Journalism in General

The word journal comes from the Latin word diurna which means daily. In ancient Rome, short
bulletins of battles, fires, and elections compiled by government officials were posted up in public
places. These were called acta diurna, meaning daily events.
Journalism Defined
"Journalism is the occupation of writing for publication in newspapers and other periodicals."
- Noah Webster, by Fraser Bond
"Journalism is the practice of investigation and reporting of events, issues, and trends to a broad
audience."
-Wikipedia
Scope of Journalism
Three Areas of Journalism:
1. Written - Periodicals, brochures, journals, books
2. Oral - Radio
3. Visual - Television, movies, documentaries
Periodical- is a publication that comes out at regular intervals daily, weekly, fortnightly, monthly, bimonthly, quarterly, annually, etc.
Newspaper- prints more news, has no special cover, and is printed on a special paper called
newsprint. News is printed on the front page as well as on the inside and back pages.
Magazine- prints more features and human is interest stories, has a special cover usually with a big
cut on it, and is printed on bookpaper.
Campus Paper- is a publication, either mimeographed or printed, put out by staff members whose
names appear in the masthead or editorial box.
A. Aid to the students
1. Provides opportunity for interesting writing.
2. Gives students the opportunity to learn how to read the newspapers.
3. Acts as a stimulus to better work.
4. Develops students powers of observation and discrimination concerning relative merits of news
articles.
5. Serves as an outlet and motivation for journalistic writing.
6. Offers training in organization, business methods, commercial art, salesmanship, bookkeeping,
and business management.
7. Develops qualities of cooperation, tact, accuracy, tolerance, responsibility, and leadership.
B. Aid to the school and community
1. Informs the community on the work of the school.
2. Publishes school news.
3. Creates and expresses school opinion.
4. Makes known the achievements of the school.
5. Helps unify the school.
6. Encourages and stimulates worthwhile activities.
7. 7. Develops right standard of conduct.
8. Provides an outlet for student suggestions for the betterment of the school.
9. Develops better interschool relationship.
10. Develops school spirit.
11. Develops cooperation between parents and the school.
Other Functions of The Modern Campus Paper
1. Information Function
It informs the readers of events that happened, that are happening, or that will still happen.
2. Opinion Function
Through the editorials and editorial columns, the editor interprets the meaning of the news,
especially of the banner news, and gives his opinion of important matters of significant events of the
day.
3.The Education Function

One of the most important functions of a modern campus paper is to educate not only the
students but also the people in the community. Sex education and family planning which used to be
taboo are now topics for discussion by student writers in their school organs.
4. Watchdog Function
The school paper acts as the guardian of the students rights. It serves as the eyes of the
readers.
5. Laboratory Function
It serves as the teaching tool for the budding journalists. After they have learned, for example,
how to write news stories, they cover school activities and write the news for publication.
6. Documentation Function
Important school events and worthwhile student accomplishments and achievements are
recorded in the school paper for prosperitys sake. Most present-day histories have been on from old
files of newspapers.
7. Entertainment Function
The school paper, like an interesting book, keeps the reader company especially when he/she is
alone. Most human interest stories are interesting to read.
8. Developmental Function
Student-journalists include in his/her writing scholastic as well as commercial journalism.
News: Its Definition and Attributes
News is an oral or written report of a past, present, or future event. It should be factual, truthful,
accurate, unbiased, and interesting.
News is basically about an event, idea, or a reaction that is presented factually and simply in a written
form to give the reader an idea of what is currently happening around him or her, particularly on
matters of interest to the community.
Examples of an event:
1. Independence Day celebration
2. Inauguration of a new school building
3. Opening of a new college
4. Fire that razed the public market
5. Mayors visit to the campus
Examples of an idea:
1. Merger of two colleges
2. Transforming the town into a city
3. Making family planning method compulsory
4. Penalizing owners of stray dogs
5. Increasing tuition fees
Attributes of News
1.Timeliness
The event, idea, or opinion of a certain issue should be timely to make it interesting.
The other term for timeliness is immediacy. The more recent the event, the more interesting it is
to the community, and the more people would be talking about it.
2.Factuality
A news story should be factual, or one that is based on real events or happenings, on real ideas
or opinions, and not the fruits of ones creative mind.
3. Proximity is the nearness of an event or happening to the readers.
(Residents of a small town are more interested in the inauguration of their new water system
than on the modernization of the water distribution project in Jakarta.)
4. Prominence focuses on the fame or infamy of places, persons, things, or events.
People can also be prominent through the ff:
a. by being elected to a public office;
b. by accomplishing something extraordinary;
c. by being wealthy,or respectable in the community; and
d. by being a witness to an event, a crime, or an accident.

5. Significance
An event, idea, or opinion must not only be important but should also be of interest to the
people in the community or the campus.
6. Oddity- refers to strange or unnatural events, objects, persons, and places. An odd story is
interesting not because of its news value but because of the human-interest side of it.