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Topic: Role of Journalism
Course No. 15: Mass Communication and Media Studies
Roll No. : 28
Enrollment no.: PG14101019
Prepared by: Vaishali Hareshbhai Jasoliya
Submitted to: MAHARAJA KRISHNAKUMARSINHJI BHAVNAGAR UNIVERSITY DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH
Introduction:
Words ‘Journal’, ‘Journalism’, ‘Journalist’ have their origin in the French word ‘Journal’ meaning a book and it has its origin in turn in the Roman word ‘diurnalis’ meaning daily.
Development of Journalism:
• Origin of modern western style journalism may be traced back to the occasional news books of 17th century England.
• From 1720 onwards news and views were kept separate.
Definitions of Journalism:
• Journalism is instant history, an account of history as it is being made.
• Journalism is a report of things as they appear at the moment of writing not a definitive study of a situation.
• Journalism is a contemporary report of the changing scene intended to inform readers of what is happening around them.
• In the modern times, Journalism has been turned into a business and an industry.
Aims of Journalism:
• At educating and entertaining its readers so that they can participate fully in the affairs of the state and in the cultural affairs as well.
Functions of Journalism:
• Their main function is to carry different kinds of advertisements that help it to be financially visible and politically independent.
• Their other function include reporting local, national and international news and offering interpretation and opinions into a business venture, the fundamental function remains to sell readers to advertisers.
Industrial Revolution:
Newspapers of that time were in English, and the news only related to British activity in India. As the readers were also British, the local population was not the target. But the Company feared that these Indian papers could get to England and may defame the Company in England. English papers used to take nine months to reach India.
By the early 19th century, many cities in Europe, as well as North and South America, published newspaper-type publications though not all of them developed in the same way; content was vastly shaped by regional and cultural preferences. Advances in printing technology related to the Industrial Revolution enabled newspapers to become an even more widely circulated means of communication.
This innovation made newspapers cheaper and thus available to a larger part of the population.
A Short History of Newspapers and Magazines:
• 17th century Europe: Hand Written Sheets
• Spread of Printing Press
• Acta Diurna – Roman Empire (Julius Ceaser) around 59 BC
• The first newspaper in France was published in 1631, La Gazette (originally published as Gazette de France)
• The first newspaper in Portugal, a Gazeta da Restauracao, was published in 1641 in Lisbon.
• The first Spanish newspaper, Gaceta de Madrid was published in 1661.
English Newspapers in Idian Subcontinent:
The first newspaper in India was published by James Hickey in January 1780. It was called the Bengal Gazette and announced itself as “a weekly political and commercial paper on all parties but influenced by none”.
Within six years of Bengal Gazette, four more weeklies were launched in Kolkata.
• 1782 Madras Courier was launched
• 1791 Bombay Herald was launched
• 1792 Bombay Courier was launched. It published advertisements in English and Gujarati.
• In 1799, the East India administration passed regulations to increase its control over the press.
• 1920s and 1930s
• Newspapers in this period started reflecting popular political opinion.
• English dailies were loyal to the British government the vernacular press was strongly nationalist.
• The Leader and Bombay Chronicle were pro-Congress.
• The Servant of India and The Bombay Chronicle were moderate.
• The Bande Mataram of Aurbindo Ghosh, Kal of Poona and Sakli of Surat were fiercely nationalist.
Role of Press:
• Watch dog of democratic society
• Social Responsibility
• Investigation of scams
• To propagate social reforms
• Passing information
• Sharing information
• Motivating Power of the society
• Emphasizing education
• Opinion Builder
• Generate debate
• Act as people’s mouth piece
• The press occupation is pivotal a position in the life of a nation and its people.
• Eradication of social evils
• Guardian of the rights and liberty of people
Press Council of India:
It is a statutory body consisting of 28 members representing owners of the newspaper, news agencies, journalists, educationalists, legal experts and expats on various subjects.
Functions:
This body has the power to warn and stop and censor any editor’s or journalist’s work who flouts the standard of journalist’s ethics and public texts.
Aims:
Ø The PCI takes care of the press codes and press ethics in the following manner:
Ø Freedom on information
Ø Freedom of access to information sources
Ø Objectivity, truthfulness and interpretation of facts
Ø Responsibility to public and its rights, interest and in relation to national, racial and communities of the nation, the state and to maintain peace.
Ø Consideration for cultural, social code of ethics of individual countries or communities
Freedom of Press:
· Freedom of press is essential in any democratic society for healthy development.
· Countries which curb the freedom of press suffer great losses in the long run.
· Anything that disturbs security and integrity of the nation, communal harmony, international relationship, chaos in public life or interference in private life.
Limitations to the freedom of expression in matters affecting:
ü Sovereignty and integrity of the state
ü Public order
ü Security of the state
ü Friendly relations with the foreign countries
ü Morality
ü Content of codes
ü Incitement to offenses
Press Codes and Ethics in Journalism:
§ Codes for ethics of journalists began to be formulated since the early 1920s.
§ Contractual responsibility in relation to their media and their internal organization
§ Responsibility or liability deriving from the obligation to comply with the low
§ Responsibility towards the international community, relating to respect for human values.
A Code of Ethics for Indian Journalists:
In 1966, PCI did circulate a list of over 10,000 newspapers and journals, for their observations, but the feedback was not promising enough.
In January 1976, a committee of 17 editors presented a Code of Ethics and Editors Charter to parliament, but it was suspect, evolved as it was during the emergency regime. It gave a rather tall order in stating that the press must present a truthful, comprehensive and reliable account of the events in a context which gives them meaning, project a representative picture of constituent groups in society.
The all India Small and Medium Newspapers’ Association had drawn up a code of Ethics in 1975; it was not approved by the general body.
Indian News Agency:
A news agency is an organization of journalists established t supply news reports to news organization: newspapers, magazines, and radio and television broadcasters.
The major news agencies generally prepare hard news stories and feature articles that can be used by other news organizations with little or no modification, and then sell them to other news organizations.
Press Trust of Indias:
PTI is the largest news agency in India. It is headquartered in Delhi and is a non-profit cooperative among more than 450 Indian news papers and has a staff about 2,000 writers spread across 150 offices nationwide.
It provides news courage and information of the religion in both English and Hindi.
United News of India:
· Hindustan Samachar
· Samachar Bharati
But once the emergency was lifted they began their work separately. It contributes in building democratic country where press plays a vital role.
United News of India (UNI) was launched in March, 1961, and has grown into one of the largest news agencies in Asia. During these years we have acquired and enviable reputation for fast and accurate coverage of all major news events in India and abroad in all areas like politics, Economics, Business, Sports, Entertainment and so on. Our service also provides subscribers with a rich choice in features, interviews and human interest. United News of India was in three languages such as English, Hindi and Urdu.
We launched UNIVARTA in Hindi in 1982 and pioneered a wire service in Urdu in 1992, in 1981, we became the first Indian news agency to serve subscribers abroad and earn foreign exchange for the country by selling its wire service directly to newspapers in Gulf States and in Singapore through satellite channels.
Conclusion:
Thus, we can say that journalism is a contemporary report of the changing scene intended to inform readers of what is happening around them.
Works Cited
Wikipedia contributors. " Journalism." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 13 Mar. 2016. Web. 26 Mar. 2016.
