Journalism: Definition, History & Evolution

Sunayan Bhattacharjee: Assistant Professor
Centre for Print & Cyber Journalism Skills
What exactly is journalism? There are multiple definitions. While the Cambridge Dictionary defines it as “the work of collecting, writing, and publishing news stories and articles in newspapers and magazines or broadcasting them on the radio and television”, the Oxford Dictionary goes a step further by explicating the term as “The activity or profession of writing for newspapers, magazines, or news websites or preparing news to be broadcast”. Did you spot the difference? The difference is in technology. While the Cambridge Dictionary conveniently ignores (forgets to be euphemistic) news on the internet, Oxford dictionary catches the pulse of the moment by mentioning “news websites”. While people might scoff at this discreet categorization citing the politics of words, the fact remains that it has immense journalistic weight. Why and how? Well, may be, you need to wait a little longer and till the end of this chapter for the answer to reveal itself in bits and parts. It would be justice done if it were said that neither of the definition satisfactorily encompasses the bigger picture. Let us look at an explanation given by the American Press Institute. It notes, “Journalism is the activity of gathering, assessing, creating, and presenting news and information. It is also the product of these activities.” It further adds, “While journalism occupies a much smaller space than the talk, entertainment, opinion, assertion, advertising and propaganda that dominate the media universe, it is nevertheless perceived as being more valuable than most of the “stuff out there”. That value flows from its purpose, to provide people with verified information they can use to make better decisions, and its practices, the most important of which is a systematic process – a discipline of verification – that journalists use to find not just the facts, but also the “truth about the facts.”” While this explanation is comprehensive, encapsulating and realistic; the practice doesn’t always conform to the standards. Somewhere, there has to be an effective blend and the ideal combination is yet to surface.

We can now delve into print journalism as a distinct branch of journalism. The oldest form of journalism, print journalism is the practice of journalism on print. Newspapers and news magazines practice this format of journalism. One of the biggest advantages of printed news lies in its archival value. It would be justice done if it were said that print journalism has the capacity to chronicle time. A recent entrant, online journalism involves the publication of news through the online media i.e. news portals and news websites. With the gradual passage of time, online journalism is slowly but gradually taking over all the traditional media. Consequently, we have a combination of text, audio, video and graphics available on the online platform. Online journalism is definitely emerging as the future of this profession.

How did journalism as a profession evolve and what is its history? There is no singular way of answering this question. Although an overt simplification process might be necessary, there isn’t a guarantee that the same would be convincing. If we are to trace the sequential evolution of the craft, the first reference point would be a Roman Circular known as the Acta Diurna that came out in 59 B.C. The circular used to be made every day and it effectively recorded news from the city. It was hung across the city for people to read it. Although not a newspaper in the stricter parlance, it did contain news about the city. Similarly, a court report used to be published from China during the Tang Dynasty during the sixth century A.D. It might be interesting to note that the use of papers was initiated by the Chinese people only. However, it was Germany that came up with the first newspaper, as we know it today, in the year 1605. While the first English newspaper was Oxford Gazette that came out in the year 1665, the first newspaper, meant for public consumption, was The Daily Courantthat first appeared in the year 1702. It is important to understand here that the invention of the printing press in Germany in the year 1440 by the German blacksmith Johannes Gutenberg facilitated a revolution in the newspaper industry.

The first newspaper in India, by the name of Hicky’s Bengal Gazette, was published by James Augustus Hicky in the year 1780. It was a four-page-long scandal sheet that exposed the misdeeds of officials belonging to the British East India Company. The subsequent years saw the gradual development of the vernacular press along with the steady growth of English newspapers. The development of the newspapers contributed significantly towards a surge in nationalist sentiments in the country and a number of newspapers became the platforms through which revolutionaries indulged in a propagandist fight against the imperial British administration. Some of the prominent newspapers that helped the freedom struggle in India included Jugantar and Bande Mataram.

While, newspapers and printed leaflets constituted the primary modes of journalism towards the beginning, radio and more particularly television took the centre stage in the twentieth century to be completely taken over by the internet in the twenty-first century. The invention of radio by Guglielmo Marconi in 1895, the invention of television by John Logie Baird in 1925 and finally the invention of the internet by Tim Berners-Lee in 1991 changed the complete mediascape. During the Second World War, journalists from all over the world risked their lives and covered the war in all its dimensions. This changed the complete meaning and scope of journalism.

If we trace the history of online or digital journalism, we shall find that the first form was practiced back during the 1970s itself. A system called teletext was developed in the United Kingdom. Teletext was a unique system that allowed users to choose the story they want to read and subsequently see it. The news that was provided through the teletext system was brief, precise and immediate; the traits that are applicable for contemporary digital journalism. The information, interestingly, were provided in between the television frame signals. The intervals were known as the Vertical Blanking Interval or VBI. Videotex followed teletext in the evolution of online journalism. A number of British newspapers including the Financial Times delivered news through the system. The system downed its shutters in the year 1986 subject to a fall in user demand. The next in line was the computer Bulletin Board Systems. This was put in place towards the later part of the 1980s and the initial part of the 1990s. Subsequently, we experienced a significant rise in the number of news portals.

The preeminence of a new phenomenon known as mobile journalism (MoJo, as it is popularly known) is again reshaping the journalistic spectrum. It has practically brought the entire world to one’s fingertips. In fact, online journalism is slowly but gradually getting confined within the mobile screen. Today, as we hop between television channels or browse from one news website to another or press buttons on our mobile phones, we are practically spoilt for choice. However, has the quality enhanced as much as the quantity and technology? Again, there is no singular answer or the answer will appear in due time.
*****
Assistant Professor – A journalism postgraduate from the prestigious Symbiosis Institute of Media Communication in Pune, Sunayan earlier worked with renowned organizations such as The Times of India and Reuters News. He is a UGC-NET qualified scholar and is currently pursuing his Ph.D. in film studies from Pandit Deendayal Petroleum University. He is also the Associate Editor of The Cinemaholic.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Advertising Creativity

From SETU: the man who shot Dangal, Kahani, Taare Zameen Par…

Why Ad Filmmaking and Promo Filmmaking a good career option?