Journalism

Journalism is a discipline of collecting, verifying, analyzing and presenting information gathered regarding current events, including trends, issues and people. Those who practice journalism are known as journalists.

News-oriented journalism often is described as the "first draft of history." Even though journalists often write news articles to a deadline, news media usually edit and proofread the results prior to publication.

Reporting and editorializing

Journalism has as its main activity the reporting of events — stating who, what, when, where, why and how, and explaining the significance and effect of events or trends. Journalism exists in a number of media: newspapers, television, radio, magazines and, since the end of 20th century, the Internet.

Generally, publishers and consumers of journalism draw a distinction between reporting — "just the facts" — and opinions (such as editorials, the official opinions of the paper, and op-ed columns, "opposite the editorial page" commentary). However, this distinction sometimes can break down. Journalists may unintentionally fall prey to propaganda or disinformation. (See News management.) Journalists may give a biased account of facts by reporting selectively, for instance, focusing on anecdote or giving a partial explanation of actions. Foreign reporting may become more susceptible to bias, because the writers or editors of a newspaper in a given geographical area may find it more difficult to check the facts in reports about distant places. (See Media bias.)

Feature-writing

Newspapers and periodicals often contain features (see under heading feature style at article news style) written by journalists, many of whom specialize in this form of "in-depth" journalism.

Sources

Journalists' interaction with sources sometimes involves confidentiality. Many Western governments guarantee the freedom of the press. By extension, these freedoms sometimes also add legal protection for journalists, allowing them to keep the identity of a source private even when demanded by police or prosecutors.

Blogging

Recently there has been some controversy as to whether blogging constitutes a form of journalism. There have been arguments on both sides of the debate further fueled by a March 2005 court ruling in a case involving Apple Computer and several Apple rumor blogs. In that ruling the judge declared that the blogs were not entitled to journalist protections with regards to preserving the anonymity of sources because they don't qualify as a form of journalism. This set a legal precedent.

Types of journalism

• Advocacy journalism
• Alternative journalism
• Broadcast journalism
• Business journalism
• Citizen journalism
• Computer-assisted reporting
• Gonzo journalism
• Electronic journalism - news aquisition by means of analogue and digital electronic recording devices.
• Investigative journalism
• Literary journalism related to Creative nonfiction
• Muckraking
• New journalism
• Online journalism
• Photo journalism
• Sports journalism
• Tabloid journalism, Tabloid
• Trade journalism Trade publications covering news specific to industries and professions.
• Yellow journalism

Related topics

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to:

Journalism

• Journalist
• Journalistic standards
• List of journalism books
• List of journalism topics
• McLurg's Law
• Magazine

• Newspaper
• Objectivity (journalism)
• Planted news
• Witness
• Wikinews

Media topics

• Mass media
• Trial by media
• Media circus
• Media hype

External links

• Journalism.org - Homepage for the Project for Excellence in Journalism
• Poynter Institute
• Society of Professional Journalists
• Journawiki, a wiki about journalism
• What Makes a Journalist? - March 5, 2005 article in support of blogging as a form of journalism.