The Elements of Journalism
Book 8 of 2010: The Elements of Journalism - What Newspeople Should Know and the Public Should Expect - Bill Kovach & Tom Rosenstiel
The primary purpose of journalism is to provide citizens with the information they need to be free and self-governing.
- Journalism’s first obligation is to the truth.
- Its first loyalty is to citizens.
- Its essence is a discipline of verification.
- Its practitioners must maintain an independence from those they cover.
- It must serve as an independent monitor of power.
- It must provide a forum for public criticism and compromise.
- It must strive to make the significant interesting and relevant.
- It must keep the news comprehensive and in proportion.
- Its practitioners have an obligation to exercise their personal conscience.
- Citizens, too, have rights and responsibilities when it comes to the news.
The Birth of Journalism
“What we might consider modern journalism began to emerge in the early seventeenth century, literally out of conversation, especially in public places. In England, the first newspapers grew out of cofeehouses - numerous enough for some to be known for specializing in certain kinds of information. […]
Later, in America, journalism grew out of pubs, or publick houses. Here, the bar owners, called publicans, hosted spirited conversation about information from travelers who often recorded what they had seen and heard in log books kept at the end of the bar. The first newspapers evolved out of these coffeehouses when enterprising printers began to collect the shipping news, tales from abroad and more gossip and political arguments from the coffeehouses and to print them on paper.”
Citizen’s responsibilities
“They must set aside prejudice and judge the work of journalists on the basis of whether it contributes to their ability to take an informed path in shaping their society.”
“show up at public forums or to send e-mails or letters to the editors.”
