2 ibahrine newspapers

2. NEWSPAPERS NEWS, and the NEWS MEDIA

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Dr. Mohammed IbahrineAL AKHAWAYN UNIVERSITY in IFRANE

SCHOOL OF HUMANITIES AND SOCIAL SCIENCESCOMMUNICATIONS STUDIES PROGRAM

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Developing a Concise Definition

• Developing a Concise Definition

“Mass communication is a process in which professional communicators design and use media to disseminate messages widely, rapidly, and continuously in order to arouse intended meanings in large, diverse, and selectively attending audiences in attempts to influence them in a variety of ways”

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Structure of the Lecture

• 1. Newspapers: A Medium for the Mass Society

1.1 The First Newspapers 1.2 The Press in the American Colonies 1.3 Establishing Traditions in American Journalism

• 2. Newspapers for the Common People

2.1 The Emergence of the Penny Press 2.2 The Impact of Society on the Growth of

Newspapers 2.3 Newspapers as Cultural Innovation 2.4 Types of Contemporary Newspapers

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• 3. Developments that shaped Today’s Newspapers 3.1 The Growth of Wire Services and

Syndicates 3.2 Changing Patterns of Ownership

• 4. Gathering, Selecting Processing, and Presenting the News

4.1 The Surveillance Function 4.2 Encoding Strategies for Packaging the

News

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• 5. Contrasting Conceptions of the Nature and Function of News

5.1 The Marketing Approach: News as a Product

5.2 The Adversarial Approach: Watchdogs of the Public Interest

5.3 The Agenda Setting Function of the Press

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1. Newspapers: A Medium For The Mass Society

• 1.1 The First Newspaper

• The story of newspapers begins with Gutenberg’s press

• In the mid-1500, leaders in Venice made available to the public printed press about the war in Dalmatia

• Venetians had to pay a gazette, a small coin

• The term gazette so frequently used in newspaper titles, comes from that origin

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• An obscure forerunner of a newspaper was apparently printed in Germany beginning in 1609

• The coranto (from which we get the term courant, which used in titles of modern newspapers)

• The coranto was a brief printed news sheet whose form originated in Holland

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• The seven characteristics of modern newspapers

1. Published at least weekly

2. Produced on paper by a mechanical printing process or delivered online in a digital form

3. Available free or for a prices to people of all walks of life

4. Prints news of general interest rather than items on specialized topics such as religion or business

5. Readable by people of ordinary literacy

6. Timely

7. Stable over time

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• By this definition, the first true newspaper was the Oxford Gazette, (later called the London Gazette)

• First published in 1665 under the authority of King Charles II

• The London Gazette appeared twice a week and continued publication well into the twentieth century

• This was an “authorized” newspaper which means that its content was controlled and pre-screened by the Crown

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• 1.2 The Press In The American Colonies

It was the colonial press that established many of the features that characterize American newspapers of today

Steady growth of population and commerce in the colonies=> Market for news of shipping and trade

At the same time, political tensions grew over such issues as taxes and control of trade

These widespread feelings were news

One of the more significant criticism appeared in the first and (last) issue of a paper titled Publick Occurrencies

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• 1.3 Establishing Traditions In American Journalism

American newspapers are protected by the First Amendments ‘s provision for freedom of press and by a body of law developed over more than two centuries

Bold printers and publishers fought in a long struggle marked by numerous conflicts and harsh repressions

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• 1.3.1 The Press as Watchdog of the public interest

In 1721, James Franklin started his own paper, the New England Courant

The paper was aimed at a prosperous elite and had no connection with the post office (distribution)

The Courant was the first newspaper in the colonies to “crusade” on a public issue

Using the newspaper to speak out against the authorities began an important tradition

American newspaper would become watchdogs of the public interest

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• 1.3.2 The principle of freedom of the press

In 1734, Peter Zenger established the New York Weekly Journal

The paper ran articles openly critical of the Governor

Zenger was convicted on a charge of seditious libel

The legal definition of sedition is to promote disaffection with government, that is, to incite people to revolt against constituted authority

Libel, in legal terms, means deliberately “publishing” (making public) untruths about a person

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• 1.3.2 The principle of freedom of the press

No one should be punished for printing the truth

Zenger’s trial did not change the law, but it established an important principle

The press should be allowed to criticize government

The idea was integrated into the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States

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2. Newspapers for the Common People

• 2.1 The Emergence of the Penny Press

On September 3, 1833, Benjamin Day published the New York Sun

Its masthead carried the slogan “It Shines for All”

The Sun was designed to the less educated

Day offered his readers a different kind of news:

The incidental happenings of New York life

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It was filled with human-interest items about common people

Day began an important newspaper tradition when he hired the very first salaried reporter, who went to the local courts and reported local happenings

The term reporter is derived from those who record court proceedings

Another feature of this newspaper was its mode of delivery

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It was sold on the street by newsboys for only a penny

One of the most important features of the Sun was its selling advertising space for a great variety of products and services

The paper was an instant success

All the competing newspapers that adopted Day’s basic formula were known as the penny press

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• 2.2 The Impact of Society on the Growth of Newspapers

Three great changes took place in American society that had significant influences on the growth of the nation’s newspaper industry

1. Rapid expansion of the population

2. The remarkable evolution of technology

3. The influence of the Civil War

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• 2.3 Newspapers as Cultural Innovation

By the time of World War I, newspaper circulation of had grown to a point where many households in the United States were subscribing to both morning and an afternoon paper

During the early decades of the last century, newspaper enjoyed a kind of golden age (1910 and 1930)

Once newer media arrived, newspaper entered a decline in subscriptions per household

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• 2.3 Newspapers as Cultural Innovation

The great decline was a consequence of two major factors:

After 1930, the costs of news gathering and all other aspects of publishing began to increase

Competition for advertising dollars from radio, and eventually television rose relentlessly

These trends have continued to the present time and are likely to persist into the future

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• 2.4 Types of Contemporary Newspapers General-news papers Specialized-news paper

1. Metropolitan dailies 2. Tabloids /sensationalism 3. Medium-sized and small dailies 4. Non-daily newspapers 5. Free-Distribution newspapers 6. The Ethnic press 7. Other specialized papers

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ASSIGNMENT

• ASSIGNMENT 1. Metropolitan dailies 2. Tabloids (sensationalism/ 3. Medium-sized and small dailies 4. Non-daily newspapers 5. Free-Distribution newspapers 6. The Ethnic press 7. Other specialized papers

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3. Developments that shaped Today’s Newspapers

• 3. Developments that shaped Today’s Newspapers 3.1 The Growth of Wire Services and

Syndicates 3.2 Changing Patterns of Ownership

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4. Gathering, Selecting Processing, and Presenting the News

• 4.1 The Surveillance Function

News is current or fresh knowledge about an event or subject that is gathered, processed an disseminated via a medium to a significant number of interested people

That act of gathering, processing and disseminating such fresh information can be called the news process

The news process begins with surveillance of the news environment

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The first thing that happens is that they are sorted and selected by a process called gatekeeping

Some reports are immediately discarded, while others are retained for further consideration

Those retained will be carefully edited to make sure that they can be understood by the public and are factually correct

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• Introduction

Stories judged not to be very important are assigned very little space and are positioned toward the end

The lead stories come first in the broadcast and are allotted more time or space

In online media news values play a role that is similar to those in the case of traditional newspapers

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Citizens supposedly have trustworthy information enabling them to make informed decisions about events and issues that are of significance to them as individuals and to society as a whole

Categories for surveillance The News must be observed, understood,

interpreted and recorded by reporters whose task is to prepare initial comprehensive descriptions for public consumption

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• 4.1 Categories for surveillance Categories are divided up an orderly division of labor Natural division-> geographic territories

Local Regional National And International

Specialized topics Politics The economy Science Health Sports

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• 4.1 Categories for surveillance

Categories are divided up an orderly division of labor Organizations from where facts for developing new

stories are often obtained

The White House The Pentagon Or the Congress

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A rather different kind of distinction among news stories

Spot news: “the event occurs, it provides facts for a news story,

the account is prepared, it is disseminated and that is the end”

Continuing news: There is no clear beginning or end An ongoing series of related happenings , e.g.

Environment,

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Another category that is somewhat time-related is Hard news:

“is what most ordinary people think of as news” Soft news:

Is not as time-critical It focuses on situations, people or events that

have human interest

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• 4.2.1 Traditional News Values/Newsworthiness or news values

There are at least seven major criteria in assessing a story as an attractive candidate for presentation to the public

1. The impact of a story is important: It refers to the number of people whose lives will

be influenced in some way by the subject of the story

2. Timeliness is a news value: Is should be presented to the public while it is still

fresh Scoop (you read (viewed) it here first)

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• 4.2.1 Traditional News Values/Newsworthiness or news values

3. Prominence: Stories about people who are in the public

eye have much higher news value than those about obscure, even the occurrence are the same

4. Proximity: Stories about events and situations in one’s

home community are newsworthy than events that take place far away

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• 4.2.1 Traditional News Values

5. A time-honored news value is the bizarre: John Bogart: When a dog bites a man, that is not news But if a man bites a dog, that is news

6. Conflict in a story: Harmony is boring, strife is newsworthy

7. Currency: More value is attributed to stories pertaining

to issues that are in the spotlight of the public

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• 4.2.2 Story Formats• The story itself must be packaged in one of the story

formats

1. The “Five Ws”: A well-written newspaper is one that tells: Who did What, Where, When and Why

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• 4.2.2 Story Formats

2. The Inverted Pyramid:

Graphic (METAPHOR) to illustrate

News stories are organized so that the most important ideas appear first

People read just the headlines

Other stop after reading the “lead” sentence

So the most important ideas need to be set forth at the very outset

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• 4.2.2 Story Formats

3. VOT Voice-over-tape: In which the viewer first sees the

anchorperson, but is then switched to a videotape with the anchor's voice over the ongoing picture

4. The Stand-up with package: Is similar with the reporter interviewing

someone at the scene

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• 4.2.3 Alternative Journalistic Styles A number of alternative journalistic styles have come into use at

one time or another Some were popular at one point of time Some have left their marks on the contemporary news industries

4.2.3.1 The Sensational or tabloid Journalism Style: Trivialization of the news Infotainment: a merging of information and

entertainment 4.2.3.2 The objective or impartial journalism:

Separate facts from opinion Presenting an emotionally detached view of the news Striving for fairness and balance

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• 4.2.3 Alternative Journalistic Styles

4.2.3.3 The advocacy style: The reporter and the story identify with the

“advocate” that is to promote a cause a position

4.2.3.4 Precision Journalism: It makes use of the research procedures of

the social sciences to gather and report quantitative information for the purpose development a news story

The intensive use of Computer-assisted reporting (CAR)

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• 4.2.3 Alternative Journalistic Styles

4.2.3.5 Civic or Public journalism: Civic Journalism's goal is to keep the press

grounded in the concerns of ordinary people, rather than in those of the elite

Advocates of this approach argue that traditional journalism is no longer trusted by the public and that

Civic journalism can restore confidence Critics warn that it moves journalism away

from its traditional impartial and disinterested stance to that of political activists pushing a particular agenda

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5. Contrasting Conceptions of the Nature and Function of News

• 5.1 The Marketing Approach: News as a Product

This approach begins with extensive market market researchresearch that assembles statistical data on the interests, media habits and concerns of the audience

To end declines in newspaper circulation, the market research experts prescribed change, by adding new sections on topics such as lifestyles, entertainment, gardening an housing

Sections that help readers “USE” their communities and their environment

The best-known example of a newspaper that relies heavily on the marketing approach is the USA

It pioneered the use of color, brevity (critics say superficiality) in style

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5. Contrasting Conceptions of the Nature and Function of News

• 5.2 The Adversarial Approach: Watchdogs of the Public Interest

The role of the press as an adversary is the one most honored in the traditions of journalism

The press has been called the fourth estate

Traditional investigating reporting Muckraker tradition

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6. The Future of the Newspaper

• See the chapter on the Internet

Futurists have been predicting “the death of print”

Such forecast have not come true The Vanishing Newspaper: Saving Journalism

In The Information Age

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/asin/0826215688/theeconomists-20

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Futurists have been predicting “the death of print” Such forecast have not come true

• 1. Portable

• 2. Predictable

• 3. Accessible

• 4. Cost Effective

• 1. Perishable

• 2. Appeal to middle-age and older readers

• 3. They cause smudges on hands from the ink

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