What Is Jourmalism?

What is Journalism?

This is the topic for my blog post this week. First of all, I wanted to say hello to my followers as I was off for the summer. I hope all of you enjoyed your summer. Now, I am back in school and my major is journalism.

It is fitting then that my instructor assigned us a blog topic such as what is journalism in our first week.I have given this question much thought. I had an idea to ask people of different ages what they felt Journalism was. I was very curious to hear what their answers would be and see how closely my answer matched. I wanted to make sure I also collected responses from people from different age groups because I wanted to see if the answer to what journalism means changed through the different generations. That is why I included people’s ages more so than their full names.

So, let’s take a look now at some of the responses I was able to collect.

1) “Journalism is reporting of major events or events of importance.” C.J. age 40

2) “Journalism means objective story telling; relating current events to a diverse audience while being able to include pertinent historical facts and information. Journalism needs to be clear, objective and fair. And offer all sides of a story.” Shelly, BW, 40’s

3) “Journalism is obtaining information then expressing that information in your own words however you perceive it.” Ryan, 15.

4)“Investigating things that are happening in the world and informing the public of said information, objectively" Pauline, 50’s.

5) “Journalism to me is the art of telling a story to the public in an unbiased way, using a variety of mediums.” Brad, 40’s.

6) "I think Journalism involves studying, researching and reporting events and incidents that take place on a day to day basis through all types of media, to reach a large audience.” Sevana, 17.

7) “Journalism is the practice of investigation and reporting of events, issues and trends to a broad audience.” Michaela, 20’s.

8) "I just think of journalism as writing articles or documents." E.D, 41


9) "Journalism to me means the pursuit of information or truth through the written or spoken word." Eric, 20's

10) "Journalism is seeing the grey. There is always two sides and not clear cut." Aby mid 40's.

My definition

I think journalism is about telling stories in an objective manner. I think it involves knowing your audience and understanding what information would be important to them and gathering this information in an ethical and unbiased fashion. I think journalism involves gathering the facts and emotions of the people that make up the stories being told.

I think Journalism is an evolving profession that adjusts to the technologies available that best help journalists tell these stories visually and with the written word. Journalism is an information sharing business that is vulnerable to pressures of maintaining high ratings and generating profits. This can present challenging situations regarding journalistic ethics if not managed properly.

I firmly believe that the core of the journalism profession is to be objective, to find truths, to paint the entire picture of a story rather than having to sell newspapers. Perhaps I am naïve though in this area. Is it sales or storytelling, I guess I will find this out in the real world when I graduate from the Creative Communications program.


Merriam Webster Dictionary definition:

First of all, it says journalism is a noun.

Journalism is defined a few different ways:

1) a) Journalsim is the collection and editing of news for presentation through the media

1) b) Journalsim is the public press

1) c) Journalism is an academic study concerned with the collection and editing of news or the management of a news medium

2) a) Journalism is writing designed for publication in a newspaper or magazine

2 b) Journalism is writing characterized by a direct presentation of facts or description of events without an attempt at interpretation

2) c) Journalism is writing designed to appeal to current popular taste or public interest


Wikipedia's definition of journalism is:

Journalism is the practice of investigation and reporting of events, issues and trends to a broad audience. Though there are many variations of journalism, the ideal is to inform the intended audience. Along with covering organizations and institutions such as government and business, journalism also covers cultural aspects of society such as arts and entertainment. The field includes editing, photojournalism, and documentary.

What do you think? Please feel free to post your opinion of what journalism is. Let's have a healthy discussion!

Thank you for reading today!
Anrea