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News-changing Concepts (1)
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Transcript of News-changing Concepts (1)
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Media is very far from the ideals of the 60s when news were all about doing the right thing and
educating the readers.
In old times, news was that which came from newspapers or word of mouth.
"...news is history in its first and best form, its vivid and fascinating form, andhistory is the pale
and tranquil reflection of it. Said Mark Twain in his autobiography.
News tends to be the most significant stories of the day. Its only news until hes read it. After that
its dead. (Waugh, 1943).
Today the term news is not just about informing, but also about doing it fast, effectively and also
analysing it for Gen X. Being in the eye of public domain has created a tremendous pressure on the
publication as well as news channels.
With various multimedia options from streaming video online to downloadable applications, blogs
and mobile alerts, the options are varied for todays reader. Journalists are working harder than ever
to cater to their readers. From live reporting, interviewing, analysing the facts to the digitalization ofnews on blogs and official websites, the job is easier said than done. Journalists who want to set
their articles apart as truthful and comprehensive have begun to give public access to their sources.
Playing an active role in the process of collecting, reporting, analysing, and disseminating news and
other information was the definition of journalism in olden times. Today it is defined as revelation ,
current events, gossip, new information, imparting facts. There is no News anymore rather just
about anything is news today. But there are also some problems with this new trend.
One of the needs journalism serves is to verify sources of breaking news. The sanity checks are not
always performed when news are published through social media. The real-time web has driven the
news cycle down to five seconds and a rumour can very quickly spread to millions of people without
verification.
But, there are some trends that counter this problem, as people become more and more aware of
the issue they will be more reluctant to spread rumours without verification. More and more people
are also walking around with cell phones capable of shooting high quality video and photos,
increasing the probability that eyewitnesses can publish proof of what actually happened.
News is what is new; its whats happening. Look it up in the dictionary and youll find news
described as a report of recent events on previously unknown information. (Potter, D. 2008
Handbook of Independent Journalism, US).
News has to be kept up to date regularly, needs to be meaningful and also has to be relevant to thepublic. Potter describes news as new; its whats happening. He also says the dictionary definition
of news is a report of recent events on previously unknown information. Journalists follow many
ground rules when writing and choosing news stories, these rules need to identify and define news
values. Galtung and Ruge, Alistair Hetherington and the Frankfurt school have all established an
academic way of recognising these rules which exist in everyday newsgathering explaining how news
is selected, why it is news to the public.
Alistair Hetherington, in the 1960s, was the editor of the Guardian newspaper. He described news
as anything which threatens peoples peace, prosperity, and well-being is news and likely to make
headlines. He is suggesting that there is a link between what the public regard as news and its own
security. For example if the public engage with a story such as 9/11 it will make news, because there
is emotion or an instinctive feeling towards the people involved. Hetherington drew up a list of
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priorities in which would help the staff of the Guardian to recognise news stories. These priorities
were: Significance, drama, surprise, personalities, sex, numbers and proximity. These are all different
categories which news stories fall into.
A comparison among what was reported in 1977, 1987 and 1997 shows the changing trends in news
reporting.
However, the concept of news is now more flexible & dynamic than ever.
Journalists may have thought it was necessary to set the old school aside to accommodate the new
realities, but with the new realities there is no new ethic. Credibility is so valuable today because it is
so scarce. Tom Bettag.
Michael Schudson, professor at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, has said that
everything we thought we once knew about journalism needs to be rethought in the Digital Age.
Today the work of journalism can be done from anywhere and done well. It requires no more than a
reporter and a laptop. In that way, journalistic authority seems to have become more individual- and
less institution-based. But does the individual reporter always have to be an actual journalist? Or can
journalistic work be done from anywhere and by anyone? These are questions that refers to the core
of journalistic practice and the definition of news itself.
Schudson has identified the following six specific areas where the ecology of news in his opinion has
changed:
1. The line between the reader and writer has blurred.
2. The distinction among tweet, blog post, newspaper story, magazine article, and book has blurred.
3. The line between professionals and amateurs has blurred, and a variety of pro-am relationships
has emerged.
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4. The boundaries delineating for-profit, public, and non-profit media have blurred, and the
cooperation across these models of financing has developed.
5. Within commercial news organizations, the line between the news room and the business office
has blurred 6. The line between old media and new media has blurred, practically beyond
recognition.
The boundaries of journalism, which just a few years ago seemed relatively clear, and permanent,
have become less distinct, and this blurring, while potentially the foundation of progress even as it is
the source of risk, has given rise to a new set of journalistic principles and practices, Schudson puts
it. It is indeed complex, but it seems to be the future.