Meraj Sultana

18171AA040
VIII sem, sec-A
JBRAC.
The Elements of Journalism:
BOOK REVIEW.

The Elements of Journalism” by Bill Kovach, Tom Rosenstiel identify the

essential principles and practices of journalism. In this “The Elements of
Journalism” book it describes the problems, articulating the values, outlining
the risks, and offering understandable and practical ways to respond to the
difficulties of the present state of journalism.

The book outlines ten elements and principals of good journalism.

 The first is the obligation of journalism to tell the truth. Journalists

should be as transparent as possible about sources and methods so
audiences can make their own assessment of the information. News is
the material that people use to learn and think about the world so
because of this, the information must be usable and reliable. For truth
to prevail, journalists must make clear to whom they owe their first
loyalty. Truth in journalism is achieved by assembling and rigorously
checking facts, and then conveying a fair and complete version of
those facts.

 Second, journalists should be loyal to the citizens who receive their

news from them. A commitment to citizens is an implied where
journalism is provided without fear or favour is perceived to be more
valuable than content from other information sources. It also implies
that journalists are equally beholden to all citizens, so they should not
neglect certain subsets of the population in their reporting. So
journalists must maintain ethical guidelines by not accepting gifts, etc.
by those whom they cover.

 The next element discussed is the need for verification of facts and
sources. Journalists rely on a professional discipline for verifying
information. While there is no standardized code as such, every
journalist uses certain methods to assess and test information to “get it
right.” Some things that journalists can do to verify information are to
seek out multiple witnesses, ask all sides of the debate for comment,
and disclose as much about their sources as possible.
 Journalists must remain independent. They should not allow
themselves to become compromised by power or intimidated by those
that hold it. An independence of spirit and an open-mindedness and
intellectual curiosity that helps the journalist see beyond his or her own
class or economic status, race, ethnicity, religion, gender or ego.
journalists must avoid straying into arrogance, elitism, isolation or
nihilism.

 One of the primary purposes of journalism is to monitor people and

institutions in power. It may also offer voice to the voiceless. This does
not necessarily mean that journalists should seek to undermine power,
but rather that they should serve the underserved rather than those
that already have a lot of resources at their disposal. This includes
reporting on successes as well as failures.

 The duty of journalists is to provide a platform for public debate. The

news media are common carriers of public discussion, In democratic
societies, journalistic institutions receive certain privileges for serving
all sides of public debates. Journalism should also fairly represent
varied viewpoints and interests in society rather than highlight only the
conflicting fringes of debate. This means that journalists should try to
represent all sides of a debate and identify common ground to improve
the quality of debate by providing verified information so that problems
can be solved in the sphere of debate.

 Journalism is storytelling with a purpose. when the information that is

reported should be interesting and relevant to the average person.
This may mean balancing what the person wants to know with what
they need to know in order to be an informed citizen. News writing
and reporting should be accessible in general, using vocabulary and
syntax that most adults can easily comprehend.

 journalists should also try to keep events in proportion Keeping news

in proportion is a cornerstone of truthfulness. While they report on
interesting and necessary stories, they should not lose sight of which
stories are important and which are not likely to affect most people.
This means avoiding inflating stories for sensational effect or being
disproportionately negative.
 journalists must not lose sight of their conscience. They should not
simply report the news without question. Because news is important,
those who provide news have a responsibility to voice their personal
conscience out loud and allow others to do so as well. By asking
questions and challenging things that they think are wrong and
produce a more complete picture of a given issue. This also extends to
the editing process, when journalists should not be afraid to ask
questions of their colleagues or point out errors and oversights when
they see them.
 This last principal concerns the responsibilities of citizens acting as
journalists. The average person now, works like a journalist. Writing a
blog entry, commenting on a social media site, sending a tweet, or liking
a picture or post, likely involves a shorthand version of the journalistic
process. However, the first is motive and intent of journalism is to give
people the information they need to make better decisions about their
lives and society. The discussion on small things regular people do on
social media or with their friends that can help stem the flow of
misinformation Individuals are responsible for evaluating whether or
not the news they consume follows the above principals and is
trustworthy.