Mass Communication & Journalism

Broadcasting: Broadcasting is the distribution of audio and/or video signals which transmit programs to an audience. The audience may be the general public or a relatively large sub-audience, such as children or young adults. RADIO BROADCASTING: Broadcasting system is a chain of technically / electronically coupled elements which is used to pick up an ordinary sound wave, convert it to an electrical wave (of some frequency say from 50Hz to 10 Khz) without any change in its parameters. This sound wave is fed to a radio transmitter where its frequency is again raised by combining it to third wave of a higher frequency called the radio frequency. This is the frequency which is allotted to a particular station (in Pakistan a Frequency Allocation Board (FAB) allotted a frequency). This is called the carrier frequency while the wave of the second frequency is called the audio wave. The audio and carrier waves are combined electronically through a process called Modulation. This important ...

Educational broadcasting usually comprises a series of programmes on a subject, like the sequence and chapters of written material of a book, so designed to assist the educational process. Radio programmes falling under educational broadcasting are normally planned in conjunction with the prescribed syllabus. In worldwide belief use of radio for educational purposes has its own history. The broadcast medium has been used both for curriculum based and general educative purposes. “School Broadcast” was already established before the Second World War. United states , Australia and united kingdom has successfully woven the radio programmes into the normal school time tables. During and immediately after the Second World War a shortage of teachers was felt in Japan . At that time radio helped to compensate the lack of teaching personnel in various disciplines. Later radio was given new roles. General Educative Role:      Radio has b...

Radio and Television are based on major three categories programmes. Radio broadcasting ever since its birth has kept growing in terms of its programmes, policies and target areas in order to meet the requirements of its listeners and ever changing demands of the time. Following diagram shows the programmes classification in both medias:- Radio programmes can be classified on the basis of various criteria. However, the broad classification of programmes is made on the following basis: Aims of programme Audiences of the programme Formats of the programmes AIMS OF PROGRAMME:             Under this approach programmes are classified in accordance with the overall aims conceived by the planner. This classification comprises entertainment programme, information programme, educative programmes or social purpose programmes. AUDIENCES OF THE PROGRAMMES:  ...

WHAT IS NEWS? An expert said: “What comes first is news!” News programme is a regularly scheduled radio or television program that reports current events. It is usually reported in a series of individual stories that are presented by one or more anchors. A news programme can include live or recorded interviews by field reporters, expert opinions, opinion poll results, and occasional editorial content. News programs hit about 10 - 20 different stories, giving each one less than two minutes. WHAT IS CURRENT AFFAIRS? Someone told me: “Discussing today is Current Affairs!” Current Affairs Programme is a genre of broadcast journalism where the emphasis is on detailed analysis and discussion of news stories that have recently occurred or are ongoing at the time of broadcast. This differs from regular news broadcasts where the emphasis is on news reports presented for simple presentation as soon as possible, often with a minimum of analysis. It is also different for the newsmagazine ...

The Free Flow of Information Act is a bill intended to provide a news reporter with the right to refuse to testify as to information or sources of information obtained during the newsgathering and distribution process. The “Free Flow of Information” is a concept linked to the basic human right of freedom of speech and opinion. Every one has the right to freedom of opinion and expression. This right includes freedom to hold opinion without interference and to see, receive and impart information and ideas through any medium regardless of any frontiers. Accurate knowledge about the true problem, about the complex aspects that affect the problem and potential solution, and about how humans tend to think, react, and behave is essential for developing practical, innovative solutions. It requires getting the requisite knowledge in applicable form to the best point in the design process. And many times, to reach this goal, we must break down some mental barriers that we have built inside o...

ETHICS:-               Ethics also known as moral philosophy, is a branch of philosophy which seeks to address questions about morality, such as what the fundamental semantic, ontological, and epistemic nature of ethics or morality is (meta-ethics), how moral values should be determined (normative ethics), how a moral outcome can be achieved in specific situations (applied ethics), how moral capacity or moral agency develops and what its nature is (moral psychology), and what moral values people actually abide by (descriptive ethics). MEDIA ETHICS:-  The subdivision of practical ethics dealing with the specific ethical principles and standards of media, including broadcast media, film, theatre, the arts, print media and the internet. The field covers many varied and highly controversial topics, ranging from war journalism to Benetton advertising. Ethics of Journalism :  T...

Copyright gives the author of an original work exclusive right for a certain time period in relation to that work, including its publication, distribution and adaptation, after which time the work is said to enter the public domain. Copyright applies to any expressible form of an idea or information that is substantive and discrete and fixed in a medium. Some jurisdictions also recognize "moral rights" of the creator of a work, such as the right to be credited for the work. Copyright is described under the umbrella term intellectual property along with patents and trademarks. History:- The concept of copyright originates with the Statute of Anne (1710) in Britain. It established the author of a work as the owner of the right to copy that work and the concept of a fixed term for that copyright. The Statute of Anne was the first real copyright act, and gave the authors rights for a fixed period, a fourteen year term for all works published the Statute, after which the copyri...

In law, defamation–also called calumny, libel (for written words), slander (for spoken words), and vilification–is the communication of a statement that makes a claim, expressly stated or implied to be factual, that may give an individual, business, product, group, government or nation a negative image. It is usually, but not always, a requirement that this claim be false and that the publication is communicated to someone other than the person defamed (the claimant). In common law jurisdictions, slander refers to a malicious, false and defamatory spoken statement or report, while libel refers to any other form of communication such as written words or images. Most jurisdictions allow legal actions, civil and/or criminal, to deter various kinds of defamation and retaliate against groundless criticism. Related to defamation is public disclosure of private facts, which arises where one person reveals information that is not of public concern, and the release of which would offend a reas...

PROBLEMS OF NEWSPAPER INDUSTRY IN PAKISTAN Problems of newspaper industry in Pakistan can be categorized in to two main parts:- Internal Problems External Problems INTERNAL :            Internal problems comprises on the newspaper organizational problems. Following are the main problems: Workload:       Workload problem means the huge work on the organization. Any organization which has the huge work need to be employed a staff to meet the requirement. There is shortage of staff. Non Professional:     Non professional staff is also the burden on any organization. There are non professional staff who can not meet the requirement as they are not expert. Press Laws:    Print and Publication laws are the major problem of the industry. There is laws who has to be amended and needs to be implemented. EXTERNAL:     ...

FREEDOM OF PRESS Freedom of press is regarded as an inalienable right of people in a free society. It carries with it the freedom and responsibility to discuss, question, and challenge actions and utterances of government, public and private institutions. Journalists uphold the right to speak unpopular opinions and the privilege to agree with the majority. Freedom of press belongs to the people. It must be defended against encroachment or assault from any quarter, public or private. Journalists must be constantly alert to see that the public business is conducted in public. They must be vigilant against all who would exploit the media for self interest. Freedom of the press consists of lawful or statutory protections pertaining to the media and published materials. With respect to governmental information, any government distinguishes which materials are public or protected from disclosure to the public based on classification of information as sensitive, classified or secret and be...

ECONOMIC OF NEWSPAPER   There's an old saying that you'll never understand newspaper economics until you understand why newspaper vending machines are designed so that you can take as many papers as you like for your quarter. Newspapers are, first and last, devices for delivering ads to readers. It's the ads which account for all the profits, not the cash coming from subscribers or people who buy their paper at the newsstand. Yes, news itself is free, nowadays. But it always has been. What we've been paying for all these years was never news, it was papers.  The main source of income for newspaper is advertisements which they publish regularly. Most of the advertisements published in newspapers emanate from federal, provincial and local government departments. Advertisements constitute backbone of the newspaper industry. They play an important role in bringing the prices of newspaper to a moderat...

The concept of wire service was taken from courier pigeon service between two cities of Europe which had not been linked by telegraph in the first half of the 19th century. The first modern wire service was the Associated Press (AP) which did not acquire its present form until a dispute erupted between its eastern and western factions, resulting in the formation of the Associated Press of Illinois. United Press International (UPI) became the first supplier of news to radio stations. Before 1947 the Muslim newspapers were dependent on Hindu dominated news agencies. At that time two news agencies namely Associated Press of India and United Press of India were important. Syed Mohammad of Bihar established Orient Press of India in 1940 in Patna. After partition the Associated Press of India was converted into the Associated Press of Pakistan (APP) by its Lahore Bureau. Similarly, Pakistan Press International (PPI) and UPI were established in 1949. NATIONAL NEWS AGENCIES The wire servic...

Media ownership (also known as media consolidation) is a commonly used term that refers to the majority of the media outlets being owned by a small number of corporations and especially by those who view such consolidation as detrimental, dangerous, or otherwise problematic to characterize ownership structure of mass media industries.   Media ownership may refer to states of oligopoly or monopoly in a given media industry, or to the importance of a low number of media corporations. Large media conglomerates include, National Amusements, Viacom, CBS Corporation, Time Warner, News Corp, Bertelsmann AG, Sony, General Electric, Vivendi SA, Hearst Corporation, Organizações Globo and Lagardère Group.   For example, movie production is known to be dominated by major studios since the early 20th Century; before that, there was a period in which Edison 's Trust monopolized the industry. The music and television industries recently witnessed cases ...