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Literature and Journalism
Literature and Journalism
by Nirmaldasan
"Literature is a vital record of what men have seen in life, what they have
thought and felt about those aspects of it which have the most
immediate and enduring interest for all of us."
If this is literature, then what is journalism? Its definition is just the same
except for the adjectives `vital' and `enduring'. But literature need not be
a vital record and journalism sometimes is in spite of the celebrated
saying "Today's headlines are tomorrow's footnotes". Yet all will agree
that the chief difference between literature and journalism is that the
former endures. There is something permanent in a literary creation.
That is why a seasoned journalist described journalism as the literature
of the hour. Yes, "Today's headlines are tomorrow's footnotes." And then
we have the Victorian poet Mathew Arnold's definition: "Journalism is
literature in a hurry."
The divide between journalism and literature is mostly due to the nature
of the target audience. We don't read a poem the same way we read a
news item. We expect the poet to appeal to our imagination and the
journalist to give us cold facts. The following poem by A.E. Housman will
set things in perspective.
With rue my heart is laden
For golden friends I had,
For many a rose-lipped maiden
And many a light foot lad.