Journalist trends

Marketing: An aggressive marketing drive has overtaken the media of today, making it more commercialized than ever. The media of mass communication and journalism i.e. television, radio, newspaper, are considered as commodities and vigorous marketing is done. Also much advertising is done these days to increase the circulation of the mass media. This has also led to state of the art designing and production of newspapers and programmers because a better and more advanced presentation is the requirement of the day.

Technology:

The news information technology has resulted in revolutionary changes in every sphere of life including journalism. With over expanding of satellite network, the world has become a ‘Tiny global village’. Computers, WWW, cellular phones, internet, etc the world of communication has changed immensely. As a result, a new branch of journalism i.e. ‘Cyber Journalism’ or ‘On-line-Journalism’ has emerged.

Today, almost every important newspaper and magazine is available on the internet. The fast and vast growth of the Internet and World Wide Web has spawned the newest medium for journalism, on-line journalism. The speed at which news can be disseminated on the web, and the profound penetration to anyone with a computer and web browser, have greatly increased the quantity and variety of news reports available to the average web user. The bulk of on -line journalism has been the extension of existing print and broadcast media into the web via web versions of their primary products.

New reports that were set to be released at expected times now can be published as soon as they are written and edited, increasing the deadline pressure and fear of beings cooped many journalists must deal with. Most news websites are free to their users -one notable exception being the WallStreet Journal website, for which a subscription is required to view its content- but some outlets, such as the New York Times website, offer current news for free but archived reports and access to opinion columnists and other non-news sections for a periodic fee. However, the growth of blogs as a source of news and especially opinion on the news has forever changed journalism. Blogs now can create news as well as report it, and blur the dividing line between news and opinion.

Thus, technological development is also reflected in the daily working style of the journalists. They have computers and laptops instead of paper and pen. Also, news writing and news presentation is done with the help of the computers. Instead of proof reading mistakes and errors, they can be easily corrected on the computer screens itself. Picture arrangements, headings, columns, color arrangements, everything is done on the screen. The full dummy can also be seen on the screen of the computer. Even the print orders is done through electronic E-publishing i.e. you can make a page on the computer screen, link those pages, make a dummy, final it and OK it for  printing. This has given a new concept of ‘convergence’ in communication.

Summary

 News is, anything out of the ordinary, it is the current happenings. It is anything that makes the reader surprised and curious. News is anything that will make people talk. News is the issue for discussions and debates. Any event, whichaffects most of the people, interest most of the audiences and involves most of the people, is news. 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 most news reports follow the ‘Kiss and tell’ formula- Kiss standing either for ‘keep it short and simple’ or ‘keep it simple, stupid.’ Complexity, abstract notions, ambiguity and unanswered questions tend to be frowned upon and deleted out of news copy.

The opening paragraph of the introduction paragraph of the news story is called the lead. A headline is a ‘window’ to the news story. Thus, a heading must fit, must tell the story, must confirm to newspaper’s standard, must not just be a label, must be safe and must not commit the paper to an opinion. A good headline is one that in less than a dozen words summarizes what a reporter has said.

With a change in times, the concept of journalism too is undergoing many changes. It is no more a social service but a service or a job now. Today, it is considered a big profit making industry.
Source: Internet