The news media or news industry are forms of mass media that focus on delivering news to the general public. These sources include news agencies, newspapers, news magazines, news channels, etc.
Some of the first news circulations occurred in Renaissance Europe. These handwritten newsletters, circulated among merchants, contained news about wars, economic conditions, and social customs. Newsletters were very scarce and no two were the same as they were all handwritten, until the invention of the printing press by Johannes Gutenberg in 1440. With movable type and ink, newspapers were now able to be mass produced for cheap. The first printed news appeared by the late 1400s in German pamphlets, which contained content that was often highly sensationalized. The first newspaper written in English was The Weekly News, published in London in 1621. Several papers followed in the 1640s and 1650s. In 1690, the first American newspaper was published by Richard Pierce and Benjamin Harris in Boston. However, it did not have permission from the government to be published and was immediately suppressed.
In 1729, Benjamin Franklin began writing a new form of newspaper that was more satirical and involved in civic affairs than previously seen. In 1735, John Peter Zenger was accused of seditious libel by the governor of New York, William Cosby. Zenger was found not guilty, largely in part due to his attorney Andrew Hamilton. Hamilton later wrote a paper in which he argued that newspapers should be free to criticize the government as long as it was true. Later, with the ratification of the Bill of Rights in 1791, freedom of the press would be guaranteed by the First Amendment.
In the 1830s, newspapers started seeking commercial success and turned toward reportage, beginning with the New York Sun in 1833. Advancements in technology made it cheaper to print newspapers and “penny papers” emerged. These issues sought out more entertaining daily news like murder and adventure, rather than politics. Penny papers attempted to reach a larger audience due to the low prices.[1]
By the end of the century, modern aspects of newspapers such as banner headlines, extensive use of illustrations, “funny pages,” and expanded coverage of organized sporting events began to appear. Media consolidation emerged with many independent newspapers becoming part of “chains”.[2]
The early 1900s saw Progressive Era journalists using a new style of investigative journalism that revealed the corrupt practices of government officials. These exposing articles became featured in many newspapers and magazines. Those who wrote them were labeled as “muckrakers“. They became very influential and were a vital force in the Progressive reform movement. However, after 1912, muckraking declined. The public began to think the exposés were sensationalized, but they did make a great impact on future policies.
Broadcasting is the distribution of audio and video signals (programs) to a number of recipients (listeners or viewers). This group may be the public in general, or a relatively large audience within the public. Broadcasting forms a very large segment of the mass media. Television and radio programs are distributed through radio broadcasting or cable, often simultaneously. By coding signals and having decoding equipment in homes, the latter also enables subscription-based channels and pay-per-view services. The sequencing of content in a broadcast is called a schedule. A broadcasting organization may broadcast several programs at the same time, through several channels (frequencies), for example BBC One and Two. On the other hand, two or more organizations may share a channel and each uses it during a fixed part of the day. Digital radio and digital television may also transmit multiplexed programming, with several channels compressed into one ensemble.
Television
In television or broadcast journalism, news analysts (also called newscasters or news anchors) examine, interpret, and broadcast news received from various sources of information. Anchors present this as news, either videotaped or live, through transmissions from on-the-scene reporters (news correspondents).
News films, or “clips,” can vary in length. Some may be as long as ten minutes and others may need to fit in all the relevant information and material in two or three minutes. News channels have also begun to host special documentary films that are of much longer duration and able to explore a news subject or issue in greater detail.
News stories are categorized with various formats according to the merit of the story. Such formats include AVO, AVO Byte, Pkg, VO SOT, VOX POP, and Ancho Visual.
- The AVO, or Anchor Voice Over, is the short form of news. The story is written in a gist. According to the script the visual is edited. The anchor reads the news while the visual is broadcast simultaneously. Generally, the duration of an AVO is 30 to 40 seconds. The script is three to four lines. At first the anchor starts to read the news, and, after reading one or one-and-a-half lines, the visual is aired, overlapping the face of anchor.
- The AVO Byte has two parts: An AVO and one or more bytes. This is the same as an AVO, except that as soon as the AVO ends, the Byte is aired.
- The Pkg has three parts: Anchor, Voice Over, and Sign Off. At first a Script is written. A voice-over anchor reads the anchor or anchor intro part.
A newspaper is a lightweight and disposable publication (more specifically, a periodical), usually printed on low-cost paper called newsprint. It may be general or of special interest, and may be published daily, weekly, biweekly, monthly, bimonthly, or quarterly.
General-interest newspapers are usually journals of current news on a variety of topics. Those can include political events, crime, business, sports, and opinions (either editorials, columns, or political cartoons). Many also include weather news and forecasts. Newspapers increasingly use photographs to illustrate stories; they also often include comic strips and other entertainment, such as crosswords.
