into the digital void can't be
fact-checked, it can be difficult to separate the facts from the falsities.
● Media outlets are known to report news in a biassed way, potentially affecting
the beliefs of news consumers and altering their behaviours. Therefore,
tracking bias in everyday news and building a platform where people can
receive neutral and unequivocal news information is important.

Types & Forms of Journalism:

1. Citizen Journalism:
● Journalism that is conducted by people who are not professional
journalists but who disseminate information using Web sites, blogs,
and social media.
● Citizen journalism has expanded its worldwide influence despite
continuing concerns over whether citizen journalists are as reliable as
trained professionals
● . Citizens in disaster zones have provided instant text and visual
reporting from the scene.
● People in countries affected by political upheaval and often in countries
where print and broadcast media are controlled by the government
have used a variety of technological tools to share information about
hot spots
● Citizen journalism, also known as collaborative media, participatory
journalism, democratic journalism, guerrilla journalism or street
 journalism,is based upon public citizens "playing an active role in the
process of collecting, reporting, analysing, and disseminating news and
information.

2. Mobile Journalism:
● Mobile journalism is an emerging form of new media storytelling where
reporters use portable electronic devices with network connectivity to gather,
edit and distribute news from his or her community.
● Such reporters, sometimes known as mojos (for mobile journalists), are staff
or freelance journalists who may use digital cameras and camcorders, laptop
PCs, smartphones or tablet devices. A broadband wireless connection or
cellular phone network is then used to transmit the story and imagery for
publication.

3. New Media
● New media is any media – from newspaper articles and blogs to music and
podcasts – that are delivered digitally.
● From a website or email to mobile phones and streaming apps, any
internet-related form of communication can be considered new media.
● The meteoric rise of new media journalism might have been driven primarily
by advancements in technology, but a general dissatisfaction with existing
forms of journalism also played a role.
● Sometimes traditional media journalists lived up to their own standards of
neutral and unbiased reporting, and sometimes they didn’t. In the last quarter
of the 20th century, likely in an effort to increase profits the lines between
traditional media journalism, advertising, entertainment, and agenda-driven
reporting became rather blurry.
● New media journalism — reporting and opinion provided by what are often
called “citizen journalists” — exploded in terms of type, number, and
popularity.

4. Effect of Technology on News

● AI platforms can be used to help journalists fact-check in real time and
generate automated news coverage.
● Journalism is also benefiting from AI technology since it largely
involves gathering and analysing datasets to determine if a story exists.
The trend is a lot more mainstream than one might think
● Proper application of gadgets will surely help the journalists to look
into the matter of gathering information in a proper manner.
Technology has changed the ways of delivering news and giving
 information. Digital technology, wireless connectivity etc. are the ways
of getting the proper information within less time
● Chat Apps Are the Way Forward: Over the past few years, we’ve seen a
huge increase in the number of people using services like WeChat and
WhatsApp. News organisations have noticed this increase and, as a
result, they have started experimenting with using these platforms.

History of Journalism: Has been full of twists and turns since its inception.

Newspapers:

1. Although the first printing press was imported into Bombay as early as 1670
by the Parsi businessman Bhimjee Parikh, it was more than a hundred years
before the first newspaper was printed.
2. The first newspapers in Bombay were owned and printed by Parsis, who
already owned the technological and financial basis for such ventures.
3. The first English newspaper in Bombay was printed by Rustomji Keshaspathi
in 1777.
4. The first vernacular newspaper in Bombay was the Gujarati daily Mumbai
Samachar, published in 1822 by Fardoonjee Marzban. first newspaper in an
Indian language that distinction was held by the Bengali newspaper Sangbad
Kaumudi, published from Calcutta)
5. Mumbai Samachar is still being published, and is India's oldest newspaper.
The first Marathi daily Dig-Dursan appeared in 1837, and the first
Hindu-Gujarati newspaper, Vartaman in 1849 (in Ahmedabad).
6. Initially the newspapers concentrated on social issues. In 1851 Dadabhai
Naoroji started the first political paper-- Rast Goftar. In later years, when K.
N. Kabraji became the publisher, he stopped all political commentary and had
a public exchange of letters with Naoroji in which each accused the other of
deviating from the original agenda.
7. In 1878 the Government of India passed the Censorship Act. Protests from the
press had no effect. Four years later, in 1882, the newspaper Kaiser-i-Hind
was founded by Framjee Cowasji Mehta. This became a platform for the
fledgling Congress from its inception in 1885. The leading British newspaper
of this time was the Times of India.
8. Madras Gazette was a weekly newspaper published in Madras, Madras
Presidency, British India and one of the first in India. Madras Gazette
competed with the Madras Courier for printing Government notifications.
9. Chandrika Samachar started in Bengal in 1882.
10. Udant Martand in the year 1826 from Bengal became India's first Hindi
Newspaper.
11. The Mutiny of 1857 defined the divide between India and British Owned
Newspapers and changed the face of Journalism.
12. Gagging act was imposed in the same year limiting the freedom of Press.
 13. Kesari was founded in 1881 by Lokmanya Tilak.
14. Indian Press has evolved to a great extent in the last 2000 Years.
15. When the Indian National Congress was established in 1885, a number of
newspapers in several languages had large readerships. The Tribune, Kesari,
Spectator, Indu-Prakash, Maratha, Amrita Bazar Patrika, The Pioneer, The
Bengalee, The Englishman, The Hindu and others in all parts of India enjoyed
a high reputation and large circulations. Meanwhile, -the periodical
journalism also surfaced at this point of time. The Illustrated Weekly was
brought out in Bombay and the Capital was founded in Calcutta. Besides The
Hindustan Review, and Indian Review also came into being as monthly
journals.

Journalism in Emergency:

Nehru’s Contribution:

● With the arrival of independence in August, 1947, a new era amved in India in
which the role of the press changed slowly. It had to shoulder new
responsibilities now. After assiduously contributing to the attainment of
freedom, the press by and by assumed the role of an adversary.
● Jawaharlal Nehru, India's first Prime Minister, was a true democrat and an
instinctive champion of the liberty of the press. He bestowed tremendous
encouragement on the print media during the 17 years that he was at the helm
of affairs of the country.
● The late M. Chalapathi Rao, thus assessed Nehru's contribution: "In the
period after Independence, Nehm played a large part in shaping all thinking
about the press, as Gandhiji had done before Independence.
● He was opposed by powerful sections of the press, but he could carry on easily
because he was a product of adult suffrage, had mass appeal and vast
majorities, while newspapers still represented a small segment of opinion. But
he stood for tolerance and accepted that as vigorous, critical. The press was a
vital part of democracy, while expecting dignity, knowledge and high
standards.

Rise of Nationalist Media in Pre Independence Time:

 ● The growth and development of the press in India was profusely facilitated by
the nationalist movement for freedom, the press also lent a tremendous boost
and served as an effective instrument of the nationalist struggle against the
British.
● It frequently took up cudgels with the authorities and transmitted the
message of freedom to the masses of India and raised the public conscience
against the repressive British regime, and its atrocities in India.
● The rules and regulations promulgated during 1857, where the first war of
independence was waged against the British regime in India, were aimed at
curbing the press. One of these laws was later known as the "Ganging Act'' No.
XV of 1857. This act revived numerous merciless measures against the press in
the country.
● Vernacular Press Act: Lord Lytton enforced the Vernacular Press Act on
March 1, 1878, for controlling the newspapers.
● The law came down heavily on the press. Under these regulations, any district
magistrate or a police commissioner was empowered to force the printer and
publisher of a newspaper to agree not to publish certain kinds of material, to
demand security, and to confiscate any printed matter it deemed to be
objectionable.
● It came as a big blow to the Press of India
● When Queen Victoria assumed the title of "Empress of India" in 1857,
nationalist leaders demanded a greater role in the conduct of government
affairs in India.

Sources of News:

The major news sources for journalists are Radio T.V. newspapers and magazines,
their own correspondents, press, interviews, press conferences, police stations,
courts and handouts, press releases and press notes:

1. Radio: Almost all newspapers in the country monitor news from the major
foreign radio networks and publish the information. They also listen to the
national broadcast for news.
2. Television: Another important source of news the newspapers listen to the
news telecast by TV. The news telecast by T.V. also carries the reputation of
evening authenticity. Besides supplying the news, the T.V. reports give a
pictorial view of an even
3. Newspapers and Magazines: The newspapers and magazines, both in national
and international contain good material for publication by the newspapers
4. Correspondents: The newspaper has their own correspondents based inside
and outside the country. The correspondents keep in touch with their
 respective organisation and report events of their newspapers interest. The
newspapers have a subdivision of different fields and reporters
5. Press Interviews: One yet another important source of the news for the
newspaper. Interviews are secured to obtain information pertaining to
different activities and fields. Men in the news are interviewed subject to the
requirement of the newspapers for securing publicity material.
6. Press Conferences: Newspapers give new coverage to the press conferences
addressed by various personalities. The press conferences addressed are called
or arranged by personalities who want to make some point known to the
public. A statement is made at the start of the press conference explaining the
precise reason for calling the press conference.

● Inverted Pyramid:

In journalism, the inverted pyramid refers to a story structure where the most
important information (or what might even
be considered the conclusion) is presented
first. The who, what, when, where and why
appear at the start of the story, followed by
supporting details and background
information.

● Editorial and Role of an Editorial:

An editorial leading article or leader (UK) is an article written by the senior

editorial people or publisher of a newspaper, magazine, or any other written
document, often unsigned. Australian and major United States newspapers, such as
The New York Times and The Boston Globe,often classify editorials under the
heading "opinion".