Journalism
Journalism is the practice of gathering information, writing and reporting news. It includes the process of editing and presenting news articles.
Journalism applies to different media and is not limited to newspapers, magazines, radio or television; it can also be applied to journalistic efforts done for Internet news sources.
What do journalists do?
Journalists write and report on many subjects including international, national, and local politics, business and economics, health and medicine, sports, education, lifestyles, hobbies and recreation, food, pets, gardening, relationships and just about anything else that keeps people interested. The basic requirements to be a journalist include an inherent love of writing, curiosity, organization and detail orientation. For investigative reporting the talents of a detective are also helpful.
What types of journalism are there?
There are many classes or genres of journalism. And it is not unusual for a journalist with demonstrated expertise in one or more to become ‘locked’ into one of them as a form of specialization. Specific classes of journalism include investigative, gonzo, narrative, literary, citizen, advocacy, civic, visual and watchdog. There is also online and broadcast journalism.
Print journalism can be segmented into several categories including newspapers, news magazines, general interest magazines, hobby magazine, trade publications, newsletters, private publications and online new pieces. Each can be have its own guidelines for writing and reporting.
News magazines and general interest publications are generally written in different styles than news reports, which must often be abbreviated or ‘edited down’ due to space constraints. Trade publications are just what the name implies, devoted almost exclusively to editorial directly related to a specific trade. They are generally more news-oriented, while hobby and craft magazines are oriented toward feature articles.
Journalism Variations and feature styles
Many newspapers and periodicals contain features, which are an in-depth type of journalism. These are usually longer, bylined articles that are well illustrated with photographs, drawings or special typographic effects and color. Writing these stories is general more demanding because the journalist must add creative touches to the normal reporting considerations. The head and subhead in these stories must be written to ‘grab’ the reader’s attention, but must still also embody the ideas of the article. The writer must still try to avoid clichéd images and words.
Cyber journalism is challenging traditional roles
Today, online journalism has become the new medium for journalism thanks to the far reach of the World Wide Web. This is a function of the lightning speed at which news can be disseminated and the great number of readers that can be reached almost instantaneously thanks to the far-ranging proliferation of personal computers in every corner of the world. The digitalization of news combined with the diffusion capabilities of the Internet is challenging traditional methods of journalism quite successfully today.
The web as a journalism medium has also opened many opportunities for freelance writers and graphic designers as many publishers on the web are outsourcing their writing and design needs rather than adding to staffing and overhead within their organizations.
