Understanding Journalism: Definition, News Values

What is Journalism?

• Journalism involves gathering, verifying, analyzing, and presenting news and information to the public.
• It is the activity of writing or preparing news for newspapers, magazines, news websites, or broadcasts.
• Pioneers like Benjamin Franklin, Joseph Pulitzer, and Walter Cronkite are considered fathers of journalism.
• News values like timeliness, relevance, proximity, prominence, impact, conflict, novelty, and human interest determine news selection.
• Various reporting types include hard news, soft news, investigative reporting, feature reporting, opinion reporting, and specialized reporting.

Evolution of Journalism

• Journalism has evolved through social, cultural, political, and technological changes.
• Key stages include the invention of writing and printing.
• Writing and printing enabled the creation and distribution of written records and documents, such as books, newspapers, and pamphlets.
• Yellow journalism, which emerged in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, was a style of sensational and exaggerated reporting that aimed to attract and influence readers by appealing to their emotions and prejudices.
• Investigative journalism, which emerged in the same period, was a style of in-depth and critical reporting that aimed to expose and challenge the corruption, injustice, and abuse of power by the authorities and institutions.
• Radio and television enabled audio and visual messages to be transmitted and received by a mass audience and revolutionized journalism by providing a more immediate, interactive, and diverse way of informing and entertaining the public.
• Digital and social media use the internet and mobile devices to create and share information and messages and have transformed journalism by providing a more accessible, personalized, and participatory way of communicating and engaging with the public.

Nature and Features of Journalism

• Journalism serves the public and has a social responsibility to inform, educate, and empower, upholding democracy, freedom, and justice.
• It should adhere to journalistic principles and ethics.
• It has a diversity and plurality of forms, formats, genres, styles, perspectives, and voices that reflect the variety and complexity of the world and its issues.
• It should respect and represent the diversity and plurality of the audience and the sources of information and messages.
• The field embraces creativity and innovation in methods, techniques, tools, and technologies for information production and dissemination.

Importance of Journalism

• Journalism informs and educates the public, providing knowledge to understand and participate in the world by reporting on events, issues, and ideas.
• It entertains and engages the public with appealing stories, characters, and emotions.
• It persuades and influences the public through opinions, arguments, and messages that shape attitudes and behaviors.
• It empowers and mobilizes the public, providing a voice, platform, and action to express and assert their rights and interests.

Major Types of Journalism

• Print journalism uses printed media like newspapers, magazines, and books and includes subtypes like tabloid, business, sports, and literary journalism.
• Broadcast journalism uses electronic media like radio and television and includes subtypes like news, entertainment, documentary, and talk show journalism.
• Digital journalism uses the internet and mobile devices and includes subtypes like online, multimedia, data, and social media journalism.
• Citizen journalism uses personal and participatory media like blogs, podcasts, and videos and includes subtypes like grassroots, activist, collaborative, and crowdsourced journalism.