JOURNALISM

Journalism is the practice of chronicling events, engaged in the preparation of written, visuals, or
audio material intended for dissemination through public media with reference to factual, ongoing events
of public concern. It is intended to inform society about itself and to make public things that would
otherwise be private.

Definitions & forms

There are different forms of journalism, all with different intended audiences. In modern society,
journalism is said to serve the role of fourth estate acting as watchdogs on the government. Other forms of
journalism feature different formats and different intended audiences. Some forms include:

 Advocacy journalism – writing to advocate particular viewpoints of influence the opinions of

the audience.
 Broadcast journalism – writing or speaking which is intended to be distributed by radio or
television broadcasting, rather than only in written form for readers.
 Investigative journalism – writing which seeks to add extra information to explain, or better
describe the people and events of a particular topic.
 Tabloid journalism – writing which uses opinionated or wild claims.
 Yellow journalism (sensationalism) – writing which emphasizes exaggerated claims or rumors.

News

News is information about recent events or happenings, especially as reported by newspapers,

periodicals, radio, or television.

Types of News Stories

 Factual – A factual story is based strictly on facts. This type of story is the most common, telling
only what actually took place, for instance at a meeting of city council, or how an accident
occurred and what resulted. In this type of story a reporter fulfills his/her prime duty – writing
only what is seen and heard, without injecting personal opinion or judgment. The 5 Ws and H are
strictly adhered to.
 Promotional – This is prepared with the objective of inducing the reader to support or endorse a
specific project or product.
 Interpretative – This story, also known as in-depth reporting, explains the significance of some
current event, its historical background, how it compares with a similar situation in another
locality, and possibly how it may affect the future. An example would be a review of the situation
in Iraq since its beginning, the current situation and possible developments.
 Features – Feature articles are most often in special sections and on section fronts. A feature
article will be one that has been the subject of a considerable amount of research, interviews and
analysis. It will attempt to present an overview of the subject matter give examples of what steps
should and should not be taken, and offer expert advice. Feature stories are usually longer than
hard news stories and thus are usually found away from the general news pages.
News Categories

Most newspaper has its standard news categories. The usual news on the front page is the
headline news, the next page is for the foreign or international news, then page three is for the jump page
from the front page means a continuing page for news not fully printed on the first page, page four is for
the editorial page and page 5 for the opinion and letter to the editor. Another category is the business
news. This is the news about the economics of the country the GNP or the DNP and the like. Another is
the local news, things happening in the country, city or in a particular geographic location. Another is
Sports news, then the Entertainment section, another is the Campus section.