journalism

1. Sushila Shekhawat

2. Role of the Press
 Prior to independence –exposing the brutality of the
british regime
 Regulations were defied to keep the nation informed.
 After independence ,the first press Commission-help
protect and secure a social order in which
justice(social, political and economic) would prevail
 Press should act as a watchdog
 Hasten the process of social and economic change.
 Credibility -the life blood of the news media.
 Power of the press was limited

3. The first newspaper in India was published by James Augustus Hicky
in January 29,1780.
 Bengal Gazette and announced itself as “a weekly political and
commercial paper open to all parties but influenced by none”.
Bengal Gazette was a two-sheet paper measuring 12 inches by 8
inches, most of the space being occupied by advertisements. Its
circulation reached a maximum of 200 copies.
Within six years of Bengal Gazette, four more weeklies were launched
in Kolkata (then Calcutta).(started by Englishmen)
Madras Courier was launched in 1782.(Richard Johnson)
Bombay Herald was launched in 1791. Bombay Courier was
launched in 1792. It published advertisements in English and
Gujarati.

4.  In 1799, the East India administration passed regulations to
increase its control over the press.
 The first newspaper Bengal Gazette under Indian
administration appeared in 1816.
 Published by Gangadhar Bhattacharjee.
 A liberal paper ,advocated the reforms of Raja Ram Mohan
Roy.
 Raja Ram Mohan Roy brought out a magazine in Persian
called Miratool Akbar.
 Aim was social improvement and to create awareness
 Also published The Brahmanical Magazine, an English
periodical to counteract the religious propaganda of the
Christian missionaries of Serampore.
 In 1822, the Chandrika Samachar was started in Bengal.

5.  The Uprising of 1857 brought out the divide between
Indian owned and British owned newspapers. The
government passed the Gagging Act of 1847 and the
Vernacular Press Act in 1876.
 After 1857, the pioneering efforts in newspapers shifted
from Bengal to Mumbai.
 Gujarati press made great progress under the efforts of
Ferdunji Marzban and Kurshedji Cama. Marathi
journalism followed close behind with a distinctive
educational bias.

6.  Same time, Amrita Bazar Patrika established itself in
Kolkata.
 Starting out as a vernacular paper, it was constantly in
trouble due to its outspokenness.
 In order to circumvent the strict provision of the
Vernacular Press Act, Amrita Bazar Patrika converted itself
overnight into an English newspaper.
 Amrita Bazar Patrika inspired freedom fighter Lokmanya
Tilak to start Kesari in Pune.
 He used Kesari to build anti-cow killing societies, Ganesh
mandals and reviving the Chhatrapati Shivaji cult. He used
mass communication as a powerful political weapon.

7.  Indian news was supplied by special correspondent and
government hand-outs (press releases), international news
was supplied by Reuters, an international news agency.
 Newspapers in this period started reflecting popular
political opinion.
 big English dailies were loyal to the British government, the
vernacular press was strongly nationalist.
 The Leader and Bombay Chronicle were pro-Congress.
 The Servant of India and The Bombay Chronicle were
moderate.
 The Bande Mataram of Aurbindo Ghosh, Kal of Poona and
Sakli of Surat were fiercely nationalist.

8.  The Home Rule Party started Young India, which later
became Mahatma Gandhiji’s mouthpiece.
 Indians started learning English, many became reporters,
editors and even owners. The Anglo-Indian press began to
loose ground except in Bombay and Calcutta.
 In 1927, industrialist G D Birla took over Hindustan Times
and placed it on a sound financial footing.
 In the same year, S Sadanand started the Free Press
Journal, a newspaper for the poor and the middle-class in
Mumbai.

9. Journalism
 Craft, profession and a culture industry
 Technologies acted as facilitators-printing press,
telegraph
 Industrial revolution, growth of capitalism,
democracy, public sphere provided impetus

10.  Involves specialization in one area(editorial, design,
photojournalism, printing,marketing,etc)
 Skills required-computing and internet
 Types
 Electronic,Mobile ,Internet(online) journalism
 Radio and television journalists-special demands of
audio-visual media
 Stand –up reporting(Anchoring, Camera work,
editing)
 Online journalists –specialists in writing for the digital
media
 Mobile journalists-news in no more than 160
characters

11.  Journalist-Anybody who contributes in some way to
the gathering of news, selection and processing of
news and current affairs for the press, radio, film,
television, cable, the internet
 Journalism is the profession to which they belong
 Stringers-part time journalists
 Freelancers-occasional contributors(Working
Journalists act,1955)

12. Definition-french word-journal
latin term-diurnalis-daily(Acta Diurna-handwritten
bulletin in ancient Rome-first newspaper)
writing characterized by a direct presentation of facts
or descriptions of events without an attempt at
interpretation, can be defined as journalism.
 It can be termed as the profession or practice of
reporting about, photographing, or editing news
stories for one of the mass media.
 Different from other professions
 Open profession

13.  Journalism is a contemporary report of the changing
scene ,intended to inform readers of what is
happening around them
 Journalism depends on one’s news values
 Journalistic process-four distinct parts
 Information Gathering-making
observations,interviewing,conducting
research,reporting
 Planning-checking verifying information,plotting the
story
 Writing-putting the story together in a form that is
interesting,clear and succinct
 Production-fitting the news into newspapers

14. C .Rajagopalachari- “I want to look upon Journalism as
an art and not as an industry.Journalists are like
painters and poets rather than factory workers. They
are really creating works of art… .”

15. Formats of newspapers
 Broadsheet(serious or quality press)
 Tabloid stories Journalism-(popular or sensational) eg.
Midday,The Afternoon,Dispatch
 Also yellow Journalism
 Sensationalize and trivialize events, issues and people
 Also Cheque book journalism, keyhole journalism or
sting journalism(Tabloid)
 Page 3 Journalism(tabloid)-social life of celebrities
 Different kinds of news stories

16.  Journalism involves the sifting and editing of
information, comments and events into a form
recognizably different from the pure form in which
they first occurred.
 Its about putting ideas, information,events and
controversies into context

17.  Selection and presentation
 Assessment of the validity, truthfulness or
representativeness of actions or comments.
 News-linked with journalism
 New, Interesting and True

18. Types of Journalism
 Fashion Journalism
 News journalism
 Celebrity journalism
 Investigative journalism
 Sports journalism
 Environmental journalism
 Business and finance journalism
 Yellow Journalism

19. Influences on Journalism
 Ownership and control
 Financial-expensive,labour intensive operation,
need to produce profit/meet audience’s targets
 Time, Space and Technology-deadline
 Bureaucratic -fit in with pre-ordained and
inflexible requirements of newsrooms and work
routines

20.  Journalism is about more than reporting news
 It has an important watchdog role
-Selecting, assessing and editing information
-Describing events
-Probing and testing claims and
statements(political,social and economic elites)
-Acting as a watchdog for the public benefit

21.  Investigating issues of concern and claims of wrong-
doing appear to be against public interest
 Provide outlets for, and stimulating comment and
opinion
 Presented in an engaging way and appropriate to the
medium of transmission

22. News
 Product and point of view
 Product-gathered,processed,packaged and sold
by newspapers,news services,news
magazines,other
periodicals,radio,television,cable stations and
networks
 What people think it is.

23.  Stanly walker of The New York Herald Tribune-news
is more unpredictable than the winds.sometimes it is
the repetition with new characters of tales as old as
the pyramids and again it may be almost outside the
common experience.
 Joseph Pulitzer of The New York World-
original,distinctive,romantic,thrilling,unique,curious
,quaint,humorous,odd and apt to be talked about.
 News is something that will make people talk
 News is something that interests people

24.  Differences newspapers and magazines
 Readership patterns,vehicle for topical news,large
circulation
 Magazine-specific readership-location,special
interest,community,gender
 Newspapers is mix of hard and soft news and
features including sport,finance,foreign
affairs,opinion analysis,,reviews,leaders,etc.
 Magazines-breaking news,photofeatures,product
reviews,horoscopes,advice,competitions,,advertisi
ng features

25.  Sue Green-National Council for Training Journalists
 Writing for newspapers is more urgent than writing
for magazines, which are usually produced weekly,
fortnightly, monthly or quarterly.
 newspapers are more tightly constrained by space
whereas magazines allow for more in-depth,
descriptive and timeless pieces.

26. Basic determinants of news
 Impact
 Prominence
 Unusual
 Money
 Conflict
 Sex
 Religion
 Human interest
 Mystery
 Science
 Entertainment
 Minorities

27. NEWS
 New-least difficult, something just or recently
happened
 interesting
 To whom
 Eg. hundreds of jumbo jets took off ,flew and
landed without incident
 A jumbo jet crashes with the hundreds of lives
lost

28.  True
 Assessment, coherence, conciseness and objectivity
 Unbiased without no direct involvement

29. Types of news
 Hard news
 Soft news
 Features
 Editorials
 Reviews

30.  Hard news
› Hard news is an important category of news , a
broad and hetrogenous category. : news of politics
and government and stories about taxes, science
and medicines, the economy and business. Hard
news also includes stories about conflict and
about death and destruction : house fire and auto
accident ; train wrecks and plane wrecks, war and
battles; famines and flood, murder and rape,
robberies and hold ups , criminal cases of all
kinds , trials, convictions and executions , human
tragedy and deaths
› Straight news, interpretive news, human interest

31.  Soft news-light news-features, human interest stories,
news of engagements and weddings, sports, leisure
activities
 Features: release from the structural and stylistic
restrictions of hard news allowing creativity of thought and
opinions
 A feature story (also feature article, or simply feature) is a
piece of journalistic writing that covers a selected issue in-
depth. As such, a feature need not address an immediately
topical subject as would be expected of a news story, is
usually considerably longer, and may well present an
opinionated view.
 Informing, enlightening, guiding covering subjects of
popular concern

32.  Editorials: An article that states the
newspaper’s stance on a particular issue.
Basically, it is a persuasive essay that offers a
solution to a problem. Formal language

33. What are the Ws and H
•Who
•What
•When
•Where
•Why
•How(Introduction,
Explanation,Amplification,Tie-up)

34.  Introduction-a summary of the main points of a story
 Explanation-following on from the summary in the
intro and giving more detailed information on the
participants, description of the circumstances
surrounding the story local angle etc.
 Amplification-elaborating each of the points in the
first two sections with background information,
quotations, eye-witness accounts, etc.
`
 Conclusion-tying up the loose ends of the story

35. Reasons for the Inverted Pyramid
• Makes reading easier and faster
• Enables the hurried reader to get all the
important facts in a very short period of
time
• Satisfies curiosity in a logical way
• Makes the work of the copydesk easier