Making News

Communicating news information  News reporting is a genre with its own specific characteristics  Its characteristics have evolved owing to: ●The function of newspapers: i.e. reporting information on world facts and events ●The particular type of relation with the readership ●The limitations of the medium:  Constraints of time (the need to deliver information fast), space on the page, etc.

Traditional roles in the newsroom  Chief reporter, journalist, subeditor and editor have rather fixed roles in news-making: ●The journalist writes the article ●The chief reporter revises and checks the article (for factual accuracy, language, etc.) ●The subeditor and editor edit the article and make decisions on the article prominence, its layout, headline and photos/pictures, its allocation in the issue, etc.

How are journalism and journalists’ practices changing?

Factors affecting the media industry  Ownership  Economic pressures  Technological innovations  Professionalization  Quality of journalism Recent Changes due to: ● Mergers and acquisitions ● The Internet ● Digitalisation ● Increased media production

Media ownership  Global media organizations control the majority of newspapers worldwide: ●In Britain, 8 owners dominate the national press ●In the US, 8 companies control the majority of the media ●In the world, 6 multinational companies effectively control the leading media  ‘Alternative’ press, often with strong political, religious, ethnic affiliations  Ownership influences media content, political stance and editorial perspective

Economic Pressures  The need to make profits has a major impact on media production  Advertising is a major source of profit for newspapers, hence: ●The need to sell advertising space ●The need to keep sales and circulation high ●Meeting readers’ expectations is a way to keep sales and circulation high  Free papers and most Internet papers rely wholly on advertising to make profits

New Technology Some characteristics of new technology  Digitalization  Server-based production  Non-linear editing ●Faster production process ●Automation ●Products are publishable in multiple formats

Effects on journalism  Fewer journalists  Less investigative journalism ●The Internet is a news-gathering tool  Tighter production times  More editions during the day  More competition between different media (e.g. print and electronic)

Effects on journalistic practices  Multi-skilling: ●Editing, video journalism ●Multimedia  Time is still a constraint: ●Later deadlines but more tasks to perform ●Less time for analysis  More control over the final product: ●Fewer people involved  Audience feedback from interactive media

Changing audiences  Audiences are no longer passive consumers ●Interactivity allows audiences to voice their opinions ●Audiences contribute to creating news products (videos, pictures, blogs, etc.)  Audiences have expectations about content and formats ●Better educated, informed readers  More sources of information available  Less loyalty to brands

A changing profession?  Journalists need to be versatile and be able to perform multiple activities ●Converging forms of news products (print, audio, television, or online)  Increased workload  Lack of specialisation Leading to better journalism or a threat to the profession?