Broadcast Journalism: Is the End of Print Journalism Near?

Perhaps this article should start with a warning for all the nostalgia fans – be prepared for heartbreak –  but then again perhaps the proverbial glass is still half full – it depends on how you look at it.

Newspapers, those goliaths of educating the public about current affairs, bringing down corruption and standing up for the common man, are slowly dying as more and more people sip their morning coffee skimming over an iPad or mobile screen instead of slowly unfolding the freshly printed pages of the morning paper.

The decline of newspapers began a long time ago, as early as the 1950s or 1960s when the television started to get more popular. People could turn on their TVs for the news with stories being conveyed to them as they happened, instead of having to wait for an afternoon or evening edition for a paper. Television ad revenues grew and the newspapers were sorely hit. Yet, newspapers survived by providing the kind of in-depth coverage that television news producers could only dream of doing in the limited time they had on air.

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The arrival of the internet was almost like the death knell. People started accessing the World Wide Web for news reports. Trying to keep up with the times, newspapers started allowing people to access their content online for free, apart from a few savvy ones like the New York Times which set up a subscription service pretty much right from the start allowing only a limited amount of content to be accessed for free. But we digress.


Does the Decline of Newspapers mean that Journalism is dead?

No. The medium might be different, but the ethos of journalism is still the same. Bringing stories to the public through following leads, questioning authorities, researching sources is still very much the same. To use a popular Indian saying “It’s same – same, but different”.

There is a plethora of media out there on the immense World Wide Web that conveys the news. In fact, citizen journalism, where even a lay person with access to the internet can report on events around them, is growing in popularity. While anyone and everyone and report on happenings around them, there is still a demand for well researched stories and in-depth interviews that only trained journalists can provide.


What is Broadcast Journalism?

Journalists involved in collating stories for media like the radio, television and the internet are called broadcast journalists. Their role in society is pretty much the same as print journalists, only their media and the presentation of their material have changed.


Broadcast Journalism and Print Journalism – How it Differs:

  • Timelines: One might argue that print journalists had it easy in some ways. They had enough time to research facts and write their stories before the newspapers went to print in the wee hours of the morning. Broadcast journalists often have to work to extremely tight deadlines (read: a couple of hours at the most) when something eventful occurs.
  • Style of Writing: The style of writing is extremely different from a print article when writing a script for an audio or visual broadcast. The content needs to be entertaining and informative and concise all at the same time. In case of visual content, the narration needs to be consistent with the images on screen, so broadcast journalists need to be able to join the two seamlessly.Writing for an article online is also extremely different from writing for print. Readers need to be engaged immediately without preamble. Very often, online articles start by presenting what the entire article is all about. It is up to the writer to make it engaging enough for the reader to consider reading the rest.
  • Accountability: Digital writers or journalists are held accountable for their content. Readers can comment on their content or any inaccuracies within it in seconds. With print, readers would often voice their opinions or point out any factual errors by writing in to the editor. Linking to sources, however, has become easier via hyperlinks online.

In conclusion, while print journalism might be on the decline, the need for well-trained journalists is definitely on the rise. As the digital guru Clay Shirky once said, “Society doesn’t need newspapers. What we need is journalism”.

It is with this very philosophy in mind, that Seamedu offers a comprehensive Degree Course in Broadcast Journalism. Our course is designed by industry experts with a 70% focus on practical learning so that you learn the principles of ethical journalism and delve deeper into the subject as you acquire the skills to use different forms of broadcast media like television, radio and the internet to deliver the news from some of the top names in the industry.

And if you still dig print journalism, well, our course equips you with everything you may need in order to make it big in that niche, too!


The choice is yours.

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Written by: Nikhila Kotwal

Last updated: 15-03-2024

Nikhila Kotwal is a passionate researcher and writer. With a master's in communication and journalism, Master in English Literature and PGDM in New Media Journalism from Asian College of Journalism, she has a versatile knowledge of Media, Communication and Journalism.

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