Introduction to journalism

Today I had an occasion to talk to journalism students of a college. It was an introductory lecture of one hour. I focused on how journalism has been changing over the years, mainly because of the technology. I shall devote one post one of these days on that topic of "Changing face of journalism".

I also told the students how a typical day in the life of a journalist goes. How a newspaper, that falls on the doorstep every morning, is put together.

One student asked me what is the difference between a journalist and a reporter. This is a very common doubt many have, because a reporter is only the visible side of journalism. So, many think there's no one other than a reporter in journalism.

A journalist is either a reporter or a copy editor (subeditor). A reporter collects information and write a news item. The editorial desk processes the news item, assigns a level of importance to it and publishes, broadcasts or telecasts it.

Another student asked me if journalism is a dangerous job. My answer was: is it dangerous to walk alone in a lonely area in the night? Some assignments will have inherent elements of danger in them. It's how the journalist approaches it, takes adequate steps to pre-empt any possibilities of danger befalling her.

If you have some questions on journalism, please do ask me...