INTRODUCTION TO JOURNALISM

1
UNIT 1-JOURNALISM
1.0 UNIT OBJECTIVES

 To understand the meaning of Journalism

 To discuss the terms and definitions of Journalism
 To study the role of Journalism
 To trace the history of Journalism

1.1 INTRODUCTION

Journalism as a craft, a profession and even as a trade or business is over two

centuries old. It was made possible by the coming together of a number of
technologies as well as several social, political and economic developments. The
main technologies that facilitated the development of large-scale printing and
distribution of print material were the printing press.

1.2 MEANING AND DEFINITION OF JOURNALISM

Journalism is a form of communication based on asking, and answering, the

questions Who? What? How? Where? When? Why?

Journalism is anything that contributes in some way in gathering, selection,

processing of news and current affairs for the press, radio, television, film, cable,
internet, etc.
Journalism is a discipline of collecting, analyzing, verifying, and presenting news
regarding current events, trends, issues and people. Those who practice journalism
are known as journalists.

Journalism is defined by Denis Mc Quail as ‘ paid writing for public media with
reference to actual and ongoing events of public relevance’.

Journalism can also be defined as:

1. The collection and editing of news for presentation through the media
2. The public press
2
 3. An academic study concerned with the collection and editing of news or
the management of a news medium
4. Writing characterized by a direct presentation of facts or description of
events without an attempt at interpretation
5. Writing designed to appeal to current popular taste or public interest

The words ‘journalist’, ‘journal’ and ‘journalism’ are derived from the French
‘journal’ which in its turn comes from the Latin term ‘diurnal is’ or ‘daily’. The
Acta Diurna, a handwritten bulletin put up daily in the Forum, the main public
square in ancient Rome, was perhaps the world’s first newspaper. Later,
pamphlets, gazettes, news books, news sheets, letters came to be termed as ‘news
paper’. Those who wrote for them were first called news writers and later
journalists.

Thus, Journalism can be one of the most exciting jobs around. One goes into work
not necessarily knowing what you are going to be doing that day. Journalists get to
meet powerful people, interesting people, inspiring people, heroes, villains and
celebrities. The chance to know something and to tell the world about it is exciting.
One also gets chance to indulge a passion for writing and the opportunity to seek
the truth and campaign for justice. And then there’s the excitement of seeing your
byline in print, watching your report on television, or hearing your words of
wisdom on the radio.

As a craft Journalism involves specialization in one area (editorial, design,

printing) for the reporters and the sub-editors for instance, it entails writing to a
deadline, following routines in a conveyor-belt like workplace, while respecting
the divisions of labour in the newsroom and the printing press. In earlier times,
knowledge of typewriting and shorthand were the main skills demanded. But
today, computing and DTP skills are in demand for all areas of Journalism.
As a profession, it is markedly different from other established professions like
medicine, law, management or teaching. While the established professions require
some specialized educational qualifications and training to be recruited to them,
Journalism does not make any such requirement essential. There is no bar to
anyone entering the profession, no matter what one’s educational background or
professional experience is. From the very beginning, Journalism has been, and still,
remain an ‘open’ profession.

Also, journalism has no distinct body of knowledge that defines the profession and
marks its relationship with its clients (readers, advertisers, advertising agencies,
public relations officials, others). Journalism is a specific approach to reality.

3
However, there is no consensus in the journalist community on this, nor is there
any universally code of conduct or code of ethics, and where it does exist, is rarely
enforced. Opinions vary on whether journalism is a ‘calling’ public service, an
entertainment, a cultural industry motivated by profit, or a tool for propaganda,
public relations and advertising. Journalism can be a combination of all these, or
each of these separately. Opinions are not so varied about the other professions.

As a business and trade, Journalism involves publishing on a regular basis for

profit, with news considered as the primary product. Hence, there is the need to
attract advertisers and readers, through marketing strategies, which focus on
circulation and readership.
CHECK YOUR PROGRESS
Q1.Define ‘Journalism’?
Q2.How is Journalism different from other professions?

1.3 HISTORY OF JOURNALISM

The history of Journalism, or the gathering and transmitting of news, spans the
growth of technology and trade, marked by the advent of specialized techniques for
gathering and disseminating information on a regular basis that has caused, the
steady increase of "the scope of news available to us and the speed with which it is
transmitted."

Some relatively recent craze, stimulated by the arrival of satellites, television or

even the newspaper, the good news is that the frenzied, obsessive exchange of
news is one of the oldest human activities.
In early times, messengers were appointed to bring word, carriers to proclaim it
and busybodies to spread the word. The need to know helped attract people to
crossroads, campfires and market places. It helped motivate journeyers; it helps
explain the reception accorded travelers.

In most parts of the pre-literate world the first question asked of a traveler was, as
it was in Outer Mongolia in 1921, "What's new?" These preliterate peoples were
probably better informed about events in their immediate neighborhood than are
most modern, urban or suburban Americans.
A similar fascination with news was evident in the Greek and later in the Roman
Forum, where to the hubbub of spoken news was added information from daily
4
handwritten newssheets, first posted by Julius Caesar.

The bad news is that two of the subjects humans have most wanted to keep up with
throughout the ages are –sex and violence.

The Nootka of Vancouver Island, for example, would exchange plenty of

important news on fishing, on the chief's activities, on plans for war. But they also
pricked up their ears at word that someone was having an affair. And the tale of a
suitor who tumbled into a barrel of rainwater while sneaking out the window of his
lover's house "spread," according to an anthropologist, "like wildfire up and down
the coast."

There is more bad news. The golden age of political coverage that journalism
critics pine over – the era when reporters concentrated on the "real" issues-turns
out to have been as mythical as the golden age of politics. In those rare historical
moments when politicians deigned to face major problems to allow journalists to
comment on them, those comments tended to be wildly subjective, as when the
founders of our free press called their pro-British compatriots "diabolical Tools of
Tyrants" and "men totally abandoned to wickedness."

Samuel Johnson, writing in an era when thinkers like Joseph Addison, Daniel
Defoe and Jonathon Swift dominated British periodicals, concluded that the press
"affords sufficient information to elate vanity, and stiffen obstinacy, but too little to
enlarge the mind."

Yet, journalism had changed. And much doesn't change. It is foolish to pretend that
sensationalism and superficiality could simply be expunged from the news.
Nevertheless, we can still protest when the news gets too irrelevant, too shallow.
We can better educate audiences about its limitations and encourage viewers to
change the channel. The desire to keep up with the news seems basic to our
species, but that does not mean that in learning about the world we have to limit
ourselves to just satisfying that desire.

Prehistoric, ancient and Midieval periods

Early methods of transmitting news began with word of mouth, which limited its
content to what people saw and relayed to others; accuracy in new depended on the
scope of the event being described and its relevance to the listener. Ancient
monarchial governments developed ways of relaying written reports, includinng
the Roman Empire from Julius Caeser onward, which recorded and distributed a
daily record of political news and acts to Roman colonies. After the empire
collapsed, news dissemination depended on travelers' tales, songs and ballads,
5
letters, and governmental dispatches.

Rennaissance and the printing press

The invention of the movable type printing press, attributed to Johann

Gutennberg in 1456, led to the wide dissemination of the Bible and other printed
books. The first newspapers appeared in Europe in the 17th Century. The first
printed periodical was the Mercurius Gallobelgicus, first appearing in Cologne,
now Germany, in 1592; it consisted of Latin text, was printed semi-annually and
distributed in book fairs.

The first regularly published newspaper was the Oxford Gazette, first appearing in
1665, which began while the British royal court was in Oxford to avoid the plague
in London and was published twice a week. When the court moved back to
London, the publication moved with it. An earlier newsbook, the Continuation of
Our Weekly News, had been published regularly in London since 1623.

The first daily newspaper, the Daily Courant, appeared in 1702 and continued
publication for more than 30 years. Its first editor was also the first woman in
journalism, although she was replaced after only a couple of weeks. By this time,
the British had adopted the Press Restriction Act, which required that the printer's
name and place of publication be included on each printed document.

Journalism in America

The first printer in Britian's American colonies was Stephen Day in Cambridge,
Massachusetts, who began in 1638. The British regulation of printing extended to
the Colonies. The first newspaper in the colonies, Benjamnin Harris's Publick
Occurences both Foreighn and Domestick, was supressed in 1690 after only one
issue under a 1662 Massachusetts law that forbade printing without a license. The
publication of a story suggesting that the King of France shared a bed with his
son's wife probably also contributed to the suppression.

The first real colonial newspaper was the New England Courant, published as a
sideline by printer James Franklin, brother of Benjamin Franklin. Like many other
Colonial newspapers, it waS aligned with party interests and did not publish
balanced content. Ben Franklin was first published in his brother's newspaper,
under the pseudonym Silence Dogood, in 1722, and even his brother did not know.

After James Franklin suspended publication of the Courant, Ben Franklin moved to
Philadelphia in 1728 and took over the Pennsylvania Gazette the following year.
Ben Franklin expanded his business by essentially franchising other printers in
6
other cities, who published their own newspapers. By 1750, 14 weekly newspapers
were published in the six largest colonies. The largest and most successful of these
could be published up to three times per week.
American Independence

By the 1770s, 89 newspapers were published in 35 cities. "Most papers at the time
of the American Revolution were anti-royalist, chiefly because of opposition to the
Stamp Act taxing newsprint." Though the tax was imposed on newsprint, not
publication itself, Colonial governments could supress newspapers "by denying the
stamp or refusing to sell approved paper to the offending publihser." Newspapers
flourished in the new republic by 1800, there were about 234 being published.

As the 19th Century progressed in America, newspapers began functioning more

as private businesses with real editors rather than partisan organs, though
standards for truth and responsibillity were still low. "Other than local news,
much of the reporting was simply copied from other newspapers, sometimes
verbatim. In addition to news stories, there might be poetry or fiction, or
(especially late in the century) humorous columns."

Newspapers in general remained political with strong bias toward the

government; Andrew Jackson started his own newspaper, funnelled government
printing work to it, and forced his Washington competition out of business.
Rise of the great newspapers

As American cities like New York, Philadelphia, Boston and Washington grew
with the growth of the Industrial Revolution, so did newspapers. Larger printing
presses, the telegraph and other technological innovations allowed newspapers to
print thousands of copies, boost circulation and increase revenue.

The first newspaper to fit the modern definition as a newspaper was the New
York Herald, founded in 1835 and published by James Gordon Bennett. It was
the first newspaper to have city staff covering regular beats and spot news, along
with regular business and Wall Street coverage. In 1838 Bennett also organized
the first foreign correspondent staff of six men in Europe and assigned domestic
correspondents to key cities, including the first reporter to regularly cover
Congress.

Brief History of Journalism in the Philippines

To understand Philippine mass media at present, one has to look at them in the
7
light of history. They have roots that go back quite a way to the country's colonial
past. For example, the first book, Doctrina Christiana, was printed in the
Philippines in 1593, just a little over a century after John Gutenberg introduced
printing with movable types in Europe, in 1425. Compare this with the fact that the
first book was not printed in the United States until after 1638.

The first Philippine newsletter, Successos Felices (Glad Tidings), the equivalent
of the European broadsheets, was published in 1637, while the first American
newsletter, Harris' Public Occurrences, Both Foreign and Domestic, was put out in
1690.

Although Successos could not be called the first Philippine news- paper, because
there is no record of other issues after this first one, it is. nevertheless, a
remarkable achievement. While the British corantos picked up the news freely
from Dutch and German sources, the Successos was more of an original work, and
not merely a compilation or a translation. The first Filipino printer, Tomas Pinpin,
who was responsible for putting out Successos, wrote about two major national
events: a Spanish naval victory over the Dutch in Cavite and a military victory
over Muslim Filipino rebels.

So, if we date the beginnings of mass communications to the invention of the

printing press in 1425, it did not take long for mass communications to reach
Philippine shores from Europe. In 1521, the Portuguese explorer Ferdinand
Magellan, sailing in the name of the Spanish Queen Isabela, discovered the
Philippines for Europe. In all probability, he brought with him the first European
books, including copy of the Bible, to the country. His chaplain and historian, Fr.
Pigafetta, wrote a diary which has become a source book on early Philippine
history.

The Spanish missionaries followed in succeeding waves of expeditions to the

Philippines, bringing with them printing presses and other paraphernalia for
converting Filipinos to Christianity. The first printing presses in the country were
owned by the religious orders.

In spite of their early beginnings, however, Philippine mass media did not advance
as fast as those of other countries in Asia, like Japan, Hong Kong and Singapore.
For example, it seems that after that initial period of activity, the Philippine mass
media went into hibernation for a more than a century until the first local
newspaper came out in 1811. Valenzuela, a Philippine his historian, estimates that
between 1593 and the 19th century, 541 books were printed in the Philippines.

8
The history of Philippine mass communication may be divided into the Spanish
Period from 1521 to 1900, the American Period from 1901 to 1946 the Post-War
period from 1946 to 1972, and the Martial Law Period from 1972 to 1986.

There was a brief revolutionary period between 1890 and 1905 which overlapped
with the end of the Spanish Period and the start of the American Period. There was
also a brief period of four years – the World War II period when the Japanese
occupied the Philippines from 1941 to 1945. But technically, the Philippines was
still a colony of the United States at that time.

CHECK YOUR PROGRESS

Q1.What developments in the history have helped in the publication of the
newspapers?

1.4 ROLE OF JOURNALISM

Disseminators of information? Watchdogs? Interpreters of events? Journalists

have many roles to play.

Journalism mainly involves practices of print journalism in general, and

newspaper in particular, because newspaper journalism remains a good
grounding career in television, radio, magazine and online journalism.

The role of press is to be a watchdog and act as a catalytic agent to hasten the
process of socially and economic change in the society. Journalism is the voice of
the people about corruption, the government, and the use and misuse of power. It
should be noted that Journalism too is part of the political process, craves for
power, is made up of people with personal ambitions and aversions, preferences
and prejudices. As perhaps the largest advertisers, the government supports and
strengthens the press. Both the government and the press represent the ‘power
elites’ and therefore reflect their interests. This is why the interests of the poor are
rarely on the agenda of public discussions.

The press is so obsessed with politics that even a silly rumor hits the front page.
What the Journalism profession urgently needs is creative, investigative and
development reporting chiefly on non-political themes like unemployment,
malnutrition, exploitation of the poor, miscarriage of justice, police atrocities,
development schemes and the like. For example, in India, the Bofors pay-offs, the
Harshad Mehta securities scam, the ‘hawala’ payments to top politicians etc are all
incidents where follow-up investigations are lacking. Such ‘crisis’ reporting sells
9
newspapers but does little to bring the guilty to book or to educate the public about
the context of corruption.

Credibility is indeed the very life-blood of the press, no matter which government
is in power. Journalism is an awesome responsibility, which rests on the shoulders
of journalists because in the final analysis they are the custodians of the freedom of
press. If they prefer careerism to standing up for their rights, they are letting down
their profession. Unfortunately, journalists are inclined to accept many favors from
government and therefore, their news stories will ultimately favor that particular
government.

New paradigm features

 Journalism, have a role in society to link the individual to the world. The
journalists need to give the audience a sense of what it is to be in the place
they are reporting and connected to the world.
 Our audience is diverse and complex. So There needs to be a consciousness
of diversity: not just in terms of race and gender but also class, rural/urban
and youth/aged.
 Journalism must emphasize context; interpretation; research; investigation;
complete reporting and analysis.
 The journalists must foreground the storyteller (the individual and the media
organization).
 They should respect the audiences and engage in dialogue. In our use of
sources the journalists should move beyond “the authorities”. Audiences are
also sources. They must remember to foreground and situate who the
sources are.
 Ownership: symbolically the audience needs to feel they “own” the medium.
 Ownership: economic -this needs to be diverse and needs participation by all
stakeholders in media.
 Control and structures within media organizations – there should be respect
for storytellers and storytelling and these should be given status and
compensation. From this we drafted the policy statement which reads: “In
recognition of our role in society as storytellers; as the link between citizens
and the world; we strive to promote:
 Stories, told in a multiplicity of voices that are well researched;
conceptualized; analytical; interpretive; in dialogue with, are considered
respectful.
CHECK YOUR PROGRESS

Q1.Why are journalists called the ‘watchdogs’?

10
Role of Journalism in society

Journalism's role is to act as a mediator or translator between the public and

policymaking elites. The journalist became the middleman. When elites spoke,
journalists listened and recorded the information, distilled it, and passed it on to the
public for their consumption. The reasoning behind this function is that the public
is not in a position to deconstruct a growing and complex flurry of information
present in modern society, and so an intermediary are needed to filter news for the
masses. Lippman put it this way: The public is not smart enough to understand
complicated, political issues. Furthermore, the public was too consumed with their
daily lives to care about complex public policy. Therefore the public needed
someone to interpret the decisions or concerns of the elite to make the information
plain and simple. That was the role of journalists.

Public affects the decision making of the elite with their vote. In the meantime, the
elite (i.e. politicians, policy makers, bureacrats, scientists, etc.) would keep the
business of power running. The journalist's role is to inform the public of what the
elites were doing. It was also to act as a watchdog over the elites as the public had
the final say with their votes.
On the other hand, it is believed the public was not only capable of understanding
the issues created or responded to by the elite, it was in the public forum that
decisions should be made after discussion and debate. When issues were throughly
vetted, then the best ideas would bubble to the surface. Thus, journalists not only
have to inform the public, but should report on issues differently than simply
passing on information. journalists should take in the information, then weigh the
consequences of the policies being enacted by the elites on the public. Over time,
this function of journalism has been implemented in various degrees, and is more
commonly known as "community journalism."
This concept of ‘Community Journalism’ is at the center of new developments in
journalism. journalists are able to engage citizens and the experts/elites in the
proposition and generation of content. the shared knowledge of many is far
superior to a single individual's knowledge and conversation, debate, and dialogue
lie at the heart of a democracy.

CHECK YOUR PROGRESS

Q1.What role does Journalism play in our society?

11
12
13