Discuss Role of the News Media |Government
News delivery in today’a age is a completely different ball game than it was 20 years ago. With the continued expansion of technology how news is relayed has also expanded exponentially. News delivery 20 years ago seems as if it was light years away but in actually 20 years is not that far ago, but how news was delivered was mainly through broadcast television and radio stations, with the continued support of newspapers. 20 years ago people had to be told about a news story and what I mean by that is, the news was told by news stations whether it be radio or television or blatantly by mouth. Newspapers were also relevant in that time as well, one could go grab a newspaper any day, and for me growing up we had newspapers delivered to our door every morning. Today I get most of my news from my cell phone or from reading news stations websites, such as CNN.
Today’s age, technology has become the way news is spread whether one wants to admit it or not. One doesn’t have to turn on a television or listen to the radio to know about the current news because most people can just pull out the mini computers that sit in their pocket. Our cell phones have become the gateway for how news is delivered whether it be from apps like Instagram, Twitter or Facebook, or just looking at the CNN app or website, news has become digital. There is even a news segment on most smartphones without even being programmed. Yes, people still listen to the radio and watch news outlets for news, but newspapers have become artifacts almost that are slowly dying out. Technology has really started on a whole new era of not only how news is delivered but how people communicate with one another. Some advantages of having news on literally in the palm of your hand is that it is always close and you can always be notified when anything and everything happens, compared to 20 years ago where things actually had to be reported properly. The disadvantages are that news can sometimes get misconstrued because not everything is fact checked right away or put through a thorough process like it was 20 years ago.
Good Journalism Principles
Newspaper articles whether online or in print are one of the many mediums that give the readers updated, and current news stories that are local or international. There are several ways of having an excellent newspaper article to entertain or inform the viewers. However, it is essential to focus on what makes the piece impressive, journalistic, and professional. In the book, Kershner (2012) noted the basic rules of journalism. One of the fundamental principles is accuracy. The article I reviewed from the local newspaper, The State, is “SC Senate may still slash SCE&G’s power bills, just not until next month.”
The principles that were efficient in the article: Accuracy, currency, the five questions, and finding the focus. The accuracy has proven by the evidence of the figures written discussing the power bill amount for reduction or increase, and the grammar is decent. The currency is that the article is updated, which is a good thing. Updated news stories are the most effective for the reader. The five questions, which is from the inverted pyramid journalists should use adequate when writing a news article. Finding the focus is merely sticking to the main subject and points, in the article, which is what reporter Avery Wilks did.
The principles that were missing or could be improved were the length of the article; most articles should be shorter. The five questions should all be at the beginning, for instance, the time was towards the middle of the paragraph when it should have implemented in the beginning. “That debate ended after 9 p.m. Wednesday, and senators were not eager to kick off another lengthy debate on the Thursday before Good Friday, Setzler said” (Wilks, 2018, para. 10). There is a few more but this cover enough.
Tolanda
References
Kershner, J. (2012). The elements of news writing (3rd ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc.
Wilks, A. (2018, March 29). Sc senate may still slash sce&g’s power bills, just not until next month. The state newspaper. Retrieved from http://www.thestate.com/news/politics-government/article207277489.html
