What is journalism?

In the week 4 media law lesson we discussed a number of things, rounding off with what we think Journalism actually is. After much deliberation, we came to the conclusion that Journalism is: 'Stuff you write for money, and it's a story, and it's true'. Putting extra emphasis on the fact that said story should be in the public interest.

We also discussed our upcoming assignment, in which we will be given to opposing newspapers (such as The Independent and The Sun) and analyse their output. We'll also need to get in touch with the newspapers to get their Rate Cards. A Rate Card contains the details of the organization's rate for advertising and also their demographic, as their adverts are directed to a certain demographic. From this information we will be able to give a presentation on the concept of the news agenda and the concept of demographics.

We watched videos of the two Rachel's (Rachel Hepworth and Rachel Canter) giving their views on the MA Journalism course at Winchester. Rachel Hepworth said:


'If you have passion, drive and enthusiasm then you will get there. If there are cutbacks, you will find opportunities for freelance. Freelance is a great way to get into the industry if you're starting out.'

and Rachel Canter said her only criticism would be that the Winchester students did not talk to many 'real people' and stated that we should carry out more voxpops. However, Chris Horrie didn't seem to agree with this statement.

We were also told that when we apply for jobs to specify that we work in all aspects of Journalism, including radio, television, production and online journalism. We discussed the jobs that the previous MA students are now in, including working for ITN and Al-Jazeera, and looked at the documentary Karet by Shira Pinczuk, an incredible documentary about the Samaritan community in Israel and Palestine which sets the bar incredibly high when it comes to student documentaries. I'd better get looking into how to raise that bar!