journalism

By: May Nectar Cyrill Loja-Tabares, Ph.D.

What is Journalism?

It is the activity, or product, of journalists or others engaged in the preparation of written, visual, 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 events public that would otherwise remain private.

The word journal comes from the Latin word diurnal which means “daily.” In ancient Rome, short bulletins of battles, fires and elections compiled by government officials were posted up in public places. These were called acta diurna which meant “ daily events” (Noah Webster).

Webster defines journalism as “the activity or job of collecting, writing and editing news stories for broadcast journalism.

Fraser F. Bond, on the other hand, defines it as “something that embraces all forms in which or through which the news and comments on the news reach the public.” According to him, all that happens in the world, if such happenings hold interest for the public, and all the thoughts, actions, and ideas which these happenings stimulate, become basic materials for the journalist.

Formal Introduction of Journalism

Although the first school paper in the City schools of Manila was published in School Year 1911-1912, formal classroom instruction in high school journalism began in 1952.

Mrs. Sarah England, an American teacher of Mapa High School, experimented the teaching of journalism.

Since, it proved successful, the other four existing high schools in the city followed suit ( Araullo, Torres, Arellano, and Abad Santos).

They formally offered journalism as a vocational subject holding classes on a daily period throughout the school year.

Since then, journalism has been under the supervision of English supervisors, but the grades are considered vocational subjects.

FORMS OF JOURNALISM

Forms of Journalism

1. Advocacy journalism is a genre of journalism that intentionally and

transparently adopts a non-objective viewpoint, usually for some social or political purpose. Because it is intended to be factual, it is distinguished from propaganda. It is also distinct from instances of media bias and failures of objectivity in

media outlets, which attempt to be—or which present themselves as—objective or neutral.

2. Broadcast journalism is the field of news and journals which are

"broadcast", that is, published by electrical methods, instead of the older methods, such as printed newspapers

and posters. Broadcast methods include radio (via air, cable, and Internet), television (via air, cable, and Internet), and, especially recently, the Internet generally. Such media disperse pictures (static and moving), visual text and/or sounds.

3. Drone journalism is the use of drones, or unmanned aircraft systems (UAS), for journalistic purposes. According to the FAA, “an unmanned aircraft is a device that is used, or is intended to be used, for flight in the air with no onboard pilot.”

The use of drones for information collection in the journalism industry is still new. Two university journalism programs are testing drones in this context, namely the Drone Journalism Lab, founded in late November 2011 by Matt Waite, professor of journalism and mass communication at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, and the Drone Journalism Program at the University of Missouri.

3.Gonzo journalism is a style of journalism that is written without claims of objectivity, often including the reporter as part of the story via a first-person narrative. The word "gonzo" is believed to be first used in 1970 to describe an article by Hunter S. Thompson, who later popularized the style. The term has since been applied to other subjective artistic endeavors.

4. Investigative journalism is a form of journalism in which reporters deeply investigate a single topic of interest, often involving crime, political corruption, or corporate wrongdoing. An investigative journalist may spend months or years researching and preparing a report. Investigative journalism is a primary source of information. Most investigative journalism is conducted by newspapers, wire services, and freelance journalists. Practitioners sometimes use the terms "watchdog journalism" or "accountability reporting."

5. Photojournalism is a particular form of journalism (the collecting, editing, and presenting of news material for publication or broadcast) that creates

images in order to tell a news story. It is now usually understood to refer

only to still images, but in some cases the term also refers to video used in broadcast journalism.

6. Tabloid journalism tends to emphasize topics such as sensational crime stories, astrology, gossip columns about the personal lives of celebrities and sports stars, and junk food news. Such journalism is commonly associated with tabloid sized newspapers like the National Enquirer, Globe or the The Sun and the former News of the World. Not all newspapers associated with such journalism are in tabloid size, for example, the format of Apple Daily is broadsheet while the style is tabloid. The terms "tabloids", "supermarket tabloids", "gutter press", and "rag", refer to the journalistic approach of such newspapers rather than their size.

7. Yellow journalism, or the yellow press, is a type of journalism that presents little or no legitimate well-researched news and instead uses eye-catching headlines to sell more newspapers. Techniques may include exaggerations of news events, scandal-mongering, or sensationalism. By extension, the term yellow journalism is used today as a pejorative to decry any journalism that treats news in an unprofessional or unethical fashion.

"Yellow journalism" cartoon about Spanish-American war of 1898; the newspaper publishers Joseph Pulitzer and William Randolph Hearst are both attired as the Yellow Kid comics character of the time, and are competitively claiming ownership of the war... Independence Seaport Museum

Male Spanish officials strip search an American woman tourist in Cuba looking for messages from rebels; front page "yellow journalism" from Hearst (Artist: Frederic Remington)

ELEMENTS OF JOURNALISM

Elements

TRUTHFULNESS

ACCURACY

OBJECTIVITY

IMPARTIALITY

FAIRNESS

PUBLIC ACCOUNTABILITY

SCOPE AND CLASSIFICATION OF JOURNALISM

Scope / classification of Journalism

Journalism may be divided into three areas, namely: written, oral, and visual.

Periodicals such as newspapers and magazines fall under written journalism.

Periodicals, brochures, journals, books, and graphic arts are classified under print media.

Radio falls under oral journalism

Television, movies, and documentaries are under visual journalism.

Radio and television are examples of broadcast media, while movies and documentaries are examples of film media.

FUNCTIONS OF THE CAMPUS PAPER

What is a campus paper?

A campus paper is a publication, either mimeographed or printed, put out by staff members whose names appear in the masthead or editorial box.

Birth of High School Papers in the Country

High school student publications are almost as old as the Philippine public school system itself.

La Union Tab of La Union High School is the first regularly issued printed high school paper in 1923.

Circular Letter No. 34,s.1929 was the first regulation governing the putting out of high school papers, which set down certain requirements based on the Service manual.

On October 22, 1945, Acting Executive Officer John H. Mcbride Jr. of the Department of Instruction and Information sent a letter to all division superintendents quoting provisions from the Service Manual stating that the school papers should consist chiefly of articles treating of school activities, that they should be free from advertisements, from questionable jokes and cartoons, and from worthless poetry and prose.

Birth of Manila City School Newspapers

The Coconut ( Old Manila High School now Araullo High school) is the first born school paper in manila public schools and incidentally in the country in the school year 1911-1912.This is a mimeographed paper edited by Carlos P. Romulo.

Torres Torch of Torres High school was next in line.

Mapazette of mapa High school and the Chronicler of Arellano High school follwed both in 1940.

Functions of the Campus Paper(Harold Spears and C.H. Lawshe Jr. in their book, An Introduction to Journalism).

Traditional Modern

Aid to the students Information

Aide to the school and the community

Opinion

Functions of the Campus Paper(Harold Spears and C.H. Lawshe Jr. in their book, An Introduction to Journalism).

Traditional Modern

Aid to the students Education

Aide to the school and the community

Watchdog

Functions of the Campus Paper(Harold Spears and C.H. Lawshe Jr. in their book, An Introduction to Journalism).

Traditional Modern

Aid to the students Documentation

Aide to the school and the community

Developmental

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