Journalism

What IS News? Struggle between negative and positive

Pseudo-events (staged events for media)

Soft news (vs. hard news)

Agenda setting

Penny Press Period appeal to a

general audience, entertain or even

sensationalistic A detached,

neutral perspective in reporting events

Beginning of “editorial” and “opinion” pages

Objectivity=Wire Services Associated Press (AP) UPI, Reuters

1 story=manyPapers, so needTo be neutral.

Yellow Journalism Period Pulitzer vs. Hearst Quest to sell more

copies Sensational journalism Pulitzer=standards for

accuracy; Hearst=not so

tabloid format with an emphasis on photography

Muckrakers=investigative

TV News

Changing Nature of News

News Hole: the space left after advertising has been placed in the paper/timeslot). (determines how much room the paper or broadcast has for news) 30 min broadcast may have 23 min of news

and 7 of ads. Bigger “news hole” now with 24/7 coverage Less discriminating in terms of what is covered

(?)

Foundations of Journalism “Free and responsible press”

Public = right to info Press = responsibility to give info, moral duty

Separation between content and business (ads) …harder now with corporate news

Fairness and balance (try to present all sides equally)

Expert sources =give credibility

Framing How is a story to be told? What language

is used?

How News Gets Made More soft vs. hard news (why so?) News…

“manufactured” (AP Daybook, press releases, pseudo events)

Reporters and “beats” people: editors, reporters,

copyeditors/proofers, design/layout, camera and video crews for TV

Concerns in profession (p294-297): loss of revenues, layoffs/pay, diversity

Journalism Types Interpretive reporting (broader context) New Journalism/Literary journalism Advocacy journalism (reform)

Alternative Journalism

Citizen Journalism

Differences in international coverage?

*24/7 Cycle---how do keep up? How to keep print in sync or different from web-based?

*Nontraditional news sources (trustworthy? Biased?)

*User habits (quick skim, following links)

*Personaliziation (the “Daily Me”)

*Context

*Convergence

*DIGITAL DIVIDE

*TRANSITION=certain aspects dying, certain aspects thriving/growing

*Problems: corporate news, $$ pressures

*Journalists will have to become multi-media