Broadcast Journalism

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Broadcast journalism

For more information about radio and television journalism, see News broadcasting

Radio journalists must gather facts to present them fairly and accurately, but also must find and record relevant and interesting sounds to add to their reports, both interviews with people involved in the story and background sounds that help characterize the story. Radio reporters may also write the introduction to the story read by a radio news anchor, and may also answer questions live from the anchor.

Television journalists rely on visual information to illustrate and characterize their reporting, including on-camera interviews with people involved in the story, shots of the scene where the story took place, and graphics usually produced at the station to help frame the story. Like radio reporters, television reporters also may write the introductory script that a television news anchor would read to set up their story. Both radio and television journalists usually do not have as much "space" to present information in their reports as print journalists. Television Journalists have to be well presented and well prepared.

On-line (Cyber) journalism

The World Wide Web has spawned the newest medium for journalism, on-line (Cyber) journalism. The speed at which news can be disseminated on the web, and the profound penetration to anyone with a computer and web browser, have greatly increased the quantity and variety of news reports available to the average web user.

The bulk of on-line journalism has been the extension of existing print and broadcast media into the web via web versions of their primary products. News reports that were set to be released at expected times can now be published as soon as they are written and edited, increasing the deadline pressure and fear of being scooped which many journalists must deal with.

The digitalization of news production and the diffusion capabilities of the internet are challenging the traditional journalistic professional culture. The concept of participatory or (citizen journalism) proposes that amateur reporters can actually produce their own stories either inside or outside professional media outlets.

Most news websites are free to their users — one notable exception being the Wall Street Journal website, for which a subscription is required to view its contents — but some outlets, such as the New York Times website, offer current news free, but archived reports and access to opinion columnists and other non-news sections for a periodic fee. Attempts to start unique web publications, such as Slate and Salon, have met with limited success, in part because they do or did charge subscription fees.

Many newspapers are branching into new mediums because of the Internet. Their websites may now include video, podcasts, blogs and slide-shows. Story chat, where readers may post comments on an article, has changed the dialogue newspapers foster. Traditionally kept to the confines of the opinion section as letters to the editor, story chat has allowed readers to express opinions without the time delay of a letter or the approval of an editor.

The growth of blogs as a source of news and especially opinion on the news has changed journalism for ever. Blogs now can create news as well as report it, and blur the dividing line between news and opinion. The debate about whether blogging is really journalism rages on.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia