Journalism

Journalism is the activities of journalists or others engaged in the preparation of written, visual, or audio material intended for dissemination through public media with reference to factual, ongoing events of public concern. It is intended to inform society about itself and to make events public that would otherwise remain private.

A reporter is a type of journalist who researches, writes, and reports information to present in sources, conduct interviews, engage in research, and make reports. The information-gathering part of a journalist's job is sometimes called "reporting," in contrast to the production part of the job such as writing articles. Reporters may split their time between working in a newsroom and going out to witness events or interview people. Reporters may be assigned a specific beat or area of coverage.

Depending on the context, the term journalist may include various types of editors, editorial writers, columnists, and visual journalists, such as photojournalists (journalists who use the medium of photography).

Journalism has developed a variety of ethics and standards. While objectivity and a lack of bias are often considered important, some types of journalism, such as advocacy journalism, intentionally adopt a non-objective viewpoint.

Today in Egypt, the land of the pharaohs, there was much a to-do about a bunch of people who were just sitting around in an encampment waiting for something to happen and it did. The television channels had brief statements but they were worried they didn’t get the information right. The radio reports were vague. Print had to wait and verify and validate all the numbers before broadcasting or printing a single report.

So where did we get our information? The instantaneous responses from the web gave us the news. Whether fact or fiction we observed videos from cell phones and tweets from people who reportedly were on site. Later the established news organizations verified what we had seen and heard earlier was the truth, or as much truth as their journalist could confirm.

You see it everyday on the news. Someone reports a house fire, but before the news crew can drive out to the location, set up, and record the event with a perky reporter pointing to the burnt house; someone with a cell phone has recorded the event on a cell phone, sent it to a news agency, and tweeted about what had happened in real time.

Now a house fire is a house fire and a plane crash is a plane crash, but what about a public servant extending their accountability? There are many different views on what should happen and if you check the comments on new sites you can laugh or gag at the array of opinions.  

These momentary opinionative opinions are what are become what used to be called the “news”. Before a journalist with a background and education in evaluation, to analyze the information with an ethical approach to the truth can broadcast the “news” it is already out there. Truth or fiction be told, we immediately believe the first things we see.

Just as we quickly respond to some weird email or tweet, we follow the results of what should be “news” by reports from anyone and everyone. Perhaps this is where news is going?

The town carrier is not the only one who can announce an even anymore. On every street corner in every city in every country around the globe there are people observing the daily routine of life. When something unusual or exciting or just out of the ordinary happens there are cameras with sound and opinionated responses to whatever. Important or not, we are attracted to follow the thread and perhaps believe it or maybe be transformed in thought.

Will the scholars and academicians and media and journalistic establishments understand this transition? Will they begin to understand the change before it is too late? And if the power goes out, then what happens?

Think I will Google the web and see what is happening in the world.