Final version journalists

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Arts and Entertainment Journalists

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Transcript of Final version journalists

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Arts and Entertainment Journalists

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Relevant Terms to Consider

JournalismThe collection and editing of news for presentation through the media

Discussion:Considering the definition of journalism above, answer the following questions about journalists:

1. What is a journalist? 2. What does he or she do?3. Why is his or her job important?4. What is an arts and entertainment journalist?5. What do they contribute to the news media?

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Post-Discussion Reflection

Why are arts and entertainment journalists important?

In Journalism, this question is answered very clearly and eloquently.

“This occupational group within journalism is worthy of study because of its distinctive professional and cultural role: while arts journalists share aspects of their professional cultures with other newsworkers, their work is intrinsically linked to the project of improving ‘public appreciation of the arts’” (Harries 620).

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Jobs for Arts & Entertainment Journalists

Art Editor/ Editor-In-Chief

A person responsible for the editorial aspects of publication; the person who determines the final content of a text (especially of a newspaper or magazine)

This person is responsible for overlooking all of the content published in or on their particular form of media. They will choose the best stories, reviews, and photographs for the publication

and decide how they are arranged. .

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Jobs for Arts & Entertainment Journalists

Critic

One who expresses a reasoned opinion on any matter especially involving a judgment of its value,

truth, righteousness, beauty, or technique

One who engages often professionally in the analysis, evaluation, or appreciation of works of art

or artistic performances

An arts and entertainment critic closely observes art, movies, theater, music, video games, dance, television, and books and writes either positive or negative review for a publication. They are expected to provide background information as well as critiques.

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Jobs for Arts & Entertainment Journalists

Photographer

A person who takes photographs, either as a hobby or as a profession

Paparazzo

A freelance photographer who pursues celebrities trying to take candid photographs of them to sell

to newspapers or magazines

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Jobs for Arts & Entertainment Journalists

Reporter

A person employed by a newspaper, magazine, or television company to gather and report news

An arts and entertainment reporter is responsible for jobs assigned to more general types of journalists, such as interviewing sources and creating news stories and gathering all relevant pictures, video, audio. They will simply be focused more on issues of culture more so than other journalists.

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Jobs for Arts & Entertainment Journalists

Freelance

A person who pursues a profession without a long-term commitment to any one employer

While some arts and entertainment journalists are employed by a specific organization, many choose to leave their options open and submit their work to different publications. There are freelance journalists, photographers, paparazzi, and critics in arts and entertainment media.

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Standing Out:What makes arts and entertainment journalists

different?“Arts reporters…do not fit comfortably into the professional category of the journalist” (Harries

623).

Journalists are expected to deliver the news, truthfully and objectively, to their audience. Arts and entertainment journalists are held to the same standard to a certain extent. However, in many cases, arts and entertainment journalists cannot be objective in their coverage. For example, in order to review a film, a critic needs to form an opinion about that film. Opinion is exactly what most journalists try to avoid, but arts and entertainment journalists are allowed much more leeway when it comes to being objectivity because their job REQIRES opinion. According to Journalism, their “professional identity is tied to their ability to pass judgment on cultural products, and their role in mediating the arts” (Harries 622).

Arts and entertainment journalists are different from most other types of journalists because they are allowed more expressive freedoms. Unlike most people in other fields of journalism, arts and entertainment reporters are allowed and encouraged to make interpretations and form opinions about what they report on. Arts and entertainment journalists tend to separate themselves from other reporters in media.

From Journalism:

• “…arts reporters elevated themselves above the regular news journalist, suggesting that they must be able to not only write in an informed manner, but also ‘translate their

passion and knowledge in a way that will both interest and inspire audiences/readers’” (Harries 626).

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AuthorityBecause arts and entertainment journalists are allowed to be less objective, some other journalists do not value their work. In an article in The Arizona Republic, Columbia University’s National Arts Journalism program’s deputy director Andras Szanto said, “My job, and the job of those I work with, is to remind the industry that the arts are hard news…Often they’re thought of as what your wife and children do on the weekend.” Even though “the authority of critics often hangs in the balance, journalistic authority generally holds firm” (Harries 624).

• What determines “authority”?

• Size of audience

• Journalistic platform

• Passion for the subject

• Education on the subject; specializing (i.e. a degree)

Therefore, arts and entertainment reporters who work for a major news organization will often have more authority because their audience is larger. They will also be expected to have more education on the subject then, say, an entertainment blogger.

In the workplace, “high culture arts critics occupy higher rungs of the newsroom hierarchy, and are also viewed as inherently more authoritative and therefore able to pass judgment on the object of their criticism” (Harries 622).

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Advertising: Effects on Critics

Look at the following excerpts to see how the need for advertising sometimes impacts arts and entertainment journalists.

From a Newsweek article:

“The mass media exist for only two reasons. One is that people read us or watch us; the other is that people and companies use us to advertise. These are, of course, connected. If people don't read or watch us, advertisers won't use us. But if advertisers don't use us--for whatever reason--then we will lose our audiences. Advertising pays the bills. Newspapers, for example, receive 70 to 80 percent of their revenues from ads (circulation is most of the rest). If ads evaporate, the mass media won't be able to afford the programs and news staffs that attract audiences.”

Personal narrative from freelance journalist:

"The problem is that a lot of editors see criticism as an adjunct of marketing. They're happy only when it's a positive review, because then you have a writer who's with the program," says Charles Taylor, a critic of film, books, and music who until recently contributed to the Newark Star-Ledger on a freelance basis. According to Taylor, he nearly lost one of his gigs (not his gig at the Star-Ledger, which was eliminated in a mass purge at the paper last year) because he wrote a critical review of a popular movie.“ There's a common point of view," he explains. "You don't assign a review to someone who doesn't like the work. Oh, really? That's publicity; that's not criticism. There is a pressure on the critic to be positive, and, in terms of print, at least, it's tied to advertising dollars."

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A Journalist’s Reflection on Working in Arts and Entertainment

“Arts journalists are always at the bottom of the pecking order. This order is determined by funding and space. Sport gets pages and pages of football story after football story. The arts journalist gets next to nothing. If I am traveling somewhere, the paper won’t pay; our funding comes from symphony orchestras or opera companies, but if a sports reporter wants to go and cover yet another football story, it’s ‘OK, here’s £1000!’ It’s disgusting how the arts are treated by the press.”

- Wilfred, Freelance Music Critic

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Lorne Manly (seen on the left), the entertainment editor of The New York Times answered viewers’ questions about entertainment coverage. An aspiring arts journalist asked for career advice, and Manly responded indicating the future for arts and entertainment journalists is bleak.