JMSC 0101

Class Notes

Lecture One

Course sequence, expectations, attendance, policies
E-mail subject headings : [JMSC0101] xxx

Class Manners
Please arrive ON TIME
Cell phones off
We have only 12 lectures and 10 workshops. Attendance is compulsory.
Send apologies if you have to be absent or have to leave early for some serious reasons
Deadlines are sacred. Late assignments will not be graded.

Pop quizzes: there will be be three pop quizzes on current events, lectures and readings.
The quizzes will be unannounced and will be given promptly at the start of class.
No make-up quizzes

About the JMSC
Journalism & Media Studies
Centre (JMSC)
Founded in 1989
Offers BJ, MJ, MPhil and PhD programs
Has placed more than 300 students in Internships and jobs
Our Mission: promoting Asian Voices in the Global Media and elevating standards of journalism

Why study journalism and the media?
In today’s information age everyone needs to understand the media

Examples of how corporations and government officials could make mistakes because they don’t understand how the media work: the “Oil fish vs cod fish” controversy; Chief Executive Donald Tsang’s ‘secret meeting’ with leaders of four political parties.

Even if you don’t plan to become a reporter or a journalist, you will benefit from knowledge of how the media works.
No matter what you do in your future career, you will benefits from experiences in journalism.

Increasingly, employers are looking for soft skills

A list of soft skills for to-day’s work place from hotjobs.com
A communicator: ability to present and defend ideas clearly
A problem solver: creative, innovative, quick in sizing up situation
A groupie: teamwork and good E.Q.
A multi-tasker
Attentive to details: dynamic, versatile
Creative, open-minded and self-motivated
Persistent, never take “no” for an answer
Ability to work under pressure and perform under tight deadlines
Adaptable to change and new situations
(From “Showing off your soft skills,” HotJobs.com)

Working as a journalist will give you intensive training in all these skills.

Two key questions to explore
What is journalism?
Who are journalists?

A very simple definition of journalism

“The collecting, writing, editing and presentation of the news and news-related stories in newspapers and magazines, in radio and television broadcasts, and on the Internet” The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language

Mark these words: Collecting, writing, editing and presentations

But journalism is more:

According to Kovach & Rosentiel in Elements of Journalism, “the primary purpose of journalism is to provide citizens with the information they need to be free and self-governing.”

“We need news to live our lives, to protect ourselves, bond with each other, identify friends and enemies. Journalism is simply the system societies generate to supply this news.” Kovach and Rosentiel, Elements of Journalism, pg 10

Reflections: What kind of information do we need in order to participate in society affairs?

But news is relative:

Check today’s front pages

Ming Pao – Charges and counter charges between the vice-president of the Institute of Higher Education and the Secretary of the Education Manpower Bureau

SCMP – same controversy

Wen Hui Pao – Visit of an education delegation from Shanxi

Apple Daily – A 12-year-old boy hit and killed by a truck

Oriental Daily News – Alan Leong declares candidacy to run as Chief Executive

Newspapers made decisions about the top news depends on many factors: ownership, target audience, nature of paper (broadsheet vs tabloid), market (how much competition?).

What is Journalism?
“The primary purpose of journalism is to provide citizens with the information they need to be free and self-governing, ”Kovach & Rosenstiel, The Elements of Journalism

Three key words
Media
Communications
Journalism

Journalism is different from media or communications

What is MEDIA?
According to the Web Dictionary of Cybernetics and Systems, it’s “A generic term for systems of production and dissemination of information and entertainment and of exertion of various kinds of social controls…..media include the institutions which determine the nature, programming and form of distribution. E.g., mass media is the generic term for newspapers, book publishing, radio and television. Other media include the recording industry, movie industry and theater

Here’s another definition of the media by media scholar and journalism professor James W. Carey:
“Media are organizations, bureaucracies, technologies in which or with which journalism takes place; communications is a generalized social process for transferring meaning. But neither communications nor media are the same things as journalism .”

Media comes in all shapes and forms
Newspapers, radio, television
Films: Chow Yun Fat, Steven Chow
Advertising: outdoor, indoor and everywhere
Soap opera, variety shows..
Blogs: blogger, Xanga
SMS

BUT MEDIA is NOT THE SAME AS JOURNALISM

Examples for discussion
The bus uncle incident in HK
The Taser gun incident in UCLA

Do we consider these items news?

Are the people who took the video clips journalists?

Who are Journalists ?
Employee of a media organization?
Licensed by the government?
Press card issued by the Police department?
Press card issued by a media organizaton?
Free-lancer?
What do you do to become a reporter?

Free societies don’t license journalists because “The right to ‘write’ is fundamental to freedom of expression. Because it is a right, rather than a privilege, it cannot be withdrawn.” (Geoffrey Robertson, QC, media lawyer, barrister, author, broadcaster & UN judge.)

“You become a reporter by saying you’re a reporter. No qualification. No license. Almost no training.” Richard Reeves, columnist and author

Defining a Journalist by what he does

The activity aims at producing a ‘story’ or series of stories
The work product is aimed at an audience; it’s intended to be read or seen or heard
There is a public benefit to the story or work product
William F. Woo in Nieman Reports

“Journalism provides something unique to a culture – independent, reliable, accurate, and comprehensive information that citizens requires to be free…”

Lecture Three:

Lecture Four:

Lecture Five:

Lecture Six: An Overview of TV News

Early BBC

John Reith

“March of Time”