Chapter One
PROBLEM
“Perceptions of Journalists about Print Media in 21st century”
INTRODUCTION
Journalism evolved into a profession in the late 1800s, and objective methods of reporting became the norm in the early 1900s.
Print media generally consist of high quality printing which makes it much easier to read. It never looses significance in any era.
One of the longest enduring values of professionalization and objectivity is the notion that a free press is essential for democracy. This value, among others, leads journalists to worry about their professional performances. For many years, the difference between electronic news and the Press was the depth of coverage. Television gave the bare bones, newspapers filled in the details.
In Pakistan, especially, decades of dictatorship and the presence of a single, state-owned channel stripped even this meager news content of its credibility and viewers turned to the newspapers and magazines. Then at the turn of the century and we saw an explosion of television channels. Free from the shackles of censorship, these channels quickly seized on news as prime software ---– after all, it was the only programme available for free. They aired it, discussed it, analysed it and updated it and at times they even created it.
But it is also fact that the printed word has a credibility that cannot be attained by the electronic media.
Looking at circulation figures from around the world, it’s clear that the newspaper has a devoted following that is not about to change its loyalties. The World Association of Newspapers (WAN) reported a 2.1 per cent increase in global circulation figures in 2005 and a 2.3 per cent increase in 2006. Overall, WAN estimates that more than 515 million people, around the world, buy a newspaper everyday and about 1.4 billion people read at least one newspaper daily
Perception: The word perception comes from the Latin perception-, percepio, , meaning “receiving, collecting, action of taking possession, apprehension with the mind or senses” it is the process of acquiring, interpreting, selecting, and organizing sensory information.
Journalism: The word journalism derived from “journal” which means “a daily register” or “a dairy”. Journalism is a discipline of collecting, analyzing, verifying, and presenting information regarding current events, trends, issues and people. And most common elements and principles are:
1) Accuracy: Reporters are expected to be as accurate as possible given the time allotted to story preparation and the space available and to seek reliable sources.
2) Impartiality: sound practice makes clear distinction between news reports and expression of opinion.
3) Objectivity: Unequivocal separation between news and opinion. in house editorials and opinion pieces are clearly separated from news pieces. News reporters and editorials staff are distinct.
Journalist: A journalist is a person who practices journalism, the gathering and dissemination of information about current events, trends, issues and people.
The term journalist also includes various types of editors and visual journalists, such as reporters, photographers, graphic designer and page designer
Since 1990s Print Media has faced Challenges Due to Following Factors
(1) Innovation of NPR:
NPR (National Public Radio) is an internationally acclaimed producer and distributor of non-commercial news, talk, and entertainment programming.
In May, 1971 first news was broadcast by NPR. They produced a sound-rich program that really tried to reach out across the country, voices you don't normally get to hear. NPR started with about 40 stations, grew to 400 by mid-1980s. Then they started adding a lot of feature material, drama, documentaries. People were very interested in layered sounds-the ambience.
The news culture has drastically changed through the NPR.
Radio Pakistan: Radio Pakistan is the official international broadcasting station of Pakistan.
Radio Pakistan was able to start its external services on regular basis on 1949.
Radio Pakistan through its 31 stations located at as many places in the country as on air for more than 300 hours daily in the Home Service using 21 languages and reaches 80% of the area and 96.5% of the population of the country. Nearly half the time is devoted to information and education and remaining half to entertainment. Programme fare is a balanced combination of information, entertainment specially music and education.
FM: (frequency modulation)
In October 1998 Radio Pakistan started FM transmission from Islamabad, Karachi and Lahore, under the title of FM-101 exclusively for entertainment.
· FM is better able to transmit sounds in stereo than AM. Commercial FM broadcasting stations transmits their signals in the frequency range of 88-megahertz (MHz) to 108 MHz.
FM 101 service is also available on: Internet Thaicom
(2) Electronic media:
Electronic media are media that utilize electronic or electromechanical energy for the audience to access the content. In 21st century electronic media has become one more challenge for print media:
Television is a main component of electronic media it is widely used telecommunication system for broadcasting and receiving moving pictures and sound over a distance from all around the world. The term may also be used to refer specifically to a television set, or television transmission.
Life has become so fast that nobody has enough time to go through those printed sheets. People want more of news and information at a glance.
The advent of the 24-hour news channels: CNN, MSNBC, and Fox, and Now in Pakistan it is Geo, ARY, Aaj, KTN etc. that was a biggest turn in print media which also affected the readership of newspaper
(3) Online Journalism:
Online journalism is defined as the reporting of facts produced and distributed via the Internet. It originated in the early 1990s as "NandO Land".
Many news organizations based in other media also distribute news online, but the amount they use the new medium varies. Some news organizations use the Web exclusively or as a secondary outlet for their content. The Online News Association is the representative organization of online journalists.
Most Internet users agree that on-line sources are often less biased and more informative than the official media. This claim is often backed with the belief that on-line journalists are merely volunteers and freelancers who are not paid for their activity, and therefore are free from corporate ethics. But recently many Internet forums began to moderate their boards because of threat of vandalism, which many users see as a form of censorship.
Some online journalists have an ambition to replace the mainstream media in the long run. Some independent forums and discussion boards have already achieved a level of popularity comparable to mainstream news agencies such as television stations and newspapers. Newspapers may lose classified advertising to websites, which are often targeted by interest instead of geography. These organisations are concerned about real and perceived loss of viewers and circulation to the Internet.
The revenue gained with advertising on news websites is sometimes too small to support the site.
While looking at online journalism, today a wide variety of news and
articles also can be viewed online without any cost. Apart from web sites of regular print media newspapers, and some news outlets like BBC, CNN, anyone can process and publish their writing through blogs and web journals.
One more challenge faced by the print media is its changing technologies. A number of newspapers and magazines have there own websites for having easy access for their readers.
4) Media is used as a political tool:
Political and social reform disseminated journalism from the very beginning of the 20 century the state and political parties were still able to use the media as a political tool and nefariously impinged on the development of an independent journalistic field, hiring journalists to convey their messages to the public so that they were mouthpieces rather than professionals.
The Morning News: It was appeared in 1942 from Calcutta, edited by Abdul Rehman Siddique, it catered to the needs of the people of Bengal by imparting valuable services and especial significant during the years before partition.
The Pakistan Times: It appeared from Lahore in 1947 as daily newspaper the underlying objective and the main purpose was propagating the Muslim League viewpoint in the Punjab. It was sponsored by Mian Iftikhar-uddin after promoting the publish concern known as “The Progressive Papers limited.” It was started at a time when momentous issues affecting the Muslim of India were on and the need for Muslim press or papers was the greatest.
Imroz: In 1948 Mian Iftikhar ud din started from Lahore which is consider a milestone in Pakistani journalism Imroz introduced the latest getup techniques and large size of newspaper pages in Urdu journalism but due to bad economic conditions it was closed on 26th November.
Mashriq: In 1963 Inayatullah started from Lahore it consisted of twelve pages it was not a burdened with advertisement. It gave attention to every walk of life and reserved one full page for women soon it captured the Lahore newspaper market by its modernism.
In 1970’s many political parties published newspapers in their political interests
MUSAWAT: A mouth organ of PPP is published only from Lahore its readership consisted merely of PPP workers due to be a party organ Musawat is not popular and not accepted by the public.
Hilal-e-Pakistan: a Sindhi newspaper published by PPP.
Jasarat and Al-Waheed published by Jamat-e- Islami
Journalism was a function of state power and thus journalistic identity was contiguous with the political field. The government would “turn a blind eye” to everything from finances, to budgets, to circulation claims as long as it had control over media content.
(5) Journalism has become more professional:
It is the fundamental fact that humans will always have a need and a desire for news that is reliable, truthful and fair. That kind of good news is invariably produced by good people - those who are judicious, empathetic and who act in concert with the welfare of their fellow citizens. Those are the real journalists. but now-a-days many mainstream journalists have made the opposite mistake. They have tried to carve out a special place for themselves in society - not by emphasizing the quality of their work or their high ethical standards, but by pointing to their status or credentials (salary, education, access, memberships and awards Ultimately, being a professional is about values.
It is about judgment, character and introspection. Those are the things that separate the real journalists from the rest and those are the kinds of measures that will hopefully be used in the future to distinguish and honor the best people in the field.
Value of this study in Mass communication
Mass media is a term used to denote a section of the media specifically envisioned and designed to reach a very large audience such as the population of a nation state. It was coined in the 1920s with the advent of nationwide radio networks, mass-circulation newspapers and magazines, although mass media was present centuries before the term became common. The term public media has a similar meaning: it is the sum of the public mass distributors of news and entertainment across mediums such as newspapers, television, radio, broadcasting, which require union membership in large markets such as Newspaper Guild and AFTRA, & text publishers. The concept of mass media is complicated in some internet media as now individuals have a means of potential exposure on a scale comparable to what was previously restricted to select group of mass media producers. These internet media can include personal web pages, podcasts and blogs.
Mass communication is a dynamic process of disseminating of information through newspaper, radio, television, Internet, magazines etc and receiving a response in form of a feedback. No communication is complete without feedback, as feedback confirms the effectiveness of communication. The traditional and oldest Print media is considered having a big access to communicate people.
Without print media the mass communication is like a fish without water.
This will discuss the challenges faced by print media by the new and electronic media plus change of perception of journalists. As Electronic and Online journalism has changed the perceptions of readers hence journalist working in print. Electronic and Online journalism has also changed.
Statement of purpose
Broadcast media can not take upper hand in print media.
News is based on 4c's cricket, crime, cinema and crisis but now days News channels are more focusing on entertainment. These programmes include songs, mimicry, comedy, parody of politicians and showcases marriages, birthday bash, and night parties' etc.
Channels would forget about the social problems of the common people and losing their credibility by focusing on unethical news. This degradation raises the credibility of print media and it has been realized that investigative reporting and creative writing don’t loose their significance.
Commercialization of media has helped it to gain greater circulation, advertisements and readership but it has somewhere killed the main purpose of mass communication. In order to enhance circulation, readership electronic media are selling more of advertisement than important news. Journalism has become more of profession than mission
Variables
Print media is loosing its business, readership and view ship to Electronic and new media
Print media has improved in the wake of challenges and turned to investigative reporting, hence gained credibility.
Electronic media has changed perceptions of readers as well as journalists, over all while journalists have to follow the readers interest and have to change themselves accordingly.
After satellite and cross boarder transmission and internet journalists enjoy much freedom, the government’s authority has reduced.
Review of Literature
1. C. Radsch, How Al Jazeera is challenging and improving Egyptian journalism:
http://www.resetdoc.org/EN/Radsch-II.php
The constitutive rules of journalism are changing as competition with regional and international media intensifies and new activities like blogging challenge traditional conceptions of journalism. What it means to “do” journalism and “be” a journalist is shifting as new publication forums emerge, and professionalization and independence from the political sphere increases. It appears that with an increasing array of news choices based on a variety of sociopolitical models, journalists and publics are less inclined to perceive state-directed journalism as legitimate. The regulative rules of journalism are also shifting as professional journalists express disdain for the traditional way of doing journalism in the Arab world and aspire to what they see as universal professional norms like accuracy, balance, double-sourcing, and using a variety of sources. Egyptian journalists routinely cited respect, balance, accuracy and finding “the truth” as the primary goals of good journalism and the objectives for which journalists should strive.
2. Corey Flintoff: on NPR's role in a Changing Journalism Climate:
NPR (National Public Radio) is an internationally acclaimed producer and distributor of noncommercial news, talk, and entertainment programming.
The news culture has changed drastically in my 27 years. One of the biggest agents of change is the advent of the 24-hour news channels: CNN, MSNBC, Fox. I used to be able to grade papers between newscasts. But we're driven by our competition to be a lot faster and more comprehensive. Political news is easily available in Washington. Now we're digital; we used to edit reel-to-reel tape with a razorblade. The sound took a couple of hours to get on the air. Now we can pull cuts from a speech before the person is done talking. You have to hope you're choosing the sound bite that represents what they have to say. Broadcasting is riskier because it goes directly into the news stream.
3. Journalism Research
http://www.spj.org/sdxa2000h.asp
From the rise of the penny press to the arrival of the Internet, to be sure, the form and content of the news has changed greatly. That change, however, has been driven far more powerfully by forces acting on the news business -- changing markets, technologies and competitors -- than by compelling new ideas about how best to report the events of the day.
4. According to The 'Jekyll-Hyde journalist:
They appealed to the nature and importance of journalistic work to sustain journalists' claims to professionalism. They argued that the status of journalists did not reflect the importance of journalistic work to society relative to that of the ‘accepted professions'. ‘Professionalism' thus provided journalists with a model for the reform of their occupation's organisation, educational, and self-regulatory structures during the twentieth century. However, not all journalists accepted the notion of professionalism as either an occupational identity or a model for reform.
5. Jane B. Singer Department of Journalism: ONLINE JOURNALISTS:
Foundations for Research into Their Changing Roles,
The explosion in interactive media forms has grabbed the attention of communication scholars in the latter half of the 1990s. The number of studies is burgeoning, and new ones appear at a steadily accelerating pace. The focus to date has been primarily on the audience for computer-based media forms, particularly on the uses and effects of these new media. Adding to our understanding of computer-mediated communication have been explorations of everything from the effects of computer and video games on adolescents' self-perceptions [(Funk and Buchman, 1996)] to audience perceptions of interactivity in e-mail sent to a network news show [(Newhagen, Cordes and Levy, 1995)] to a whole host of forays into the constitution, implications and ethics of online community (see, for example, [Jones, 1995]; [Brennen and Primeaux, 1997]; [Weinrich, 1997]).
http://www.socialmedia.biz/media/index.html
October, 2007
(1) Newspaper's journalistic and business leaders believe their industry can recover, but they admit it will be difficult they says "The newspaper industry needs to move quickly on the Internet and redefine the news and find new ways of presenting it."
Karen Brown Dunlap, president of the Poynter Institute, a leading school for journalists says: "The challenge is to try to do everything at once and yet stay grounded in journalism."
(2) Dave Morgan Which Major Newspaper Will Be First? (Apr, 2007)
http://publications.mediapost.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=Articles.showArticleHomePage&art_aid=58245
They should dramatically shrink their core mass reach product and its cost structure. When I say dramatically, I mean dramatically -- by 40% or 50%. This will not only mean publishing less in the paper, it will mean publishing a lot less papers, maybe one-half as many. Newspapers need only watch the U.S. auto industry to understand why they need to do this. They must get much, much smaller. Stop dropping massive, multi-pound treatises on people’s doorsteps that fewer than 5% of the recipients can even think about reading cover to cover, and instead execute a massive shift into niche and non-daily publishing. Print can still be a great medium, just not the way that most large newspapers practice it today.
(3) Andrew Keen: How Today's Internet Is Killing Our Culture: June, 2007
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/06/17/RVG7FQA8LB1.DTL
/chronicle/
Keen thinks the Internet is the "survival of the loudest and most opinionated," but much of our mass media is largely dominated by the wealthy and well-connected. While amateurs aren't going to save the world, sometimes there is value in the opinion of the man on the street. Keen spends pages gushing about the knowledgeable employees of now-defunct Tower Records who used to act as his personal music guides. He calls them experts, but they're really amateurs
(4) Fredric A. Emmert: U.S. MEDIA IN THE 1990s “OVERVIEW AND THE PRINT MEDIA”
http://usinfo.state.gov/usa/infousa/media/files/media1cd.htm
The advent of commercial radio at the beginning of the 20th century ended print's monopoly of the media in America, giving nationwide and, later, global audiences unprecedented access to live audio programs. An even more powerful medium, television, entered the scene shortly after World War II, quickly conquering the American public. Defying predictions of their decline, the other media have diversified to confront television's dominant appeal. The launching of USA today in 1982, for instance, aided by satellite technology, represented a bold experiment by the Gannett chain to produce a newspaper for the television generation. Although the number of independent U.S. newspapers has declined substantially in the last two decades with increasing concentration of ownership by large chains, overall newspaper circulation has remained remarkably constant over the last two decades.
(5) Samuel P. Winch: Ethical challenges
http://www.resetdoc.org/EN/Radsch-II.php
"Contrary to what some reporters and editors might believe, the ends do not necessarily justify the means, the public seems to say. Rulings such as Food Lion are not so much a death knell for investigative journalism as they are reminders to journalists that the public finds personal integrity important. Journalists should consider carefully whether they are being unfair to the subjects of their investigations — even if the subjects are large conglomerates."
(6) THOMAS E. PATTERSON: Time and News: The Media’s Limitations as an Instrument of Democracy
www.digitallibrary.hec.edu.com
The news agenda is an unsuitable basis for political action. There are always critical problems facing society, but whether they play a large or small part in the news, and do so in a true or distorted form, depends significantly on how they conform to the time- driven demands of the news cycle. The news is deliberately shortsighted, is rooted in novelty rather than precision, and focuses on fast-breaking events rather than enduring issues.
Chapter Two
Methodology
Hypothesis: Print media still considered as powerful as was considered in 1990s.
Research Design
1. Survey research: Gathered the required information by conducting survey.
Researcher used survey method for my thesis because survey is nowadays used mostly in fields of mass media research. Researcher has one more reason, for it as her topic is “To know changes in perception of journalists about print media in 21st century.’’
Descriptive survey is chosen because a descriptive survey attempts to picture or document current condition or attitudes to describe what exists at the moment. In descriptive survey, researchers are interested in discovering the current situation in a given area.
Research tools:
Researcher visited Hyderabad Press club. Survey Conducted through personal interview, discussion with the journalists.
2. Questions:
Construction of Questionnaire:
Usually survey can be conducted by two types of questions i.e. open-ended and close-ended.
In former type respondent has to create his own answers, which need a lot of time, where as the later becomes sufficiently easy because in this type respondent is given few options to choose any one of them.
Due to this reason this research comprises close-ended questions.
3. Population:
Journalists of Hyderabad who apart from working journalists were using different media including Radio, TV, internet
4. Sample Population:
A random sampling of population for this research was selected.
All the 50 respondents are working journalists, who are directly stakeholder, so for topic is concerned. This included male and female both in age group of 20 to 55.
5. Tabulation of data:
Quantitative method and descriptive also was applied to the fining and the analysis.
6. Limitations and difficulties:
Limitations and difficulties faced by the researcher.
i) Time: Minimum one month
ii) Visits to collect information from respondents: Daily Kawish, Ibrat, APP, and Hyderabad Press Club.
iii) Distribution of questionnaire among respondents
7. Data Analysis
Data Analysis is described in numerical chart and descriptive manner. Describing in numerical chart clearly shows how many respondents have replied in Yes, NO or any other given option.
Descriptive analysis is to explain and describe the chart and data.
