1. Distinguish between advocacy journalism and mission
journalism.
Advocacy journalism is a genre of journalism that adopts a
non-objective viewpoint, usually for some social or political purpose. As it is
always 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, since the bias is intended. News
reports are intended to be objective and unbiased. In contrast, advocacy
journalists have an opinion about the story they are writing. For example, that
political corruption should be punished, that more environmentally friendly
practices should be adopted by consumers, or that a government policy will be
harmful to business interests and should not be adopted. Some advocacy
journalists reject that the traditional ideal of objectivity is possible in practice,
either generally, or due to the presence of corporate sponsors in advertising.
The advocacy journalism believes in serving transparent points of view to the
general public.
Panchayat period is taken as the period marking the
beginning of mission journalism. For the first time in the history of Nepal,
the mission journalism was introduced during the period. Journalism during the
period was divided into two missions: pro-panchayat and anti panchayat. Main
objective of the pro-panchayat newspaper was to justify the necessity of the
panchayat system whereas anti-panchayat newspaper came to front to advocate for
democracy. Nepali congress and left political parties joined hands for movement
to dethrone Panchayat system. Active role played by private and foreign media
to support the movement became a necessary mission to all the journalists.
Government media were compelled to support Panchayat system till last minute,
but the journalists extend their moral support to the movement. After struggle
of 50 days, party less system was declared end at late night in 2046 Chaitra
24th.
2. Discuss the role of journalism in national development
with special reference to Nepal.
The purpose of journalism is to provide citizens with the
information they need to make the best possible decisions about their lives,
their communities, their societies, and their governments. Journalism is
intended for informing people, encouraging, educating and entertaining them as
well. As journalism is the voice of the voiceless, it encourages people to
speak against the ups and downs in the society. In democratic society,
journalism is a watchdog. Journalism handles public issues and acts as a
pressure group. Journalism is an open forum to the general public where people
can actually realize the power of democracy. Journalism is considered as the
fourth organ of any nation. In this regard, journalism has a great significance
of nation development including Nepal as well.
Journalism has been one of the major weapons through which
Nepal entered into the democratic and republican stage as we are practicing
today. During the mass media of Nepal, during the movement for republic state,
during the movement to remove autocracy in Nepal, and for the social upliftment, Nepali journalism
has played a vital role. Journalist's in
Nepal work hard to raise the voices of the voiceless without thinking of their
own needs. Due to the importance of journalism in Nepal, the education
institutions has started to put the course of journalism as the academic studies.
Only due to the practice of journalism, people in Nepal have been able to know
about current issues and possibility to include their issues among all people.
In similar way. our nation's development can also reach to every corners if
there are journalists all over the corners of Nepal, reporting of the essence
and needs of developments in every places. It is the means of journalism
through which people can be aware of social safety and security. Journalism
makes people aware of the current important notices of the government.
Journalism plays a vital role for people's participation in many developmental
activities in Nepal.
3. Discuss different variables affecting news coverage with
special reference to the functions of newsroom
A newsroom is the central place where journalists including
reporters, editors, and producers, along with other staffers, work to gather
news to be published in a newspaper and/or an online newspaper or magazine, or
broadcast on radio, television, or cable. Some organizations refer the newsroom
as a city room. News room is a very sensitive place like the emergency ward of
hospital. It plays a very important role in the information lifecycle. It helps
the process of acquiring, processing, storing, disseminating and using
information.
In a print publication's newsroom, reporters sit at desks
gather information, and write articles or stories, in the past on typewriters, nowadays on
computers. These stories are submitted to editors who usually sit together at
one large desk , where the stories as reviewed as possibly re-written.
Reporters generally use the inverted pyramid method for writing the stories,
although some of the best journalistic writings uses other methods.
Once finished, editors write a headline for the story and
lay it out on a newspaper or a magazine page. Editors also review photographs,
maps, charts or other graphics, to be used with a story. Sub editors of the
several newspapers, who reviews stories for publication works, are supervise for
their chief news editor.
Newsroom has to take
decisions on news coverage. But there are various variables that should be
considered in this regard. The variables that determine what is reported
include things beyond a journalist's control, such as how much space or time is
available to tell stories. Also a story that might receive top billing on a
slow news day might not even appear on a day when an overwhelming number of
major stories are breaking.
- News
hole: A variable affecting what
ends up being reported as news is called the news hole. In newspapers, the
news hole is the space left after the advertising department has placed
all the ads it has sold in the paper. The volume of advertising determines
the number of total pages, and generally, the bigger the issue, the more
room for news.
- News
flow and staffing: Besides
the news hole, the flow of the news varies from day to day. A story that
might be played prominently on a slow news day can be passed over entirely
in the competition for space on the heavy news day. On one of the heaviest
news days of all time, in 1989, death claimed Iran's Ayatollah Khomeini;
Chinese young people and the government were locked in a showdown in Tienanmen Square; the polish people were voting to reject their one-party
Communist political system; and a revolt was under way in the Soviet
republic of Uzbekistan. That was a heavy news day, and flow of major
nation rattling events preempted stories that otherwise would have been
news. Staffing affects news coverage, like whether reporters are in the
right place at the right time.
- Perceptions
towards audience: How a news organization
perceives its audience affects the news coverage. The National Enquirer lavishes attention on unproven cancer cures
that the New York Times treats briefly if at all. The Wall Street Journal
sees its purpose as news for readers , who have special interest in
finance, economy and business. Ted Turner's CNN fx was established to
serve an audience more interested in quick market updates, brief analysis
and consumer news than the kind of depth offered by the Journal.
- Availability
of materials: The availability of
photographs and video also is a factor in what ends up being a news. TV is
often faulted for overplaying titillating stories, such as fires and
underplaying or ignoring more significant stories that are not photogenic.
Newspapers and magazines also are partial to stories with strong
accompanying visuals. Radio news people revel in stories when sound is
available, which influences what is reported and how.
- Computation: One trigger of adrenaline for journalist is landing a
scoop and, conversely, being scooped. Journalism is a competitive
business, and the drive to outdo other news organizations keeps news
publication and newscasts fresh with new material computation has an
unglamorous side. Journalists constantly monitor to identify events that
they missed hand need to catch up on to be competitive. This catch up
aspect of the news business
contributes to similarities in coverage, which scholar Leon Sigal calls
the consensible nature of news. It
also is called "pack" and "herd" journalism.
In the
final analysis, news is the result of the journalists scanning their environment
and making decisions, first on whether to cover certain events and then on how
to cover them. The decisions are made against the backdrop of countless
variables, many of them changing during the reporting, writing and editing
process.
While
journalists are key in deciding what to report and how, non-newsroom forces in
news organizations sometime play a role too. These forces include
advertiser-sensitive executives, who do not always share the truth seeking and
truth telling agendas of journalists,
presser from advertiser and presser from sources.
4. Discuss the concepts of framing and priming.
In news, items occurs more than only bringing up certain
topics. The way in which the news is brought, the framing in which the news is
presented, is also a choice made by journalists. Thus, framing refers to the
way media and media gatekeepers organize and present the events and issues they
cover, and the way audiences interpret what they are provided. Framing is
an abstract notion that serve to
organize or structure social meanings. Framing influence the perception of the
news of the audience, this form of agenda-setting not only tells what to think
about, but also how to think about it.
Priming refers to enhancing the effects of the media by
offering the audience a prior context – a context that will be used to
interpret subsequent communication. The media serve to provide the audience
with standards and frames of reference. Agenda-setting refers mainly to the
importance of an issue; priming tells us whether something is good or bad,
whether it is communicated effectively, etc. The media have primed the audience
about what a news program looks like, what a credible person looks like, etc.
5. Discuss press release as a credible source for reporters.
A press release, news release, media release, press
statement or video release is a written or recorded communication directed at
members of the news media for the purpose of announcing something which
are newsworthy. Usually they are mailed, faxed, or e-mailed to
assignment editors and journalists at newspapers, magazines, radio stations,
online media, television stations or television networks. They are the official
statements made to journalists by an individual, an organization, a political
party or a government department. Many organizations use it as an important way
of getting out an information. They arrive in hundreds everyday and looked no
more than few seconds and thrown up in newsroom bins, if they are not
newsworthy. But the relevant press releases can be a source of good stories or
a follow up news. Press release is a credible source for reporters as the
information written on a press release are the direct statement of the sender
themselves. The information provided are always reliable and trustworthy.
Though the journalists do not have to report it by any effort, the press
release sometimes contain a newsworthy news.
6. Show your acquaintance with Press Conference.
Press conference is a meeting at which somebody talks to a
group of journalists in order to answer their questions or to make an official
statement. To obtain maximum publicity, organizations, even individuals
organize press conference or news briefing to the invited journalists. The
organizers have some stories of news value to tell the public. In the first
part of the press conference, the organizers tell something they are prepared
for and in the second part, there begins question-answer session where the
journalists have to ask and the organizer have to answer. Critics have
criticized this activity blaming as' pseudo-event' but not a real news report.
There are frequent
occasions for press conferences at which leading figures in the fields of
industry, science, entertainment or sports wish to inform the media for the
latest developments. Press conferences are also organized to hide the weakness,
make clarification on some particular case or to make publicity of some
products or programs. Journalists must collect information about the issue or
institution before they attend the press conference. Reporters often want to
attend the press conference for the following reasons:
This is a
pre-expected news source; reporters can easily collect at least one news story
from this event.
Reporters can meet
several personalities on a particular subject in a single place; they may extend
or renew public relations.
Reporters can ask
questions or take interview to some key persons and find clues on other
important themes as well.
For journalists,
this is an opportunity to take photo, get press release or some prepared
information kits.
7. Show your acquaintance with Interview.
Interview is a conversation between two or more than two
people where the interviewer asks
questions to obtain information on certain subjects from the
interviewee. In journalism as well it is a major source to obtain information
for television, newspapers, radio, internet, etc. The question- answer in
interview is written or recorded on a tape recorder or sometimes live as well.
Face-to-face and telephone interviews have been the main methods of
interviewing. Even journalistic interviews have certain principles of
sincerity, cooperation, relevance, flexibility, objective and information.
Interview can be issue based or personality based or human interest based.
Interview can be done by the methods of panel interview, interview by e-mail or
posts, telephone, tape recorder, formal interview or news interview( from eye
witness of some events).
8. Discuss various types of news structures with suitable
examples.
A news structure consists of Headlines, lead and body .Headlines are the title of the news
stories. A good headlines gives a form to a news containing certain
information. A good headlines not only tells the story but also sells the
story. Some of the headlines are: skyline headline, banner headline, banner
headline, parallel headline, flushed headline, tagline, etc.
Lead is the first paragraph of the news story. It is also
called an intro as it is the introduction of the news story. Lead must be
interesting and informative. It usually should answer all the answers of 5W
&H (Who, What, Where, When, Why and How). It must not contain sentences
more than 25-30 words. Some of the leads are: Quotation lead, question lead,
hard lead, soft lead, bullet lead, narrative lead, etc.
The body of a news is the information after the lead. It
describes the events and issues in detail. A body might have long or short
information according to the news values on certain topics.
Mostly every news follow the Inverted Pyramid Structure
while writing any news stories. Inverted pyramid structure is a metaphor used
to illustrate how information should be placed structurally on a news story.
The most important story is placed at the top i.e. lead. Then the next important information are placed one step
down and on the another step down, less important information are placed. This
structure will allow the less important information to be more easily cut out
of the article to fit the news-hole.
