What is a journalist? This question, while it may appear simple, has many levels. It could be stated that a journalist does journalism and therefore a journalist is what it does. This is a circular notion which can continue to go around. Could, what a journalist is then be defined by journalism? So to define a journalist according to the activities they participate in would mean that they are the gatherers of news. However journalists no longer just gather the news. A contemporary journalist is required to be interpretive, analytical, creative and flexible when distributing the information they have collected to the masses. The term news is problematic because as the role of a journalist has changed so has the information they gather.
A major reason for the transformation of the media landscape in which journalists belong is due to the ‘rapidly changing technological environment’ (Tapsall and Varley 2006).
When logging on to The Sydney Morning Herald website the content and how the information was obtained has changed. There is more celebrity content than in the newspaper and a great deal of information is attributed to news services.
Has technology made contemporary journalists lazy? Is that a new definition for the professional journalists of our time? Yes and no. It could be argued that with the ease of access to information, that technology has made available, a journalist’s job is more efficient. Or that the quality is no longer there. No matter how this is viewed the journalism landscape is going through the motions of change.
The Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance (1999) define a journalist as:
Journalists describe society to itself. They convey information, ideas and opinions. They search, disclose, record, question, entertain, comment and remember. They inform citizens and animate democracy. They give a practical form to freedom of expression. They scrutinise power, but also exercise it, and should be responsible and accountable.
This definition of a journalist covers a wider range of elements that have to be taken into consideration. By incorporating democracy into the definition of a journalist it is remembering were the role of journalists began- with the Fourth Estate. Tony Harcup in Journalism: Principles and Practice discusses the fourth estate and its importance, ‘Initially referring to the parliamentary press gallery, the term became a more general label for the press as a whole, locating journalists in a quasi-constitutional role as ‘watchdog’ on the workings of the government’ (2004, p 2). The Fourth Estate is central to the freedom of the press, an integral part of journalism and therefore being a journalist.
The Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance definition takes into account the macro world of the journalist and the activities they participate in while also including the responsibilities in society that journalists have. Journalists do have power. More power than they sometimes know what to do with. Journalists can choose to distribute information as well as with hold it. They must be able to decide what is newsworthy and hopefully in an ethical manner. Harcup discusses journalists having responsibility of information in the definition he provides, ‘Journalists have a more social role that goes beyond the production of commodities to sell in the marketplace. Journalists inform society about itself and make public that which would otherwise be private’ (2004 p, 2).
Another way that journalists can be defined is through the type of journalist they are. It is a mistake to generalise a contemporary journalist, although this has been the flow of this article to hopefully define what a journalist is. A contemporary journalist does not have to be associated with only being an investigative reporter. There are journalists to cater to the niche markets of sport, fashion, arts, culture and food to name a few. Types of journalists include broadcast, freelance and online among others. Suellen Tapsall and Carolyn Varley editors of Journalism Theory in Practice cover the wide range of tasks that journalists are required to do, ‘Journalists can be defined as information gatherers, news workers, reporters, entertainers, historians, researchers, explainers, probers, writers, communicators, storytellers, producers and presenters’ (2006, p 6).
Defining a professional journalist is an insurmountable task due to the ever changing media landscape. ‘Attempts to define journalists are made more difficult by the complex nature of their function and the huge diversity in news or pseudo news products, programs, and publications’ (Tapsall and Varley 2006, p 6). There are many definitions for a journalist found in the text books were one can study this very large industry. Each definition has important elements however what a journalist is could never be summed up in one sentence. What a journalist is contains so many elements on social, cultural and business levels that the simple question of what is a journalist becomes far harder to answer than just someone who gathers and disseminates information. ‘There is no longer – if there ever was – one colour, shape, or size of a ‘typical’ journalist’ (Tapsall and Varley 2006, p 6).
A major reason for the transformation of the media landscape in which journalists belong is due to the ‘rapidly changing technological environment’ (Tapsall and Varley 2006).
When logging on to The Sydney Morning Herald website the content and how the information was obtained has changed. There is more celebrity content than in the newspaper and a great deal of information is attributed to news services.
Has technology made contemporary journalists lazy? Is that a new definition for the professional journalists of our time? Yes and no. It could be argued that with the ease of access to information, that technology has made available, a journalist’s job is more efficient. Or that the quality is no longer there. No matter how this is viewed the journalism landscape is going through the motions of change.
The Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance (1999) define a journalist as:
Journalists describe society to itself. They convey information, ideas and opinions. They search, disclose, record, question, entertain, comment and remember. They inform citizens and animate democracy. They give a practical form to freedom of expression. They scrutinise power, but also exercise it, and should be responsible and accountable.
This definition of a journalist covers a wider range of elements that have to be taken into consideration. By incorporating democracy into the definition of a journalist it is remembering were the role of journalists began- with the Fourth Estate. Tony Harcup in Journalism: Principles and Practice discusses the fourth estate and its importance, ‘Initially referring to the parliamentary press gallery, the term became a more general label for the press as a whole, locating journalists in a quasi-constitutional role as ‘watchdog’ on the workings of the government’ (2004, p 2). The Fourth Estate is central to the freedom of the press, an integral part of journalism and therefore being a journalist.
The Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance definition takes into account the macro world of the journalist and the activities they participate in while also including the responsibilities in society that journalists have. Journalists do have power. More power than they sometimes know what to do with. Journalists can choose to distribute information as well as with hold it. They must be able to decide what is newsworthy and hopefully in an ethical manner. Harcup discusses journalists having responsibility of information in the definition he provides, ‘Journalists have a more social role that goes beyond the production of commodities to sell in the marketplace. Journalists inform society about itself and make public that which would otherwise be private’ (2004 p, 2).
Another way that journalists can be defined is through the type of journalist they are. It is a mistake to generalise a contemporary journalist, although this has been the flow of this article to hopefully define what a journalist is. A contemporary journalist does not have to be associated with only being an investigative reporter. There are journalists to cater to the niche markets of sport, fashion, arts, culture and food to name a few. Types of journalists include broadcast, freelance and online among others. Suellen Tapsall and Carolyn Varley editors of Journalism Theory in Practice cover the wide range of tasks that journalists are required to do, ‘Journalists can be defined as information gatherers, news workers, reporters, entertainers, historians, researchers, explainers, probers, writers, communicators, storytellers, producers and presenters’ (2006, p 6).
Defining a professional journalist is an insurmountable task due to the ever changing media landscape. ‘Attempts to define journalists are made more difficult by the complex nature of their function and the huge diversity in news or pseudo news products, programs, and publications’ (Tapsall and Varley 2006, p 6). There are many definitions for a journalist found in the text books were one can study this very large industry. Each definition has important elements however what a journalist is could never be summed up in one sentence. What a journalist is contains so many elements on social, cultural and business levels that the simple question of what is a journalist becomes far harder to answer than just someone who gathers and disseminates information. ‘There is no longer – if there ever was – one colour, shape, or size of a ‘typical’ journalist’ (Tapsall and Varley 2006, p 6).
References
Harcup, T 2004, Journalism: Principles and Practice, Sage, London.
Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance, 2008. Retrieved August 5, 2008, from http://www.gwb.com.au/99a/ethics.html
Tapsall, S & Varley, C (eds.) 2006, Journalism Theory in Practice, Oxford University Press, Oxford.
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