THE HISTORY OF JOURNALISM (0)

THE HISTORY OF JOURNALISM
REPORT SUBMITTED TO:
JELENA SCHMIDT
SUBJECT :
ENGLISH
BY
NIKITA GUSTSHIN
TMHG
19.04.2012
“The History of Journalism”
● What is “Journalism”?
Journalism is the investigation and reporting of events , issues and trends to a broad audience . Though there are many variations of journalism, the ideal is to inform the intended audience. Along with covering organizations and institutions such as government and business, journalism also covers cultural aspects of society such as arts and entertainment. The field includes editing, photojournalism, and documentary .
● History of journalism. Ancient journalism.
Note : "Journalism" is often called the first draft of history, but not all of it has to get written down in real time. A "Journalist" can write today about events that happened yesterday or a week ago.
Definition of "Ancient Journalism" is any historian who wrote about events in his own lifetime , IF he recorded those events within a year or less after they happened, or finished happening.
Here are some examples of ancient journalism:
Nicolas of Damascus - chief advisor to King Herod the Great, Nicolas also wrote the history of those days during Herod's life. (The work is mostly lost , but Josephus relied on it as a source.) Nicolas wrote from 14 to 4 BC, relying on his own current , ongoing experience and Herod's memoirs.
Julius Caesar - not a king (yet) and he wrote it himself, but he chronicled his Gallic Wars and Civil Wars in true journalistic fashion . Also, Caesar did it deliberately to provide source material for future historians.
○ About “ nowadays ” journalism:
Johann Carolus 's “Relation aller Fürnemmen und gedenckwürdigen Historien”, published in 1605 in Strassburg, is often recognized as the first newspaper. The first successful English daily , the Daily Courant, was published from 1702 to 1735.The first dedicated school for journalism, Missouri School of Journalism, was founded in 1908 in the United States of America by Walter Williams .
In the 1920s , as modern journalism was just taking form, writer Walter Lippmann and American philosopher John Dewey debated over the role of journalism in a democracy . Their differing philosophies still characterize a debate about the role of journalism in society and the nation -state.
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 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 .
Bill Kovach and Tom Rosenstiel propose several guidelines for journalists in their book “The Elements of Journalism”. Because journalism's first loyalty is to the citizenry, journalists are obliged to tell the truth and must serve as an independent monitor of powerful individuals and institutions within society. The essence of journalism is to provide citizens with reliable information through the discipline of verification, as well providing a forum for public criticism.
Professional and ethical standards
In the UK, all newspapers are bound by the Code of Practice of the Press Complaints Commission. This includes points like respecting people's privacy and ensuring accuracy. However , the Media Standards Trust has criticised the PCC, claiming it needs to be radically changed to secure public trust of newspapers.
This is in stark contrast to the media climate prior to the 20th Century, where the media market was dominated by smaller newspapers and pamphleteers who usually had an overt and often radical agenda, with no presumption of balance or objectivity.
Little note: Publishers, owners and other corporate executives, especially advertising sales executives, can try to use their powers over journalists to influence how news is reported and published. Journalists usually rely on top management to create and maintain a "firewall" between the news and other departments in a news organization to prevent undue influence on the news department.
Legal status
Governments have widely varying policies and practices towards journalists, which control what they can research and write, and what press organizations can publish. Some governments guarantee the freedom of the press; while other nations severely restrict what journalists can research and/or publish.
Journalists in many nations have some privileges that members of the general public do not; including better access to public events, crime scenes and press conferences, and to extended .
YELLOW JOURNALISM
Yellow journalism, or the yellow press, is a type of journalism that presents little or no legitimate well-researched news and instead uses eye-catching headlines to sell more newspapers.
Frank Luther Mott (1941) defines yellow journalism in terms of five characteristics :
● Scare headlines in huge print , often of minor news
● Lavish use of pictures, or imaginary drawings
● Use of faked interviews, misleading headlines, pseudoscience, and a parade of false learning from so-called experts
● Emphasis on full - color Sunday supplements, usually with comic strips
● Dramatic sympathy with the " underdog " against the system.
Frank Luther Mott (April 4, 1886 – October 23, 1964) was an American historian and journalist of Quaker descent.
FAMOUS JOURNALIST
Grantland Rice
1880-1954
One of America’s best - known and respected sports writers . Rice saw sports as life. His column “Sportslight” appeared in more than 100 newspapers. He estimated that he wrote 1 million words a year—3,000 words a day—and traveled 15,000 miles a year to bring stories to his readers.
Ernie Pyle
1900-1945
Perhaps the best-loved reporter of all time. Pyle covered the human side of the news in a folksy, chatty style. With his wife , Jerry, he traveled the United States and the world in search of stories about ordinary heroes. During World War II, Pyle mixed with soldiers in Europe and the Pacific and followed them into battle. His columns home gave readers a glimpse of war from what he called “the worm ’s-eye view.”
My opinion of this profession
I think, this profession is quite interesting , but not for all. I assume that, to be a great journalist, you must be interested in sphere about you write. It’s boring, when journalists just write about things, which happened in their town/ country . Inspiration – is the first thing, which could help to write fantastic reports. For example, if you are interested in sports for a long time, why not to publish your own opinion (cause of big experience) in to the local newspaper or magazine ? There is a hope , that public will read your articles and start to listen your opinion, which was created during your long life. You might be a person, who really can objectively and clearly talk about sports events. When I was listening to Pavel Ozerov (Russian 1st canal journalist) he said, that firstly you should choose a profession you like. After that, you can write about it. So, in this way you can help people to understand for example “good” and “bad” sides of your job/profession or inform society about events which are connected with your profession.