 Dear learners, I, Trisha Dora-Burwa, from the Bhupaneswara School of Mass Communication, Krishna Kanda Hanik State Open University, would like to cordially welcome you all to another of our online-based discussion session. Today's discussion, we're going to talk about the making of a good journalist. This particular unit belongs to the second paper of your BA in Journalism and Mass Communication course. In today's unit, we're going to talk about who a journalist is, what makes a good journalist, what are the different roles and responsibilities of a journalist, and what are the different rights of journalists. Now, let us understand what a journalist is. Now, a question that often comes to mind, we often talk about a journalist, we often talk about a reporter, we talk about a stranger. Okay, so what exactly is a journalist, who is a journalist? A journalist, from a layman's point of view, we can say someone who mainly performs two functions. First one is a reporting of news and offering interpretation and opinion based on the news. In fact, a journalist is someone who tries to find information from variety of sources and edits that particular information and then tries to put that information in front of us. And that information can either be broadcast to us or it can be given to us in a form of a printed version. Journalist is usually considered to be a collector and disseminated of information. Why? Because he or she is responsible for gathering the facts from any particular story and to decide which of those stories that he or she will include into the story. And how that particular story can be structured and to be brought in front of us. You see, from the time we get up, the time we go to bed, we are surrounded by different forms of news, right? We see news in a form of from electronic media, we try to access news through print media, we try to access news to different online portals. Now, how does those news come to us? How do they come to us? It's not something like that the particular media organization gives us just like that. It comes to a particular process and the process makes it possible by the journalist. So, journalist plays a very important role in dissemination of news values to us. Now, we often talk about a journalist needs to portray certain kind of news which has to adhere to the ethics and certain norms of the society. But in the process of trying to understand which news are good for us or which are bad for us, how can you go about it? So, journalist has to unearth those stories which he or she will think that they are responsible or which he or she will think that those news stories will go a long way in enlightening the masses, in giving a new direction to the society. And in that process, we can actually count whether the particular journalist is trying to do his or her duty as per the ethics given to him by the respected media organizations. Now, let us understand what makes a good journalist. The first important point that makes a good journalist is a journalist must have that instinct of discrete value for information which we commonly express as a nose for news. It is a very true fact that the person who he or she wants to are not any kind of story, whether that particular story has to have some interpretation or whether that particular story has to go for some investigation, whatever the case may be. The particular person or journalist himself or herself must have a nose for news. In fact, he or she must be enthusiastic, must be interested in whatever information they are trying to find out. A good journalist must also be able to estimate the comparative value of news. A capable journalist will know how to apportion to each item of news in a newspaper the right prominence and land without allowing his or her own feelings and interest to run away with him or her. In fact, we can see that a good journalist should be objective in reporting a particular news story. What do we mean by objectivity? Objective reporting is that form of reporting in which the particular journalist doesn't give his or her opinion or doesn't try to influence that particular news story through his opinions. He or she tries to put the facts as it is given so that he or she doesn't try to create a kind of imbalance while giving the news story out. The second important point in what makes a good journalist is curiosity. A reporter on the editor must always have an inquisitive bend of mind. That's very true because until and unless the person is curious enough to understand whether the particular news story is right or not then the good news story will not come out. So the good sense of curiosity must be there. A good understanding of the concept must be there. If the particular journalist wants to have a good story to be put forward in front of the general public or in front of the society. The third important point that makes a good journalist is that a sense of fairness and responsibility. Indeed a journalist whenever he or she is engaged in their own respective positions or in their own respective professions they have to abide by certain rules and regulations and also certain ethics. They have a certain responsibility to the society. They have a responsible role to play in the society. And what is the responsible role? The journalist must not try to malign or must not try to put forward any kind of false news stories that might harm the very essence of a democratic setup. So responsibility is a very important quality of a journalist. The fourth important point is team spirit. Journalists are required to work in team in different media houses different media organizations and courageous journalists need to be courageous in certain situations. And this is very much true in case of disaster as well as conflict reporting. Now when we talk about team spirit what do we mean by that? You know usually what happens in I'm talking about big big organizations big media organizations in those media organizations the journalists they need to work as a team member. It's not that even though they're assigned different beats to cover by the respective organization but the respective authority yet they need to work as a team because once a news story comes into the particular media organization it is not only the journalists that's responsible for editing and publishing it. There are other people also involved who has to dream the particular news story who has to edit the particular news story and after verifying the different facts then only it can be published or it can be broadcast. So there are journalists are there there are reporters are there there are editors are there there are photo journalists are there. So as we see there are a number of people involved in the entire process of collecting of news and the ultimate the end process of broadcasting or publishing of news. As such a journalist need to work in a team and that is a very important quality that makes a very good journalist. Moving on we can see another important quality is to be creative. A journalist also expected to be very creative while using the language in an original manner. You see the way we write things so the journey it's not necessary the journalist has to write something in a very flowery language or the journalist has to use very you know tough words to express his or her opinions it's not that but the way to understand things or the way to reach to the grassroots level or the way to make the people understand a particular topic is to use of simple language and also to write language that is from the inner original manner and without any manipulating any kind of pictures or sounds and when we talk about creativity it also means finding creative ways of covering news stories okay it's not the usual 5w and 1h way of writing news one can also write the news from a different angle from different point of view. So a journalist must always think about certain creative ways and how he or she can actually you know kind of hold their attention on the readers or hold their attention of the you know the people or the audience who are listening to his or her news stories or who are reading his or her news stories. So creativity is a very important part or a very important characteristic of a journalist and that really marks that is one of the important marks of a good journalist. Another important fact that which distinguishes a journalist from someone who is very much capable of reaching out to the masses is perseverance. A good journalist needs to have perseverance in order to be successful in the field of journalism. Why? Now when we talk about perseverance we talk about tenacity to understand things that tenacity to go deep into the matter and not leave it halfway because when we talk about perseverance it is not something that is inborn okay it is not something that a person from the time he or she takes part he inherits that it's not that perseverance comes with experience perseverance comes with understanding the environment in which the person is working. So perseverance is said to be a very important quality that actually makes a good journalist. Another important quality we can talk about is a sense of empathy okay. Now what is empathy? Empathy is just opposite of sympathy okay and when we talk about empathy that you know journalists needs to understand people's feelings journalists needs to understand what the people's expressions are their hopes their fears their needs okay. So when a journalist is reporting on certain important area or maybe that particular area might you know cover certain you know internal conflicts certain you know maybe it might really you know relate to some kind of you know religious issue. So when it comes to those type of topics and when comes to those type of issues the journalist needs to have an empathetic bent of mind. In fact the journalist must understand okay the the feelings of the people involved in that particular news story he or she must not go to the extent of covering the news story that might hurt the sentiments of the general public. So a sense of empathy is a very important quality which actually makes a good journalist. Another important quality we can talk about is the ability to explain the ideas. A journalist who is very much curious and and has also seeks to inform like to understand certain concepts so that he or she can very well explain it to the general public that is one of the very important quality of a good journalist. Because you know very often we've come across different issues maybe certain some technological related issues maybe certain economic related issues it may be also related to some political issues which might not be very much clear to the general public. So what can the journalist do in that ringer? The journalist needs to understand needs to go in depth of the particular issue and must try his or her level best to explain in the best possible manner in the best possible simple language that he or she can do so that the general public will be able to comprehend the matter in the best possible way. Another important quality we can say is the objectivity or a good journalist needs to be very much objective in whatever he or she is reporting okay. So as I already talked about what's objective it is all about that is the person who is who is actually a responsible person a person if he thinks that whatever he or she is reporting must not you know try to influence the sentiments of the people or must not try to put forward his or her own views in in place of the actual facts that is called as objectivity. In fact he or she must adhere to objective reporting okay it should not be something that the reporter is trying to put forward his or her own view and not what actually has happened. Another important thing we can say is the aptitude for spelling and punctuation that's a very important aspect when whenever a person is in this journalist's profession or whenever a person is trying to understand the things or trying to you know understand what the concept is all about or trying to you know source the different information from different sources that a concerned person must understand the grammatical aspects to it because it's not very easy to write a report because writing a report is very much different from writing something a short story okay. So when we are putting forward our own reports a news report to the general public it has to be in a certain format okay and that format like it has to have like a W that will follow certain format of writing a new straight can be in the form of this either in the form of print media or in the form of electronic media. So whatever media you choose the particular format should be there and the reporter or the journalist should actually see that whatever news story is being put forward whatever concept is being there it is that that actually you know must be able to express ideas and information in writing okay. So there has to be some kind of aptitude for spelling and punctuation. Another important factor we can show another important aspect of a good journalist is being competitive. A journalist need to be competitive in order to excel in the fast-paced life of news gathering and reporting that's very much true because in each passing day you know new technologies has been coming up and with the you know invention of new technologies a developer of new technologies you know the way news is being presented to the audience news the way news is being delivered to the audience I'm talking most specifically in the sphere of electronic media or online media. So there are a lot of technological implements and elements to it that's why the journalist needs to be very much competitive because a journalist is said to be a jack of all trades okay he or she must understand it's not only the journalist should collect the news from the different sources but he or she also should be able to understand on how to edit the particular news or how to add visuals to the particular news and how to add audio clippings to the particular news you know and then finally to give the finished products to the respective media organizations so that competitive spirit must be there. Now let us come to another important aspect that is the role and responsibilities of a journalist now we have talked about who journalist is what makes a good journalist the different qualities of what makes a good journalist but what exactly are the role and responsibilities of a journalist the first important role we can say is to make people aware of the contemporary world you know from the align itself you can make out that whenever we try to put forward any any issue in front of the public in front of the society we the only the aim we have in our mind is to inform the people to educate the people to make them understand to make them comprehend what exactly is happening in a certain locality you know for instance suppose in a country like Russia they have launched a new satellite so obviously the Russian people won't inform the people from the state of Assam that they have launched a satellite in Russia so what the journalists today try to procure that particular news story they try to edit their news story they try to verify the different facts related to their particular news story and they try to publish it either in from electronic media or in the form of brain media and in the process what they do it makes the people aware of the contemporary world the people are able to understand people able to know what exactly is happening okay then the second important point is of course to inform and educate we have a very important concept in the field of mass communication journalism that is entertainment what exactly do we mean by entertainment when you break this two words educate and entertainment it means that mass media as a whole journalism as a whole tries to educate the people while giving certain elements of you know entertainment to it has some elements of entertainment to kind of broaden the outlook of the people to make them understand in a different in a very interesting way the third important role of a journalist is to entertain the masses definitely you know it's not only that you know you give out pages and pages or information to people there are any form of entertainment that goes on you know that will actually make the journalist or that will actually make the common people as a whole not be interested in reading any kind of news stories as such so entertainment value must be there whenever a news story is doing except for you know hard news stories of course in in case of hard news stories now we can't try to you know bring an element of entertainment until unless the situation demands so because the hard news stories put focus only the hard facts to it but in case of soft news stories or maybe in case of anchor news stories we can try to incorporate different kinds of you know certain stories or certain issues which has some relevance you know to the society maybe which has some emotional relevance or maybe it might have you know kind of the impact it will have on the people instead if emotional stories where people are being able to relate to it so those news stories can be you know entertainment element can be incorporated another important role is said to enable the people to make right opinions and decisions it's a it's a very common factor when i'm going to put forward different kind of information to society different kind of information is given to the people so what do people do on the basis of the information that has been given the people are able to understand what exactly is true and what exactly is not true and on that basis they are able to make the right decisions and right opinions because you know our motive are or any any media organizations their main objective is not only to you know kind of bring out the different news stories to kind of edit the news stories and put forward in front of the people it's not only in that it's the other important objective of different media organizations is so that they can you know they put forward the news stories so that the general public are able to make a very seasoned decision or a right decision whatever the case may be the last important role is to sensitize the people about burning issues that's very true you know it's it's not possible from a layman's point of view or as a as a common man to understand each and every issue that's been going around the society what might be happening in america the people in asa might not know might not be aware about it so different burning issues might be there so in this regard the media does a very important it tries to focus those issues those burning problems in front of the society as a result of which the people are able to understand able to comprehend the matter now we have talked about the different roles for journalists so let us analyze the different responsibilities of the journalists under the following points now when we talk about responsibility we can break the responsibilities for in this different ways the first responsibility that we can talk about is a responsibility towards the firm organization a journalist who work for the private and public sector firms are actually responsible for respective firms and organizations because as i as i just talked about that when i talk about responsibility it means that the journalist is not only responsible to the firm or the organization in which he or she is associated with but the journalist is also responsible towards the society the journalist is also responsible for whatever fact or for whatever news stories he or she tries to focus so that is a responsible role of the journalist and the important responsibility is news gathering now when we when the journalist tries to gather news or different data or different information from different sources the journalists might understand that whether the particular news is verifiable or not because if a journalist without verifying any facts put forward those news stories in the media then there will be big repercussions you know there will be big chaos and confusion in society so if that situation happens then you know there will be imbalance in news flow there will be a lot of differences of opinions and that ultimately lead the lead to breakdown of machinery so that's why by collecting the news stories journalists must be very careful in verifying the data and the important response we can say is accurate processing of data now journalists they also must have the capability to accurately and correctly process the requisite data that is needed for preparing news reports it's not only about collecting the right information it's also about you know processing right data so that when the news report is being prepared the correct information is being given to the people another important response we can talk about is skills in handling equipments I've just said just a while ago that a journalist is not only must not only have a good knack for collecting news must not only be well educated but must not only be well informed but he or she also must understand or must learn to handle the different equipments now when we talk about equipments it's not only handling cameras or laptops and all but it also understanding and how we can you know operate the different electronic equipments under his own control okay because sometimes what happens whenever journalists they go to field area to cover different conflicts and all so in that instance in those circumstances a journalist will understand while capturing the particular visuals okay while capturing the particular visual the journalist must understand which area of the visuals he or she needs to capture how that particular visuals can be edited and how the audio can be incorporated into the particular news stories so all those stuff uh a good journalist must be well aware of the another one we have is leading a team of co-workers a journalist must also be able to lead a team of investigators, cameraman, jewelry reporters for undergone different reporting or covering any events now let us try to understand the different rights of journalists now what we exactly mean by rights yes a journalist the main role of a journalist to collect the news and information to edit the news and finally to put forward the news in front of the society in front of the people either through print media to online media or through electronic media but there are also certain rights that a journalist needs to adhere to the first important rights is the rights of journalists versus those of private citizens and organizations now just like private citizens journalists they are also entitled to similar powers and privileges okay you know certain issues and in certain occasions what happens a journalist needs to cover certain uh you know incidents or maybe certain news stories which might even involve you know harping on the privacy of a individual so when that happens what happens lawsuits are being filed against a journalist journalist has to face a wrath of the general public so they are the receiving end but none the lens you know the right to privacy of private citizens may be reduced or lost if citizen is trust in the public either by their own actions or because they're involved in a public event and very often journalists are also receiving and other citizens whenever lawsuits are filed against a journalist for publishing damaging on truths about them so what can be done so in certain certain such kind of incidents certain cases uh there should be a well-defined set of rights from a journalist whenever because whenever right they are trying to cover certain news stories that involves private citizens and also other government organizations because you know very often it's it's not that journalists can they need to take the help of different organizations journalists also they need to take the help of different private citizens for procuring some kind of information while reporting different news stories so in that case then there should be a well set of rules or a well set of rights which enables them to go ahead in the line of duty another important rights we can talk about is the right to protect confidentiality of resources now this is very important right you know very often because journalists whenever they try to you know kind of taking the different sources for different information from different sources so they have to protect the particular source because they are on the when they try to report the particular information they they take that information in confidence from the particular source so in those cases what happens and this is why this done to keep the identity of the sources under wraps for fear of being exposed to danger and this comes under extension of the freedom of the press giving journalists a legal protection to keep the identity of the source private even when demanded by police or prosecutors so this is very often seen in case of any investigative journalism so in case of investigative journalism what happens whenever a news story is the journalist tries to you know put forward a news story in front of the general public in front of the society here she has to take the resource or the use here she has to take the source into confidence by assuring them that their life isn't safe hence nothing would no harm would happen to them so when that particular confidence is given when the when the particular assurance is given to the particular sources so that right has to be there with the journalist because if that right is not there and whenever the police demands certain information from the journalist to know whether in the prosecutors try to demand information then the journalist is you know he is forced to reveal the information to the you know society that's what the right to protection confidentiality of sources is very important and then another important right we have the right of access to government information now as I've already talked about you know it's very easy to you know source the different kind of information from different sources to procure different information from different sources but sometimes what happens certain information needs to be verified from different government agencies or from different government organizations so journalists also depend on the rights granted by the government to the public and by extension to the press for access to information held by the government so today's lecture based discussion we have tried to analyze who journalist is what makes a good journalist for the different roles and responsibility of a journalist and the different rights of a journalist so from this today's online session we can actually summarize the fact that yes a journalist has a very responsible role in the society but at the same time he or she needs to adhere to the different ethics the different norms of how a news is being reported okay because if that is not done then the very foundation of a democratic setup will crumble so a journalistic news story or maybe or a journalist needs to you know have their own set of rights a journalist needs to be very much responsible very much very objective in whatever way he or she is trying to report the news to the society so with this I would like to end today's discussion thank you all so much