Functions of Journalism

Functions of Journalism
In early 1999, Gourav Jaswal conducted a session on the functions of journalism for the editorial team of Chip magazine. These are the raw notes I made during that class.
Functions of journalism:
 Inform
 Interpret
 Mold opinion
 Enable decision making
 Agent of change
 Entertain
Writing:
 Reader Interest
 Accuracy
 Objectivity
 Credibility
 Readability
 Significance
 Clarity
 Personality
Cause the reader to:
 Stop
 Be interested
 Think
 Learn
 Understand
 Enjoy
 Remember
 Discuss
 Change
Points:
 Know your reader. Agenda must be only based on reader interest.
 What makes you stop? The Headline.
 Immersion, Structure, Tone, Voice/Opinion, Character/Personality, Balance
 Be unafraid of outrageous statements, but back them up with facts.
 A magazine is a group of people interested in and knowledgeable about a subject, talking to a larger group of interested people.
 The best magazines in the world: readers feel that they are written for only one person — themselves.
 Make the reader think.
 Preferably use real examples.
 Use timelines where applicable. Content should be designed for browsers rather than readers.
Writing:
 Think a lot for the lead.
 Conclusion should be a tie-back, it should link back to the focus, giving a feeling of completion.
 Stages: Information gathering, planning, writing, checking.
 Objectives are determined by the limitations of space, the section/sub-section, and the reader profile. What is your objective?
 Focus.
 First thought on basic design elements.
 Begin research. Discard research material when short of space.
 Organise the text material and make a structure.
 Identify the unusual, informative and entertaining in the text and put it into the appropriate form (boxes, main text, intro/close etc.
 Finalise the elements.
 Writing: Attribution (source, preferably creditable), identification, background.
 Identification: