Overview of and topical guide to journalism
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to journalism:
Journalism – investigation and reporting of events, issues and trends to a broad audience. Though there are many variations of journalism, the ideal is to inform the intended audience.
What is journalism?
Journalism can be described as all of the following:
- Academic discipline – branch of knowledge that is taught and researched at the college or university level. Disciplines are defined (in part), and recognized by the academic journals in which research is published, and the learned societies and academic departments or faculties to which their practitioners belong.
- Occupation – activity or task with which one occupies oneself; usually specifically the productive activity, service, trade, or craft for which one is regularly paid. A type of job.
Modes of communication of journalism
News media – are those elements of the mass media that focus on delivering news to the general public or a target public.
- Newspapers – scheduled publication containing news of current events, informative articles, diverse features, editorials, and advertising.
- Magazines – publications that are printed with ink on paper, generally published on a regular schedule and contain a variety of content. They are generally financed by advertising, by a purchase price, by pre-paid magazine subscriptions, or all three.
- News broadcasting – broadcasting of various news events and other information via television, radio or Internet in the field of broadcast journalism.
- All-news radio – a radio format devoted entirely to discussion and broadcast of news.
- Online newspapers – also known as a web newspaper, is a newspaper that exists on the World Wide Web or Internet, either separately or as an online version of a printed periodical.
- News agencies – organization of journalists established to supply news reports to news organizations: newspapers, magazines, and radio and television broadcasters. Such an agency may also be referred to as a wire service, newswire, or news service.
- Alternative media – are media (newspapers, radio, television, magazines, movies, Internet, etc.
Types of journalism
Branches of journalism
Journalism by areas of coverage:
- Agricultural journalism -- reporting on agriculture and the food industry
- Arts journalism – reporting and commentary on the arts, including but not limited to announcements and reviews of films, literature, music, theater productions, and architecture.
- Business journalism – reporting that tracks, records, analyzes and interprets the economic changes that take place in a society.
- Entertainment journalism – umbrella term for all forms of journalism that focus on the entertainment business, its products, and participants.
- Environmental journalism – collection, verification, production, distribution and exhibition of information regarding current events, trends, issues and people associated with the non-human world with which humans necessarily interact.
- Fashion journalism – umbrella term for all aspects of published fashion media.
- Food journalism -- reporting and current events related to food and food consumption
- Medical journalism – dissemination of health-related information through mainstream media outlets, including scientific journals.
- Music journalism – media criticism and reporting about popular music topics, including pop music, rock music and related styles.
- Political journalism – coverage of all aspects of politics and political science, especially coverage of civil governments and political power.
- Science journalism – reporting about science to the public, attempting to render the very detailed, specific, and often jargon-laden information produced by scientists into a form that non-scientists can understand and appreciate, while still communicating the information accurately.
- Sports journalism – reports on sports topics and events, including commentating.
- Technology journalism – announces, previews and reviews technology and technology-related events to the public.
- Trade journalism – reports on the movements and developments of the business world by way of articles or analyses.
- Traffic reporting – reports road conditions such as traffic congestion, detours, and traffic accidents, generally as part of a radio or television broadcast program.
- Video game journalism – the reporting and discussion of video games.
- Weather forecasting – application of meteorological science and technology to predict and report the state of the atmosphere for a given location.
- World news – news media-jargon for news from abroad, about a foreign country or a global subject. Also called "international news" and "foreign coverage".
Genres of journalism
- Adversarial journalism – adopts an oppositional and combative style of reporting and interviewing in an attempt to reveal perceived wrongdoings of powerful actors under investigation.
- Advocacy journalism – intentionally and transparently adopts a non-objective viewpoint, usually for some social or political purpose.
- Analytic journalism – seeks to improve public understanding by making sense of complex situations via analysis and expert commentating.
- Broadcast journalism – field of news and journals which are "broadcast", that is, published by electrical methods, instead of the older methods, such as newspapers and posters printed on paper.
- Citizen journalism – reporting in which public citizens "play an active role in the process of collecting, reporting, analyzing, and disseminating news and information. Also known as "public", "participatory", "democratic", "guerrilla" or "street journalism".
- Civic journalism – as much of a philosophy as it is a practice, this is a movement in journalism that views its reporters as community members rather than as detached observers, and encourages or even expects journalists to get involved in the stories they cover, including participation, contribution, and problem-solving.
- Collaborative journalism – mode of journalism where multiple reporters or news organizations, without affiliation to a common parent organization, report on and contribute news items to a news story together.
- Comics journalism – form of journalism that covers news or non-fiction events in the formats usually found in comic strips or comic books.
- Community journalism – locally oriented, professional news coverage on city neighborhoods, specific suburbs, or small towns.
- Creative nonfiction – genre of writing that uses literary styles and techniques to create factually accurate narratives. Also known as literary or narrative nonfiction.
- Database journalism – reporting in which news content is presented in the form of structured data, as opposed to news stories. Also called structured journalism.
- Drone journalism – use of drones to capture journalistic footage.
- Gonzo journalism – style of journalism without claims of objectivity, often including the reporter as part of the story via a first-person narrative.
- Investigative journalism – form of journalism that applies investigative methods (such as hidden cameras and going undercover), usually to expose crime, political corruption, or corporate wrongdoing.
- Narrative journalism – interpretation of a story and the way in which the journalist portrays it, be it fictional or non-fictional.
- Non-profit journalism – (abbreviated as NPJ, also known as a not-for-profit journalism or think tank journalism) is the practice of journalism as a non-profit organization instead of a for-profit business.
- Online journalism – defined as the reporting of facts when produced and distributed via the Internet.
- Opinion journalism – journalism that makes no claim of objectivity.
- Peace journalism – attempts to correct the value bias toward violence in news about violence, in both the mainstream and alternative media, working with journalists, media professionals, audiences, and organizations in conflict.
- Photojournalism – particular form of journalism (the collecting, editing, and presenting of news material for publication or broadcast) that creates images in order to tell a news story.
- Scientific journalism – practice of including primary sources along with journalistic stories.
- Sensor journalism – the use of sensors to support journalistic inquiry.
- Tabloid journalism – writing that is light-hearted and entertaining.
- Visual journalism – practice of strategically combining words and images to convey information.
- Watchdog journalism – involves reporters as "watch dogs" who help protect or guard society against inefficiency and illegal practices by monitoring activities in a field, including through investigative reporting.
- Yellow journalism (or sensationalism) – writing which emphasises exaggerated claims or rumours.
Journalism education and training
Journalism education – Many of the most famous and respected journalists of the past and present had no formal training in journalism, but learned their craft on the job, often starting out as copy boys/copy girls. Today, in many parts of the world it is usual for journalists to first complete university-level training which incorporates both technical skills such as research skills, interviewing technique and shorthand and academic studies in media theory, cultural studies and ethics.
- Journalism school – school or department, usually part of an established university, where journalists are trained. An increasingly used term for a journalism department, school or college is 'J-School'.