February 3rd, 2010

Definition:
Define “Journalism” in 1-3 sentences.
Journalism is the telling of current events (what's happening now) that are news-worthy through Internet, radio, magazines, newspapers, and television. Television and radio are known as "broadcast" journalism, while magazines and newspapers are "print" journalism; Internet is a combination of the two.



List and describe the six criteria of newsworthiness.

TITLE DESCRIPTION EXAMPLE
1. Timeliness; issues that are happening now. An example could be a natural disaster, such as the earthquake in Haiti. Weather is another example that is always timely.

2. Significance; events. The more people that are affected by an event, the more people who are impacted. An example could be Hurricane Katrina, or 9/11 Tragedy.

3. Unusualness; caring about things that are "out of the ordinary", instead of something that is commonplace. Examples could be any source of crime, because it is something unusual, or "Octamom". "Man Bites Dog".

4. Prominence; people. We care about important or famous people, and events that occur to them. An example could be when Britney Spears shaved her head; BIG DEAL.

5. Proximity; the location of an event, we care about things that are close to us. An example could be the differences between the Star Tribune, compared to the New York Times or CNN; our local papers offer more information about things that are close to us.

6. Human Interest; stories that give ya that "warm, fuzzy" feeling.



What are the advantages of print journalism?
1. You have control over when you read the news; you don't have to wait til a certain time on the television, you can read whenever you would like.

2. You have control over what you read; you don't have to listen to all of the sports if you are just interested in hearing about the Vikings.

3. There is a lot more information in an article in a newspaper compared to the same story on news show.



What are the advantages of broadcast journalism?

1. Visually, video and pictures, are a lot more stimulating and interesting than words printed on a page. Goes along with the whole idea that "A picture is worth a thousand words."

2. The ability to be live; instead of having to wait to be updated, broadcast journalism can be changed up to the minute.

3. More more portable and accessible; you can access television and radio anywhere.



Why has online journalism (convergent media) become so popular?
Convergent media is "the best of both worlds"; it combines the positives of both print journalism as well as broadcast journalism. You can access from anywhere, while watching both video as well as reading articles that you choose to read. There is now no reason to wait to read the paper in the morning for the headlines from the night before; you can easily go online and read the article at anytime.