GHELEC2X REVIEWER MESOPOTAMIAN ORIGINS:
A BRIEF HISTORY OF TRAVEL WRITING:
➢ Pausanias (AD 110 – c. 180) was a
Greek traveler and geographer who
explored the Greek empire, writing
down detailed notes as he went, the
result of which was his Description of
Greece. In it, he talks about
architecture and natural history,
religious ritual and art. His work left an
important and, by many accounts,
accurate description of the civilization.
➢ Journey through Wales (1191) and
Description of Wales (1194), written in
Latin by Gerald of Wales, attempted to
offer a guide to the country. In
Description of Wales (Descriptio
Cambriae) he describes the good bits
firstly about his fellow country folk,
writing: ‘The Welsh go to extremes in all
matters. You may never find anyone
worse than a bad Welshman, but you
will certainly never find anyone better
than a good one.’ In the second book
of the volume, he describes the bad
bits.
ANCIENT, MEDIEVAL AND MODERN TIME OF
TRAVEL WRITING:
➢ Full writing-systems appear to have
been invented independently at least
four times in human history: first in
Mesopotamia (present-day Iraq)
where cuneiform was used between
3400 and 3300 BC, and shortly
afterwards in Egypt at around 3200 BC.
By 1300 BC we have evidence of a
fully operational writing system in late
Shang-dynasty China. Sometime
between 900 and 600 BC writing also
appears in the cultures of
Mesoamerica.
➢ There are also several places such as
the Indus River valley and Rapa Nui
(Easter Island) where writing may have
been invented but it remains
undeciphered.
➢ Although these dates suggest that
writing could have spread out from
one central point of origin, there is little
evidence of any links between these
systems, with each possessing unique
qualities.
➢ Scholars generally agree that the
earliest form of writing appeared
almost 5,500 years ago in
Mesopotamia (present-day Iraq). Early
pictorial signs were gradually
substituted by a complex system of
characters representing the sounds of
Sumerian (the language of Sumer in
Southern Mesopotamia) and other
languages.
➢ From 2900 BC, these began to be
impressed in wet clay with a reed
stylus, making wedge-shaped marks
which are now known as cuneiform.
➢ The process of writing cuneiform
stabilised over the next 600 years.
Curves were eliminated, signs simplified
and the direct connection between
the look of pictograms and their
original object of reference was lost.
➢ Sometime during this same period, the
symbols – which were initially read from
top to bottom – came to be read from
left to right in horizontal lines (vertical
alignments were kept for more
traditional pronouncements) In
keeping with this, the symbols were
also realigned, rotated 90 degrees
anti-clockwise.
➢ in 2340 BC, Sumer fell to the armies of
Sargon, King of the Akkadians, a
northern Semitic people who had
previously co-existed with the
Sumerians. By this time, cuneiform had,
for several centuries, been used
bilingually to write Akkadian too.
Sargon, the latest in a line of expansive
Akkadian leaders, built an Empire that
ran from present day Lebanon down
to ‘the nether sea’ (the Persian Gulf).
Eventually, as many as 15 languages
would use cuneiform-inspired
characters.
➢ Sumerian lingered on as the language
of learning until at least 200 BC.
Cuneiform, the system invented to
record it, however, outlived it by
almost three centuries: it lasted as a
writing system for other languages well
into the Christian era. The last datable
document in cuneiform is an
astronomical text from 75 AD.
EGYPT:
➢ New discoveries have pushed
back the date for writing in Egypt
 close to that of Mesopotamia.
Discoveries of large-scale incised
ceremonial scenes at the rock art
site of El-Khawy in Egypt date to
around 3250 BC. They show
features similar to early
hieroglyphic forms. Some of these
rock-carved signs are nearly half a
metre in height.
➢ From 3200 BC onwards Egyptian
hieroglyphs appeared on small
ivory tablets used as labels for
grave goods in the tomb of the
pre-dynastic King Scorpion at
Abydos and on ceremonial
surfaces used for grinding
cosmetics, such as the Narmer
Palette.
➢ Writing in ink using reed brushes
and pens is first found in Egypt. This
ink writing came to be known in
Greek as hieratic (‘priestly’ script),
whilst the carved and painted
letters we see on monuments are
called hieroglyphs (‘sacred
carvings’).
➢ Carved and written characters are
close in date. This suggests that
from the earliest times, writing in
Egypt had two functions: one was
ceremonial, a display script
(carved), the other was in the
service of royal and temple
administrations (written).
➢ Within four centuries of the finds in
King Scorpion’s tomb, hieroglyphs
and Hieratic (a cursive writing
system used for Ancient Egyptian)
developed a full range of
characters. This included:
• 24 uni-consonantal
symbols- (an ‘alphabet’
containing various
consonants only)
• Phonetic components-
representing combinations
of sounds
• Determinative signs- (signs
with no phonetic value,
used only to determine
which of several
alternative meanings for a
word is meant in a
particular context).
➢ It is from this Egyptian writing that
an alphabet would first evolve,
sometime from 1850 BC onwards.
➢ Osiris, also called Usir, one of the
most important gods of ancient
Egypt. The origin of Osiris is
obscure; he was a local god of
Busiris, in Lower Egypt, and may
have been a personification of
chthonic (underworld) fertility. By
about 2400 BCE, however, Osiris
clearly played a double role: he
was both a god of fertility and the
embodiment of the dead and
resurrected king. This dual role was
in turn combined with the Egyptian
concept of divine kingship: the
king at death became Osiris, god
of the underworld; and the dead
king’s son, the living king, was
identified with Horus, a god of the
sky. Osiris and Horus were thus
father and son. The goddess Isis
was the mother of the king and
was thus the mother of Horus and
consort of Osiris. The god Seth was
considered the murderer of Osiris
and adversary of Horus.]
CHINA:
➢ The earliest examples of writing in
China were found near present-day
Anyang, on a tributary of the Yellow
River, 500km south of Beijing. Here, the
kings of the late Shang dynasty (1300–
1050 BC) had founded their capital
and carried out divination rituals using
animal bones.
➢ For centuries, fragments of bones had
been found by farmers and sold for use
in Chinese medicine as ‘dragon
bones’. It was not until 1899 that
politician and scholar Wang Yirong
(1845–1900) recognised characters
carved into the surface of some of
these bones and realised their
significance. As the earliest written
records of Chinese civilization found to
date, these inscriptions extended
Chinese historical and linguistic
knowledge by several centuries.
➢ These 'oracle' bones (the shoulder
blades of oxen and turtle plastrons)
record questions that were posed to
the royal ancestors about topics as
diverse as crop rotation, warfare,
childbirth and even toothache. To
date, nearly 150,000 examples of such
bones have been found, containing
over 4,500 different symbols, many of
which can be identified as the
 ancestors of Chinese characters still in
use today.
➢ But Shang readers would not be able
to read present-day Chinese and the
majority of the characters on the
oracle bones remain undeciphered.
Even the characters that can be
identified have evolved considerably
in terms of their function and form. Not
only did pictographic characters
become gradually more abstract, but
as the written vocabulary expanded,
more compound forms developed.
➢ Basic components were shared
between characters to reflect
similarities in pronunciation or meaning.
In this way, since ancient times,
Chinese characters have been able to
represent both concepts and the
sounds of spoken language to varying
degrees.
➢ The bones show a fully developed
writing system which must have been
formed many years – perhaps
centuries – earlier, although earlier
materials have not yet been
discovered and may not have
survived.
MESOAMERICA:
Recent discoveries have pushed the evidence
for writing in this area – which runs from
southern Mexico to Costa Rica – close to 900
BC. The discoveries have also widened the
range of cultures and languages that we know
used writing from the Maya, Mixtecs and
Aztecs to include the earlier Olmecs and
Zapotecs. There were two types of writing
systems in pre-colonia Mesoamerica:
1. Open systems -were means of
recording texts that were not linked to
the grammatical and sound structures
of specific languages. They functioned
as mnemonic devices, guiding readers
through the narratives of texts without
relying on the linguistic background of
the given audience. These were
common among the Aztecs and other
Mexica communities of central
Mexico.
2. Closed systems- were tied to the
sound and grammatical structures of
specific languages. These were
targeted at particular linguistic
communities and functioned similarly
to the writing we know today.Examples
of these closed systems can be found
among the Maya.
➢ The position of scribe was of high
status. Maya artists were often
younger sons of the royal family.
The Keepers of the Holy Books, the
highest scribal office, acted as
librarians, historians, genealogists,
tribute recorders, marriage
arrangers, masters of ceremonies,
and astronomers.
➢ Just four Maya books survive from
the pre-colonial period and fewer
than 20 from the entire region.
These codices are painted onto
deer skin and tree bark, the writing
surface coated (as were many of
the buildings) with a polished lime
paste or gesso.
➢ There are still many unanswered
questions about the extent and
complexity of writing’s use in pre-
colonial Mesoamerica. Much of
the evidence is unavailable since
the vast majority of materials that
survived into the 16th century were
burned by the Spanish
conquistadors.
INDUS RIVER VALLEY (PAKISTAN AND
NORTHWEST INDIA):
➢ In the Indus River valley of
Pakistan and northwest India,
symbols have been found on
objects that may be writing.
The society that used these
symbols was the culmination of
a historical settlement in the
Indus region that goes back to
at least 7000 BC. A high urban
culture flourished for 700 years,
between 2600 and 1900 BC, at
which point the cities
declined.
➢ Although we have about 5,000
known inscribed artefacts and
the longest inscription consists
of 26 symbols, most are just
three or four signs long.
➢ The 400 unique symbols that
have been identified are too
low in number for a viable
logographic word-based
writing system. This number of
characters is similar to that
found in pre-dynastic Egyptian
hieroglyphs and early
Sumerian script. Scholars have
 therefore suggested that like
these two systems, the Indus
River Valley script may contain
a mixture of logographic and
syllabic components.
RAPA NUI (EASTER ISLAND, POLYNESIA):
➢ Around two dozen wooden tablets
inscribed with glyphs were discovered
on Rapa Nui in the 19th century.
Rongorongo, a term the Rapa Nui
themselves applied to these objects,
was interpreted by missionaries at that
time to mean ‘lines incised for
chanting out’. But knowledge of how
to use the tablets had already been
lost by that time.
➢ The characters reflect human, animal
and plant motifs. There are 120
elementary (un-joined) glyphs, which
have been used to write texts as long
as 2,320 characters and as short as just
two.
➢ Whether rongorongo is purely a
mnemonic device or a system of
logographic and syllabic symbols
remains an open question, as does its
claim to be a unique sixth point of
origin for a writing system.
CHANGE AND STABILITY:
❖ Very little about the origins of writing is
settled today and for this reason, it
continues to be an exciting area to
study. New archaeological discoveries
could easily change the dates of origin
in Egypt, China and Mesoamerica.
❖ Meanwhile, new decipherments, like
those we await for the scripts from the
Indus River Valley or the Rapa Nui
tablets could link up cultures we now
think of as separate.
TRAVEL LITERATURE DEVELOPING IN CHINA
AND ACROSS THE GLOBE:
❖ In China, around the 1300s, ‘travel
record literature’ was emerging – a
blend of narrative, prose, essay
and diary. These were accounts
that had an agenda, which
mapped the cultural and
topographical landscape in much
the same way as a cartographer
would map the geography.
Similarly, Gilles le Bouvier, a royal
messenger for Charles VII, travelled
widely across Europe, writing
about what he saw, not only for
the king he served but for a wider
audience.
Travel literature:
• It was an 18th-century audience that
became most receptive to travel
literature as it became a recognized
genre aimed at a newly mobile public
who were beginning to discover their
country and their world. Diaries from
explorers such as Captain James Cook,
Robert Falcon Scott and Alfred Russel
Wallace became best-sellers, as did
poems, novels and plays based in
exotic location from writers including
Charles Baudelaire, Walter Scott and
Lord Byron.
• There is a wealth of work, too, from the
rich toffs who embarked on the Grand
Tour to plunder the riches of Egypt and
fall in love with flower girls in Venice. It
is, for the large part, a self-indulgent
collection of overwrought
meanderings, although often
entertaining reads.
THE BEST TRAVEL AUTHORS:
✓ The author Robert Louis Stevenson
wrote several books with titles that
could easily appear on the shelves of
Daunt Books today: An Inland Voyage
(1878) and Travels with a Donkey in
Cévennes (1879) – which isn’t quite the
comedic romp it suggests (read Tim
Moore’s hilarious Spanish Steps for
that), but a valuable piece of writing
nevertheless.
STEVENSON WROTE:
For my part, I travel not to go anywhere, but to
go. I travel for travel’s sake. The great affair is to
move; to feel the needs and hitches of our life
more clearly; to come down off this feather-
bed of civilization, and find the globe granite
underfoot and strewn with cutting flints.’
It was with travel authors such as Bruce
Chatwin and Paul Theroux in the 1970s and
1980s, however, that ‘travel book’ as a
separate section in the library’s Dewey Decimal
Classification System was required. Here began
a body of work from both writers who would set
off, largely not knowing what to expect, but
with the sole purpose of returning with a book
for publication.
We cite these travel authors because they are
masters of the genre: Chatwin’s sparse prose
said as much about the art of travel as the
culture itself, and Paul Theroux’s wry
observations similarly offered a highly
subjective view. These writers were the
protagonists; it was their narrative, knowingly at
the center of the story, not just fly-on-the-wall
observers. It is a style that we most readily
recognize from newspaper travel sections and
magazines today, yet as we are to discover,
this is only one style among the vast range of
travel writing.
Baybayin
▪ is a writing system native to the
Philippines, attested from before
Spanish colonization through to at least
the eighteenth century.The word
baybay means “to spell” in Tagalog,
which was the language most
frequently written with the baybayin
script. Apart from Tagalog, baybayin
(with some necessary changes) was
used to write Ilocano (Iloko),
Kapampangan, Pangasinan, Bisaya,
and Bikol. The identification of
baybayin with languages other than
Tagalog is a contested subject, as I
describe below.
Journalism
❖ a form of writing that tells people
about things that really happened,
but that they might not have
known about already. People who
write journalism are called
"journalists." They might work at
newspapers, magazines, and
websites or for TV or radio stations.
The most important characteristic
shared by good journalists is
curiosity. Good journalists love to
read and want to find out as much
as they can about the world
around them. While Advertising is
the activity or profession of
producing advertisements for
commercial products or services.
Advertising
❖ is a marketing tactic involving
paying for space to promote a
product, service, or cause. The
actual promotional messages are
called advertisements, or ads for
short. The goal of advertising is to
reach people most likely to be
willing to pay for a company’s
products or services and entice
them to buy.
JOURNALISM COMES IN SEVERAL DIFFERENT
FORMS:
I.NEWS
A. BREAKING NEWS: Telling about an
event as it happens.
B. FEATURE STORIES: A detailed look at
something interesting that's not
breaking news.
C. ENTERPRISE OR INVESTIGATIVE STORIES:
Stories that uncover information that
few people knew.
II. OPINION
A. EDITORIALS: Unsigned articles that
express a publication's opinion.
B. COLUMNS: Signed articles that express
the writer's reporting and his
conclusions.
C. REVIEWS: Such as concert, restaurant
or movie reviews.
ONLINE, JOURNALISM:
• BLOGS: Online diaries kept by
individuals or small groups.
• DISCUSSION BOARDS: Online question
and answer pages where anyone can
participate.
• WIKIS: Articles that any reader can add
to or change.
REPORTING:
There are three main ways to gather
information for a news story or opinion piece:
❑ Interviews: Talking with people who
know something about the story you
are reporting.
❑ Observation: Watching and listening
where news is taking place.
❑ Documents: Reading stories, reports,
public records and other printed
material.
 The people or documents you use when
reporting a story are called your "sources."
In your story, you always tell your readers
what sources you've used. So you must
remember to get the exact spelling of all
your sources' names. You want everything
in your story to be accurate, including the
names of the sources you quote.
Lots of people have the same name, after
all. So you will also want to write down your
sources' ages, their hometowns, their jobs
and any other information about them that
is relevant to the story. Whenever you are
interviewing someone, observing
something happening or reading about
something, you will want to write down the
answers to the”
Five Ws" about that source:
• Who are they?
• What were they doing?
• Where were they doing it?
• When they do it?
• Why did they do it?
WRITING
HERE ARE THE KEYS TO WRITING GOOD
JOURNALISM:
❑ Get the facts. All the facts you can.
❑ Tell your readers where you got every
bit of information you put in your story.
❑ Be honest about what you do not
know.
❑ Don't try to write fancy. Keep it clear.
Start your story with the most important
thing that happened in your story. This is
called your "lead." It should summarize the
whole story in one sentence.
From there, add details that explain or
illustrate what's going on. You might need
to start with some background or to "set
the scene" with details of your observation.
Again, write the story like you were telling it
to a friend. Start with what's most
important, then add background or details
as needed.
When you write journalism, your
paragraphs will be shorter than you are
used to in classroom writing. Each time you
introduce a new source, you will start a
new paragraph. Each time you bring up a
new point, you will start a new paragraph.
Again, be sure that you tell the source for
each bit of information you add to the
story.
ADVERTISING ALSO COMES IN DIFFERENT
FORMS:
FINDING YOUR IDEAL CUSTOMER-When
trying to zero in on the types of people who
are more likely to need or want your goods
or services, and be willing to shell out hard-
earned cash for it, you might look at
demographic characteristics, such as:
• Age
• Gender
• Education Level
• Income Level
• Zip code
By more precisely defining who your
target customer is, you can better
choose advertising vehicles that will
reach more of your target customers
for less money. Sure, you can buy an
expensive ad in the Wall Street Journal,
for example, but if your best customers
live in the western Boston suburbs, you
can buy ads in local papers there for
far less.
WHERE TO ADVERTISE:
Traditional advertising outlets include
newspapers, magazines, TV and radio
stations. Today, however,
advertisements are placed nearly
everywhere and anywhere, including:
• Roadside Billboards
• Side of Building
• Websites
• Electronic News Paper
• Print News letter
• Inside Bills
• Product Packaging
• Restaurant Placement
• Event Bulletins
• Store Windows
• The Side of cars and trucks
• Subway car walls
• Airport Kiosks
• Sporting Arenas
• Youtube Videos
EFFECTIVE ADS
Advertising messages themselves are designed
to persuade an individual to buy a company’s
goods or services. Even in business-to-business
transactions, individuals have to first be
convinced to choose one product over
another. To accomplish this, ads have five main
components:
 HEADLINE - This is the key attention-
getting message. “Got milk?” is a
perfect headline. Or Wendy’s old,
“Where’s the beef?”
 SUBHEAD - Some ad headlines need
clarification, much like a book’s
subtitle.
 BODY COPY - The meat of the
advertising message occurs in the
main section where the product or
service’s features and benefits are
highlighted.
 IMAGE - Unless you’re advertising on
the radio, including a product photo,
or image illustrating a key benefit is
critical.
 CALL-TO-ACTION - At the end of the
ad you want to invite the consumer to
take a step towards doing business
with you, such as calling a toll-free
number, visiting a website, texting a
certain number, or pulling into the
drive-thru window.
While advertising is the only way to guarantee
that your message will be seen or heard, it is
expensive by comparison to other marketing
methods. For that reason, it is more popular
with large corporations and brands than small
businesses.
FIVE CORE PRINCIPLES OF JOURNALISM:
1. TRUTH AND ACCURACY- Journalists
cannot always guarantee ‘truth’, but
getting the facts right is the cardinal
principle of journalism. We should
always strive for accuracy, give all the
relevant facts we have and ensure
that they have been checked. When
we cannot corroborate information we
should say so.
2. INDEPENDENCE- Journalists must be
independent voices; we should not
act, formally or informally, on behalf of
special interests whether political,
corporate or cultural. We should
declare to our editors – or the
audience – any of our political
affiliations, financial arrangements or
other personal information that might
constitute a conflict of interest.
3. FAIRNESS AND IMPARTIALITY- Most
stories have at least two sides. While
there is no obligation to present every
side in every piece, stories should be
balanced and add context.
Objectivity is not always possible, and
may not always be desirable (in the
face for example of brutality or
inhumanity), but impartial reporting
builds trust and confidence.
4. HUMANITY -Journalists should do no
harm. What we publish or broadcast
may be hurtful, but we should be
aware of the impact of our words and
images on the lives of others.
5. ACCOUNTABILITY- A sure sign of
professionalism and responsible
journalism is the ability to hold ourselves
accountable. When we commit errors
we must correct them and our
expressions of regret must be sincere
not cynical. We listen to the concerns
of our audience. We may not change
what readers write or say but we will
always provide remedies when we are
unfair.
EIGHT PRINCIPLES OF ADVERTISING ETHICS:
The explosion of new media, new technologies,
and new opportunities is transforming the
marketing and advertising landscape and
revolutionizing the way the industry conducts
business. The only constant is the need for
transparency.
• PRINCIPLE 1 – Advertising, public
relations, marketing communications,
news, and editorial all share a
common objective of truth and high
ethical standards in serving the public.
Research shows that consumers place
high value in honest and ethical
advertising. While the industry has long
been committed to the highest
standards of truth and accuracy,
professionals must further enhance
their advertising ethics in order to build
and maintain consumer trust.
• PRINCIPLE 2 – Advertising, public
relations, and all marketing
 communications professionals have an
obligation to exercise the highest
personal ethics in the creation and
dissemination of commercial
information to consumers. The first
mission of the IAE is to educate industry
professionals about the importance of
truthful, ethical advertising. The goal is
to convey their responsibility to
demonstrate professionalism at all
times.
• PRINCIPLE 3 – Advertisers should clearly
distinguish advertising, public relations
and corporate communications from
news and editorial content and
entertainment, both online and offline.
As we continue to blur the line
between commercial communications
and editorial content, consumers are
increasingly being misled and treated
unethically. To avoid consumer
confusion and mistrust, the industry
must strive to clearly separate paid
advertising from actual news.
• PRINCIPLE 4 – Advertisers should clearly
disclose all material conditions, such as
payment or receipt of a free product,
affecting endorsements in social and
traditional channels, as well as the
identity of endorsers, all in the interest
of full disclosure and transparency. The
popularity of social media and word-
of-mouth marketing raises questions
about the credibility of content.
Advertisers must be transparent about
whether bloggers are expressing their
own opinions or are being
compensated by a brand. There must
also be full disclosure regarding the
authenticity of comments on
Facebook, Twitter and other social
media platforms.
• PRINCIPLE 5 – Advertisers should treat
consumers fairly based on the nature
of the audience to whom the ads are
directed and the nature of the product
or service advertised. Extra care must
be used when advertising to children
and other vulnerable audiences to
avoid misleading or mistreating them.
Advertisers should also use discretion
based on the nature of the product or
service, especially alcohol and
prescription drugs.
• PRINCIPLE 6 – Advertisers should never
compromise consumers’ personal
privacy in marketing communications,
and their choices as to whether to
participate in providing their
information should be transparent and
easily made. As marketers develop
increasingly advanced means of
online behavioral targeting, consumers
worry about their privacy. In response
to consumer concerns and
government warnings, marketing and
media trade associations are
launching an online self-regulatory
initiative to give consumers greater
control over the collection and use of
online viewing data.
• PRINCIPLE 7 – Advertisers should follow
federal, state and local advertising
laws, and cooperate with industry self-
regulatory programs for the resolution
of advertising practices. The Federal
Trade Commission, Better Business
Bureau and Food & Drug
Administration are just a few of the
regulatory bodies that advertisers can
look to for guidance regarding ethical
practices. The advertising industry has
also created an exceptional self-
regulatory program called the National
Advertising Review Council (NARC)
that covers both adult and children’s
advertising.
• PRINCIPLE 8 – Advertisers and their
agencies, and online and offline
media, should discuss privately
potential ethical concerns, and
members of the team creating ads
should be given permission to express
internally their ethical concerns. Taking
the time to discuss and resolve ethical
dilemmas is essential to practicing the
highest ethical standards. The industry
must maintain an open environment
where professionals feel free to express
their opinions, both positive and
negative. The main consideration
behind all advertising should be what is
best for the consumer, and this will
lead to the best plan of action.
THE ELEMENTS OF JOURNALISM:
JOURNALISM’S FIRST OBLIGATION IS TO THE
TRUTH- Good decision-making depends on
people having reliable, accurate facts put in a
meaningful context. Journalism does not
pursue truth in an absolute or philosophical
sense, but in a capacity that is more down to
earth. “All truths – even the laws of science –
are subject to revision, but we operate by them
in the meantime because they are necessary
and they work,” Kovach and Rosenstiel write in
the book. Journalism, they continue, thus seeks
“a practical and functional form of truth.” It is
not the truth in the absolute or philosophical or
scientific sense but rather a pursuit of “the truths
by which we can operate on a day-to-day
basis.” This “journalistic truth” is a process that
begins with the professional discipline of
assembling and verifying facts. Then journalists
try to convey a fair and reliable account of
their meaning, subject to further investigation.
Journalists should be as transparent as possible
about sources and methods so audiences can
make their own assessment of the information.
Even in a world of expanding voices, “getting it
right” is the foundation upon which everything
else is built – context, interpretation, comment,
criticism, analysis and debate. The larger truth,
over time, emerges from this forum.
As citizens encounter an ever-greater flow of
data, they have more need – not less – for
suppliers of information dedicated to finding
and verifying the news and putting it in
context.
ITS FIRST LOYALTY IS TO CITIZENS-The publisher
of journalism – whether a media corporation
answering to advertisers and shareholders or a
blogger with his own personal beliefs and
priorities — must show an ultimate allegiance to
citizens. They must strive to put the public
interest – and the truth – above their own self-
interest or assumptions.
A commitment to citizens is an implied
covenant with the audience and a foundation
of the journalistic business model – journalism
provided “without fear or favor” is perceived to
be more valuable than content from other
information sources.
Commitment to citizens also means journalism
should seek to present a representative picture
of constituent groups in society. Ignoring
certain citizens has the effect of
disenfranchising them.
The theory underlying the modern news
industry has been the belief that credibility
builds a broad and loyal audience and that
economic success follows in turn. In that
regard, the business people in a news
organization also must nurture – not exploit –
their allegiance to the audience ahead of
other considerations.
Technology may change but trust when
earned and nurtured will endure.
ITS ESSENCE IS A DISCIPLINE OF VERIFICATION-
Journalists rely on a professional discipline for
verifying information. While there is no
standardized code as such, every journalist
uses certain methods to assess and test
information to “get it right.” Being impartial or
neutral is not a core principle of journalism.
Because the journalist must make decisions, he
or she is not and cannot be objective. But
journalistic methods are objective. When the
concept of objectivity originally evolved, it did
not imply that journalists were free of bias. It
called, rather, for a consistent method of
testing information – a transparent approach to
evidence – precisely so that personal and
cultural biases would not undermine the
accuracy of the work. The method is objective,
not the journalist. Seeking out multiple
witnesses, disclosing as much as possible about
sources, or asking various sides for comment, all
signal such standards. This discipline of
verification is what separates journalism from
other forms of communication such as
propaganda, advertising, fiction, or
entertainment.
ITS PRACTITIONERS MUST MAINTAIN AN
INDEPENDENCE FROM THOSE THEY COVER-
Independence is a cornerstone of reliability.
On one level, it means not becoming seduced
by sources, intimidated by power, or
compromised by self-interest. On a deeper
level it speaks to an independence of spirit and
an open-mindedness and intellectual curiosity
that helps the journalist see beyond his or her
own class or economic status, race, ethnicity,
religion, gender or ego.
Journalistic independence, write Kovach and
Rosenstiel, is not neutrality. While editorialists
and commentators are not neutral, the source
of their credibility is still their accuracy,
intellectual fairness and ability to inform – not
their devotion to a certain group or outcome.
In our independence, however, journalists must
avoid straying into arrogance, elitism, isolation
or nihilism.
IT MUST SERVE AS AN INDEPENDENT MONITOR
OF POWER-Journalism has an unusual capacity
to serve as watchdog over those whose power
and position most affect citizens. It may also
offer voice to the voiceless. Being an
independent monitor of power means
“watching over the powerful few in society on
behalf of the many to guard against tyranny,”
Kovach and Rosenstiel write.
IT MUST PROVIDE A FORUM FOR PUBLIC
CRITICISM AND COMPROMISE-The news media
are common carriers of public discussion, and
this responsibility forms a basis for special
privileges that news and information providers
receive from democratic societies.
These privileges can involve subsidies for
distribution or research and development
(lower postal rates for print, use of public
spectrum by broadcasters, development and
management of the Internet) to laws
protecting content and free speech
(copyright, libel, and shield laws). These
privileges, however, are not pre-ordained or
perpetual. Rather, they are conferred because
of the need for an abundant supply of
information.
They are predicated on the assumption that
journalism – because of its principles and
practices– will supply a steady stream of higher
quality content that citizens and government
will use to make better decisions.
Traditionally, this covenant has been between
news organizations and government. The new
forms of digital media, however, place a
responsibility on everyone who “publishes”
content – whether for profit or for personal
satisfaction – in the public domain.
The raw material cast into the marketplace of
ideas sustains civic dialogue and serves society
best when it consists of verified information
rather than just prejudice and supposition.
Journalism should also attempt to fairly
represent varied viewpoints and interests in
society and to place them in context rather
than highlight only the conflicting fringes of
debate. Accuracy and truthfulness also require
that the public discussion not neglect points of
common ground or instances where problems
are not just identified but also solved.
Journalism, then, is more than providing an
outlet for discussion or adding one’s voice to
the conversation. Journalism carries with it a
responsibility to improve the quality of debate
by providing verified information and
intellectual rigor. A forum without regard for
facts fails to inform and degrades rather than
improves the quality and effectiveness of
citizen decision-making.
IT MUST STRIVE TO KEEP THE SIGNIFICANT
INTERESTING AND RELEVANT- Journalism is
storytelling with a purpose. It should do more
than gather an audience or catalogue the
important. It must balance what readers know
they want with what they cannot anticipate
but need. Quality is measured both by how
much a work engages its audience and
enlightens it. This means journalists must
continually ask what information has the most
value to citizens and in what form people are
most likely to assimilate it. While journalism
should reach beyond such topics as
government and public safety, journalism
overwhelmed by trivia and false significance
trivializes civic dialogue and ultimately public
policy.
IT MUST KEEP THE NEWS COMPREHENSIVE AND
PROPORTIONAL- Journalism is our modern
cartography. It creates a map for citizens to
navigate society. As with any map, its value
depends on a completeness and
proportionality in which the significant is given
greater visibility than the trivial. Keeping news in
proportion is a cornerstone of truthfulness.
Inflating events for sensation, neglecting others,
stereotyping, or being disproportionately
negative all make a less reliable map. The most
comprehensive maps include all affected
communities, not just those with attractive
demographics. The most complete stories take
into account diverse backgrounds and
perspectives. Though proportion and
comprehensiveness are subjective, their
ambiguity does not lesson their significance.
ITS PRACTITIONERS MUST BE ALLOWED TO
EXERCISE THEIR PERSONAL CONSCIENCE- Doing
journalism, whether as a professional writing for
a news organization or as an online contributor
in the public space, involves one’s moral
compass and demands a personal sense of
ethics and responsibility.
CITIZENS, TOO, HAVE RIGHTS AND
RESPONSIBILITIES WHEN IT COMES TO THE NEWS-
The average person now, more than ever,
works like a journalist.
Writing a blog entry, commenting on a social
media site, sending a tweet, or “liking” a
picture or post, likely involves a shorthand
version of the journalistic process. One comes
across information, decides whether or not it’s
believable, assesses its strength and
weaknesses, determines if it has value to others,
decides what to ignore and what to pass on,
chooses the best way to share it, and then hits
the “send” button.
Though this process may take only a few
moments, it’s essentially what reporters do.
not allowed to go outside but thru social media
we have very reliable source about news,
products, services and etc. we should always
filter news which truth and authentic once.

DIFFERENCE BETWEEN JOURNALISM AND

ADVERTISING:

❖ Advertising-is something a company

wants to say, regardless of whether it’s
useful, informative or relevant to the
audience.
❖ Journalism-is useful, informative and
relevant to the audience, regardless of
whether it’s something a company
wants to say.

❖ By definition then, advertising is usually

content a company has to push at the
audience — often by paying for
placement. Journalism is content that
people seek out and pull to them.

❖ Just a generation ago, journalism

almost always meant content
generated by journalists, who were
deputized by the mainstream media.
The idea that companies could create
journalism was laughable. Or, if
journalists created stuff for companies,
they would be shunned by their peers.
When I was younger, if a journalist
moved into PR even for a second, the
journalistic code dictated that he or
she could never return.

❖ In the digital media age, that’s

changed. It’s become possible for
companies to generate journalism,
and for the audience to accept it.

❖ Those are successful journalistic

endeavors because the companies
behind them understand the
difference between journalism and
advertising. They are creating content
that is useful, informative, and relevant
to their audiences, regardless of what
the companies want to say.

❖ And here’s the interesting double-twist:

When companies let go and actually
create good journalism, the audience
appreciates it. The good journalism
can do more to build goodwill for the
brand than advertising that
masquerades as pseudo-journalism.

Social media is the very useful tool for reaching

news especially in this pandemic time we are