Understanding Journalism

Barun Roy

Description

Journalism today is an upcoming and a popular career with bright prospects.This book captures the scintillating thrill, sensational excitement, and vivacious action associated with journalism. The career-seekers find it difficult to gain the basic knowledge and the nitty-gritty of this highly dynamic life. To fulfil the curiosity of the subject this book has come up as a solution and has gained immense popularity solely because it is a comprehensive book which deals with all aspects of media. The book envelops all the facets and streams related to journalism in a succinct presentation. It serves well the novices, students and practitioners alike and works as a fundamental, illuminative and informative text bearing all scholastic qualities.Anyone interested in journalism, mass communication, media, advertising or public relations would find this book educative and helpful.

Informations

• Publié par: V & S Publishers
• Date de parution: 09 janvier 2017
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9789350579206
• Langue: English

Extrait

Understanding Journalism
Gain the better understanding of communication process
Barun Roy
Published by:

F-2/16, Ansari Road, Daryaganj, New Delhi-110002
☎ 011-23240026, 011-23240027 • Fax: [phone]
Email: [e-mail] • Website: www.vspublishers.com
Regional Office : Hyderabad
5-1-707/1, Brij Bhawan (Beside Central Bank of India Lane)
Bank Street, Koti, Hyderabad - 500 095
☎ 040-24737290
E-mail: [e-mail]
Branch Office : Mumbai
Jaywant Industrial Estate, 2nd Floor–222, Tardeo Road
Opposite Sobo Central Mall, Mumbai – 400 034
☎ 022-23510736
E-mail: [e-mail]
Follow us on:
All books available at www.vspublishers.com
© Copyright:
Edition 2020 The Copyright of this book, as well as all matter contained herein (including illustrations) rests with the Publisher. No person shall copy the name of the book, its title design, matter and illustrations in any form and in any language, totally or partially or in any form. Anybody doing so shall face legal action and will be responsible for damages.
Publisher's Note

This book welcomes you to the exciting world of print journalism. The aim of this book is to help you gain a better understanding of the whole communication process in print media and to demonstrate how to use words to convey ideas and expressions as well as facts effectively.
Through this book, you will have a better understanding of your daily newspaper, and recognise it as a guardian to your country’s freedom and a protector of your right to be fully informed.
Introduction

Since the first, second and third editions were published, Beginners’ Guide to Journalism has become popular as an effective introduction to Journalism. Enthusiasts throughout the country have commented favourably on its clear instructions and step-by-step approach to news writing and editing skills. It is not a surprise thence that a need for the fourth edition of the book was felt by both, the readers and the publishers. In these eight years since the book was first published, Journalism has, as a subject of study and career, flourished immensely. This edition thus intends to deal with the new aspects of print journalism.
Being the latest and updated version, this edition has infused marked improvements in all compartments to facilitate greater understanding and grasp on the subject and effectively contribute to the field of Journalism. The entire text has been revised and updated without essentially disturbing the main contents of the book. All sections essentially contain many more of the professional journalistic details, examples and terms than did the first, second and third editions.
New examples of fine writing, superior photography, and outstanding page makeup from recent issues of some of the best newspapers in the world, including The Times of India , De Standaard , Morgunbladid , La Nacion , Hindustan Times , Ole , Kathimerine , Bahrain Tribune , National Post , The Vancouver Sun , Toronto Star , China Daily , etc. further enhance this edition.
CONTENTS 1. News Gathering 2. The News Lead 3. Putting the Story Together 4. Writing in Newspaper Style 5. Covering News 6. Colourful News Features 7. Describing a Personality 8. The Art of Making Columns 9. Planning an Editorial Page 10. Editorials - Voice of the Newspaper 11. Presenting Sports Action 12. Copyreading and Proofreading for Accuracy 13. Headlining a Story 14. Planning Interesting Pages 15. Pictures for the Paper 16. Advertising 17. Frequently Asked Questions 18. Journalism as a Career 19. Glossary 20. Important Newspapers fromAround the World
News Gathering
What is News?

Shyam Varma passed an English test today.
Satish Varma was nominated for ‘Outstanding Achievement Award’ today.
One of the above items is news for a local newspaper. The other is not. Why? The successful reporter develops a ‘nose for news’. He knows what his readers want, and how earnestly they want it. If he were to analyse why some happenings are news, while others are not, he would tell you:
“People are news. These people must be doing something. And what they are doing must interest the newspaper reader.”
This gives the formula:
People + Action + Reader Interest = News
The two examples at the beginning of this chapter now begin to make sense. There is a person in each, and there is an action in each. But the second sentence is newsworthy because the magnitude of the event is more than the first one.
Readers’ interest is the result of certain specific news elements. These elements are as follows:
1. Nearness
• A loud explosion severely damaged the Telephone Exchange building yesterday.
• A loud explosion severely damaged a building in Afghanistan.
Which news item is more interesting to the readers of a local newspaper?
An event that takes place nearby is of more interest to readers than something occurring far away. Daily newspapers tell of many happenings in their own area that would be of no interest to readers in another city. To the local newspaper reader, most events taking place within the community are of greater interest.
2. Timeliness
• Mrs. Sonia Gandhi is to visit Darjeeling next month.
• Mrs. Sonia Gandhi is to arrive in Darjeeling tomorrow.
• Mrs. Sonia Gandhi arrived in Darjeeling yesterday.

Which two of these sentences are more interesting?
The closer a news is at the time of a newspaper’s publication, the more timely, opportune and more interesting it becomes.
3. Importance
• My father left for Kolkata yesterday.
• The President of the United States will attend the special session of the Parliament today.
• A change in University graduation requirements affecting one student was announced today.
• A change in University graduation requirements affecting two thousand students was announced today.

One sentence in each pair has considerable news value. The other does not. Why?
The news element ‘importance’ might also be called prominence, size or consequence. The ‘bigness’ of anything is one of the main factors in generating reader interest. A daily newspaper will generally develop more reader interest with a story about a fire gutting a building worth crores of rupees than a fire resulting in damage of a mere hundreds of rupees.
4. Names
• An unidentified person was found shot dead in a hotel room today.
• Jacob D’souza, CEO Megamix Industries, was found shot dead in a hotel room today.
You may not know Mr. Jacob. But a number of people know him, however, and there is always a chance that you might be familiar with Mr. Jacob. People will read a news story with names in it because they are interested in seeing their own names or the names of friends or relatives in print. They will even search through long, boring lists trying to find a familiar name. Judicious use of names makes many stories of past events, which otherwise have lost their timeliness, worth printing in a newspaper.
5. Conflict
• Subash Sthapit is the only candidate running for election to the office of the Chairman of the Municipality.
• Sailesh Pradhan, Raju Biswas and Asif Iqbal have filed nominations for election to the office of Municipal Chairman.
This news element makes the most of dramatic situations. Mystery, suspense as well as conflict may be inherently present to add to its mass appeal. Elections, contests, discussions and arguments are interesting to readers because of opposing forces, frequently leading to drama and suspense. The sports stories are most sought after news in a daily because there is conflict and suspense involved in any game. Court trials create drama because of the clash between conflicting forces.
6. Variety
• An explosion in the market place left several injured.
• An explosion in the market place blew a two-year-old into pieces and left three adults severely wounded.
Any event that is new, strange, original and has never happened before, or is not likely to happen again develops readers’ interest.
7. Human interest
• Local nurses completed three-week training in childcare.
• A ten-year-old in college ? Students were amazed to see Rahul Rawat, a ten-year-old kid, walking into Room 306. He stormed out of the school after completing his 10+2 in two months with 98 per cent aggregate.
True, the second example is written in a more interesting way but it also contains a news element called human interest, which has to do with events in human life. Sadness, happiness, talent, achievement and success characterise human interest in the same way that these are a part of living. The activities of children often create human interest. Animal stories have similar appeal for many readers.
8. Examples for unusual incidents
• High level of violence, arson, bomb blasts has been planned during the polls...
Beacon 17 , Jan 15, 1998
• Steven Spielberg, the famous film director of Jurassic Park fame, has related his horror at discovering that he was the target of a homosexual stalker who planned to kidnap, torture and rape him.
Beacon, Jan 15, 1998
Funny or unusual incidents appeal to newspaper readers. Clever, positive or astounding people always attract the readers.
Traits a Good Reporter must have
A ‘Reporter’ is the most important person in the news-business. All news, whether intended for newspaper, magazine, radio or television, must be collected by someone. The person who does this job is the reporter. As long as there is a free press that is privileged to publish or broadcast facts, reporters will be needed to gather those facts.
Who are these men and women who perform the never-ending task of collecting bits of news and fitting them together into interesting paragraphs for the readers, listeners or viewers? They have become reporters in various ways. Many of them are college graduates; many have had wide experience in other fields of work. Some of the younger ones have been trained in college/schools of journalism; some have been writers, t