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What is JOURNALISM? Journalism-

is thecraftof conveyingnews, descriptive material andcommentvia a wideningspectrum of media. These includenewspapers, magazines,radioandtelevision, theinternetand even, more recently, thecell phone. They are also awriters, editorsorphotographers; broadcast presenters or producers—serve as the chief purveyors of information and opinion in contemporary masssocietyAccordingto BBC journalist, Andrew Marr, "News is what theconsensus of journalists determines it to be."From informal beginnings in theEuropeof the18th century, stimulated by the arrival of mechanizedprinting—in due course bymass productionand in the 20th centurybyelectronic communications technology —today's engines of journalistic enterprise includelargecorporationswith global reach.

The FORMAL JOURNALISM

The formalstatusof journalism- has varied historicallyand, still varies vastly, from country to country. Themodern stateandhierarchical power structuresin general have tended to see the unrestricted flow of information as a potential threat, and inimical to theirown proper function.Hitlerdescribed the Press as a"machine for mass instruction," ideally, a "kind of school for adults."

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Journalism at its most vigorous,by contrast, tends to be propelled by the implicationsat least of the attitude epitomized by the Australian journalist John Pilger: "Secretive power loathes journalists who do their job, who push back screens,peer behind façades, and lift rocks. Opprobrium fromon high is their badge of honor."Censorship, governmental restriction or even activerepression of individual journalists and non-stateorgans of communication continue to cause, at best,intermittent friction in most countries. Few formaldemocraciesand noauthoritariangovernments make provision for protection of press freedomimplied bythe term

Fourth Estate

The INTERNET TECHNOLOGY

The rapid rise of Internet technology, in particular theadvent of bloggingandsocial networking software, further destabilize journalism as traditionallyunderstood and its practitioners as a distinctprofessional category. Combined with the increasingleakage of advertisingrevenue from pre-existing journalistic media into the internet, the full impact of the arrival of thecitizen journalist—potentially positive(proliferation having thus far proved more difficult topolice) as well as negative—is yet to be seen.

THE ELEMENTS OF JOURNALISM

According to

The Elements of Journalism

, a book byBillKovachand Tom Rosenstiel, there are nine elementsof journalism. In order for a journalist to fulfill theirduty of

providing the people with the information they need tobe free and self-governing. They must follow theseguidelines:1.Journalism's first obligation is to the truth.2.Its first loyalty is to the citizens.3.Its essence is discipline of verification.4.Its practitioners must maintain an independencefrom those they cover.5.It must serve as an independent monitor of power.6.It must provide a forum for public criticism andcompromise.7.It must strive to make the significantinteresting, and relevant.8.It must keep the news comprehensive andproportional.9.Its practitioners must be allowed to exercisetheir personal conscience.In the April 2007 edition of the book, they have addedone additional element,

the rights and responsibilitiesof citizens

to make it a total of ten elements of journalism.

Article topics and writing

Articles- are written about topics that are considerednotable by the editors of the publication, withnotability varying depending on the focus andaudience of the publisher. Large agencies orcompanies may have reporters that are specialized todiscuss specific topics (a

beat

); smaller agencies aremore likely to have a small number of reporterscovering all areas of interest.Investigative reports may cover lengthy stories that require days or weeksto gather sufficient information. Articles must beproduced to meet a limiteddeadlinedetermined bythe broadcast or print time of the specific publicationand working hours may vary according to thedeadlines set and depending on projects or last-minutedevelopments may be long or irregular.

Styles

Newspapers and periodicals often containfeatures (seeFeature style) written by journalists, many of whom specialize in this form of in-depth journalisticwriting.Feature articles are usually longer forms of writing;more attention is paid to style than in straight newsreports. They are often combined with photographs,drawings or other "art." They may also be highlightedby typographic effects or colors.Writing features can be more demanding than writingstraight news stories, because while a journalist mustapply the same amount of effort to accurately gatherand report the facts of the story, he or she must alsofind a creative and interesting way to

write

it. The

lead

(or first two paragraphs of the story; seeNut graph)must grab the reader's attention and yet accuratelyembody the ideas of the article.

In the last half of the 20th Century the line betweenstraight news reporting and feature writing hasblurred. Journalists and publications today experimentwith different approaches to writing. Tom Wolfe,Gay Talese,Hunter S. Thompsonare some of these examples. Urban and alternative weekly newspapersgo even further in blurring the distinction, and manymagazines include more features than straight news.Some television news shows experimented withalternative formats, and many TV shows that claimedto be news shows were not considered as such bytraditional critics, because their content and methodsdo not adhere to accepted journalistic standards.National Public Radio, on the other hand, is considereda good example of mixing straight news reporting,features, and combinations of the two, usually meetingstandards of high quality. Other US public radio newsorganizations have achieved similar results. A majorityof newspapers still maintain a clear distinctionbetween news and features, as do most television andradio news organizations.

STYLE OF JOURNALISMSports journalism

Sports journalism -covers many aspects of humanathleticcompetition, and is an integral part of most journalism products, including newspapers,magazines, and radio and television news broadcasts.While some critics don't consider sports journalism tobe true journalism, the prominence of sports inWestern culture has justified the attention of journalists to not just the competitive events in sports,but also to athletes and the business of sports.Sports journalism in the United States has traditionallybeen written in a looser, more creative and moreopinionated tone than traditional journalistic writing;the emphasis on accuracy and underlying fairness isstill a part of sports journalism. An emphasis on theaccurate description of the statistical performances of athletes is also an important part of sports journalism.

Science journalism

Science journalism- is a relatively new branch of journalism, in which journalists' reporting conveysinformation on science topics to the public. Science journalists must understand and interpret verydetailed, technical and sometimes jargon-ladeninformation and render it into interesting reports thatare comprehensible to consumers of news media.Scientific journalists also must choose whichdevelopments in science merit news coverage, as wellas cover disputes within the scientific community witha balance of fairness to both sides but also with adevotion to the facts.

Investigative journalism