Journalism for Kids : Chapter 6 :Fields of Journalism
There are five important fields of journalism.
They are: 1) Newspapers 2) News Services 3) Magazines 4) Radio 4) Television, and the latest 5) The Internet.
Advertising, Public relations and publishing are also fields related journalism.
Newspapers
Newspapers cover a variety of stories from all over the world.
These stories are usually much more detailed than the ones presented on the television. Although television, radio, and the Internet are popular today, newspapers are still going strong because of this. Apart from reporting stories in detail, newspapers allot more space to news than does the television or the radio. For instance, a half-hour newscast on the television would fill only part of the front page of a standard newspaper. Newspapers also allow readers to read the news at their own pace, at their own time, unlike newscast which is aired at particular times. Newspaper readers can skip the items that they don’t find interesting. They cannot do that while listening to a newscast!
News Services
News services have journalists who gather news from around the world. The newspapers that don’t send their journalists all over the world rely on news services for news. To get news from a news service, a press has to be a member of the service and pay a certain fee to the service. This way, a small newspaper can also get international news without sending its journalists abroad.
Magazines
Magazines, like newspapers, make it easy for people to read news whenever it is convenient for them. Weekly magazines are very popular because of their colorful writing. These magazines also include regular articles in the arts, business, education, science, and other fields. Many magazines specialize in different fields, like business, fashion, television entertainment, medicine, banking, publishing and so on.
Radio
A radio is usually the first of the news media to report a local story. A radio announcer can interrupt a program with a news flash as soon as the report comes in. Most stations present newscasts every half-hour.
Millions of people depend on radio for regular newscast. Radios are convenient to carry and most require one or two batteries only. A person can easily carry a radio in case he is going on a trek for example. Many people rely on radios for weather forecasts while traveling. The radio is still a very popular media.
Television
Television does what none of the other media can do: It relays live, filmed or taped reports. It is the chief source of news for millions of people around the world. Daily news programs on TV provide brief accounts of short stories. However, the visuals of these stories catch a person’s interest and help him understand the story better. Apart from regular newscasts, television also covers special news reports by interrupting the regular TV programs.
These special news reports could be the assassination of a president, the visit of another president or prime minister, a beauty pageant in the country and so on. Documentaries and interview programs on TV help explain a story or a subject in detail. Documentaries may be based on crime, problems of that country, or political issues. Of course, as all of us know, a variety of entertainment programs are relayed on TV everyday. Advertisements, serials, shows, and concerts keep all of us glued to the box!! A brainy box, that is!!!
The Internet
This is the latest means of communication and information through which people can get to know about anything and everything happening under the sun just by the click of a mouse!
Written by admin on May 15th, 2007 with no comments.
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