4. Journalism as a profession
What is journalism? Journalism is information. It is communication. It is the events of the day distilled into a few words, sounds or pictures. Journalism is about people. It is produced for people.
"What makes a good journalist? journalist2 must interest in people - good people, bad people (who often make good news!), famous people, humble people, rich people, poor people, old people, young people, Black people, White people - people of every type - everywhere. Hand in hand5 with this interest in people, should go the qualities of sympathy6 (so that you can see the other side of an issue even if you disagree with the person who holds it), open-mindedness7 (so that you do not make a hasty ill-informed judgement8) and an inquiring mind (so that you can really get to the bottom of the thing you are asking about). the journalist needs to have humility. But it does mean" that the man who thinks he is a pretty clever chap12 and does not mind the world knowing about it, will never make a good journalist. . Obviously he must be well enough educated to be able to write fairly clearly in whatever language it is he hopes to work in.13 The best journalists write simple, plain, direct English, generally preferring short words to long ones.
Journalism is a hard life.
It can be exciting, but it can be sometimes boring. It can be frustrating, too. It can be demanding and so make it difficult or impossible for you to do a lot of things that other people do in their spare time. It can separate you from your family for a great amount of your time; some journalists see their school-going children only at weekends. It can cut you off from a good deal of social life with your friends, and it can make it almost impossible for you to know when you will be free and what time you will have to call your own. To be a good journalist you must have a great deal of curiosity. You must like people and be interested in what they do, you must be able to get on easy and friendly terms with men and women of all sorts, however much they may differ from each other or from you. Journalism is no place for the shy person who finds it difficult to talk to strangers. He must be able to write, not necessarily at the standard of great writers, but in a simple and lucid fashion and, above all, quickly, and in short sentences which convey concisely what is meant.
Higher education is becoming an extremely important element in modern society.
In Great Britain students have lectures, regular seminars. After three or four years the students will take their finals. Those who pass examinations successfully are given the Bachelors degree. Then some from they given for some original research work which is an important contribution to knowledge. Open Days are a chance for applicants to see the university, meet students and ask questions. All this will help you decide whether you have made the right choice. The most famous universities in Britain are Oxford and Cambridge.
The basic course of university studies in Belarus lasts five or six years and divided into two semestors. Every semester completed examination session. The students attend lectures and seminars, have some practical lessons, carru out research work, too. The most famous universities in Belarus are Belarusian National Technic University (1920) and Belarusian State University (1921).
Research is hard work, but it intersting and creative. The results of any research work can be presented in different forms. Such work allow to get new knowleges, habits and friends. Research work will be more interesting and usefully for society if researcher collected many informations about problem.
Students regulary take part in international scientific conferences, meeting with scientists in university. Training at post-graduate level for one year provides students with master’s degree, too.
The Concise Oxford Dictionary describes a journalist as "one whose business is to edit or write for a public journal". That's all, but journalism is a hard life. It can be demanding and so make it difficult for you to do a lot of things that other people do in their spare time. It can separate you from your family for a great amount of your time; some journalists see their children only at weekends. It can cut you off from spend time with your friends, and it impossible for you to know when you will be free and what time you will be busy.
Journalism is a interesting life, too.
At first, a good journalist must have well education, understand people, write in a simple and lucid fashion and quickly respond to important events. To be a good journalist you must have a great deal of curiosity. You must like people and be interested in what they do. Journalism is no place for the shy person who finds it difficult to talk to strangers. He must be able to write, not necessarily at the standard.
A good journalist is not easily rebuffed. He must have a good deal of self-reliance and push and energy and initiative.
If you think you can measure up to these standards try to take up journalism as a career.
8
The notion of the democratic society.
Democracy is goverment by the people in which the supreme power is vested the people and exercised directly by them or by their elected agents under a free electoral system. According to the Abraham Luncoln, democracy is goverment of the people, by the people, and for the people. Freedom and democracy are often used interchangeably, but the two are not the synonims. Democracy is indded a set of ideas and principles about freedom, but it also consist of a set of practices and procedures that have been molded through a long history. In short, democracy is institutiolization of freedom. Democracies fail to int o2 basic categories: direct and representative. In a direct democracy all citizens can participate in making public decisions. In a representative democracy all citizens elect officials to make official decisions, formulate laws and administer programms for the public good. Democracy is more than a set of constitutions rules and procedure. That determine how a government functions .in a democracy, government is only one element coexisting in a social fabric of many and varied institutions, political parties, organizations and assotiations. This diversity is colled pluralism, and it assumes, that the many organized groups and institutions in a democratic society do not depend upon government for their existence, legitimory or authority.
Freedom of the individual
Freedom is the ability to make choices and carry them out. There are many defenitions of freedom: is ability to think , speak and act without being controlled by anyone else. Freedon is the right to tell people what they do not want to hear. Most legal freedom can be devided into three main group: 1.political freedom 2.social freedom 3. economic freedom
polotocal freedom includes the right to vote, to choose beetwen rival and, dates for public office, it includes the right to critise goverment politicies, which is part of free speech.
Social freedom:
-freedom of speech-is the right of people to say what they belive political liberty depends on this right.
- freedom of the press-is the right to publish facts, ideas and opinions without interference. This right exends to radio, tv and films as well as printed material.
-freedom of religion- means the right to belive in and practice the faith of one’s choice. It also mean that people have right to have no religion at all.
9
From early times three methods of circulation news had been known: the proclamation, issued by the king to inform about laws; the sermon, preached by the clergy; and various kinds of popular ballads, poems.
The first written news service was supplied to the great and wealthy people in Elizabethian England.
Before the invention of printing in 15th century Germany no good means existed for copying several letters or documents. The printing press was introduced into England by William Caxton in 1476. And to this day it is common to refer to newspapers generally and to the journalists who work for them and write them.
In March 1702 Elizabeth Mallet, produced Britain's first daily newspaper, the Daily Courant. A half century later, 17 newspapers were being published in the area and the archetype of the British journalist had emerged.
The first newspaper in British North America, Publick Occurrences Both Foreign and Domestick (1690). The first regular newspaper in the colonies did not appear until 1704. It was the weekly Boston News-Letter, published by John Campbell. This was the beginning of independent journalism in the United States.
The First regular publishing in Grand duchies Lithuanian was "Газэта літэрацка Віленьска" (is founded in 1760, was published Vilensk's jesuit academician). At the beginning initially XX in belorussian district centre were published newspapers of the different directions: "Belorussian herald" (Белорусский вестник), "NORTH-WEST voice" (Северо-Западный голос), "Fringe"(«Окраина»), «Полоцкий листок». The most largest achievement of national journalism became leaving the first mass legal newspapers on belorussian language «Наша доля» & «Наша ніва» (1906), became centre national-liberation motion.
There are some types of edition: newspaper and magazine. Most newspapers have a page that is eight columns wide and twenty to twenty-one inches deep. This is called a standard size page. A minority newspapers are tabloid in format, usually five columns wide and 15 inches deep, or approximately half the size of a standard page. The newspapers can be divided into categories: weeklies and semiweeklies, small dailies, larger dailies and the gigantic metropolitan dailies.