News Details


What is Journalism? How to Become A Journalist?

The process of telling people about the events that happen in the real-world in the form of writing is called Journalism. However, It is a long process that includes various tasks such as collecting the information from various sources, preparing it accordingly, and reporting it through different media platforms like newspapers, radio, blogs, social media, television, magazines, and so on.

The history of journalism began in the US, 1690. The first newspaper was published by Publick Occurrences which was the first multi-page newspaper. However, it got shut down because of the tremendous pressure from the government. Over the years, printing presses were established, and more and more newspapers started coming. The first newspaper was sold for a penny in 1833 published by The Penny Press which is a revolutionary in making the newspapers accessible to the middle class and poor citizens for an affordable price.

Over the years, journalism has evolved drastically and it changes over time with the latest technologies and innovations to reach a larger audience and meet their needs. To explain present-day Journalism in one word is ‘Handy’. Due to the rise of digitalization, people can easily access the news from various forms of print and electronic media like podcasts, televisions, newspapers, radio, social media, magazines, websites, blogs, and so on.

Individuals who practice journalism are known as ‘Journalists’. Basically, they are storytellers. They write and report news stories about a wide variety of topics such as cinema, sports, politics, business, crime, social issues, etc. The job of a journalist is to gather information and educate the public so that he/she can have views, form opinions, and take decisions that will influence their lives.

First of all, I would like to answer this question in a simple way. What is Journalism? Journalism is the act of gathering, processing, and distributing news and information to the whole people in the society. The one-way message ie) The journalist is the only person who is communicating with the audience.

The art of gathering and presenting the information and the news include the main concept called “Story Telling”. The main job of a journalist is to tell stories to the people, and the stories must be accurate and must be true. The art of Storytelling is only achieved by practising and interacting with people frequently.

Journalism must…

  • Support Democracy
  • Brings issues to the people
  • To help the people as well as the government to make the right decisions
  • Gather the information and make them useful
  • Act as a bridge between what happened and what people do with the information
  • The main duty of a journalist is to understand the politicians and the decisions made by them and to examine why they made it
  • Try to expose the problem that may not be aware by the people

Journalism is the product of modern history. It has been changed over time to time, from Medieval scribes recording war and taxes to paid pamphleteers at shop waging political battles to mass-market newspapers that use new tech like trains and telephones to gather and spread the news as well as the informations to the people. As I mentioned above the main objective of journalism is storytelling and it can also be done through photographs also, In late history, photographers like Don McCullin (a British Photojournalist ) showed America the brutal reality of Vietnam. As well as the reporters from Washington post the metro desk which forced the president’s resignation over Watergate.

Journalism is always about ‘POWER’. The word power in journalism has a different meaning such as ‘Power of information’.

  • Breaking News
  • Feature Stories
  • Investigation Stories
  • Editorials
  • Reviews
  • Blogs

Types of Journalism

There are various types of journalism which we experience in our daily lives. They are as follows -

  1. Opinion Journalism
  2. Investigative Journalism
  3. Business Journalism
  4. Entertainment Journalism
  5. Sports Journalism
  6. Watchdog Journalism
  7. Political Journalism
  8. Crime Journalism
  9. Lifestyle Journalism
  10. Arts Journalism

Forms of journalism

Journalism is divided into different forms based on the medium such as -

  1. Print Journalism
  2. Online Journalism
  3. Broadcast Journalism

Print Journalism - Delivering news in the form of printing such as magazines, newspapers, books, pamphlets, etc. is called print journalism. This is the oldest and widely spread journalism. People can easily access it at low costs.  The rise of other forms of journalism has a huge impact on print journalism. Only time will tell whether print journalism will fade away or not.

Online Journalism - Delivering news through internet platforms such as websites, apps, blogs, social media, etc. is called online journalism. This is the latest and advanced form of journalism. It can be accessed from the tip of your fingers. Due to its easy availability and accessibility, online journalism became popular within a short span.

Broadcast Journalism - Delivering news through radio and television is called broadcast journalism. This is the most comfortable and popular form of journalism. The reason why it became more popular than print journalism is because of its visual-audio experience. It engages the audience and glues them to televisions and radios. It has higher budgets and resources compared to the other forms of journalism.

Who is a Journalist?

A journalist must gather or collect accurate information as fast as possible because the fastest news delivery will only create a great impact on society. A journalist must treat the information sceptically. The word sceptically is an adjective of the word sceptical. This means this word has some different special meanings like suspicious, doubting, etc., but the word delivers the same thought that a journalist must question all the information he got from different sources like social media. The main and the important job of a Journalist is to research facts, yeah that’s mandatory for a journalist. Without facts the information is useless and it will create a wrong or an unwanted impact on society.

Skills to Become a Journalist:

The following skills are the most important and the most needed skills to become a journalist.

  • Command over language
  • Alertness
  • Good communication skill
  • Differentiate facts and fiction
  • Working in Team

How to become a journalist?

The most significant trait for an individual to become a journalist is ‘Curiosity’. A journalist is a person who loves to extract knowledge as much as they can. In order to become a successful journalist, he/she must memorize five questions.

  • Who?
  • What?
  • Why?
  • When?
  • Where?

No matter what it is, one must have the basic intent of diving deep into the issue and extract answers to these five questions.

Steps to follow to become a journalist

  1. Obtain a basic degree

Complete your bachelor’s degree in Bachelor of Journalism and Mass Communication (BJMC) after 12th grade. The field of journalism is packed with highly-educated, skilled, and experienced candidates. There is heavy competition. So, minimum educational qualification is a must to take up journalism.

2. Master your writing skills

Journalism demands extensive writing. So, it is important to hone up your writing skills right from your school. Participate in various competitions like essay writing, article writing, etc. Or, create your blog website and start writing on a wide range of topics as bloggers are semi-journalists. Brush up your vocabulary from time to time and always try to learn new words.

3. Read as much as you can

Another basic trait of a journalist is reading. Read newspapers, blogs, articles, magazines, and extract information. Always stay updated regarding the events happening around the world.

4. Choose your type

There are different types of journalism to choose from such as sports, entertainment, crime, politics, trade, lifestyle, and so on. So, select your desired field depending on your interest.

5. Understand your role

Journalism has a wide range of roles like photographer, copyeditor, fact-checker, content manager, reporter, and so on. Decide which role you are going to play and what fascinates you the most.

6. Widen your network

The art of networking is very important for a communication-driven field like journalism. Get connected with many writers, reporters, editors, etc., and stay in touch with them. Try to interact with them as much as possible because you may get opportunities.

7. Gain experience

Try to gain experience by doing internships and projects. Most of the media organizations prefer experienced candidates over inexperienced ones. So, create your profile on platforms like Linkedin, Internshala, Freelancer, Fiverr, Upwork, etc., and start doing internships as much as you can. By doing so, you will also get a lot of exposure to the corporate world.

8. Analyze your favourite journalist

Read your favourite journalist’s work like articles, blogs, tweets, etc., and assess their style of writing. It doesn’t mean that you should copy their style. No. Study their work in-detail and acquire some skills and fuse them with your style of writing.

9. Create your portfolio

It is very much essential to build your portfolio in order to get recognition. Professionally design your resume/CV because it is a reflection of yourself. Attach your achievements and best work as it fetches jobs, internships, projects, and so on.

10. Grow your social platforms

Social media plays a vital role in reaching a wider audience. So, share your stories on social platforms like Instagram, Facebook, Youtube, etc. to create an image for yourself in the market. It also helps you to get noticed by various organizations and media houses.

Opportunities in Journalism

A journalist can work under these sections.

  • Magazines
  • Newspapers
  • Radio Channels
  • Portals of publications

Respect vs journalist

  1. Treating the audience with respect: A good journalist must treat the audience with great respect. Because in the case of journalists the communication is in a single way pattern,  so one must use goon language and perfect words for expressing the information to the people. And it is important that the journalist must not use more complicated words in their article so that it won’t make the people confusing about their article.
  2. Treating sources with respect: One of the important things that a Journalist must/should follow is the mindset to respect the sources that you get the information from. By respecting the source of information not only help a journalist to get the information from the same source next time but also gives more hope and a different way of thinking about the issue.
  3. Treating the truth with respect:  There is always some truth hiding inside a lie. Even if a journalist came to know the truth after a long period of time that’s ok! But make sure that a journalist must start respecting it and always respect it. The truth is the only key to success and it cannot be changed from time to time. So don’t forget to respect the truth whatever the situation may be.

Good Journalist must...

A good journalist must provide good and accurate content to the people.

Providing accurate information will help people to understand the greater truths beyond the facts.

The primary job of a journalist is to separate the Truth from the facts.

  1. Investigative Skill

A journalist must be on the side of facts and the evidence, and should not be relied on emotions while working on a story. They must know how to give weightage to every emotional situation.

2.   Professionalism

 Journalists must be ready to have their work beyond their working hours. Confidence is also a key habit of having a profession as a Journalist.

3.   Ethics

A good journalist should always behave ethically and never abandon their ethics for any greedy things like money and fame. Moving a case legally will help to uncover the case and expose the secrets behind the case.

4.   Words

A good story is even better with good words. A good journalist will always choose good words and is will enhance their story in many ways. And will help the audience to read and go through the article easily and flawlessly.


Admission Enquiry Form


X
// Clear the error message when the user types a correct email // Validate the email