Часть 2

Role of Journalism in society

Journalism's role is to act as a mediator or translator between the public and policymaking elites. The journalist became the middleman. When elites spoke, journalists listened and recorded the information, distilled it, and passed it on to the public for their consumption. The reasoning behind this function is that the public is not in a position to deconstruct a growing and complex flurry of information present in modern society, and so an intermediary are needed to filter news for the masses. Lippman put it this way: The public is not smart enough to understand complicated, political issues. Furthermore, the public was too consumed with their daily lives to care about complex public policy. Therefore the public needed someone to interpret the decisions or concerns of the elite to make the information plain and simple. That was the role of journalists.

Public affects the decision making of the elite with their vote. In the meantime, the elite (i.e. politicians, policy makers, bureacrats, scientists, etc.) would keep the business of power running. The journalist's role is to inform the public of what the elites were doing. It was also to act as a watchdog over the elites as the public had the final say with their votes. On the other hand, it is believed the public was not only capable of understanding the issues created or responded to by the elite, it was in the public forum that decisions should be made after discussion and debate. When issues were throughly vetted, then the best ideas would bubble to the surface. Thus, journalists not only have to inform the public, but should report on issues differently than simply passing on information. journalists should take in the information, then weigh the consequences of the policies being enacted by the elites on the public. Over time, this function of journalism has been implemented in various degrees, and is more commonly known as "community journalism."

This concept of ‘Community Journalism’ is at the center of new developments in journalism. journalists are able to engage citizens and the experts/elites in the proposition and generation of content. the shared knowledge of many is far superior to a single individual's knowledge and conversation, debate, and dialogue lie at the heart of a democracy.

UNIT 2-NEWS

Definition of News

On the surface, defining news is a simple task. News is an account of what is happening around us. It may involve current events, new initiatives or ongoing projects or issues. But a newspaper does not only print news of the day. It also prints background analysis, opinions, and human-interest stories.

Choosing what's news can be harder.

The reporter chooses stories from the flood of information and events happening in the world and in their community. Stories are normally selected because of their importance, emotion, impact, timeliness and interest.

Types of News

Hard news (+/- 600 words): This is how journalists refer to news of the day. It is a chronicle of current events/incidents and is the most common news style on the front page of your typical newspaper.

It starts with a summary lead. What happened? Where? When? To/by whom? Why? (The journalist's 5 W's). It must be kept brief and simple, because the purpose of the rest of the story will be to elaborate on this lead.

Keep the writing clean and uncluttered. Most important, give the readers the information they need. If the federal government announced a new major youth initiative yesterday, that's today's hard news.

Hard news stories make up the bulk of news reporting. Hard news consists of basic facts. It is news of important public events, international happenings, social conditions, economy, crime, etc. thus, most of the material found in daily papers, especially from page items or news casts, deal in the hard news category. The main aim of the hard news is to inform.

Soft news (+/-600 words): This is a term for all the news that isn't time-sensitive.

Soft news includes profiles of people, programs or organizations. Most of news content is soft news.

Soft news, if cleverly written and carefully targeted can offer an alternative. Soft news can cover business or social trends. Typically, soft stories have a human interest, entertainment focus or a statistical and survey approach. This gives a journalist a chance to be creative and have fun with the news.

something, don't beat around the bush. This is a space for you to rant and roll with

as much emotive power as possible.

News Structure

The structure of a news story (hard & soft news & features) is simple: a lead and the body.

The Lead

One of the most important elements of news writing is the opening paragraph or two of the story. Journalists refer to this as the "lead," and its function is to summarize the story and/or to draw the reader in (depending on whether it is a "hard" or "soft" news story.

Below is the difference between these two genres of news stories.

In a hard news story, the lead should be a full summary of what is to follow. It should incorporate as many of the 5 "W's" of journalism (who, what, where, when and why) as possible. (e.g. "Homeless youth marched down Yonge St. in downtown Toronto Wednesday afternoon demanding the municipal government provide emergency shelter during the winter months." - Can you identify the 5 W's in this lead?)

In a Soft news story , the lead should present the subject of the story by allusion. This type of opening is somewhat literary. Like a novelist, the role of the writer is to grab the attention of the reader. (e.g. "Until four years ago, Jason W. slept in alleyways... ") Once the reader is drawn in, the 5 "W's" should be incorporated into the body of the story, but not necessarily at the very top.

The Body

The body of the story involves combining the opinions of the people you interview, some factual data, and a narrative, which helps the story flow. A word of caution! In this style of writing, you are not allowed to "editorialize" (state your own opinion) in any way.

Remember:

The role of a reporter is to find out what people are thinking of an issue and to report the opinions of different stakeholders of an issue. These comments make up the bulk of the story. The narrative helps to weave the comments into a coherent whole. Thus, stick to one particular theme throughout the story. You can put in different details but they all have to relate to the original idea of the piece. (e.g. If your story is about black youth and their relationship with the police you do not want to go into details about the life of any one particular youth).

As a reporter, you are the eyes and ears for the readers. You should try to provide some visual details to bring the story to life (this is difficult if you have conducted only phone interviews, which is why face-to-face is best). You should also try to get a feel for the story. Having a feel means getting some understanding of the emotional background of the piece and the people involved in it. Try to get a sense of the characters involved and why they feel the way they do.