What is a News Journalist?

University Degree Media Studies

Komarzynski

Chloe Komarzynski

Sharon Wade-Ferrell

Introduction to Journalism HEJ101

21st March 2005

What is a News Journalist?

According to David Conley (vii) ‘if the media acts as society’s scoreboard, journalists are score-keepers. Some might think that the score is padded or that someone cannot count, but few can deny that journalists are daily historians, recording a community’s best and worst moments’. Conley states ‘they give a town, city, state, nation – sometimes humanity – a sense of self’ (viii). This paper will give a job description of a news journalist, and whether there role differs from other media writers/presenters. The paper will also argue that the role of a news journalist is still important in today’s global and multi-media society. The history of journalism will also be examined and how it has changed in the past century, and the new challenges that news journalists face today.

According to Conley news can be defined as ‘any information of interest to the target audience’ (20).

Conley explains the needs a news journalist:

Being a news journalist means not just willingness but also a compulsion to become educated. It means not just reading newspapers, but rather studying them. It is not just an interest in current affairs, but rather a curiosity that acknowledges everything but boundaries. It helps to have a mind that gallops and eyes that spin 360 degrees. Being nosy is handy too. Journalists aspire to become, as United States political columnist Walter Lippman puts it ‘a fly on the wall.’

As Kovach suggests, news journalists do more than keep us informed – news journalists enable us as citizens to have our voices heard in the chambers of power and allows us to monitor the sources of power that shape our lives. Breen suggests that reporting involves two main skills: gathering news and writing it (29). However there is definitely more to being a journalist than simply researching news and writing it. Breen suggests that it involves ‘short, sharp sentences’ (30). Breen explains that more than twenty five words at a time and people lose interest or get confused or drift away and do something else (30). According to Yee ‘reporters and news editors spend years honing their ability to identify a topic's newsworthiness, its timely relevance and appeal to readers. Well-written, newsworthy news or feature articles make good copy, text that is interesting and pleasurable to read’. According to Tapsall and Varley (25) journalists in the truest sense are public servants with a great sense of citizenship. Tapsall and Varley (25) ‘they can bring about significant change.’ Central to the idealised view of what a journalist is, is the notion of independence and the ability to report anything in the public interest (Tapsall and Varley 25). Conley (43) suggests that being a news journalist ignores the confines of 7.5-hour shifts. The reality of journalism is that it is not always an easy, pleasant or safe occupation (Conley 31).

Although the role of a news journalist is similar in some aspects compared to other media writers/presenters, it has to be recognised that there are some crucial differences between them.

According to Breen (79),

‘Journalists fulfil a multifaceted role in processing media messages. This role might be described as responding variously to the needs of the powerful, as moral and social guardians, as storytellers, and perhaps most importantly, as constructors of nation and state in managing the symbolic arena.’

It is the role of the journalist when representing someone’s viewpoint, and putting it on ...

This is a preview of the whole essay

Although the role of a news journalist is similar in some aspects compared to other media writers/presenters, it has to be recognised that there are some crucial differences between them.

According to Breen (79),

‘Journalists fulfil a multifaceted role in processing media messages. This role might be described as responding variously to the needs of the powerful, as moral and social guardians, as storytellers, and perhaps most importantly, as constructors of nation and state in managing the symbolic arena.’

It is the role of the journalist when representing someone’s viewpoint, and putting it on to thousands of people that they are responsible to that person and show a fair and accurate representation of what they have told you (Granato 2). This is the key responsibility that should separate a journalist from other information presenters such as radio and video disk jockeys or information workers such as pubic relations professionals and education and information officers for corporate, public or government organisations (Granato 2). .

One question that must be answered is whether news journalists are still important in today’s global and multi-media society. Tapsall and Varley suggest that from 1900 till 2000, the role of the news journalist changed significantly due to the introduction of new technologies (41). According to Tapsall and Varley (41), the first half of the twentieth century, the teleprinter, the telephone, and the telegraph all impacted on news gathering. Australia was described by Tapsall and Varley (41) as beginning to catch up to the rest of the world and to impact on the role and work duties of newspaper reporters and increasing capitalisation-commercialisation of the news paper industry. It has been suggested by Tapsell and Varley (41) that the introduction of the telephone means that journalists stay in the office rather than getting out and meeting the people they are writing about. In the late twentieth century with the introduction of the internet and fax machines the people of society could ask questions as to whether news reporters are actually gathering news from the reporter’s room, rather than the street (Tapsell and Varley 42).

All these new technologies have obviously affected news journalists and their audiences in some way or another; however the question now is regarding whether this technology has been good or bad. According to Conley (viii) news journalists are still providing towns, cities, states and nations information to target audiences; therefore they can still be seen as important in today’s global and multi-media society. As Conley (11) puts it, ‘no amount of technology will assist in asking the right question in the right time or in assessing news values. Whether these theories are wrong or right, overall people still have the need to be alerted on what is happening in the world. Based in the largest population centre, Hobart, The Mercury reaches 68% of Hobart and the southern region through the week and a massive 79% on Saturdays (The Mercury). And where would newspapers be without their consuming audience?

There are many new challenges that news journalists face today, which were not recognized many years ago. According to Tapsall and Varley (55) ‘As we move to the twenty first century the media looks, and tastes vastly different to its counterparts of 100 years ago, or even a decade ago’ Two main challenges being that of; more competition due to other newspapers , and the introduction of the internet. In the past there was not such a high demand for selling newspapers. The reason being that there were not many newspapers published. People either wanted to read the newspaper or they did not. It also must be noted that the introduction of the internet could decrease the number of people buying newspapers, as they are now able to receive the information online.

To sum it up a news journalist’s main role involves entertaining audiences as well as keeping the public informed on what is happening in the world. This paper has described briefly what a news journalist is, and addressed the way in which a news journalist differs from other media writers/presenters. The paper also argued that the role of a news journalist is still important in today’s global and multi media society. The history of how the role of a news journalist has changed in the past century, and it also addressed the new challenges that news journalists face today. If news journalists did not both entertain audiences as well as keep them informed, questions could be asked as to whether it would have ever reached a mass audience.

Reference List

Breen, Miles. Journalism: Theory and Practice. Macleay Press: New South Wales, 1998.

Conley, David. The Daily Miracle: An Introduction to Journalism. Oxford: New York, 2004.

Granato, Len. Newspaper Feature Writing. Deakin Universiry Press: Victoria, 1997.

Yee, Jennifer. “Learning the Culture and Language of the Media”.

09 March 2005 <

The Mercury. “About This Paper: Who Are We.” N.p

10 March 2005 <

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Tapsell, Suellen., Varley C. Journalism: Theory in Practice. Oxford University Press: South Melbourne, 2004