INSTRUCTIONAL MATERIALS FOR

SEEN 30173

CAMPUS JOURNALISM

COMPILED BY

MARIA JOSIEFEL ANN R. MAAPOY

Overview

Becoming a journalist is not as easy as wishing to a genie in a bottle or to a fairy

godmother. It entails unending hard work and interminable practice. However, before doing so,
one has to learn from reliable sources and to be guided by the experiences of credible
practitioners.

This composed of 11 chapter, this is designed for budding writers whose laboratory is
the school publication. That charter are chopped into three units: (1) Linking Campus Paper
Correctness. The (2) Journalistic Writing Skills and (3) On Campus Paper Correctness.

Aside from the comprehensive discussion of rudiments of Campus Journalism, this book
also offers a basketful of writing opportunities and extending activities towards the end of each
chapter. It keeps abreast with the outcomes-based education model being implemented in both
basic and tertiary educational system.

Table of Contents

Unit 1 LINKING JOURNALISMM AND THE CAMPUS PAPER

Chapter 1. Foundational Concepts on Journalism

Scope and Nature of Journalism

Journalism versus Literature

Tenets of Journalism

Killer of Balanced Reporting

Functions of Duties of the Press

Limitations of the Press

Chapter 2. The Campus Paper and the Publication Staff

The National Newspaper

The Campus Paper

A Brief History of Campus Journalism

 Functions of Campus Paper

Aid to Students

Aid to School and Community

Parts of the Campus Paper

Parts of the front Page

Parts of the Editorial Page

The Sports Page

Selection of the Publication

Duties and Responsibilities of the Publication Staff

The publication‟s Policies

UNIT II. JOURNALISTIC WRITING SKILLS

Chapter 3. The News: A Backgrounder

Understanding News

News in School Papers

Characteristics of a Good News

Types of News Stories

Chapter 4. Stairway to News Writing: Technique and Principles

Source of News

More Source of News

Rules of Thumb in News Gathering

Stages in Interview

Steps in Conducting the Interview

 Structure of News

Chapter 5. Getting Started: Crafting the Good Lead

Parts of the News

The Lead

Major Classification of Lead

Kinds of Grammatical Beginning Lead

Kinds of Novelty Lead

Reason for Using Novelty Lead

Rules of Thumb in Lead Writing

Chapter 6 In focus: Writing the Whole News Story

More Concepts on News Writing

Qualities of News

The Do‟s of News Writing Style

Transitional Devices

The Mystery in Winning News Writing Competitions

Other Winning Tips in News Writing Contest

Chapter 7 Creativity Matters: Writing Feature Articles

Feature Story: Its Concepts and Nature

Characteristics of Feature Stories

Qualities of ell-written feature story

Types of Features Stories

The effective Feature Writer

 Sources of Features

The stages of Writing a Feature Story

Writing the Feature Story

Chapter 8:Scuffle of Opinions: Writing Editorials

Editorial: Its Definition and Concepts

Functions of Editorial

Types of editorial

Editorial Structure

Duties of an Editorial Writer

Some Techniques in Beginning Editorial

Some Techniques in Ending Editorial

Chapter 9 Personal Viewpoint: Writing Columns

Column Writing: Its Nature and Concepts

Types of Columns

Tips in Writing Columns

Suggestions for beginning columnists

Some more tips on column writing

Sample columns

UNIT III ENSURING CORRECTNESS AND CONSISTENCY

Chapter 10 Copyediting: Cleaning the Copy & Writing the Headline

Copyediting Defined

Editing
 Proofreading

Copyediting or copy reading

The work process

Procedures in Copyediting

Copyediting Symbols

Journalistic Writing

Tips for Accurate Reporting Editing

Omitting Verbal Deadwoods

Avoiding Redundancies

Using Simple Words

Concrete and Precise Writing

The Headline

Functions of Headlines

Guidelines in Headline Writing Headline Vocabulary

Chapter 11: Publication Style Guide: A Sample

Uses of Titles

Spelling

Quotations

Use of Numbers

Capitalization

Use of Punctuation
Module Objectives

Identify the tenets of journalism

Name the functions of and duties of the press
Compare and contrast journalism and literature
Explain freedom of the press
Critic the strengths and weaknesses of select articles

Course Materials

Journalism is concerned, primarily, with the collection and dissemination of news

through the print media as well as the electronic media. This involves various areas of work like
reporting, writing, editing, photographing, broadcasting or cable casting news items. It covers
the printed media that comes in the form of broadsheets, tabloids, newsletters and magazines.

As regards its etymology, journalism comes from the Latin word, diurnal, which means
daily. That is why there is the word journal – daily register of one‟s activities. Hence, journalism
is a communication of day-to-day information, whether through sounds, pictures and words.
Few places where journalism may appear include newspapers, magazines, televisions, radios
and internet.

Newspapers are the oldest and most traditional format for the inclusion of journalism.
They are regularly schedule publications containing news of current events, informative articles,
diverse features and advertising. Indeed, newspaper originally started life as „journals‟, from
which the word „journalism‟ is derived.

Newspaper played a large role in the development of freedom of expression. Inside

sources with the ability to leak stories to the press often choose newspapers first over any other
medium due to the perceived willingness of their editors to expose corruption and lies among
otherwise respected institutions.

Magazines, on the other hand, are publications containing a variety of articles that are
generally published on a regular schedule, whether it be weekly, monthly or quarterly. They
usually take a much more relaxed format than newspapers, with more informal style to their
writing. They are also usually focused on a particular subject or area of interest, whereas
newspaper articles can cover almost any topic. First published in 1731 in London, The
gentleman‟s Magazine is considered the first general-interest magazine. Its editor, Edward Cave
(who wrote under the pseudonym „Sylvanus Urban‟), was one of the very firsts to use term
„magazine‟.

Television news journalism, including radio, is known as news broadcasting and is

produced locally in a newsroom or by a broadcast network. It sometimes also includes such
additional material that the broadcaster considers relevant to the intended audience. Most major
television channels offer regular news broadcasts through the day.

Internet communications have excelled in the last decade or so, of course, taking the
way news is published with it. There are now an uncountable digitized number of reputable and
not-so-reputable sources of information on the internet. Everything from digitized versions of the
very newspapers that headed up the first print media movements hundreds of year ago, to
independent bloggers reporting their own stories from the comfort of their own laptops. Because
of this, opinions are much easier to come by, and users can seek out the same story from
multiple sources to get more of a balanced view more than they ever could in the past.

These make the scope of journalism to be very broad indeed, as almost every form of
media these day can be used as an expression of opinion or conduit of information.

Journalism Versus Literature

All journalistic ventures are grounded on facts, on truth and on actuality. Redundant as it
may, facts are the foundation of all the ambits of journalism.

Journalism and literature are both forms of writing, consumed by the public and have
relative style. They may be guided by set rules. Literature is based on the wandering
imagination of a writer. It is categorized into prose and poetry. Journalism, on the other hand,
has main genres that include news, editorial and features. Journalistic genres follow the strict
method of dividing ideas through paragraphs while literature has a variety of forms and styles.

For instance, Jonas, a writer wishes to come up with a story about ghosts. He now starts
imagining the appearance of the ghosts and creates a plot which includes the conflict, the
climax and the resolution of the conflict. Jonas is writing a literary piece.

Marla, on the other hand, also writes about ghosts. However, before she starts writing
about them, she interviews persons who have allegedly seen them. The appearance of ghosts,
including the persons‟ beliefs about them, is written into an entertaining way. Hence, the output
is packed with facts.

In this scene, Jonas writes a literature, a short story in particular while Marla does a
feature story, a journalistic article. Jonas writes based on his imagination while Marla writes
based on facts.

Tenets of Journalism

Going into the road of journalism entails not only knowledge but also responsibilities.
Hence, their journalists are bound by strict guidelines. Journalists have rights, but they must
bear on shoulders the duties to serve the interest of the public.

1. Responsibility. Journalist should always be aware of their obligations to their readers to

write the truth whatever it costs. For this reason, journalists must be brave enough to
defend facts and the truth behind news. In this sense, the journalists‟ main responsibility
is to be the transmitter of veracity in any issue, and that they are liable not to the
company but to the public.
2. Freedom of the Press. As a basic right, freedom of the press should be safeguarded by
the people of media. In this case, a topic under the sweltering heat of the sun may be
written so long as there is no infraction to the existing laws of the land.
3. Independence. Putting forward the life of one or two persons by slashing the welfare of
the general public is a clear violation of this tenet. It, therefore, means that the services
of a journalist should be committed to the interest of the general public and not driven by
the interest of money called “envelopmental journalism.”
4. Objectivity, Truthfulness and Accuracy. Checking the veracity of data and information
before they are published is an example of being accurate and truthful. Since facts are
the solid foundation of journalism, media men should not therefore conceal the truth by
fabricating facts and by publishing misquoted statements and erroneous statistics.

Objectivity, on the other hand, is simply avoiding conflicts of interest on the treatment of
the articles and on the way arguments and news are written.

Partisan news and biased interviews violate the ideals of journalism; ergo, a journalist
should know the difference between news and opinion. Readers and journalists alike, believe
that newspaper should be objective. Thus, reporters receive training from those who know
journalistic rules, and learn to resolve whatever conflict they may have.
 5. Farness. The whole point in advocating objectivity is to be fair in presenting information
in any journalistic filed. Remember, the public will see the topic according to the way
journalist present it; hence, reporters should exercise telling the truth and putting
information in the right perspective.

Killers of Balanced Reporting

There are worthy concepts that novice journalists must be wary about. Concepts that kill
balanced reporting must be avoided.

1. Yellow Journalism. This is simply sensationalizing a story or an issue. It is a type of

journalism that presents little or no legitimate well-researched news and instead uses
eye-catching headlines to sell more newspaper. Techniques may include
exaggerations of news events, scandal-mongering or sensationalism. Most showbiz
stories are grounded on this type of journalism which appeals to the curiosity of the
readers and viewers.
2. New Journalism. The new journalism expanded the definition of journalism and
legitimate journalistic reporting and writing techniques. They also associated
journalism with fiction when they described their work with phrases such as
“nonfiction novel” and “narrative techniques of fiction.” In so doing, they ignited a
debate over how much like a novel or short story a journalistic piece could be before
it began violating journalisms commitment to truth and facts. This approach
represents a return to the roots of social reporting which was used in Charles
Dickens‟ fiction.
3. Advocacy Journalism. This is a genre of journalism that, unlike propaganda, is
fact-based but supports a specific point of view on an issue. Advocacy journalists are
expected to focus on stories dealing with corporate business practices, government
policies, political corruption and social issues. Arguably, advocacy journalists serve
the public interest in a way similar to muckrakers or whistle blowers. Most advocacy
journalists reject the supposed objectivity of the mainstream press as a practical
impossibility, and some others take the position that the economic censorship
exerted by corporate sponsors is no different from political censorship.
4. Stylistic Journalism. It emphasizes imaginative, stylized writing of stories and
considers newspapers as “the literature of immediate fact.”
 5. Editorializing. This is giving the reporter‟s opinion rather than the fact. It may also
mean the expanding of news about an insignificant happening to give publicity to a
subject.

Functions and Duties of the Press

If you have fully made up your mind to go into the path of journalism and the media, you
have to be acquainted with your vast roles and primordial functions.

1. The quality of the newspaper must be reflected in the editorial policy. It is more than
just a business because it also reflects and influences the life of the whole academic
community.
2. Newspapers must have integrity and readers‟ confidence.
3. Newspapers may educate, stimulate, assist or entertain. It is therefore a moral
responsibility to balance public interest and the gains.
4. The fundamental quality of the newspaper rests on the quality of the content and the
kind of editorial product. It is responsible for the rise of the readers‟ educational level
and resurgence of an articulate, active young generation.
5. Freedom of the press encompasses responsibility of the newspaper. Freedom of the
press and responsibility are inseparable. Responsibility of the press means truth in
the news – truth tempered with mercy, decency and humility.
6. The press must practice the principles of journalism without bias and self-interest.

Limitations of the Press

Pulitzer prize-winning author David Broeder (USA Today, Aug. 12, 1987) as cited by
Pangilinan (2012), averred that reports are flawed. Hence, reports are not that compete and
may bear mistakes. The limitations of the press may be traced upon the timeframe within which
an article should be submitted for publication. Remember that journalism secures the freshness
of the information. Therefore, when a journalist is ina hurry to beat the deadline, he may not
have enough time to reach all the sources of information. Subsequently, reporters will be unable
to present the story in as many perspectives as a journalist should showcase.

This implies that readers or the information-consuming public should judge vert critically
the articles, the reports, including the photos. Readers should know how to ask questions that
are left unanswered, in the same manner when journalists dig for facts and additional
information.

Activities/Assessments

1. Compose a reflection paper on the importance of journalism in your life as a person in

society.
2. Crate a 50 word instance where the following may be seen.
a. Responsibility of the news writer
b. Impartiality of the reporter
3. Using a Venn diagram, compare and contrast the nature of journalism from the scope of
literature.