IS JOURNALISM A PROFESSION OR A CRAFT

JOURNALISM A PROFESSION NOT A CRAFT. 1. INTRODUCTION The Oxford Advanced Learners dictionary (2010; 808) defines journalism as “the work of collecting and writing news stories for newspapers, magazines, radio and television.” There has always been a confusion on whether journalism is a profession of a craft. Journalism has always been viewed as some kind of artwork, as compared to other professions. This is due to the fact that when people think of journalism, they limit it to writing, presenting and gossip. This blog post will discuss in details why Journalism is considered a profession rather than a craft. Journalism just like any other profession, has several elements to it such as the culture of journalism, gatekeeping in media and ethics. These elements will be discussed later in this post. 2.WHY JOURNALISM IS CONSIDERED A PROFESSION The term profession is described as a type of a job that requires special training or skill, especially one that needs a high level of education (The Oxford Advanced Learners dictionary, 2010; 1170). While the term craft is defined as an activity that involves making something in a skillful way by using your hands (Webster, n.d). Journalism as a craft would focus only on the writing aspect because craft is a skillful way of doing something with your hands. Craft can also be seen as an art. In other words, journalism cannot be classified a craft because it is more broad in a way that it is not only about writing articles. There are several categories to be considered when looking at the term journalism- these are the research aspect, the writing skills, interview skills, editing skills and the ability to identify newswothy information and distribute it according to the media’s standards. Looking at what journalism is, there is an argument that it can be seen as a profession rather than a craft because, it is a practice whereby journalists utilise their learnt skills to gather and report news. The purpose of journalism practice/ profession is to keep the public informed about what takes place around the world. Journalists have the responsibility to report the news about what is going on in Politics, Sports, entertainment industry and education to the public. 3. CULTURE OF JOURNALISM When looking at the culture of Journalism it is suggested that for one to be qualified as a journalist, s/he needs to obtain at least a three years BA-Journalism degree. During the time in the University or College, individuals are trained and groomed to be good journalists. Individuals who are qualified as journalists, have an opportunity to pursue different positions in the media; such as becoming an editor, a reporter, a distributor, a news reader and much more. They develop skills to identify, gather and report news which is new, interesting and credible. Stovall (2005; 26) states that a basic cultural requirement of journalism is that those in the profession have a high level skill in using the language. Adding that, “journalistic practices require high levels of skill and intellectual training; journalists must know the language and how to use it, they must master the equipment that it takes to produce and distribute their product. These are not easy skills to acquire; training is a must.” 4. GATEKEEPING In the journalism field, just like any other profession, there are rules and regulations. Usually in different media institutions, ther are different ways in which they present their information or news. This is why journalism institutes have internal and external gatekeepers. These gatekeepers are responsible for selecting which article or information goes through to printing or can be broadcasted. These people act as gates. (University of Twente; n.d) states that The gatekeeper decides which information will go forward, and which will not. In other words a gatekeeper in a social system decides which of a certain commodity – materials, goods, and information – may enter the system. Important to realize is that gatekeepers are able to control the public’s knowledge of the actual events by letting some stories pass through the system but keeping others out. Gatekeepers can also be seen as institutions or organizations. Gatekeepers exist in many jobs, and their choices hold the potential to colour mental pictures that are subsequently created in people’s understanding of what is happening in the world around them. Media gatekeeping showed that decision making is based on principles of news values, organizational routines, input structure and common sense. Gatekeeping is vital in communication planning and almost all communication planning roles include some aspect of gatekeeping. Stovall (2005; 22) says the processes of journalism are ideally governed by journalists themselves; few rules or retrains are imposed on them from outside the profession. This could mean that journalists are sometimes restricted by gatekeepers in the media. Media gatekeepers include the audience, the editors or producers and the owners of that media as it was mentioned before. 5. ETHICS As it was said that every profession has its own rules and regulations, people need to realize that principles from various organisations are also different, which is why there is a section ethics. This section talks about the morals of journalists, which is important in every field of study or profession. . Stovall (2005; 462) gives a key concepts of ethical practices. Honesty is at the heart of the journalistic process; journalists should be honest, journalists should respect their audience. Journalists should give credit all the times that they use other people’s work. Journalists are you usually faced with conflict of interests, where by their loyalty to their profession and outside their profession clash. However, journalists must present news with honesty. 6. CONCLUSION In conclusion, the culture of journalism, gatekeeping and ethics were elements that shows that journalism, just like any other profession, has its rules, style and principles which are different from other fields. Therfore it can be said that journalism is a profession.