What is the main function of an editor?

Every editing job is different in some respect from others, and different editors may be responsible for different tasks. In general, editors do any or all of the following (or may delegate some tasks to others):

*Correct language errors, such as poor grammar, incorrect spelling and punctuation, and ambiguities.

*Identify technical inaccuracies (e.g. in a non-fiction book.)

*Improve conciseness and clarity, if and where this is of significance.

*Identify potential legal problems, such as plagiarism, ethical or moral problems, copyright infringements, and defamation risks.

*Check for uniformity and appropriateness of content and style, and make or recommend adjustments if necessary.

*Determine whether the content of a manuscript should be deleted or replaced (usually with approval from both the author and publisher).

*Determine whether additional content is required within a manuscript (usually with approval from both the author and publisher).

*Determine the order in which the manuscript is to be published.

*Liaise with all other persons involved in the production of the publication.

*Check and clear copyright material to be used in the publication (for instance, anything which is not the original work of the author should be properly referenced and used only in accordance with the law in any jurisdiction relevant to the publication).

*Prepare preliminary pages and cover, and mark up any end matter, usually in collaboration with the author.

*Prepare instructions for others involved in production, such as the designer, illustrator, typesetter and printer. (This may involve marking up the manuscript, preparing a series of ‘briefs’ and, in some cases, contract or tender documents.)

*Select illustrations, including photographs, tables and drawings from material submitted by the author.

*Identify and source additional illustrations if required (from the author or elsewhere).

*Write marketing material if required (often in collaboration with the author and/or the marketing staff).

*Monitor (and sometimes control) production schedules.

*Check proofs at each stage of production.

*Maintain a record of corrections after production for use in any reprints or new edition.

THE PRODUCTION PROCESS – An Overview

The following is a summary of the production process in commercial publishing:

• Manuscript – this may be an unsolicited manuscript sent ‘on spec’ to a publishing house, or a manuscript sent by a literary agent, or a book or publication commissioned by the publisher
  
  
• Editing – a copy editor edits and marks up the manuscript
  
  
• Design – a designer commissions illustrations, designs the text, sizes and places the illustrations, and designs the cover
  
  
• Typesetting – a typesetter or desktop publisher sets the text and non-text material according to the editor’s and designer’s mark-up
  
  
• Galley Proofs – the typesetter provides galley proofs (proofs of the typeset text before they are divided into pages); the editor, author and proof reader check the galleys for errors
  
  
• Page Proofs – the corrected galleys are pasted up into pages by the designer, or laid out using desktop publishing software
  
  
• Index – the author or indexer prepares the index from the final page proofs
  
  
• Dyelines – the printer films the pages and sends a set of dyelines to the editor and designer for checking
  
  
• Color Proofs – the designer checks and corrects the color separations
  
• Advance Copies – these are provided for publicity and review purposes; the editor checks for any significant printing errors.
  
  

THE PUBLISHING TEAM

Some publishing businesses are small with multi-skilled staff. Most medium to large publishing businesses, however, will employ a team of people, each with a well-defined role. Following are some of the people an editor may need to work with in a publishing business:

*The Publisher is concerned with planning and management of the publishing business. The publisher is often, but not always, the boss or CEO. The publisher’s particular concerns are to commission new work, negotiate the acquisition of existing work (e.g. out- of-print titles that have been released from another publisher), assess and decide on the future of existing titles, and develop new areas of work. The publisher also needs to deal with unsolicited submissions, and with agents of authors. The publisher should maintain contact with authors (though the extent of such contact varies between publishers). The publisher needs to liaise with other sections of a publishing business in order to do their job properly: The editor, the marketing department, etc.

*The Business Manager may be responsible for the day-to-day management of either part or all of a publishing business. Some large publishers employ a team of business managers, putting each one in charge of a different group of publications (e.g. a business manager for non-fiction and another for fiction, one for women’s magazines and another for business magazines).

*The Production Manager or production assistant is responsible for coordinating and overseeing each of the physical stages in the production of a publication. A small publishing business may assign this task to an editor, or the publisher. A large business may employ several production managers.

*The Designer has the task of taking instructions from the editor and producing the final layout.

*Marketing Staff have the task of selling a publication. The editor should explain to these people the concept of the publication. The editor and author will have developed the book with a particular market in mind, and those thoughts must be conveyed to the marketing staff.

TOOLS FOR EDITING

A computer with an up-to-date word processing program is vital for anyone considering a career as an editor. These days almost all publications are produced electronically and, even though you will probably receive a printed copy of the manuscript, most of the editing process is done on screen.
You will also need a compatible printer – preferably a laser printer if you are self-publishing or regularly edit long manuscripts – and a modem connected to the Internet.
It may be advantageous for freelance editors to have a quality desktop publishing program such as Quark Press or Adobe PageMaker or Frame Maker. Publishers and printers to produce end-quality work use these programs, and some smaller publishers prefer to employ editors who can competently use these programs.
Essential stationery includes post-it notes, a calculator, correction fluid, magic tape, highlighter pens, pencils, and blue and red biros.

THE ROLE AND SCOPE OF EDITING

Very few people can immediately write a lucid and well-expressed piece of work. In most cases, the final draft is smoothed and polished so that others can readily understand the writer’s message. It is the editor’s role to improve the quality of the writing, whether their own or someone else’s work. The scope of editing ranges from self-editing, where the writer examines their writings and improves it as best they can, to professional editing, where an expert is employed by a publishing company to improve the quality of a piece of writing prior to publication.
There are many other facets of commercial publishing that require the skills of professional editors. These include commissioning publications; reviewing manuscripts; overseeing manuscripts through the production process; liaising with writers, publishers, printers and agents; writing blurbs, captions and press releases; and researching and organizing pictures. In smaller organizations the editor may also be responsible for the design and publication of documents, newsletters, reports, magazines and books using desktop publishing software and equipment.

Editing involves several stages, which will be examined in detail during this course. In summary, they are:
1. Reviewing the manuscript
2. Structural (substantive) editing
3. Copy editing
4. Proof reading
5. Checking proofs.

FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLE OF NEWS AGENCY

• No monopoly of single news agency. There should be competition freely to provide news.
  
• The NA should not be controlled by the government.
  
• Government could provide financial assistance without any strings and its services should be qualitative having easy access to its clients.
  
• It should have the nature of public corporation.
  
• It has to promote the welfare of state and the society. It should maintain the law and code of ethics.
  
• The NA should provide their own news rather than to quote another NAs.
  
• They have to basic infrastructures at least as the regional news providers.
  
• Their news must be comprehensive, brief and in summary for.
  
• The clients charge should be equal to all, based on sound principle.
  
• The news coverage should be fast, objective, comprehensive and accurate.
  
• The news it has covered should have news values.
  
• There should be no mal-intension, when prioritizing the news. Main features of the news should not be abandoned.
  
• It should not have special editorial policy. It should not have covered the views and comments on the news.
  
• It should be free from bias.
  
• It has tried to be viable. In a democratic society, a news agency provides complete, impartial, accurate, countrywide and competitive services freely.
  
  

Role of print media

• Regular and frequent appearance
  
• Commodity form
  
• Informational content
  
• Public sphere function
  
• Urban, secular audience
  
• Relative freedom compare with any other media.
  
  - In the early age, newspapers were used for information, record, advertising, diversion and gossip.
  - It had taken place for governmental, diplomatic or commercial purpose.
  - Then used as voice of authority and an instrument of government.
  - After institutional development, offered service to its anonymous readers than an instrument to propagandists or potentates (royal leaders).
  - Its novelty consists not in its technology or manner of distribution, but in its functions for a distinct class in changing and more liberal socio-political climate.
  Nowadays, it is used for lobbying or to create pressure.
  
  

Barriers to communications:

Noise is one of the forms of barriers to communication. Noise occurs in three forms:

• Channel noise
  
• Environment noise
  
• Semantic (Language) noise

Reasons of communication barriers:

• Differences in perception: Age, nationality, culture, education, occupation, sex, status, personality makes difference in perception.
  
• Jumping to conclusion: We often see what we expect to see and hear, rather than what is actually there.
  
• Stereotyping: We run the risk of treating different people as if they were the same.
  
• Lack of knowledge: Knowledge of the particular subject of discussion is considerably less than yours.
  
• Lack of interest: If someone has no interest to hear any thing, he might not receive the message.
  
• Difficulties with self-expression: You have difficulty in finding the words to convey your ideas.
  
• Emotions: Either receiver or communicator's emotion it will totally distort what you mean to say.
  
• Personality: We may not be able to change the change the personality of others, but at least we should be prepared to consider our own personality to see if a change in our behavior may result in more satisfactory relationship; however unpalatable (unpleasant) this sort of self-analysis may be.
  
  
  
  

Role of new media (Internet) and Electronic Media

Role of new media (Internet)

• Computer based technology
  
• Hybrid, non-dedicated and flexible character
  
• Interactive potential
  
• Private as well as public function
  
• Low degree of regulation
  
• Inter connectedness

Role of Electronic media

• Very large output, range and reach
  
• Audio/visual content
  
• Complex technology and organization
  
• Public character and extensive regulation
  
• National and international character
  
• Very diverse content forms
  
  
  
  
  

Main features of Mass media Institution

• Main activity is the production and distribution of symbolic content.
  
• Media operate in a public sphere' and are regulated accordingly.
  
• Participation as sender or receiver is voluntary.
  
• Organization is professional and bureaucratic in form.
  
• Media are both, free and powerless. There is absence of power and large degree of freedom.
  
  
  

Basic Principle of Journalism

The main objective of Journalism is to provide accurate and reliable information of any event or incident to the audience. When collecting the information, a journalist should follow its basic principles. They are as follows:

• First obligation is to the truth
  
• First loyalty is to the citizen
  
• Its essence is a discipline of verification
  
• Maintain an independence
  
• Serve as an independent monitor of power
  
• Provide a forum for public criticism and compromise
  
• Strive to make a significant interest and relevant
  
• Keep the news comprehensive and proportional
  
• Its practitioners' must be allowed to exercise their personal conscience.
  

Roles of communication

• Communication will need the fundamental needs of providing information, education, and entertainment to the people.
  
• Communication will become a tool of development planning.
  
• Communication will be used as a tool of national building.
  
• Communication is a necessity in getting people's opinion from various parts and professions and passing on it to the policy makers.
  
• Communication will become an important part of health and adult education.
  
• Communication will be used by INGOs and NGOs to secure the cooperation from the public.
  
• Communication can be utilized to mobilize the public opinion on social problem and to seek the solution.

Five Major News Editing Principles

1. Replace "to be" verbs (is, was, were, etc.) with strong active verbs.Often this entails making your statement in active rather than passive voice.
Original sentence in passive voice:The ball was kicked by Bill.Revised sentence in active voice:Bill kicked the ball.This example is easy because the stronger verb is fairly obvious. In other situations, words ending with -tion are often verbs waiting to happen. For example, we can transform "frustration" into "frustrates," and "allocation" can become "allocates."Also, collapsing compound verbs into a single verb ("are able to" into "can") rids your sentences of both dull verbs and a lot of clutter. For example, we can rewrite "I am hopeful that he will recover" as "I hope he recovers."

2. Eliminate strings of prepositions (often a symptom of passive voice).Original sentence:Shakespeare's Hamlet is dominated by a sense of the main character's brooding over the nature of man in society.Notice all the prepositional phrases: by a sense, of the main, over the nature, of man, in society. We may not be able to eliminate them all, but we can tackle a few.Revised sentence:In Shakespeare's Hamlet, the main character constantly broods over man's place in society.

3. Be concise.Eliminate clutter, which often appears in the form of prepositional phrases, but also watch out for the senseless and the redundant moments. Notice how, in the example above, "by a sense of" addsnothing to the meaning of the sentence.And beware of pairs of words, which create a nice rhythm to your prose but say the same thing: "With careless nonchalance, she threw the bag over her shoulder." Clearly, either "carelessly" or "nonchalantly" will serve our purposes, but we don't need both.Also, expletives (there are, it is) often launch weak sentences: "There are many people who find success intimidating." We have a couple options with this sentence: "Success intimidates many people" or "Many people fear success."

4. Vary the structure and length of your sentences.Your prose becomes choppy (and dull) when every sentence begins with the main subject followed by a verb, and when sentences are of uniform length: "I stopped exercising. I gained 50 pounds."We could improve these sentences by combining them: "After I stopped exercising, I gained 50 pounds."

5. Use transitional words and phrases to show relationships between sentences.Notice how, without any transitional words, we cannot be sure what the relationship is between "I stopped exercising" and "I gained 50 pounds." Did the speaker stop exercising because he had gained fifty pounds? Or did he gain fifty pounds because he stopped exercising? Did exercise or the lack thereof have anything to do with the speaker's weight gain? A revision should clarify this relationship.

Who are news Editors?

Different types of editors contribute different aspects to news stories. An editor-in-chief (sometimes called an executive editor) directs the news staff and assumes ultimate responsibility for the newspaper’s news content. Managing editors handle the day-to-day operations of the news staff. News editors work closely with reporters to identify which events merit coverage in the paper and to determine the length of the stories. Most major dailies have several different news editors. For example, the newspaper may have different news editors for local, national, and international news, sports, business, and arts.

Copy editors check over reporters’ stories to ensure that they are understandable and free of errors. They may request more information from the reporter if parts of the story are unclear or cut back stories that are too long. The copy editors also write a short, catchy headline for the story. Headlines attract readers and summarize the story’s contents.

Page editors determine where stories will appear in the paper. They usually place stories covering particularly important or interesting events on the front page and usually relegate stories of interest to fewer people to the paper’s inner pages. Using specialized computer software, page editors finalize the placement of stories, headlines, and features on each page of the paper.

Editorial page and opinion editors write editorials. Unlike news stories, which strive to present the facts in an unbiased manner, newspaper editorials and comments reflect the opinions of the paper’s editorial team, publisher, or owner. Large papers have several editorial writers. They may also select additional writers to provide a balance of political and social views. The columns of many of the best-known editorial writers are syndicated to hundreds of newspapers around the country. The editorial pages also include a selection of letters from readers. Readers write letters to the editor to express their own opinions about newsworthy events or about the way stories were covered in previous editions of the newspaper.

HOW A NEWSPAPER IS PRODUCED

Most newspapers follow roughly the same procedure when putting together an edition of the paper. First, news editors assign newsworthy events to reporters. The reporters research the events and write their own stories on computers. Copy editors edit the stories and write headlines for them. The stories go back to the news editor, who checks over the stories and headlines. Meanwhile, photographers shoot pictures to accompany the stories, and graphic artists create any charts and diagrams that that will accompany the stories in the paper.

Advertising professionals raise money for operational costs by selling the space in the newspaper to advertisers. Artists, working with computer representations of pages on which space has been blocked out for advertising, determine placement of articles, photographs, and illustrations. They send the finished computer layouts to the newspaper’s printing facilities, where printing technicians use state-of-the art equipment to convert electronic files into finished newspapers. People in the newspaper’s circulation department ensure that the freshly printed newspapers arrive at newsstands, doorsteps, and newspaper dispensing machines as quickly as possible.

What is News?

News, the reporting of current information on television and radio, and in newspapers and magazines.
Boston News-Letter, first regularly published newspaper in America. It was initially issued as a weekly on April 24, 1704, by John Campbell, postmaster of Boston, who had been writing newsletters to the New England governors. The paper was printed by Bartholomew Green, who in 1727 became the owner and changed the name to the Weekly News-Letter. Under Richard Draper, who became editor in 1752, the paper supported Britain in its differences with the American colonies. When Draper died, his widow continued the pro-British policy. The paper was discontinued when she left Boston during the British evacuation of the city on March 17, 1776, during the American Revolution.

Establishment of Postal Services

Different societies have also devised systems for transporting messages from place to place and from person to person. The earliest were courier-type services; messengers carried memorized or written messages from one person to another, and returned with the reply. The Persian and Roman empires and some Asian societies sent couriers regularly along planned routes to retrieve reliable and timely information about trade and military affairs from distant areas.

In Europe, similar systems were established by commercial concerns and merchants who needed to exchange information about trade routes and goods. The ruling aristocracy used trusted messengers to carry confidential or sensitive information from capital to capital or kingdom to kingdom, but they were typically soldiers or servants. Over time, these arrangements evolved into government-operated systems for any citizen or subject to post messages to any other, financed by charging users a tax or fee for postage (verified by postage stamps).

In the United States, the postal service was established by the government in 1789, and the postmaster general's office was created to supervise the mail service. The first postmaster general of the United States was Samuel Osgood. In the late 19th century, as the United States expanded its territory west beyond reliable roads or rail lines, the U.S. Post Office started the Pony Express, reviving courier-style services in the new territories. Pony Express riders carried sacks of mail through rugged and remote territory, relaying their loads from one rider to the next. The Pony Express quickly became renowned for its speed of delivery.

Over time, the U.S. Post Office took advantage of new transportation systems. Huge volumes of mail were sent across the country on trains, and the Post Office started its own postal security force to prevent the mail from being stolen in railroad holdups. They were also the first postal service to hire pilots to fly mail to distant or rural locations within the United States and overseas. By the 1930s every small town and rural route had carrier service; in many places, deliveries were made twice a day. As demand for postal services grew, the U.S. Post Office developed systems for coding and sorting the mail more quickly, notably the neighborhood ZIP Code system in the 1960s.

The U.S. Post Office became a private operation in the 1970s under the supervision of the U.S. federal government, and was renamed the U.S. Postal Service (USPS). Today the USPS is self-supporting, and is exploring a number of new technologies that will allow it to offer better service at lower cost, including electronic document delivery services and new electronic sorting systems.

History of printing technology

During the Industrial Revolution of the late 18th and early 19th centuries, printing technologies evolved rapidly. The steam-powered press was invented in Germany in the 19th century, and the rotary press, which prints images onto a continuous sheet of paper from a rotating drum, was introduced in the United States in 1846. The Linotype typesetting machine was patented by the German-born American inventor Ottmar Mergenthaler in 1884. It permitted typesetters to set text by typing on a keyboard rather than hand-setting each letter individually. Together, the Linotype machine and the rotary press transformed the speed of printing. These so-called hot-metal or letterpress printing technologies dominated the industry until the 1950s, when phototypesetting and photo-offset printing were introduced (see Typesetting Equipment).

Photocopying was another technology that made document duplication easier. Invented by American physicist and inventor Edwin Land in the 1950s, photocopying transfers an image from one sheet of paper to another very rapidly (see Office Systems). A more recent advance is computer typesetting and printing. Computers and word-processing and graphics software are used today to set type and compose pages on the screen just as they will look in the final print, in either black and white or color. Page layouts can also be transmitted digitally (numerically coded into electronic pulses) via fax machines, computer modems, telephone networks, and satellite systems to other locations for editing, redesign, or printing.

The spread of computer-based word processing and graphic design has led to the growth of desktop publishing. Today almost anyone can publish newsletters, newspapers, or magazines for medium-sized audiences. Business communication has been transformed by computer and information technologies: letters, memos, reports, or other documents can be transmitted almost anywhere at the speed of light. Early advocates of business computers predicted the paperless office, an office where paper would be made obsolete by computer technology. Experience, however, has shown that the ease of copying, printing, and document transmission made possible by computer technology has produced more demand for paper, not less.

Establishment of Paper and Printing

In the early age Egyptians used an early form of paper that was made from grasses called reeds. Hence, the first lightweight medium was papyrus, Later, in the 2nd century ad, the Chinese wrote on silk fabric instead of wood, and developed paper made from silk fibers. (Today paper made from cotton or linen fibers is still called rag paper.) From as early as the 2nd century bc, Europeans wrote on thin layers of tanned and scraped animal skins called parchment or vellum, with quill pens made from bird feathers. Parchment is not as light as papyrus but is very durable; many parchment manuscripts and books from the Middle Ages still exist. The Arabs brought papermaking to Europe from China in the 11th century ad. Paper gave European merchants, who traveled across the continent, a portable and inexpensive way to keep records.

Until the 1400s in Europe, all documents were handwritten. Copyists and editors called scribes recorded commercial transactions, legal decisions and pronouncements, and manuscript copies of religious books—many scribes were monks working in monasteries. By the 15th century, however, the need arose for an easier way to duplicate documents. In Asia, block printing had already been developed by Buddhist monks in China in about the 8th century (see Prints and Printmaking). A similar technique was later used in the 15th century by Europeans to make illustrations for printed books.

An early version of movable type was first developed in China around 1045, and was independently developed by Koreans in the 13th century ad. In 1450 the German printer Johannes Gutenberg perfected movable metal type and introduced the first reliable system of typesetting, a key invention in the development of printing. With movable type, a raised, reversed image of each letter can be hand-set, word by word, into a frame that holds the pieces together. The raised letters are inked, a sheet of paper laid over them and pressed down on the letters with a screw-driven press, creating a correct image of the text. When enough copies are printed, the letters can be taken apart and reused. The technique made printing numerous copies of textual material much easier, and the number of printing shops grew dramatically over the next century.

As more books became available, more people learned to read. Books were printed in the local, or vernacular, languages as well as classical Greek and Latin. With literacy came exposure to new ideas; some historians believe that the 16th-century Protestant Reformation (a revolution in the Christian church that divided it into factions) might not have occurred if European thought had not been prepared by ideas introduced and circulated in printed books. Printers published other things besides books, including newspapers, pamphlets, and broadsides (sheets of paper printed on one or both sides). These cheaper works helped spread news throughout Europe and, in the 17th and 18th centuries, throughout the British colonies in America (see Journalism).

Before paper was invented, many people wrote on scrolls made out of the papyrus plant. By layering, wetting, and then drying layers of the plant’s cellulose together, people could create a fine writing surface. This hieroglyphic scroll is part of the Book of the Dead, from ancient Egypt. Its detailed illustrations demonstrate both the durability and quality of papyrus.

Early Methods of communication

While searching the histroy of communication it is found that the early socities developed systems for sending simple messages or signals that could be seen or heard over a short distance, such as drumbeats, fire and smoke signals, or lantern beacons. And sometimes messages were attached to the legs of carrier pigeons that were released to fly home (this system was used until World War I, which started in 1914). The system like Semaphore systems (visual codes) of flags or flashing lights were employed to send messages over relatively short but difficult-to-cross distances, such as from hilltop to hilltop, or between ships at sea. In the early 1790s the French scientist and engineer Claude Chappe persuaded the French government to install a system of towers that used semaphore signals to send visual telegraphs along approved routes throughout the country. The system was copied in Great Britain and the United States.
Flag signalling systems such as the semaphore system were once used by the military to communicate from a distance at sea and on land. The flag positions shown here represent the 26 letters of the alphabet. Additional signals are used to indicate the end of a word, when an error has occurred, or when numbers are about to follow. Numbers are then sent using the same signals as those used for the first 10 letters of the alphabet.
Some ancient societies, such as the Roman or Byzantine empires, expanded their territorial control far beyond their original boundaries, and traded with distant neighbors. To hold on to their far-flung territories, they needed two technologies that have remained closely tied ever since: transportation and the ability to record information. Recorded messages had to be carried easily; therefore, lightweight forms of recording (such as papyrus or animal skins) were desirable.

Introoduction to communication

The process of sharing ideas, information, and messages with others in a particular time and place is known as communication. Communication includes writing and talking..etc.Communication are mainly of three types.Nonverbal communication such as facial expressions, body language, or gestures, Verbal or visual communication where the use of images or pictures, such as painting, photography, video, or film takes place. And the electronic communication where there is a use of telephone calls, electronic mail, cable television, or satellite broadcasts. Communication is a vital part of personal life and is also important in each and every sector of our life such as business, education, and any other situation where people encounter each other.

Businesses are concerned with communication in several special ways. Some businesses build and install communication equipment, such as fax (facsimile) machines, video cameras, CD players, printing presses, personal computers, and telephones. Other companies create some of the messages or content that those technologies carry, such as movies, books, and software. These companies are part of the media or telecommunications industries. Organizational communication is important in every business. People in organizations need to communicate to coordinate their work and to inform others outside the business about their products and services (these kinds of communication are called advertising or public relations).

RADIO

Radio was the first medium for broadcast journalism. Many of the first radio stations were co-operative community ventures not making a profit. Later, advertising to pay for programs was pioneered in radio. Later, television displaced radio and newspapers as the main news sources for most of the public in industrialized countries.
Some of the programming on radio is locally produced; some is broadcast by a network, by syndication, etc. The "talent" (professional voices) talk to the audience, including reading the news. People tune in to hear engaging personalities, music, and information that they want. In radio news, stories include speech "sound bites", the recorded sounds of events themselves, and the anchor or host.
The radio industry has undergone a radical consolidation of ownership, with fewer companies owning the thousands of stations. Large media conglomerates such as Clear Channel Communications own most of the stations in the United States. That has resulted in more "niche" formats and the sharing of resources within clusters of stations, de-emphasizing local news and information. There has been concern over whether that concentration of power serves the public. The opposition says that the range of political views expressed and supported is greatly narrowed and that local concerns are neglected, including local emergencies, for which communication is critical. Automation has resulted in many stations broadcasting for many hours a day with no one on the station premises.

Introduction to broadcast journalism

Broadcast journalism is the field of news and journals which are "broadcast", that is, published by electrical methods, instead of the older methods, such as printed newspapers and posters. Broadcast methods include radio (via air, cable, and Internet), television (via air, cable, and Internet), and, especially recently, the Internet generally. Such media disperse pictures (static and moving), visual text, and/or sounds.
Scripts for speaking to be broadcast tend to be written differently than text to be read by the public. For instance, the former is generally less complex and more conversational. Radio and television are designed to be seen and heard sooner and more often than is a daily or weekly newspaper.
Broadcast "stories" (articles) can be written in "packages", "readers", "voice overs", and "sound on tape".
A "package" is an edited set of video clips for a news story and is common on television. It is narrated typically by a reporter. It is a story with audio, video, graphics and video effects. The anchor usually reads a "lead in" (introduction) before the package is aired and may conclude the story with additional information, called a tag.
A "reader" is an article read without accompanying video or sound. Sometimes an "over the shoulder graphic" is added.
A voice over, or VO, is a video article narrated by the anchor.
Sound on tape, or SOT, is sound and/or video, usually recorded in the field. It is usually an interview or "soundbite".

Introduction to Mass communication

Mass communication is the term used to describe the academic study of the various means by which individuals and entities relay information through mass media to large segments of the population at the same time. It is usually understood to relate to newspaper and magazine publishing, radio, television and film, as these are used both for disseminating news and for advertising.

The term 'mass' denotes great volume, range or extent (of people or production) and reception of messages. The important point about 'mass' is not that a given number of individuals receives the products, but rather that the products are available in principle to a plurality of recipients.

The term 'mass' suggests that the recipients of media products constitute a vast sea of passive, undifferentiated individuals. This is an image associated with some earlier critiques of 'mass culture' and Mass society which generally assumed that the development of mass communication has had a largely negative impact on modern social life, creating a kind of bland and homogeneous culture which entertains individuals without challenging them.However, with the advancement in Media Technology, people are no longer receiving gratification without questioning the grounds on which it is based.Instead, people are engaging themselves more with media products such as computers, cell phones and Internet. These have gradually became vital tools for communications in society today.

The aspect of 'communication' refers to the giving and taking of meaning, the transmission and reception of messages. The word 'communication' is really equated with 'transmission', as viewed by the sender, rather than in the fuller meaning, which includes the notions of response, sharing and interaction. Messages are produced by one set of individuals and transmitted to others who are typically situated in settings that are spatially and temporally remote from the original context of production. Therefore, the term 'communication' in this context masks the social and industrial nature of the media, promoting a tendency to think of them as interpersonal communication.Furthermore, it is known that recipients today do have some capacity to intervene in and contribute to the course and content of the communicative process.They are being both active and creative towards the messages that they are conveyed of. With the complement of the cyberspace supported by the Internet, not only that recipients are participants in a structured process of symbolic transmission, constraints such as time and space are reordered and eliminated.

'Mass communication' can be seen as institutionalized production and generalized diffusion of symbolic goods via the fixation and transmission of information or symbolic content. It is known that the systems of information codification has shifted from analog to digital. This has indeed advanced the communication between individuals. With the existence of Infrared, Bluetooth and Wi-Fi, cell phones are no longer solely a tool for audio transmission. We can transfer photos, music documents or even games and email at any time and anywhere. The development of media technology has indeed advanced the transmission rate and stability of information exchange.

PRESS AS A FOURTH ESTATE IN AMERICA

By Michael Kinsley The press in America is sometimes referred to as the Fourth Estate. This term dates back to 18th-century Britain. It was meant to suggest that the press was a force in society and government equal to the three recognized “estates” of the time—the nobility, the clergy, and the commoners. Today the term still signifies that the press plays a special role in our system of government.That role, however, is both ambiguous and controversial. Journalists, after all, are not elected by the people. They are not even appointed or confirmed by elected officials. What gives these private citizens, working mostly for private corporations, the right to an influential role in how the country is governed? One answer some journalists like to give is that their profession is actually mentioned in the Constitution. The First Amendment guarantees “freedom of speech and of the press.” This freedom, they say, reflects the Founding Fathers’ recognition of the special role of the press.It is not clear, though, whether the authors of the First Amendment intended “the press” to refer to journalism as a profession (or an “estate”), or whether they simply meant to indicate that freedom of speech includes the printed as well as the spoken word. A better defense of journalism’s influence on government may be that the only power journalists have is the power of persuasion. They cannot cause any government policy to change without convincing the people or the people’s representatives that it ought to change. Therefore it doesn’t matter that they themselves are not elected by anybody.These days the press is often referred to as the media. Like “Fourth Estate,” the term “media” reflects a certain understanding about the role of the press in society. Media, the plural of medium, literally means the various technologies that convey information—from ink on paper to telephones and television to the Internet. Despite its literal meaning, however, the word has come to imply information itself, and those who deal in it, more than actual newsprint and copper wires. In what is rightly called the Age of Information, purveyors of information are an inevitable influence on society and government.What kind of influence? A good influence, most journalists would say. Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis put the journalists’ case succinctly in his famous remark that “sunlight is the best disinfectant.” In other words the press, by exposing flaws in government (or business or academia or the other powerful “estates” of modern democratic capitalist society), helps to correct those flaws.But this view is not widely shared outside the media itself. Polls consistently show that the press is unpopular. While complaints vary, many of them can be distilled into two basic ideas. One is that journalists are biased and their reports are not balanced or objective. The other is that journalists, by exposing matters that ought to be nobody else’s business, trample other citizens’ right to privacy.Are these accusations fair? People who complain about press bias often misunderstand a key point, which is this: there is a difference between being biased and having an opinion. Journalists who cover politics and government spend their days learning and thinking about the issues and personalities involved. It is only natural that they develop opinions. Those who charge the press with bias almost invariably have strong political opinions of their own. But they rarely perceive their own opinions as biased. Often an accusation of bias means only that “this journalist disagrees with me.” But actual bias is when a journalist lets his or her opinion get in the way of fair and accurate reporting.Journalists themselves have contributed to this confusion by sometimes suggesting that they, unlike ordinary people, have a special duty and a special gift to draw no conclusions and have no opinions about the matters they cover. Of course they do not have such a gift—and therefore they cannot have such a duty. In many European countries, journalists and journalistic institutions have overt political labels. In a way, this is more honest. It doesn’t relieve the journalist of the duty to be fair and objective. But it does relieve him or her of the pretense of having no opinion. And it allows the reader or viewer to know what predisposition the journalist brings to the story.The issue of privacy and the press became central in 1998, a year dominated by one news story: President Clinton’s affair with a White House intern. The public apparently decided overwhelmingly that most sexual behavior—even adultery—should not be reported by the press, even when this behavior involves the highest elected official in the land. What matters, many said, is a politician’s beliefs on issues and record of performance in office, not private sexual behavior.Here too, the press deserves more sympathy than it gets. Until recently, journalists did not report sexual behavior. In the most famous example, White House correspondents knew and never reported about the sexual adventures of President John F. Kennedy. In hindsight, many journalists concluded that not reporting these activities was elitist: they were keeping information from voters not because it wasn’t important, but because they feared voters might consider it too important.By 1998 the assumption that voters would care too much appeared to have been proven wrong. This was a big surprise to many journalists. No one would have predicted, before the Monica Lewinsky scandal broke, that the public would be less moralistic than the media.Is a politician’s adulterous affair relevant enough to his or her official duties that it should be investigated and reported by the media? That is a matter of dispute. Many people, if not a majority, believe that a politician’s moral character is a legitimate issue and that adultery is an issue of moral character.There is also the question of honesty. Most politicians do make some version of their private lives public, even if this version only involves campaigning with their spouses and children. If this version is a sham, then perhaps that fact says something worth knowing about the politician’s willingness to deceive the public about other matters. On the other hand, many people argue that lying about sex or lying to protect one’s privacy differs from lying about political issues. And they say it is unfair for the press to intrude on a politician’s private life and then to justify that intrusion because the politician lied as a result of the intrusion. Surely, these people argue, even journalists have something they would lie about to keep private.But it is not only the politicians and the press who can be charged with hypocrisy on this issue. The public itself, while claiming to be repulsed or uninterested by stories like the Lewinsky affair, invariably rewards media outlets that pursue such stories with higher circulation and bigger ratings.Issues of press responsibility, bias, and invasion of privacy have all been sharpened by the arrival of the Internet as a new force in the media. The Internet has changed things in at least two ways. First, it has speeded up the so-called news cycle—the time it takes for new developments to be reported. Second, it has lowered the barriers to entry: anyone with a computer and a modem can be a media mogul.These developments have increased competition in the press and, some argue, have lowered standards of reporting. Accuracy suffers from the rush to beat the competition, especially when beating the competition is a matter of minutes or seconds rather than hours or days. Increased competitive pressure also makes it harder for the media to maintain traditional taboos on subjects like the sex lives of politicians. New arrivals may not have the same standards of accuracy or discretion as traditional news media have had. Yet, once a piece of information is out on the Internet, it becomes hard for the media to ignore it. There is some truth to these concerns. But they also echo alarms that have accompanied advances in the media since the arrival of the printing press. Each innovation has produced worries about lower standards and the dangers of making mass communication too easy. Yet each has promoted democracy by making people better informed and making it easier for them to express their views.The theory behind the First Amendment is that truth has a natural advantage over falsehood, provided that information and argument are as freely available as possible. The more information and argument—whether true or false, wise or stupid—the more likely it is that truth and wisdom will float to the surface while falsehood and stupidity will sink. The Internet, as the newest powerful Fourth Estate in our society, is making information and argument more plentiful than ever

MASS MEDIA IN AMERICAN CULTURE

United States Culture, customs, behavior, and way of life in the United States. The American people express their culture through traditions in food, clothing, recreation, and ceremonies; through the education system and institutions of learning, including museums and libraries; and through the arts, encompassing the visual, literary, and performing arts.

American culture is rich, complex, and unique. It emerged from the short and rapid European conquest of an enormous landmass sparsely settled by diverse indigenous peoples. Although European cultural patterns predominated, especially in language, the arts, and political institutions, peoples from Africa, Asia, and North America also contributed to American culture. All of these groups influenced popular tastes in music, dress, entertainment, and cuisine. As a result, American culture possesses an unusual mixture of patterns and forms forged from among its diverse peoples. The many melodies of American culture have not always been harmonious, but its complexity has created a society that struggles to achieve tolerance and produces a uniquely casual personal style that identifies Americans everywhere. The country is strongly committed to democracy, in which views of the majority prevail, and strives for equality in law and institutions.

Characteristics such as democracy and equality flourished in the American environment long before taking firm root in European societies, where the ideals originated. As early as the 1780s, Michel Guillaume Jean de Crèvecoeur, a French writer living in Pennsylvania who wrote under the pseudonym J. Hector St. John, was impressed by the democratic nature of early American society. It was not until the 19th century that these tendencies in America were most fully expressed. When French political writer Alexis de Tocqueville, an acute social observer, traveled through the United States in the 1830s, he provided an unusually penetrating portrait of the nature of democracy in America and its cultural consequences. He commented that in all areas of culture—family life, law, arts, philosophy, and dress—Americans were inclined to emphasize the ordinary and easily accessible, rather than the unique and complex. His insight is as relevant today as it was when de Tocqueville visited the United States. As a result, American culture is more often defined by its popular and democratically inclusive features, such as blockbuster movies, television comedies, sports stars, and fast food, than by its more cultivated aspects as performed in theaters, published in books, or viewed in museums and galleries. Even the fine arts in modern America often partake of the energy and forms of popular culture, and modern arts are often a product of the fusion of fine and popular arts.

While America is probably most well known for its popular arts, Americans partake in an enormous range of cultural activities. Besides being avid readers of a great variety of books and magazines catering to differing tastes and interests, Americans also attend museums, operas, and ballets in large numbers. They listen to country and classical music, jazz and folk music, as well as classic rock-and-roll and new wave. Americans attend and participate in basketball, football, baseball, and soccer games. They enjoy food from a wide range of foreign cuisines, such as Chinese, Thai, Greek, French, Indian, Mexican, Italian, Ethiopian, and Cuban. They have also developed their own regional foods, such as California cuisine and Southwestern, Creole, and Southern cooking. Still evolving and drawing upon its ever more diverse population, American culture has come to symbolize what is most up-to-date and modern. American culture has also become increasingly international and is imported by countries around the world.

The press has always played an important role in American society and government. Recently, however, some people have begun to feel that this role has expanded into areas where perhaps it has no place. How has this change come about? How have the Internet and other technological advances affected the way information is presented to the public? Editor of Slate magazine and political pundit Michael Kinsley explores these issues in the following article.

THE NEWSPAPER INDUSTRY TODAY

The newspaper industry today continues the trends of consolidation and concentration of ownership first established in the 19th century. But a late-20th-century phenomena, the Internet, promises to revolutionize the newspaper industry worldwide.

A. Consolidation: The number of newspapers in circulation continues the steady decline that began at the turn of 20th century. Most U.S. and Canadian cities today have only one newspaper publisher. In Canada, only 6 cities are served by two or more separately owned newspapers. In more than 170 American cities, a single publisher produces both a morning and an evening paper. Fewer than 30 U.S. cities have competing papers with different ownership. Many people believe that the lack of competition compromises the integrity of news coverage in those cities. Without immediate competitive threats to keep them in check, papers may be less likely to present alternate views of public issues or may present the views of the publisher or owner not as opinion, but as fact. In some areas, competition for advertising with radio, television, and magazines may encourage newspapers to present all points of view. Many newspaper publishers, however, own radio and television stations, often in the same city where their papers are publishedThe tendency toward newspaper chains—ownership of a number of newspapers by a single company—which began with Hearst and Scripps in the United States in the late 1800s, has also increased worldwide. In Canada about two-thirds of the total circulation is owned by five large corporations, four of which operated internationally. The largest newspaper chain is Gannett Co., which owned 94 newspapers with a circulation totaling about 8 million worldwide in 2002

B. Newspaper Chains: The rapid and widespread expansion of the Internet has enabled millions of people to read a variety of daily newspapers online, usually free of charge. This trend, along with the rise of 24-hour cable television news networks, has caused subscription and circulation rates to decline. The percentage of Americans getting news from the Internet grew rapidly during the late 1990s. In 2002 some two-thirds of adult Americans were getting the news online. Roughly one fourth of all Americans get news from the Internet on an average day. Today almost all of the world’s major newspapers have online versions. Most medium- to large-sized daily newspapers in the United States and Canada also publish on the Internet. These developments have led some media experts to predict that the printed newspaper will give way to fully electronic information services in the early decades of the 21st century. But whatever its medium—electronic or print—the newspaper will likely remain an important feature in modern society.

THE FUTURE OF JOURNALISM IN WEB

The World Wide Web is here to stay. Once given new ways to learn and communicate, people will not allow them to be taken away. The smartest publishing and media companies these days are working hard to keep abreast of the technology, knowing that the technical details of the Web are changing. In addition to delivery through telephone lines and modems, cable TV wires and digital satellite TV systems promise to deliver content more quickly. Airplanes, hotel rooms, and cars are being equipped to receive digital information. And new technology is allowing extensive customization of the kinds of information delivered.Some of the biggest new media ventures have already been reinvented several times. Two years ago it was pioneering for a newspaper to have created a World Wide Web site. Today, the journalism pioneers are those trying new kinds of ventures, such as Microsoft's pairing with NBC News on MSNBC, a combination Internet service and cable TV channel that brings new meaning to the term “multiple media.” It is likely that this kind of reinvention, led by new ideas on ways to make the most use of the many new communication tools, will continue to occur.It might not be called the World Wide Web in 20 years, but there will never be a retreat from the idea of improved delivery of more information. Technological predictions about faster delivery, integration with more household appliances (Web TV devices now attach to the television and allow Web access for less than $400), and two-way communication are easy to make. Content predictions about which types of Web pages will become the most common are more difficult to make. But the publishers and media companies that commit to continued innovation and progress in these new arenas will likely fare as well as the journalists who made the successful transition from newsprint to radio and then to television when those technologies emerged decades ago.

The Journalism Jumps to the World Wide Web

In 1961 journalist A. J. Liebling of The New Yorker wrote a line over the power of the media: “Freedom of the press belongs to the man who owns one.” at that time few people had the printing presses or broadcasting facilities needed to deliver information to large audiences. Those who had a message but no printing press found it difficult to communicate with huge numbers of people.But 35 years later, the vast global system of computer connections known as the Internet has broken down that barrier. Today, freedom of the press might more accurately be described as belonging to anyone who can type, for it is about that easy to publish information on the Internet's popular World Wide Web (WWW, or the Web). Instead of being controlled solely by large corporations, mass communication can now be achieved by anyone with a computer, a few software programs, and an Internet connection.One wonders what Liebling would say of this brave new world of computerized communication. It ranges from individuals in basements putting out highly personalized zines (informal newsletter/magazine publications) via electronic mail (e-mail) or the Web, to start-up Web magazines that recruit thousands of subscribers without ever using the Postal Service, to the Web versions of prestigious publications such as the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and U.S. News & World Report. As the world of communications is broadened and changed by the Internet, so too are all the rules and methods of how content is presented and updated, how advertisers are recruited and charged, and ultimately how information itself is evaluated for its accuracy and news value.

Challenges in the feild of Nepali Mass Media

Information and communication revolution in Nepal seems to be centralized in the cities, mostly in Kathmandu valley. Most communication media, except few locally operating media are focused to urban population. So the majority of Nepali citizens are still deprived of information.Lack of skilled manpower is still there. It is true for both the 'hardware' and the 'software' aspect. Highly political motivation in case of newspapers and dominance of entertaining programs in case of radio/ television is resulting the lack of educational programs. The is vast scope for media in Nepal to be used as a tool for education such as Open University. But no initiative could be seen in this regard. Similarly, the mass media are not being used as much as it could be used for public awareness. Nepali media industry is said to have entered in the phase of professionalism but there is still lack of that. The job of journalists is under the 'mercy' of owners who are able to hire of fire the employees according to their will. The unhealthy competition among few media houses is notable here.

Introduction to Journalism

Journalism simply refers to gathering, evaluating, and distributing facts of current interest. In journalism, reporters research and write stories for print and electronic distribution, often with the guidance of editors or producers. The earliest journalists produced their stories for news sheets, circulars, newspapers, and periodicals. With technological advances, journalism came to include other media, such as radio, documentary or newsreel films, television, and the Internet. Journalism is a special branch of mass communication and is playing a vital role in the modern society. In the past days journalism referred to writing for a newspaper or magazine. But nowadays the meaning of journalism has been broadened. Nowadays it doesn't only means about writing the journal but also includes reporting and editing in radio, television and online too. This change is perhaps the positive change of journalism with the advancement of technologies.

Development of Mass Media in Nepal

Nepal has a thousands of years of human civilization. It's history is rooted to Vedic periods. Some scholars also claim that it is the land of creation and in the past Nepal had traditional means of communication. For example: A Katuwal is a person who had responsibility to inform about the matters of public interest by speaking loudly. And it was paid to them on annual basis. And the trained pigeons, horses, eagles were also used to exchange the information and pass the letters. But the modern form of mass media was not invented here. They were bought from the foreign countries. The modern history of mass communication in Nepal started after bringing a printing press in 1851 AD from Britain. Janga Bahadur Rana, the then Prime minister and the founder of Rana family rule, bought a printing press while returning from his England trip, which he undertook at the invitation of Queen Victoria. The press was popularly known as 'Giddhe Chhapakhana' because the machine carried the image of a vulture on it's top. It is widely accepted that Janga Bahadur Rana's effort to bring printing press to Nepal is the beginning of modern era in the field of mass communication.

Introduction to Mass Media

The term mass media refers to all of the communications media that reach a large audience, especially television, radio, and newspapers the means of communication that operate on a large scale reaching and involving large populations. Mass media are those medium or the communication vehicles which are required to reach the mass audience. Mass media includes all forms of information communicated to the larger group of people, from a hand made sign to the international news network. There is no standard for how large the audience needs to be before communication becomes "mass" communication. There are no barriers on what type of information is being presented. Sometime the word is used just to mean the various mechanical means such as books, newspapers, magazines, radio, television, film and the internet emphasizing the single component of mass media. But there are scholars who include other forms of media, such as bill-boards, banners, pamphlets, posters, stickers, direct mails, buttons, diaries, sound recording too as mass media.