tv journalism essay

TV Journalism: History, Importance, & Examples

Introduction.

Television journalism has played a significant role in shaping public opinion and providing crucial information for decades. With its ability to reach millions of viewers instantly, television has been a powerful medium for news dissemination, offering both advantages and challenges for journalists. In this article, we will explore the evolution of TV journalism, its impact on society, and the unique challenges faced by journalists in this dynamic field.

The Rise of TV Journalism

TV journalism emerged as a prominent form of news media in the mid-20th century, revolutionizing the way people consumed information. The introduction of television sets in households brought news stories to life, capturing the attention of viewers through moving images and audio. The immediacy of television coverage allowed people to witness historical events, such as the moon landing or political debates, in real time, fostering a sense of shared experience.

Impact on News Consumption

Television journalism rapidly became the primary source of news for many individuals. The 24-hour news cycle offered viewers access to continuous coverage of local, national, and international events. News broadcasts became an integral part of people’s daily routine, shaping public opinion and influencing political discourse. However, this constant availability of news also presented challenges, as sensationalism and the need for high ratings sometimes overshadowed objective reporting.

The Visual Power of Television

One of the strengths of TV journalism lies in its visual storytelling capabilities. Through images, videos, and interviews, journalists can convey complex stories with greater impact and emotional resonance. By bringing viewers directly to the scene, television news enables a more immersive experience, enabling them to connect with the subject matter on a deeper level. However, this visual power also comes with the responsibility to maintain accuracy, context, and fairness in reporting. Learn the process of TV news production .

History of TV Journalism

The birth of television news.

The roots of television journalism can be traced back to the early 20th century. In the 1930s, experimental television broadcasts paved the way for the first regular television news programs. The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) launched the world’s first regular television news service in 1936 , followed by the first television news broadcast in the United States by NBC in 1940. These initial broadcasts were limited in scope, often featuring short newsreels and basic reporting. Watch how BBC TV news first went live .

The Golden Age of TV Journalism

The 1950s and 1960s witnessed a surge in television news programming and the emergence of iconic figures who would shape the industry. The introduction of lightweight cameras and mobile units allowed journalists to cover news stories on location, bringing a new level of immediacy and visual storytelling. Journalists like Edward R. Murrow and Walter Cronkite gained widespread recognition for their journalistic integrity and the way they brought news events into people’s living rooms.

Breaking New Ground

The 1970s and 1980s marked significant milestones in TV journalism. The advent of satellite technology enabled live reporting from around the world, giving rise to international news coverage and the ability to bring global events directly to viewers. The Watergate scandal, extensively covered by television news, showcased the power of investigative journalism and its role in holding those in power accountable.

The 24-Hour News Cycle

The 1990s witnessed a transformative shift with the launch of 24-hour news networks. Channels like CNN, MSNBC, and Fox News brought news coverage to an entirely new level, providing round-the-clock updates and in-depth analysis. This era also saw the rise of talk shows and opinion-based programming, shaping the way news was presented and consumed.

Digital Era and the Rise of Online News

The 21st century brought about a digital revolution, profoundly impacting television journalism. The internet and the proliferation of smartphones enabled instantaneous access to news, leading to the rise of online news platforms. Television networks expanded their online presence, offering live streaming, on-demand content, and interactive features. Social media platforms provided a new avenue for news dissemination, but also raised concerns about misinformation and the challenges of verifying sources.

The Changing Landscape and Challenges

As television journalism evolved, it faced a host of challenges. The quest for ratings and viewership sometimes led to sensationalism, blurring the line between news and entertainment. The rapid spread of fake news and misinformation became a pressing concern, requiring journalists to navigate through an increasingly complex media landscape. Journalistic ethics and the need for impartial reporting remain crucial in the face of these challenges.

Importance of TV Journalism

Informing the masses.

Television journalism plays a fundamental role in keeping the public informed about local, national, and international events. Through news broadcasts, documentaries, and investigative reports, it brings significant issues, critical stories, and human experiences to the attention of millions of viewers. By providing comprehensive coverage, television journalism helps citizens make informed decisions and engage in meaningful discussions about societal matters.

Visual Impact and Emotional Connection

One of the distinctive strengths of television journalism lies in its ability to convey stories through visual imagery. Through live reporting, interviews, and on-location coverage, it captures the essence of events and enables viewers to witness the unfolding of stories in real time. This visual impact helps create an emotional connection between the audience and the news, fostering empathy and a deeper understanding of complex issues.

Fostering Accountability and Transparency

Television journalism plays a crucial role in holding individuals, institutions, and governments accountable. Investigative reporting uncovers corruption, exposes wrongdoing, and brings transparency to public affairs. By shining a light on these issues, television journalists serve as watchdogs, ensuring that those in power are held responsible for their actions and decisions. This accountability is essential for a functioning democracy, as it helps prevent abuses of power and promotes a fair and just society.

Creating a Shared Public Discourse

Television news broadcasts provide a common platform where citizens can engage in public discourse and exchange diverse perspectives. By presenting various viewpoints and facilitating discussions on important issues, television journalism encourages an informed and participatory citizenry. It helps bridge gaps between communities, fostering understanding and promoting a sense of shared responsibility in shaping the future.

Emergency and Crisis Reporting

During times of crises, natural disasters, or emergencies, television journalism becomes even more critical. It serves as a lifeline for affected communities, providing real-time updates, safety information, and resources. Through live reporting, television journalists become the eyes and ears of the public, relaying critical information and offering a sense of reassurance. This timely and accurate reporting can save lives and help communities recover.

Challenges and Ethical Responsibility

Television journalism also faces challenges in maintaining its integrity and credibility. The pursuit of ratings, commercial pressures, and the need for speed can sometimes compromise accuracy and objectivity. Journalists must adhere to ethical guidelines, verify sources, and present balanced reporting to ensure the public’s trust. The rise of misinformation and the need to combat fake news further underscores the importance of responsible and trustworthy television journalism.

TV Journalism in Mass Media

Television journalism plays a significant role in the media landscape, serving as a primary source of news for millions of viewers worldwide. Here are some key aspects of television journalism within the broader media context:

News Broadcasting

Television news networks, both traditional broadcast networks and 24-hour news channels, deliver news updates, in-depth analysis, and investigative reports to a wide audience. They cover a broad range of topics, including politics, current events, business, sports, entertainment, and human interest stories. Television news broadcasts often feature visual storytelling, live reporting, and interviews with experts and individuals involved in news stories.

Visual Impact

Television journalism’s visual nature allows for compelling storytelling through video footage, images, and graphics. Journalists can provide viewers with a more immersive experience by showing them scenes from news events, capturing emotions, and presenting complex information in a visually engaging manner. This visual impact helps viewers connect with the news stories on a deeper level and enhances their understanding of the issues at hand.

Live Reporting

Television journalism offers the unique ability to report news events as they happen through live broadcasts. Journalists on the ground can provide real-time updates, witness important developments, and interview key figures directly. Live reporting adds immediacy and authenticity to news coverage, allowing viewers to feel connected to the events as they unfold.

Public Engagement

Television journalism plays a crucial role in fostering public engagement and promoting discussions on important topics. News programs often feature panel discussions, debates, and interviews with experts, politicians, and community members. These platforms provide an opportunity for viewers to hear diverse perspectives, express their opinions, and participate in the democratic process.

Investigative Journalism

Television journalism is a platform for investigative reporting , where journalists dig deep into complex issues, uncover wrongdoing, and expose corruption. Investigative journalists often utilize extensive research, interviews, and documentary-style storytelling to bring attention to critical matters that may otherwise go unnoticed. Their work aims to hold individuals, organizations, and institutions accountable for their actions. Explore another aspect of journalism, which is interpretative reporting .

Impact on Public Opinion

Television journalism has the power to shape public opinion and influence public discourse. The news stories and narratives presented on television can sway viewers’ perspectives, beliefs, and attitudes toward various issues. The media’s ability to frame stories, select which stories to cover, and how they are presented can have a significant impact on the public’s understanding of events and societal issues.

Digital Transformation

Television journalism has adapted to the digital age, with networks expanding their online presence through websites, mobile apps, and social media platforms. These digital platforms provide additional opportunities for news consumption, on-demand viewing, and interaction with viewers. Television journalists also utilize digital tools for research, fact-checking, and engaging with the audience in real time.

Examples of TV Journalism

Watergate scandal (1972-1974).

The investigative reporting by Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein of The Washington Post, along with television journalists such as Dan Rather of CBS, played a pivotal role in uncovering the Watergate scandal . Their relentless pursuit of the truth led to the resignation of President Richard Nixon and showcased the power of investigative journalism in holding those in power accountable.

CNN Gulf War Coverage (1991)

During the Gulf War, CNN’s live coverage from Baghdad , led by journalists such as Bernard Shaw and Peter Arnett, provided unprecedented access to the conflict. The vivid reporting brought the realities of war into living rooms around the world, highlighting the impact of television journalism in providing up-to-the-minute coverage and shaping public perception.

9/11 Attacks (2001)

The coverage of the September 11 attacks on major television networks, including CNN, ABC, CBS, and NBC, played a crucial role in informing the public and documenting the events as they unfolded. Television journalists reported on the ground, providing real-time updates, and capturing the emotions of the nation during this tragic and transformative moment in history.

Arab Spring (2010-2012)

Television journalism played a significant role in covering and catalyzing the Arab Spring uprisings in the Middle East and North Africa. Networks such as Al Jazeera and BBC provided extensive coverage, disseminating information, and amplifying the voices of protesters. Their reporting helped galvanize public support and shed light on the grievances of the people.

Black Lives Matter (BLM) Movement (2013-present)

Television journalism has played a crucial role in covering the Black Lives Matter movement , highlighting issues of systemic racism and police brutality. Journalists from various networks, including CNN, MSNBC, and local news stations, have provided in-depth reporting, interviews, and live coverage of protests, fostering a national conversation and raising awareness about racial injustice.

Television journalism has had a profound impact on society, shaping public opinion, and providing valuable information. The visual power of television, coupled with its widespread accessibility, has made it a primary source of news for millions of viewers. As technology continues to evolve, television journalism must adapt to new challenges and opportunities, upholding the principles of responsible reporting and maintaining its vital role in informing and empowering the public.

TV journalism refers to the practice of reporting news and current events through the medium of television. It involves the production and broadcast of news stories, interviews, and investigative reports that provide information to a wide audience. TV journalists gather news through research, interviews, and on-the-ground reporting, and then present it in a visually engaging format. They often work in newsrooms and collaborate with camera operators, editors, and producers to create news packages that are informative, objective, and adhere to journalistic principles such as accuracy, fairness, and impartiality. TV journalism plays a crucial role in keeping the public informed about local, national, and international events.

Television is often considered one of the most important forms of media due to its unparalleled reach, impact, and versatility. Here are a few key reasons why television holds such significance: 1. Mass Reach: Television has an incredible ability to reach a vast audience, making it an influential medium for disseminating information, ideas, and entertainment. It has been a central part of households for decades, providing access to news, education, and cultural content to millions of viewers simultaneously. 2. Visual and Audio Engagement: Television combines audio and visual elements to create a highly engaging and immersive experience. This combination allows for effective storytelling, capturing emotions, and conveying complex information in a compelling manner. 3. News and Information: Television news networks play a crucial role in delivering timely information to the public. With live reporting, interviews, and visual aids, television news provides immediacy and context to important events, making it a vital source of information during crises and emergencies. 4. Entertainment and Cultural Influence: Television is a major source of entertainment, offering a diverse range of content including scripted shows, documentaries, sports, and reality TV. It plays a significant role in shaping popular culture, influencing societal norms, and sparking important conversations. 5. Advertising Platform: Television has long been a primary platform for advertising, allowing businesses to reach a wide and captive audience. Advertisers can leverage the power of sight, sound, and motion to create impactful campaigns that drive consumer behavior and shape market trends. While digital media platforms have emerged as strong contenders, television continues to hold its importance due to its wide accessibility, ability to captivate audiences, and its role as a shared experience that brings people together. However, it’s worth noting that the media landscape is constantly evolving, and the significance of various media forms may shift in the future.

TV journalism and print journalism are two distinct forms of media that differ in several key aspects: 1. Medium: The primary difference between TV journalism and print journalism is the medium through which information is conveyed. TV journalism utilizes audio and visual elements, presenting news stories through moving images, sound bites, interviews, and graphics. Print journalism, on the other hand, relies solely on written text, typically appearing in newspapers, magazines, or online articles. 2. Delivery Speed: TV journalism is known for its immediacy and ability to provide real-time updates. Television news networks can deliver breaking news as it happens, offering live coverage and on-the-spot reporting. Print journalism, on the other hand, is published at scheduled intervals (daily, weekly, monthly), which can result in a time lag between the occurrence of an event and its reporting. 3. Visual Engagement: TV journalism utilizes visual elements such as images, videos, and infographics to enhance storytelling and engage viewers. It can convey emotions, portray visuals from the scene, and provide a sense of immediacy. Print journalism, while capable of incorporating images, primarily relies on written words to convey information, requiring readers to imagine the events being described. 4. Editing and Layout: In print journalism, editors play a crucial role in selecting, editing, and arranging articles on the page to create a coherent layout. The layout includes headlines, subheadings, and captions that guide readers through the content. In TV journalism, producers and editors shape the content through video editing, selecting shots, and arranging segments to create a cohesive broadcast. 5. Audience Engagement: TV journalism has the advantage of combining audio and visual elements to capture viewers’ attention and engage them emotionally. It can provide a more immersive experience, with live reporting, on-site interviews, and visual storytelling. Print journalism, although capable of evoking imagination through words, relies more on readers’ ability to visualize and interpret the information presented. Both TV journalism and print journalism play important roles in providing news and information to the public. While TV journalism excels in immediacy, visual engagement, and audio-visual storytelling, print journalism offers depth, analysis, and the ability to provide a more comprehensive view of complex issues. Both mediums have their strengths and complement each other in delivering news to diverse audiences.

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I found this article extremely informative and useful. It summarized most of what I learnt in my journalism classes, in the 80s and provided updates on how TV news has evolved through the years.

In what year was this article published please? Thanks 🙂

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• Scriptwriting

Writing for Television — Format, Genre and Structure

W ith new streaming platforms emerging every year and binge watching becoming an art form, the television industry needs more writers than ever. Unfortunately, there is also more competition than ever. Breaking into the TV industry can be tough, but here are the fundamentals you need to know about becoming a television show writer as well as some actionable tips that will help you get that much closer to writing for television.

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Television script writing

Writing for television vs. film.

Although feature film screenplays and television screenplays have many similarities such as scene headings , formatting techniques , dialogue, and character descriptions there are many differences between writing for television and writing for film. To understand the differences, it's first important to understand how a TV show gets made. This Vox video conveniently breaks down the TV making process.

Understanding writing for television

1. Script Length: Most obviously, writing for television involves much shorter scripts than writing for features. The run time of a television show ranges from 30 minutes to 60 minutes while a feature film is at least 90 minutes long resulting in the difference in script length.

2. Story Engine: Feature films are meant to be resolved by the end of the film. Television shows, on the other hand, are meant to last multiple seasons. This means that writing for television is dependent on creating different driving forces than a film.

Films that last a whopping six to nine seasons are often very character driven, relying more on the audience's investment in the characters rather than the plot points themself.

Writing for television: Character and Develop Their Arc  •   Subscribe on YouTube

TV shows often have multiple central characters that move the show forward unlike features that typically have a single central protagonist. TV shows utilize multiple story lines otherwise known as A, B, and C story lines.

3. Structure: Because both the length and engine of a television show both differ from that of a film, the structure of a television show also differs. Writing for television aims to retain the audience's attention and set up following episodes.

4. Lack of immediate resolution: The episodic format of a television show means that each central narrative lasts over the course of multiple episodes or even seasons. For that reason, TV shows do not need to tie a neat bow on every episode with a resolution unlike a film.

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How to write for tv

Television script structure.

In the past, writing for television has been formulaic across the board to fit the form of weekly episode releases. With the advent of streaming services and the phenomenon of binge watching, nearly every story structure is possible to achieve through television. 

Some TV series have even been described as ten-hour movies broken into episodes. Other TV series still follow the traditional sitcom format. No matter what, understanding the story structure that best serves your story is important. 

Among the best television series in history is Breaking Bad pilot script which uses a common four act structure. Check out this breakdown of the structure of Breaking Bad in this video from Lessons from the Screenplay.

Breaking Bad  •  Writing for television pilots

Next time you watch a great TV pilot, take note of how this structure applies. This will help you structure your TV show in similar ways that best serve the story. Once you understand the mechanisms of your show’s structure, you will need to create the necessary materials to pitch your TV show.

TV show writing format

Tv script format.

Structure also entails understanding how to format a script. Before you send out any script whether it is a spec or a pilot, you must make sure it follows standard script format. This will make it easier to read, more engaging, and more professional. 

To better understand TV script format and writing for television professionally, check out our formatting video below. We dive into everything from scene headers to slug lines to dialogue. Of course, when you use dedicated screenwriting software like StudioBinder, the formatting is done automatically.

How to Format a Screenplay: Writing for television  •   Subscribe on YouTube

Learning how to write for TV means understanding both story and TV script format. Understanding various formatting techniques such as parentheticals and slug lines will add to your repertoire of TV screenwriting tools. This will effectively make you a better television writer. 

TV Writing and Pitching

Components of a tv show pitch.

There is fundamental advice when it comes to learning how to pitch a TV show , but the quintessential tip is to be prepared . This means that you know your TV show inside and out and have materials that prove it and communicate it clearly.

1. Treatment

A story treatment helps get your concept or show in front of more readers. Television show concepts can be large and complex. Distilling your idea into a simpler, more condensed treatment will increase your chances that someone will read about your show.

How to Write a TV Show Treatment  •   Subscribe on YouTube

Treatments will help get your foot in the door. But when someone bites onto a treatment, it’s important to be prepared to have a full pilot script ready.

2. Pilot Script

Your pilot script is a huge determining factor to the success of your TV show idea. It conveys the story, your TV screenwriting style, and should prove the potential for future episodes. The pilot is the foundational building block for the entire show. So how do you write a great one? Check out our video breakdown that analyzes the Breaking Bad pilot and what made it successful.

How to Write a TV Show Pilot Script That Sells  •   Subscribe on YouTube

Finally, you need to be able to clearly and effectively pitch the concept of your show to TV executives when you’re not even in the room. This is where the show bible comes in.

3. Show Bible

Show bibles are used to present to TV and digital executives in order to get a show commissioned or picked-up for distribution. They should break down the entire concept of a show in a clear way. Learning how to make a TV show bible is a lot easier than you might think as long as you have fleshed out the idea of your show well enough.

How to Make a TV Show Bible  •   Subscribe on YouTube

TV show bibles should allow executives, writers, and readers to understand the concept of a show without you having to explain everything to them.

If you do get into a room to pitch your show, there are a few other tips that will help you beyond the materials you bring. Your presence and how you pitch are incredibly important to your pitch’s success. Here are a few do’s and don’ts when it comes to pitching a TV show idea .

How to write for TV: Pitching  •   Subscribe on YouTube

Now that you understand the necessary information of TV screenwriting, it's time to learn about the actionable steps you can take to get you that much closer to a career in TV writing.

• How to Write for TV: Loglines →
• How to Pitch a TV Show Like a Pro →
• Get Started and Write Your Television Pilot Today →

How to write for TV

Tips to break into the tv industry.

Screenwriting for television and preparing a pitch does not happen overnight. In fact, it might take a lot of nights. But there are things you can do that will move your forward in your TV writing career outside of writing your own show.

1. Do your TV homework

Being well versed on television is the best way to learn about your craft. Keeping up to date with trending television series as well as watching classic television shows and dissecting how and why they work will help you better understand the mechanisms of a television show.

2. Write everyday

To get better at screenwriting for television, the only way to get better at your craft is to write. Whether it's writing your pilot, writing a treatment, or writing in a journal. Writing everyday will exercise the creative muscles you will need in the television industry where turn around times are fast and bright ideas need to appear out of thin air.

3. Write a spec

A spec script is written independent of any production entity with the intention to showcase your ability as a writer. Spec scripts can lead to the purchase of the script or even future assignments as a writer. Learning how to write a spec script is useful for anyone trying to break into the TV industry. It will also educate you on how to write for TV based on a pre-existing show. 

4. Move to Los Angeles

This may not be news, but it is worth reiterating. A majority of production companies for both film and television as well as the writing jobs. Getting out there will give you a better chance at our next tip. Screenwriting for television involves a lot of our next tip — networking. And being in the hub of television is a great way to network.

Of course it's not all about who you know, but it certainly has a big impact. Rubbing shoulders with those already in the television industry as well as those in your shoes trying to break in will help open up doors to present and future opportunities.

6. Get a writer’s assistant job

Getting a job as an assistant to a television writer will help you get your foot in the door of the industry while also learning from those already working in it. It will also help you build relationships that will work in your favor.

7. Enter writing contests

There are plenty of writing contests out there with some heavy competition. While the odds may not work in your favor, someone does win. At the very worst writing for these competitions is great practice for any aspiring screenwriter to learn how to write for TV.

8. Have a positive attitude

In the world of film, people often work with each other for long hours and even longer months or even years. Being someone with a genuinely positive attitude will make you someone people want to work with which helps your odds at finding TV writing work.

How to Write a TV Treatment

Do you already have an idea for a television show, but have yet to flesh it out or put it on paper? Get started by creating a treatment. A treatment is a great way to determine whether your idea has legs to be a full blown television series.

Up Next: How to Write a TV Treatment →

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Does Journalism Have a Future?

By Jill Lepore

The wood-panelled tailgate of the 1972 Oldsmobile station wagon dangled open like a broken jaw, making a wobbly bench on which four kids could sit, eight legs swinging. Every Sunday morning, long before dawn, we’d get yanked out of bed to stuff the car’s way-back with stacks of twine-tied newspapers, clamber onto the tailgate, cut the twine with my mother’s sewing scissors, and ride around town, bouncing along on that bench, while my father shouted out orders from the driver’s seat. “Watch out for the dog!” he’d holler between draws on his pipe. “Inside the screen door!” “Mailbox!” As the car crept along, never stopping, we’d each grab a paper and dash in the dark across icy driveways or dew-drunk grass, crashing, seasonally, into unexpected snowmen. “Back porch!” “Money under the mat!” He kept a list, scrawled on the back of an envelope, taped to the dashboard: the Accounts. “They owe three weeks!” He didn’t need to remind us. We knew each Doberman and every debt. We’d deliver our papers—Worcester Sunday Telegrams —and then run back to the car and scramble onto the tailgate, dropping the coins we’d collected into empty Briggs tobacco tins as we bumped along to the next turn, the newspaper route our Sabbath.

The Worcester Sunday Telegram was founded in 1884, when a telegram meant something fast. Two years later, it became a daily. It was never a great paper but it was always a pretty good paper: useful, gossipy, and resolute. It cultivated talent. The poet Stanley Kunitz was a staff writer for the Telegram in the nineteen-twenties. The New York Times reporter Douglas Kneeland, who covered Kent State and Charles Manson, began his career there in the nineteen-fifties. Joe McGinniss reported for the Telegram in the nineteen-sixties before writing “The Selling of the President.” From bushy-bearded nineteenth-century politicians to baby-faced George W. Bush, the paper was steadfastly Republican, if mainly concerned with scandals and mustachioed villains close to home: overdue repairs to the main branch of the public library, police raids on illegal betting establishments—“ Worcester Dog Chases Worcester Cat Over Worcester Fence ,” as the old Washington press-corps joke about a typical headline in a local paper goes. Its pages rolled off giant, thrumming presses in a four-story building that overlooked City Hall the way every city paper used to look out over every city hall, the Bat-Signal over Gotham.

Most newspapers like that haven’t lasted. Between 1970 and 2016, the year the American Society of News Editors quit counting, five hundred or so dailies went out of business; the rest cut news coverage, or shrank the paper’s size, or stopped producing a print edition, or did all of that, and it still wasn’t enough. The newspaper mortality rate is old news, and nostalgia for dead papers is itself pitiful at this point, even though, I still say, there’s a principle involved. “I wouldn’t weep about a shoe factory or a branch-line railroad shutting down,” Heywood Broun, the founder of the American Newspaper Guild, said when the New York World went out of business, in 1931. “But newspapers are different.” And the bleeding hasn’t stopped. Between January, 2017, and April, 2018, a third of the nation’s largest newspapers, including the Denver Post and the San Jose Mercury News , reported layoffs. In a newer trend, so did about a quarter of digital-native news sites. BuzzFeed News laid off a hundred people in 2017; speculation is that BuzzFeed is trying to dump it. The Huffington Post paid most of its writers nothing for years, upping that recently to just above nothing, and yet, despite taking in tens of millions of dollars in advertising revenue in 2018, it failed to turn a profit.

Even veterans of august and still thriving papers are worried, especially about the fake news that’s risen from the ashes of the dead news. “We are, for the first time in modern history, facing the prospect of how societies would exist without reliable news,” Alan Rusbridger, for twenty years the editor-in-chief of the Guardian , writes in “ Breaking News: The Remaking of Journalism and Why It Matters Now .” “There are not that many places left that do quality news well or even aim to do it at all,” Jill Abramson , a former executive editor of the New York Times , writes in “Merchants of Truth: The Business of News and the Fight for Facts.” Like most big-paper reporters and editors who write about the crisis of journalism, Rusbridger and Abramson are interested in national and international news organizations. The local story is worse.

First came conglomeration. Worcester, Massachusetts, the second-largest city in New England, used to have four dailies: the Telegram , in the morning, and the Gazette , in the evening (under the same ownership), the Spy , and the Post . Now it has one. The last great laying waste to American newspapers came in the early decades of the twentieth century, mainly owing to (a) radio and (b) the Depression; the number of dailies fell from 2,042 in 1920 to 1,754 in 1944, leaving 1,103 cities with only one paper. Newspaper circulation rose between 1940 and 1990, but likely only because more people were reading fewer papers, and, as A. J. Liebling once observed, nothing is crummier than a one-paper town. In 1949, after yet another New York daily closed its doors, Liebling predicted, “If the trend continues, New York will be a one- or two-paper town by about 1975.” He wasn’t that far off. In the nineteen-eighties and nineties, as Christopher B. Daly reports in “ Covering America: A Narrative History of the Nation’s Journalism ,” “the big kept getting bigger.” Conglomeration can be good for business, but it has generally been bad for journalism. Media companies that want to get bigger tend to swallow up other media companies, suppressing competition and taking on debt, which makes publishers cowards. In 1986, the publisher of the San Francisco Chronicle bought the Worcester Telegram and the Evening Gazette , and, three years later, right about when Time and Warner became Time Warner, the Telegram and the Gazette became the Telegram & Gazette , or the T&G , smaller fries but the same potato.

Next came the dot-coms. Craigslist went online in the Bay Area in 1996 and spread across the continent like a weed, choking off local newspapers’ most reliable source of revenue: classified ads. The T&G tried to hold on to its classified-advertising section by wading into the shallow waters of the Internet, at telegram.com, where it was called, acronymically, and not a little desperately, “ TANGO !” Then began yet another round of corporate buyouts, deeply leveraged deals conducted by executives answerable to stockholders seeking higher dividends, not better papers. In 1999, the New York Times Company bought the T&G for nearly three hundred million dollars. By 2000, only three hundred and fifty of the fifteen hundred daily newspapers left in the United States were independently owned. And only one out of every hundred American cities that had a daily newspaper was anything other than a one-paper town.

Then came the fall, when papers all over the country, shackled to mammoth corporations and a lumbering, century-old business model, found themselves unable to compete with the upstarts—online news aggregators like the Huffington Post (est. 2005) and Breitbart News (est. 2007), which were, to readers, free. News aggregators also drew display advertisers away from print; Facebook and Google swallowed advertising accounts whole. Big papers found ways to adapt; smaller papers mainly folded. Between 1994 and 2016, years when the population of Worcester County rose by more than a hundred thousand, daily home delivery of the T&G declined from more than a hundred and twenty thousand to barely thirty thousand. In one year alone, circulation fell by twenty-nine per cent. In 2012, after another round of layoffs, the T&G left its building, its much reduced staff small enough to fit into two floors of an office building nearby. The next year, the owner of the Boston Red Sox bought the newspaper, along with the Boston Globe , from the New York Times Company for seventy million dollars, only to unload the T&G less than a year later, for seventeen million dollars, to Halifax Media Group, which held it for only half a year before Halifax itself was bought, flea-market style, by an entity that calls itself, unironically, the New Media Investment Group.

The numbers mask an uglier story. In the past half century, and especially in the past two decades, journalism itself—the way news is covered, reported, written, and edited—has changed, including in ways that have made possible the rise of fake news, and not only because of mergers and acquisitions, and corporate ownership, and job losses, and Google Search, and Facebook and BuzzFeed . There’s no shortage of amazing journalists at work, clear-eyed and courageous, broad-minded and brilliant, and no end of fascinating innovation in matters of form, especially in visual storytelling. Still, journalism, as a field, is as addled as an addict, gaunt, wasted, and twitchy, its pockets as empty as its nights are sleepless. It’s faster than it used to be, so fast. It’s also edgier, and needier, and angrier. It wants and it wants and it wants. But what does it need?

The daily newspaper is the taproot of modern journalism. Dailies mainly date to the eighteen-thirties, the decade in which the word “journalism” was coined, meaning daily reporting, the jour in journalism. Early dailies depended on subscribers to pay the bills. The press was partisan, readers were voters, and the news was meant to persuade (and voter turnout was high). But by 1900 advertising made up more than two-thirds of the revenue at most of the nation’s eighteen thousand newspapers, and readers were consumers (and voter turnout began its long fall). “The newspaper is not a missionary or a charitable institution, but a business that collects and publishes news which the people want and are willing to buy,” one Missouri editor said in 1892. Newspapers stopped rousing the rabble so much because businesses wanted readers, no matter their politics. “There is a sentiment gaining ground to the effect that the public wants its politics ‘straight,’ ” a journalist wrote the following year. Reporters pledged themselves to “facts, facts, and more facts,” and, as the press got less partisan and more ad-based, newspapers sorted themselves out not by their readers’ political leanings but by their incomes. If you had a lot of money to spend, you read the St. Paul Pioneer Press; if you didn’t have very much, you read the St. Paul Dispatch .

Unsurprisingly, critics soon began writing big books, usually indictments, about the relationship between business and journalism. “When you read your daily paper, are you reading facts or propaganda?” Upton Sinclair asked on the jacket of “ The Brass Check ,” in 1919. In “ The Disappearing Daily ,” in 1944, Oswald Garrison Villard mourned “what was once a profession but is now a business.” The big book that inspired Jill Abramson to become a journalist was David Halberstam’s “ The Powers That Be ,” from 1979, a history of the rise of the modern, corporate-based media in the middle decades of the twentieth century. Halberstam, who won a Pulitzer Prize in 1964 for his reporting from Vietnam for the New York Times , took up his story more or less where Villard left off. He began with F.D.R. and CBS radio; added the Los Angeles Times , Time Inc., and CBS television; and reached his story’s climax with the Washington Post and the New York Times and the publication of the Pentagon Papers, in 1971.

Halberstam argued that between the nineteen-thirties and the nineteen-seventies radio and television brought a new immediacy to reporting, while the resources provided by corporate owners and the demands made by an increasingly sophisticated national audience led to harder-hitting, investigative, adversarial reporting, the kind that could end a war and bring down a President. Richard Rovere summed it up best: “What The Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, Time and CBS have in common is that, under pressures generated internally and externally, they moved from venality or parochialism or mediocrity or all three to something approaching journalistic excellence and responsibility.” That move came at a price. “Watergate, like Vietnam, had obscured one of the central new facts about the role of journalism in America,” Halberstam wrote. “Only very rich, very powerful corporate institutions like these had the impact, the reach, and above all the resources to challenge the President of the United States.”

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There’s reach, and then there’s reach. When I was growing up, in the nineteen-seventies, nobody I knew read the New York Times , the Washington Post , or the Wall Street Journal . Nobody I knew even read the Boston Globe , a paper that used to have a rule that no piece should ever be so critical of anyone that its “writer could not shake hands the next day with the man about whom he had written.” After journalism put up its dukes, my father only ever referred to the Globe as “that Communist rag,” not least because, in 1967, it became the first major paper in the United States to come out against the Vietnam War.

The view of the new journalism held by people like my father escaped Halberstam’s notice. In 1969, Nixon’s Vice-President, Spiro Agnew, delivered a speech drafted by the Nixon aide Pat Buchanan accusing the press of liberal bias. It’s “good politics for us to kick the press around,” Nixon is said to have told his staff. The press, Agnew said, represents “a concentration of power over American public opinion unknown in history,” consisting of men who “read the same newspapers” and “talk constantly to one another.” How dare they. Halberstam waved this aside as so much P.R. hooey, but, as has since become clear, Agnew reached a ready audience, especially in houses like mine.

Spiro who? “The press regarded Agnew with uncontrolled hilarity,” Arthur Schlesinger, Jr., observed in 1970, but “no one can question the force of Spiro T. Agnew’s personality, nor the impact of his speeches.” No scholar of journalism can afford to ignore Agnew anymore. In “ On Press: The Liberal Values That Shaped the News ,” the historian Matthew Pressman argues that any understanding of the crisis of journalism in the twenty-first century has to begin by vanquishing the ghost of Spiro T. Agnew.

For Pressman, the pivotal period for the modern newsroom is what Abramson calls “Halberstam’s Golden Age,” between 1960 and 1980, and its signal feature was the adoption not of a liberal bias but of liberal values: “Interpretation replaced transmission, and adversarialism replaced deference.” In 1960, nine out of every ten articles in the Times about the Presidential election were descriptive; by 1976, more than half were interpretative. This turn was partly a consequence of television—people who simply wanted to find out what happened could watch television, so newspapers had to offer something else—and partly a consequence of McCarthyism . “The rise of McCarthy has compelled newspapers of integrity to develop a form of reporting which puts into context what men like McCarthy have to say,” the radio commentator Elmer Davis said in 1953. Five years later, the Times added “News Analysis” as a story category. “Once upon a time, news stories were like tape recorders,” the Bulletin of the American Society of Newspaper Editors commented in 1963. “No more. A whole generation of events had taught us better—Hitler and Goebbels, Stalin and McCarthy, automation and analog computers and missiles.”

These changes weren’t ideologically driven, Pressman insists, but they had ideological consequences. At the start, leading conservatives approved. “To keep a reporter’s prejudices out of a story is commendable,” Irving Kristol wrote in 1967. “To keep his judgment out of a story is to guarantee that the truth will be emasculated.” After the Times and the Post published the Pentagon Papers, Kristol changed his spots. Journalists, he complained in 1972, were now “engaged in a perpetual confrontation with the social and political order (the ‘establishment,’ as they say).” By 1975, after Watergate, Kristol was insisting that “most journalists today . . . are ‘liberals.’ ” With that, the conservative attack on the press was off and running, all the way to Trumpism—“the failing New York Times,” “CNN is fake news,” the press is “the true enemy of the people”—and, in a revolution-devouring-its-elders sort of way, the shutting down of William Kristol’s Weekly Standard , in December. “The pathetic and dishonest Weekly Standard . . . is flat broke and out of business,” Trump tweeted. “May it rest in peace!”

What McCarthy and television were for journalism in the nineteen-fifties, Trump and social media would be in the twenty-tens: license to change the rules. Halberstam’s Golden Age, or what he called “journalism’s high-water mark,” ended about 1980. Abramson’s analysis in “Merchants of Truth” begins with journalism’s low-water mark, in 2007, the year after Facebook launched its News Feed, “the year everything began to fall apart.”

“ Merchants of Truth ” isn’t just inspired by “The Powers That Be”; it’s modelled on it. Abramson’s book follows Halberstam’s structure and mimics its style, chronicling the history of a handful of nationally prominent media organizations—in her case, BuzzFeed, Vice, the Times , and the Washington Post —in alternating chapters that are driven by character sketches and reported scenes. The book is saturated with a lot of gossip and glitz, including details about the restaurants the powers that be frequent, and what they wear (“Sulzberger”—the Times ’ publisher—“dressed in suits from Bloomingdale’s, stylish without being ostentatiously bespoke, and wore suspenders before they went out of fashion”), alongside crucial insights about structural transformations, like how Web and social-media publishing “unbundled” the newspaper, so that readers who used to find a fat newspaper on their front porch could, on their phones, look, instead, at only one story. “Each individual article now lived on its own page, where it had a unique URL and could be shared, and spread virally,” Abramson observes. “This put stories, rather than papers, in competition with one another.”

This history is a chronicle of missed opportunities, missteps, and lessons learned the hard way. As long ago as 1992, an internal report at the Washington Post urged the mounting of an “electronic product”: “The Post ought to be in the forefront of this.” Early on, the Guardian started a New Media lab, which struck a lot of people as frivolous, Rusbridger writes, because, at the time, “only 3 per cent of households owned a PC and a modem,” a situation not unlike that at the Guardian’s own offices, where “it was rumored that downstairs a bloke called Paul in IT had a Mac connected to the internet.” A 1996 business plan for the Guardian concluded that the priority was print, and the London Times editor Simon Jenkins predicted, “The Internet will strut an hour upon the stage, and then take its place in the ranks of the lesser media.” In 2005, the Post lost a chance at a ten-per-cent investment in Facebook, whose returns, as Abramson points out, would have floated the newspaper for decades. The C.E.O. of the Washington Post Company, Don Graham, and Mark Zuckerberg shook hands over the deal, making a verbal contract, but, when Zuckerberg weaseled out of it to take a better offer, Graham, out of kindness to a young fella just starting out, simply let him walk away. The next year, the Post shrugged off a proposal from two of its star political reporters to start a spinoff Web site; they went on to found Politico. The Times , Abramson writes, declined an early chance to invest in Google, and was left to throw the kitchen sink at its failing business model, including adding a Thursday Style section to attract more high-end advertising revenue. Bill Keller, then the newspaper’s editor, said, “If luxury porn is what saves the Baghdad bureau, so be it.”

More alarming than what the Times and the Post failed to do was how so much of what they did do was determined less by their own editors than by executives at Facebook and BuzzFeed. If journalism has been reinvented during the past two decades, it has, in the main, been reinvented not by reporters and editors but by tech companies, in a sequence of events that, in Abramson’s harrowing telling, resemble a series of puerile stunts more than acts of public service.

Who even are these people? “Merchants of Truth” has been charged with factual errors, including by people Abramson interviewed, especially younger journalists. She can also be maddeningly condescending. She doffs her cap at Sulzberger, with his natty suspenders, but dismisses younger reporters at places like Vice as notable mainly for being “impossibly hip, with interesting hair.” This is distracting, and too bad, because there is a changing of the guard worth noting, and it’s not incidental: it’s critical. All the way through to the nineteen-eighties, all sorts of journalists, including magazine, radio, and television reporters, got their start working on daily papers, learning the ropes and the rules. Rusbridger started out in 1976 as a reporter at the Cambridge Evening News , which covered stories that included a petition about a pedestrian crossing and a root vegetable that looked like Winston Churchill. In the U.K., a reporter who wanted to go to Fleet Street had first to work for three years on a provincial newspaper, pounding the pavement. Much the same applied in the U.S., where a cub reporter did time at the Des Moines Register , or the Worcester Telegram , before moving up to the New York Times or the Herald Tribune. Beat reporting, however, is not the backstory of the people who, beginning in the nineteen-nineties, built the New Media.

Jonah Peretti started out soaking up postmodern theory at U.C. Santa Cruz in the mid-nineteen-nineties, and later published a scholarly journal article about the scrambled, disjointed, and incoherent way of thinking produced by accelerated visual experiences under late capitalism. Or something like that. Imagine an article written by that American Studies professor in Don DeLillo’s “ White Noise .” Peretti thought that watching a lot of MTV can mess with your head—“The rapid fire succession of signifiers in MTV style media erodes the viewer’s sense of temporal continuity”—leaving you confused, stupid, and lonely. “Capitalism needs schizophrenia, but it also needs egos,” Peretti wrote. “The contradiction is resolved through the acceleration of the temporal rhythm of late capitalist visual culture. This type of acceleration encourages weak egos that are easily formed, and fade away just as easily.” Voilà, a business plan!

Peretti’s career in viral content began in 2001, with a prank involving e-mail and Nike sneakers while he was a graduate student at the M.I.T. Media Lab. (Peretti ordered custom sneakers embroidered with the word “sweatshop” and then circulated Nike’s reply.) In 2005, a year the New York Times Company laid off five hundred employees and the Post began paying people to retire early, Peretti joined Andrew Breitbart, a Matt Drudge acolyte, and Ken Lerer, a former P.R. guy at AOL Time Warner, in helping Arianna Huffington, a millionaire and a former anti-feminist polemicist, launch the Huffington Post. Peretti was in charge of innovations that included a click-o-meter. Within a couple of years, the Huffington Post had more Web traffic than the Los Angeles Times , the Washington Post , and the Wall Street Journal . Its business was banditry. Abramson writes that when the Times published a deeply reported exclusive story about WikiLeaks, which took months of investigative work and a great deal of money, the Huffington Post published its own version of the story, using the same headline—and beat out the Times story in Google rankings. “We were learning that the internet behaved like a clattering of jackdaws,” Rusbridger writes. “Nothing remained exclusive for more than two minutes.”

Pretty soon, there were jackdaws all over the place, with their schizophrenic late-capitalist accelerated signifiers. Breitbart left the Huffington Post and started Breitbart News around the same time that Peretti left to focus on his own company, Contagious Media, from which he launched BuzzFeed, where he tested the limits of virality with offerings like the seven best links about gay penguins and “YouTube Porn Hacks.” He explained his methods in a pitch to venture capitalists: “Raw buzz is automatically published the moment it is detected by our algorithm,” and “the future of the industry is advertising as content.”

Facebook launched its News Feed in 2006. In 2008, Peretti mused on Facebook, “Thinking about the economics of the news business.” The company added its Like button in 2009. Peretti set likability as BuzzFeed’s goal, and, to perfect the instruments for measuring it, he enlisted partners, including the Times and the Guardian , to share their data with him in exchange for his reports on their metrics. Lists were liked. Hating people was liked. And it turned out that news, which is full of people who hate other people, can be crammed into lists.

Chartbeat, a “content intelligence” company founded in 2009, launched a feature called Newsbeat in 2011. Chartbeat offers real-time Web analytics, displaying a constantly updated report on Web traffic that tells editors what stories people are reading and what stories they’re skipping. The Post winnowed out reporters based on their Chartbeat numbers. At the offices of Gawker, the Chartbeat dashboard was displayed on a giant screen.

In 2011, Peretti launched BuzzFeed News, hiring a thirty-five-year-old Politico journalist, Ben Smith, as its editor-in-chief. Smith asked for a “scoop-a-day” from his reporters, who, he told Abramson, had little interest in the rules of journalism: “They didn’t even know what rules they were breaking.” In 2012, BuzzFeed introduced three new one-click ways for readers to respond to stories, beyond “liking” them—LOL, OMG, and WTF—and ran lists like “10 Reasons Everyone Should Be Furious About Trayvon Martin’s Murder,” in which, as Abramson explains, BuzzFeed “simply lifted what it needed from reports published elsewhere, repackaged the information, and presented it in a way that emphasized sentiment and celebrity.” BuzzFeed makes a distinction between BuzzFeed and BuzzFeed News, just as newspapers and magazines draw distinctions between their print and their digital editions. These distinctions are lost on most readers. BuzzFeed News covered the Trayvon Martin story, but its information, like BuzzFeed’s, came from Reuters and the Associated Press.

Even as news organizations were pruning reporters and editors, Facebook was pruning its users’ news, with the commercially appealing but ethically indefensible idea that people should see only the news they want to see. In 2013, Silicon Valley began reading its own online newspaper, the Information, its high-priced subscription peddled to the information élite, following the motto “Quality stories breed quality subscribers.” Facebook’s goal, Zuckerberg explained in 2014, was to “build the perfect personalized newspaper for every person in the world.” Ripples at Facebook create tsunamis in newsrooms. The ambitious news site Mic relied on Facebook to reach an audience through a video program called Mic Dispatch, on Facebook Watch; last fall, after Facebook suggested that it would drop the program, Mic collapsed. Every time Facebook News tweaks its algorithm—tweaks made for commercial, not editorial, reasons—news organizations drown in the undertow. An automated Facebook feature called Trending Topics, introduced in 2014, turned out to mainly identify junk as trends, and so “news curators,” who tended to be recent college graduates, were given a new, manual mandate, “massage the algorithm,” which meant deciding, themselves, which stories mattered. The fake news that roiled the 2016 election? A lot of that was stuff on Trending Topics. (Last year, Facebook discontinued the feature.)

BuzzFeed surpassed the Times Web site in reader traffic in 2013. BuzzFeed News is subsidized by BuzzFeed, which, like many Web sites—including, at this point, those of most major news organizations—makes money by way of “native advertising,” ads that look like articles. In some publications, these fake stories are easy to spot; in others, they’re not. At BuzzFeed, they’re in the same font as every other story. BuzzFeed’s native-advertising bounty meant that BuzzFeed News had money to pay reporters and editors, and it began producing some very good and very serious reporting, real news having become something of a luxury good. By 2014, BuzzFeed employed a hundred and fifty journalists, including many foreign correspondents. It was obsessed with Donald Trump’s rumored Presidential bid, and followed him on what it called the “fake campaign trail” as early as January, 2014. “It used to be the New York Times , now it’s BuzzFeed,” Trump said, wistfully. “The world has changed.” At the time, Steve Bannon was stumping for Trump on Breitbart. Left or right, a Trump Presidency was just the sort of story that could rack up the LOLs, OMGs, and WTFs. It still is.

In March, 2014, the Times produced an Innovation Report, announcing that the newspaper had fallen behind in “the art and science of getting our journalism to readers,” a field led by BuzzFeed. That May, Sulzberger fired Abramson, who had been less than all-in about the Times doing things like running native ads. Meanwhile, BuzzFeed purged from its Web site more than four thousand of its early stories. “It’s stuff made at a time when people were really not thinking of themselves as doing journalism,” Ben Smith explained. Not long afterward, the Times began running more lists, from book recommendations to fitness tips to takeaways from Presidential debates.

The Times remains unrivalled. It staffs bureaus all over the globe and sends reporters to some of the world’s most dangerous places. It has more than a dozen reporters in China alone. Nevertheless, BuzzFeed News became more like the Times , and the Times became more like BuzzFeed, because readers, as Chartbeat announced on its endlessly flickering dashboards, wanted lists, and luxury porn, and people to hate.

The Guardian , founded as the Manchester Guardian in 1821, has been held by a philanthropic trust since 1936, which somewhat insulates it from market forces, just as Jeff Bezos’s ownership now does something similar for the Post . By investing in digital-readership research from the time Rusbridger took charge, in 1995, the Guardian became, for a while, the online market leader in the U.K. By 2006, two-thirds of its digital readers were outside the U.K. In 2007, the Guardian undertook what Rusbridger calls “the Great Integration,” pulling its Web and print parts together into a single news organization, with the same editorial management. It also developed a theory about the relationship between print and digital, deciding, in 2011, to be a “digital-first organization” and to “make print a slower, more reflective read which would not aspire to cover the entire waterfront in news.”

Rusbridger explains, with a palpable grief, his dawning realization that the rise of social media meant that “chaotic information was free: good information was expensive,” which meant, in turn, that “good information was increasingly for smaller elites” and that “it was harder for good information to compete on equal terms with bad.” He takes these circumstances as something of a dare: “Our generation had been handed the challenge of rethinking almost everything societies had, for centuries, taken for granted about journalism.”

Has that challenge been met? The Guardian’s own success is mixed. As of 2018, it was in the black, partly by relying on philanthropy, especially in the U.S. “Reader revenue,” in the form of donations marked not as subscriptions but as voluntary “memberships,” is expected to overtake advertising revenue before long. Raising money from people who care about journalism has allowed the Guardian to keep the Web site free. It’s also broken some big stories, from the Murdoch-papers phone-hacking scoop to the saga of Edward Snowden, and provided riveting coverage of ongoing and urgent stories, especially climate change. But, for all its fine reporting and substantive “Long Reads,” the paper consists disproportionately of ideologically unvarying opinion essays. By some measures, journalism entered a new, Trumpian, gold-plated age during the 2016 campaign, with the Trump bump, when news organizations found that the more they featured Trump the better their Chartbeat numbers, which, arguably, is a lot of what got him elected. The bump swelled into a lump and, later, a malignant tumor, a carcinoma the size of Cleveland. Within three weeks of the election, the Times added a hundred and thirty-two thousand new subscribers. (This effect hasn’t extended to local papers.) News organizations all over the world now advertise their services as the remedy to Trumpism, and to fake news; fighting Voldemort and his Dark Arts is a good way to rake in readers. And scrutiny of the Administration has produced excellent work, the very best of journalism. “ How President Trump Is Saving Journalism ,” a 2017 post on Forbes.com, marked Trump as the Nixon to today’s rising generation of Woodwards and Bernsteins. Superb investigative reporting is published every day, by news organizations both old and new, including BuzzFeed News.

By the what-doesn’t-kill-you line of argument, the more forcefully Trump attacks the press, the stronger the press becomes. Unfortunately, that’s not the full story. All kinds of editorial decisions are now outsourced to Facebook’s News Feed, Chartbeat, or other forms of editorial automation, while the hands of many flesh-and-blood editors are tied to so many algorithms. For one reason and another, including twenty-first-century journalism’s breakneck pace, stories now routinely appear that might not have been published a generation ago, prompting contention within the reportorial ranks. In 2016, when BuzzFeed News released the Steele dossier, many journalists disapproved, including CNN’s Jake Tapper, who got his start as a reporter for the Washington City Paper . “It is irresponsible to put uncorroborated information on the Internet,” Tapper said. “It’s why we did not publish it, and why we did not detail any specifics from it, because it was uncorroborated, and that’s not what we do.” The Times veered from its normal practices when it published an anonymous opinion essay by a senior official in the Trump Administration. And The New Yorker posted a story online about Brett Kavanaugh’s behavior when he was an undergraduate at Yale, which Republicans in the Senate pointed to as evidence of a liberal conspiracy against the nominee.

There’s plenty of room to argue over these matters of editorial judgment. Reasonable people disagree. Occasionally, those disagreements fall along a generational divide. Younger journalists often chafe against editorial restraint, not least because their cohort is far more likely than senior newsroom staff to include people from groups that have been explicitly and viciously targeted by Trump and the policies of his Administration, a long and growing list that includes people of color, women, immigrants, Muslims, members of the L.G.B.T.Q. community, and anyone with family in Haiti or any of the other countries Trump deems “shitholes.” Sometimes younger people are courageous and sometimes they are heedless and sometimes those two things are the same. “The more ‘woke’ staff thought that urgent times called for urgent measures,” Abramson writes, and that “the dangers of Trump’s presidency obviated the old standards.” Still, by no means is the divide always or even usually generational. Abramson, for instance, sided with BuzzFeed News about the Steele dossier, just as she approves of the use of the word “lie” to refer to Trump’s lies, which, by the Post’s reckoning, came at the rate of more than a dozen a day in 2018.

The broader problem is that the depravity, mendacity, vulgarity, and menace of the Trump Administration have put a lot of people, including reporters and editors, off their stride. The present crisis, which is nothing less than a derangement of American life, has caused many people in journalism to make decisions they regret, or might yet. In the age of Facebook, Chartbeat, and Trump, legacy news organizations, hardly less than startups, have violated or changed their editorial standards in ways that have contributed to political chaos and epistemological mayhem. Do editors sit in a room on Monday morning, twirl the globe, and decide what stories are most important? Or do they watch Trump’s Twitter feed and let him decide? It often feels like the latter. Sometimes what doesn’t kill you doesn’t make you stronger; it makes everyone sick. The more adversarial the press, the more loyal Trump’s followers, the more broken American public life. The more desperately the press chases readers, the more our press resembles our politics.

The problems are well understood, the solutions harder to see. Good reporting is expensive, but readers don’t want to pay for it. The donation-funded ProPublica, “an independent, nonprofit newsroom that produces investigative journalism with moral force,” employs more than seventy-five journalists. Good reporting is slow, good stories unfold, and most stories that need telling don’t involve the White House. The Correspondent, an English-language version of the Dutch Web site De Correspondent, is trying to “unbreak the news.” It won’t run ads. It won’t collect data (or, at least, not much). It won’t have subscribers. Like NPR, it will be free for everyone, supported by members, who pay what they can. “We want to radically change what news is about, how it is made, and how it is funded,” its founders state. Push-notifications-on news is bad for you, they say, “because it pays more attention to the sensational, exceptional, negative, recent, and incidental, thereby losing sight of the ordinary, usual, positive, historical, and systematic.” What will the Correspondent look like? It will stay above the fray. It might sometimes be funny. It’s slated to début sometime in 2019. Aside from the thing about ads, it sounds a lot like a magazine, when magazines came in the mail.

After we’d shoved the last, fat Worcester Sunday Telegram inside the last, unlatched screen door, we’d head home, my father taking turns a little too fast, so that we’d have to clutch at one another and at the lip of the tailgate, to keep from falling off. “Dad, slow down!” we’d squeal, not meaning it. Then he’d make breakfast, hot chocolate with marshmallows in the winter, orange juice from a can of frozen concentrate in the summer, and on my plate I’d make wedges of cantaloupe into Viking ships sailing across a sea of maple syrup from the Coast of Bacon to Pancake Island. After breakfast, we’d dump the money from the tobacco tins onto the kitchen table and count coins, stacking quarters and nickels and dimes into wrappers from the Worcester County Institution for Savings, while my father updated the Accounts, and made the Collection List.

Going collecting was a drag. You had to knock on people’s doors and ask your neighbors for money—“ Telegram! Collecting!”—and it was embarrassing, and, half the time, they’d ask you in, and before you knew it you’d be helping out, and it would take all day. “So long as you’re here, could you hold the baby while I take a quick shower?” “Honey, after this, could you bring my mail down to the post office on that cute little bike of yours?” I came to understand that the people who didn’t leave the money under the mat hadn’t forgotten to. They just liked having a kid visit on Sunday afternoon.

The death of a newspaper is sometimes like other deaths. The Mrs. and the Miss, a very, very old woman and her very old daughter, lived in a crooked green house on top of a rise and wore matching housecoats and slippers. The Miss followed the Mrs. around like a puppy, and, if you found them in the parlor reading the paper, the Mrs. would be poring over the opinion pages while the Miss cut pictures out of the funnies. “The Miss can’t think straight,” my father said. “Her head’s scrambled. So be gentle with her. Nothing to be afraid of. Be sure to help them out.” Once when I biked over there, the Miss was standing, keening, noise without words, sound without sense. The Mrs. wasn’t moving, and she wasn’t ever going to move again. I called for help and held the Miss’s hand, waiting for the wail of sirens. I didn’t know what else to do. ♦

An earlier version of this story misstated the subtitle of Christopher B. Daly’s book “Covering America.” It also misstated the Huffington Post’s advertising revenue.

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Assess the debate surrounding television journalism during the Vietnam War and its impact on future conflicts.

Related Papers

Mark Harmon

Kyle Hadyniak

The Vietnam War was a hallmark in journalism history. Not only was newspaper reporting placed in a prominent role, both on the front lines and at home, but for the first time television was also utilized to bring the horrors of war into the living room. Vietnam may have been in Southeast Asia, but half the fighting occurred in the United States because journalists in Vietnam brought a different, pragmatic view to the American public than what the government was providing. The latter’s misleading optimism and, in some cases, outright deception soon ignited an anti-war movement previously unseen on American soil. Using four pivotal Vietnam War events as case studies, this thesis will illustrate journalists’ influence, showing how important journalism was in the “living room war of the 1960s and 1970s.”

Ghaith Alabadi

In this essay I explain the role of the U.S. Media the Vietnam war

“You could pick up any magazine, you could pick up any newspaper and you could watch TV and that was war in all its uncensored glory” – This was a statement made by Tim Humes when asked about his views on a significant event that happened over the course of his life in which media played a role till present times. Tim Humes was involved directly and indirectly in numerous large-scale events that occurred from the 1950ss to the 1980s. He was a high school freshman when he heard about the JFK assassination. It was not long before his college deferment was rejected and he was sent to Vietnam for the war. Throughout his lifetime from 1950s to present times, he has been exposed to various forms of media from radio, newspaper, and television and at the later part of his life, the Internet. He provides insightful information and rich experience he has been through. We will look at the overarching theme of this paper through the lens of Tim.

Kevin Sezgin

This paper handles the importance of International Media in affecting the course of the Vientam War. It provides a chronolgical narrative of events based on the work of Warren Cohen (2000) and the lecture notes of the course 'History of International Politics' by Senan Fox (2016, Kanazawa). following the narrative a select number of relevant news reports will be projected on the narrative in order to get a primitive overview of the potential effect of the media and public opinions on the course of the war.

JOURNALISM AND FOREIGN POLICY

This edited collection brings together critical and up-to-date assessments of how mainstream American and British media cover their respective foreign policies, paying special attention to 'ofcial enemies'. In the age of the internet and social media, the reporting and commentary on world events by mainstream Western media remains tightly bound by the way in which Western governments promote their framing. This book explores the extent to which historical and recent Western media coverage has refected and continues to refect the foreign policies of the United States and the United Kingdom towards ten non-Western countries:

Film History: An International Journal

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Artists Respond: American Art and the Vietnam War, 1965–1975

Erica Levin

Francis Therrien

It is common nowadays to hear a lot of statements and assessments about the effects of social media on the public sphere and polarisation. Those kinds of claims about the effects of a new media were also around with the first televised war: the Vietnam war. Even the former US president, Ronald Reagan, accused the media for the US defeat in Vietnam at the time. In this essay, we will therefore analyse this claim and attempt to show to what extent was the media responsible for the Usonian public’s growing opposition to war in Vietnam? We propose that the role of the media in public’s opposition is rather weak. To achieve this, we will have an overview of the academic assessments about media effects, then look more precisely at the Vietnam war case and conclude with an alternative explanation to the growing opposition.

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Journalism Ethics: A Philosophical Approach

Professor of Philosophy

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Since the introduction of radio and television news, journalism has gone through multiple transformations, but each time it has been sustained by a commitment to basic values and best practices. Journalism Ethics is a reminder, a defence, and an elucidation of core journalistic values, with particular emphasis on the interplay of theory, conceptual analysis and practice. This unified text on journalism ethics begins with a sophisticated model for ethical decision making, devised by two of the nation's leading ethicists, which connects classical theories with the central purposes of journalism. Top scholars from philosophy, journalism and communications offer essays on such topics as objectivity, privacy, confidentiality, conflict of interest, the history of journalism, online journalism, and the definition of a journalist. Theoretical essays are paired with practical essays in order to better inform the discussion. The result is a guide to ethically sound and socially justified journalism, in whatever form that practice emerges.

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MA Television Journalism

Course information.

Media, Communications and Cultural Studies

1 year full-time

Scholarship information

Funding available

Course overview

Please note that this programme has been suspended for 2024-25 entry. You can explore other programmes by visiting our course finder.

This is a highly practical, intensive programme covering everything you need to know to get started in television journalism.

This course is accredited by the Broadcast Journalism Training Council

• Whether your sights are set on being behind the camera as a producer, appearing on screen as a foreign correspondent, or heading off to far-flung parts of the world to make investigative documentaries - it’s vital you get a solid understanding of the basics, from the ground up. 
• That’s exactly what this programme will teach you: newsgathering, production, reporting skills, writing for broadcast, filming and self-shooting, video editing, presenting, online longer-form current affairs, using social media, mobile journalism, researching stories and verification. We provide a broad curriculum to the highest professional standards, so you’re prepared to work in today’s ultra-competitive, ever-changing media environment.
• The programme is accredited by the Broadcast Journalism Training Council (BJTC), which represents broadcasters such as the BBC, ITV News, Sky, Reuters, Channel 4, and AP. The BJTC also provides valuable input from key figures within television to make sure we teach the skills the industry demands and supports the provision of work placements.

What will you learn as an MA Television Journalism student

• Employers tell us that when they’re recruiting the journalists of tomorrow, they’re looking for all-round skills, innovative ideas and a can-do attitude. You’ll also get a thorough grounding in media law and ethics, media theory and journalistic research skills and tools.
• You’ll learn your craft from dedicated, hugely experienced media practitioners with careers in broadcasting and extensive teaching experience. Our teaching staff get to know all of our students personally, helping them to achieve their full potential by providing continual feedback and support.
• Visiting speakers share their knowledge of current industry practice: names such as Sarah Sands (BBC Today programme editor), Paul Mason (ex Newsnight and Channel 4), Owen Jones (Guardian columnist), Emily Buchanan and David Loyn (BBC international TV correspondents), Matt Cooke (Google News Lab), Jimmy Wales (co-founder of Wikipedia), Rich Parry (award-winning TV cameraman and director), and Stuart Earl (BBC TV, news director).
• Every week during the first half of the MA students produce a TV Newsday, replicating industry practice and under supervision by experienced journalists and production tutors.  Students are also encouraged to contribute news packages and social media videos to the department’s media platforms Twitter and Facebook.

Why Goldsmiths? 

• The Department of Media, Communications and Cultural Studies has been ranked 2nd in the UK for 'world-leading or internationally excellent' research (Research Excellence Framework, 2021) and 16th in the world (3rd in the UK) in the 2024 QS World Rankings for communication and media studies.

Award winners

• Our students go on to work for all the major UK broadcasters, including BBC, ITV News, Sky, Channel 4 news as well as international organisations such as AP, AFP, CNN, ABC and Reuters. Employers value their all-round skills and they regularly win awards for their work.
• In 2021 one of our students won Best TV Documentary in the annual BJTC awards. In 2017 our students won more BJTC awards than any other university , scooping prizes for Best Newsday, Best TV Documentary and the Steve Harris Award for Best Original Story, which also featured in the Guardian . They were also shortlisted for Best TV News Item. Other wins have included Best News Feature at the Royal Television Society and runner-up Documentary Feature in the Amnesty International student awards.
• This degree is part of our School of Journalism. Find out more about what we do and other degrees we teach .

Contact the department

If you have specific questions about the degree, contact Linda Lewis .

What you'll study

The programme is a practical introduction to TV news journalism. Modules are practical and skills-based but are taught within a theoretical framework which is only possible in an institution renowned for its research work.

You'll cover:

• television journalism practice, split into three distinct areas of News, Long form and Professional Practice
• practice theory
• research methodologies
• key media law and ethical issues in relation to UK and US media law

In the first term, you are taught in lectures, small group seminars and practical workshops for a period of approximately 12-15 hours. During the rest of the week, you are expected to work on individual and joint projects without supervision.

In the second term, teaching time of 8-10 hours is usually concentrated on two or three days per week to allow more time for production.

In the third term, you are expected to work, with support, on your production for assessment.

Compulsory modules

Essay; unseen examination; production portfolio comprising the research, planning, shooting and editing of original current affairs reports; coursework assessment.

Download the programme specification .

Please note that due to staff research commitments not all of these modules may be available every year.

Entry requirements

You should have (or expect to be awarded) an undergraduate degree of at least upper second class standard in a relevant/related subject. You also need a level of practical experience, and a strong interest in television production and journalism.

You might also be considered for some programmes if you aren’t a graduate or your degree is in an unrelated field, but have relevant experience and can show that you have the ability to work at postgraduate level.

International students holding offers conditional upon fulfilling IELTS requirements should ensure they arrange IELTS tests in good time so that they are able supply certificates no later than June 30 . This will allow proper time for consideration and the visa application process.

International qualifications

We accept a wide range of international qualifications. Find out more about the qualifications we accept from around the world.

If English isn’t your first language, you will need an IELTS score (or equivalent English language qualification ) of 7.0 with a 7.0 in writing and no element lower than 6.5 to study this programme. If you need assistance with your English language, we offer a range of courses that can help prepare you for postgraduate-level study .

Fees, funding & scholarships

To find out more about your fees, please check our postgraduate fees guidance or contact the Fees Office , who can also advise you about how to pay your fees.

Additional costs

In addition to your tuition fees, you'll be responsible for any additional costs associated with your course, such as buying stationery and paying for photocopying. You can find out more about what you need to budget for on our study costs page .

There may also be specific additional costs associated with your programme. This can include things like paying for field trips or specialist materials for your assignments. Please check the programme specification for more information.

Funding opportunities

Find out more about postgraduate fees and explore funding opportunities . If you're applying for funding, you may be subject to an application deadline.

Scholarships

Find out more about funding opportunities on  our departmental funding page .

BAFTA scholarship UK students offered a place on this MA are eligible to apply for the BAFTA Scholarship Programme . Find out more on  our departmental funding page .

How to apply

You apply directly to Goldsmiths using our online application system. 

Before submitting your application you’ll need to have:

• Details of  your academic qualifications
• The  email address of your referee  who we can request a reference from, or alternatively a copy of your academic reference
• Copies of  your educational transcripts   or certificates
• A  personal statement  – this can either be uploaded as a Word Document or PDF, or completed online.  Please see our guidance on writing a postgraduate statement
• A portfolio of video or journalistic work  (see details below)

You'll be able to save your progress at any point and return to your application by logging in using your username/email and password.

You will also be asked to complete a short pre-interview exercise.

You should choose a current news story which interests you then:

• Write a short summary of the story in no more than 150 words
• Record a short video 'piece to camera' of yourself on your phone or computer – as if you were a TV correspondent, talking about why you believe the story is new, significant, and interesting. Please make your video about one and a half minutes long.
• Upload to the Admissions portal where you have uploaded the other documents or send put it online and send us the link.

You’ll need to submit a portfolio containing links to 3 pieces of work, demonstrating your ability to succeed in this highly practical programme. Examples of your work can include:

• Video/Documentary
• An example of work you have produced for TV/Radio
• Online articles with supporting visuals

If your work is not in English subtitles must be provided.

When submitting your application, please also submit (upload under 'additional') an example of your recent work in a related field , or include links to a page hosting that work. You'll be able to save your progress at any point and return to your application by logging in using your username/email and password. If you experience any issues with the upload process you can instead email your portfolio to  admissions(@)gold.ac.uk  quoting your reference number.  Find out more about providing work .

Deadline for applications

There is no deadline for applications, however, applicants are encouraged to apply early.

When to apply

Applications are open from October and are considered on a rolling basis.

Find out more about applying .

As an MA Television Journalism student, you will use our state of the art 'virtual studio' to produce our weekly TV news show, taking turns to run the gallery under the supervision of a BBC News director. You will edit, present, report, and produce an 'as live' programme which will be available for the public to watch online.

We have three large, networked newsrooms equipped with Macs and Adobe Creative Suite for you to use when editing. You will also have a number of portable TV camera kits assigned for your exclusive use, via a booking system. Experienced technical tutors are on hand to help with editing and filming as well as supporting WordPress use on our news platforms. 

You will benefit from access to optional sessions in radio, along with workshops in breaking news, mobile journalism, freedom of information (FOI) requests and international reporting.

You'll develop:

• A critical understanding of television journalistic practice
• an awareness of the techniques appropriate to television journalism
• project management skills
• multimedia journalism skills

We pride ourselves on producing ‘thinking journalists’ and that’s what gives our alumni the edge, making them so sought after by editors and programme makers.  

In the last three years alone our MA Television Journalism graduates have secured places on highly competitive trainee programmes such as BBC News, ITV News Regional Reporter and AP Global News training schemes.

Others have gone on to work for ABC New York, BBC Arabic, Sky News, Economist Films, Polish TV (London correspondent), Al Jazeera, AP newsdesk London, BBC Newsnight, Hardcash Productions/ITV Exposure, Vice France, Manchester City FC video production unit and Wimbledon Tennis championships reporting for Chinese TV. They have also won generous grants from One World Media to make documentaries in the developing world.

Find out more about  employability at Goldsmiths . 

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Journalism: Broadcast media and Television Presenters

Checked : Karen F. , Soha K.

Latest Update 20 Jan, 2024

Table of content

What does TV presenter do?

Documentaries, children television, current affairs programs, reality tv shows, what do you need to become a tv presenter.

For many generations, the print media was the leading forms of media in the world. Modern civilization was found in this type of media. Traditional print media became the backbone of society, especially the elite. But when broadcast media came into play, everything changed. Television was now the new center of attraction. Even though it was first accessed only by high-class societies, advancement in technology soon made it accessible to all. Today, there is a television in almost every homestead. Broadcast media has overtaken the traditional newspaper. And when the new media – the internet, came into play, people thought perhaps TV and radio would no longer be useful. But that was not to be since today, and we can see many television programs running from mobile devices. You don’t need a huge TV screen to watch your favorite shows.

Broadcast media is a branch of journalism that uses voice and images to pass information. Unlike print, broadcast focuses on the current issues. This is why most TV and radio scripts are written in the present tense. This is, of course, the exception of documentaries, features, screenplays, and similar items. The bottom line is, broadcast media is all about telling stories through images and voice. A camera is a primary tool in the industry. It enables the media personnel to create the stories and present them in a way that attracts the viewers' attention.

One of the most significant careers in   broadcast   is television presenting. This is a role that requires proper skills and talent to achieve their goals. A television presenter uses their before-camera skills to tell appealing stories. It goes beyond just making a good TV script, having a good face and voice.

There are different shows in the TV industry. Anyone can stand in front of the camera and entertain the viewers. But television presents fronts and presents factual TV shows. Note that all TV shows can be entertaining in nature, but some shows are accurate, whereas others are features and stories. As a journalism student, it is crucial to understand different aspects of stories for TV. A presenter can be involved in the following program types:

These are factual stories based on research. A documentary script is written as shooting the video because you don’t know what to expect in the field. From there, the presenter can include voice over and background music as they desire until they make their items presentable and exciting for their audiences.

A presenter, in this case, can be either a child or an adult who understands children’s needs. Children's programs are filled with simple, fun illustrations and are much shorter. The presenter needs to understand the children's language, voice tone, and expressions to keep them entertained. Most of these programs use entertaining tools to present information.

Game shows are very popular with television. The presenter works with a one on one audience from the studio or a direct one from home. In any case, the audience is actively involved; hence, the presenter must know how to keep them engaged.

Reporting news as they unfold is perhaps the most challenging program for a TV presenter. One needs to employ all their   journalism skills , including voice, posture, body language, and movements. It is not about what you learned in school but experience and skills. You must capture the attention of a live audience and give them the news as they unfold. Therefore, the choice of words and modes of the presentation should be done very carefully. The use of present tense and active voice is highly encouraged to make the viewer feel the story is about them.

The Oprah Winfrey show has been the largest television reality show in the world for many generations. In this type of entertainment, the presenter interviews quests in front of a live audience. The subject may vary from personal things to topics affecting a state of a nation. This program is mostly organized and run by a single person.

TV presenting is a highly competitive career. Many people qualify, but only a few are chosen because the spots are limited. What may set you apart is your excellent communication skills and willingness to work long hours. But you have to go through a rigorous audition and complete a screen test. It is all about the skills you have that other people may not possess.

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The simplest answers are, there is no specific qualification required to become a TV presenter. However, many people who become presents may have begun their careers somewhere else. For instance, some work as runners or media researchers for TV shows. Some join the industry after working as actors. Other presenters may upgrade to television after serving in other areas of the larger media industry like journalism or media research. Hence, they may already have a degree.

But then, you will need to have a degree and or broad knowledge of the media industry, especially in the broadcast. And most importantly, one must possess the right kind of skills and personality. As indicated above, there is a high competition for jobs in the industry; hence your persistence, determination, and competency will give you a higher chance of success.

When applying for a TV presenter job, most employers ask for a showreel - a short film showing your presenting skills. You can practice your on-screen abilities from any age until you become a professional. Experience is critical in this kind of job. Hence, the way to articulate words, your choice of phrases, your posture, and everything your show before the camera should tell without a doubt that you are the best candidate. You should check the university guidelines for qualifications to study journalism. This should tell you more about the requirements you need. However, we can never emphasize enough, growing your skills through experience.

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Writing about Television: Advantages and disadvantages

No medium has more influence over the way we think about our world than television.

Even though social media is growing in popularity and movies are more prestigious, the average person spends more time with television and gains more exposure to a wider variety of messages through television than any other medium. The average person spends around three hours per day watching television, which adds up to more than a thousand hours per year.

That’s an enormous amount of time spent engaging with a relatively passive medium. Because of the tremendous power of television to shape our views of the world, writing about television has become an important part of journalism and academia.

In this article, we’ll take a look at writing about television and talk about some of the advantages and disadvantages of turning to television as your topic.

The Rise of TV Writing

Over the past two decades, writing about television has undergone something of a Renaissance. Previously, TV writing was mostly confined to newspaper reviews of new shows and the articles in weekly TV listing magazines like TV Guide . But the advent of the new Golden Age of TV sparked by The Sopranos in the late 1990s has turned TV into a prestige medium where writers have found new and interesting ways to spin analysis of TV series into grist for the internet’s bottomless demand for content.

There are a few primary genres of TV writing. The first is the traditional TV series review. When a new show debuts or a new season premieres, critics will review the program and discuss its major themes and ideas, the production quality, and their overall impression of whether it is worth watching. The second major genre of TV writing is the analytical essay or “think piece” in which a journalist will attempt to explore the deeper meaning of television and what some development in television means as a reflection of or influence on our culture. The third genre is the recap in which a writer will explain what happened on an episode of a show, typically within hours of its airing, and offer a reaction to the plot developments. 

All three types of television writing can be found across the internet. The recap was particularly popular in the 2010s, but it has seen a bit of decline in recent years as binge watching has transformed how viewers consume television. It is harder to write about episodes when your readers are watching at different times and often consuming multiple episodes at one time.

Help Writing about TV

If you need help writing about TV, trust the professional academic essay writing company that college students turn to for exceptional assistance. Smart Writing Service has teams of writers who are well-versed in television and can offer critical insights that can help you to become a savvier consumer of television and writer on TV-related issues.

Why Write about TV

There are many great reasons to write about television. One of the most important reasons to write about TV is that TV is directly relevant to the lives of most Americans, and it is something that most readers are interested in and can connect to. Because of that, writing about TV is a guaranteed way to engage an audience and to capture attention for your writing. A great writer about TV can use discussions of TV to expand into broader cultural subjects, educating audiences beyond the TV show. 

Another great reason to write about TV is that you won’t run out of stuff to write about. There is new television airing every day , which means that there is always something more to discuss. One of the big problems writers face is finding topics to write about, and TV does half the work for you by literally beaming new ideas right into your home every day. 

When you write about TV you become part of a broader cultural conversation. Much of our cultural life is mediated through television, whether it is direct in terms of specific shows impacting our culture or indirectly when politicians and celebrities play to the cameras and use TV to achieve specific aims.

Disadvantages of TV Writing

However, writing about TV isn’t all positive. There are some disadvantages to writing about TV. First, if you commit yourself to writing episodic reviews of TV, it can become a bit of a grind. While many shows only produce between eight and thirteen episodes per year, traditional network shows can produce more than twenty episodes, and reality shows can often run multiple cycles per year, sometimes airing multiple times per week. It can be a major commitment.

There is also still a bit of a stigma to writing about TV. Because of its history as the “boob tube,” TV is sometimes still seen as a lesser medium, and writers who focus on it are sometimes considered less serious or less important than journalists and critics focusing on movies, books, or plays. You don’t want to get a reputation as a lightweight if all your writing work is about TV.

However, as streaming services blur the boundaries between movies and TV and the increasing number of prestige series continue to dominate our cultural life, the old stigmas are falling away. Television writing can be compelling, illuminating, and exciting, and also a fun and entertaining way to approach culture through a television lens.

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Essay on Television for Students and Children

500+ words essay on television.

Television is one of the most popular devices that are used for entertainment all over the world. It has become quite common nowadays and almost every household has one television set at their place. In the beginning, we see how it was referred to as the ‘idiot box.’ This was mostly so because back in those days, it was all about entertainment. It did not have that many informative channels as it does now.

Moreover, with this invention, the craze attracted many people to spend all their time watching TV. People started considering it harmful as it attracted the kids the most. In other words, kids spent most of their time watching television and not studying. However, as times passed, the channels of television changed. More and more channels were broadcasted with different specialties. Thus, it gave us knowledge too along with entertainment.

Benefits of Watching Television

The invention of television gave us various benefits. It was helpful in providing the common man with a cheap mode of entertainment. As they are very affordable, everyone can now own television and get access to entertainment.

In addition, it keeps us updated on the latest happenings of the world. It is now possible to get news from the other corner of the world. Similarly, television also offers educational programs that enhance our knowledge about science and wildlife and more.

Moreover, television also motivates individuals to develop skills. They also have various programs showing speeches of motivational speakers. This pushes people to do better. You can also say that television widens the exposure we get. It increases our knowledge about several sports, national events and more.

While television comes with a lot of benefits, it also has a negative side. Television is corrupting the mind of the youth and we will further discuss how.

Get the huge list of more than 500 Essay Topics and Ideas

How Television is    Harming the Youth

Additionally, it also makes people addict. People get addicted to their TV’s and avoid social interaction. This impacts their social life as they spend their time in their rooms all alone. This addiction also makes them vulnerable and they take their programs too seriously.

The most dangerous of all is the fake information that circulates on news channels and more. Many media channels are now only promoting the propaganda of the governments and misinforming citizens. This makes causes a lot of division within the otherwise peaceful community of our country.

Thus, it is extremely important to keep the TV watching in check. Parents must limit the time of their children watching TV and encouraging them to indulge in outdoor games. As for the parents, we should not believe everything on the TV to be true. We must be the better judge of the situation and act wisely without any influence.

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The New Rules of Political Journalism

In this election, the reporting strategies of the past will not be enough.

This is an edition of The Atlantic Daily, a newsletter that guides you through the biggest stories of the day, helps you discover new ideas, and recommends the best in culture. Sign up for it here.

In our digitally chaotic world, relying on the election-reporting strategies of the past is like bringing the rules of chess to the Thunderdome.

First, here are three new stories from The Atlantic :

• The October 7 rape denialists
• Finding justice in Palestine
• Biden’s safe, polite campaign stop in Scranton

This past weekend, I was on a panel at the annual conference of the International Symposium on Online Journalism, in beautiful downtown Austin. Several journalists discussed the question: Are we going to get it right this time? Have the media learned their lessons, and are journalists ready for the vertiginous slog of the 2024 campaign?

My answer: only if we realize how profoundly the rules of the game have changed.

Lest we need reminding, this year’s election features a candidate who incited an insurrection, called for terminating sections of the Constitution, was found liable for what a federal judge says was “rape” as it is commonly understood, faces 88 felony charges, and—I’m tempted to add “etcetera” here, but that’s the problem, isn’t it? The volume and enormity of it all is impossible to take in.

The man is neither a riddle nor an enigma. He lays it all out there: his fawning over the world’s authoritarians, his threats to abandon our allies, his contempt for the rule of law, his intention to use the federal government as an instrument of retribution . Journalists must be careful not to give in to what Brian Klaas has called the “ Banality of Crazy .” As I’ve written in the past, there have been so many outrages and so many assaults on decency that it’s easy to become numbed by the cascade of awfulness.

The former White House communications director Dan Pfeiffer points out a recent example in his newsletter: On a radio show earlier this month, Donald Trump bizarrely suggested that Joe Biden was high on cocaine when he delivered his energetic State of the Union address. It was a startling moment, yet several major national media outlets did not cover the story.

And when Trump called for the execution of General Mark Milley, it didn’t have nearly the explosive effect it should have. “I had expected every website and all the cable news shows to lead with a story about Trump demanding the execution of the highest military officer in the country,” this magazine’s editor in chief, Jeffrey Goldberg, told The Washington Post . “If Barack Obama or George W. Bush had done so, I’m sure [the news media] would have been all over it.” (Trump’s threats against Milley came after The Atlantic published a profile of Milley by Goldberg.)

In our digitally chaotic world, relying on the reporting strategies of the past is like bringing the rules of chess to the Thunderdome. There has, of course, been some progress. The major cable networks no longer carry Trump’s rallies live without context, but they still broadcast town-hall meetings and interviews with the former president, which boost ratings. NBC’s abortive decision to hire Ronna McDaniel, a former chair of the Republican National Committee, as a contributor, despite her role in spreading lies about the 2020 election, highlighted the disconnect between this moment and much of the national media.

And then there is the internet. It is certainly possible that richer, more insightful media will emerge from the digital revolution, but we’re obviously not there now. Back in 2016, we worried that social media had become a vector for disinformation and bigotry, but since then, we’ve seen Elon Musk’s extraordinary enshittification of X. In 2016, we worried (too late) about foreign interference and bots. In 2024, we are going to have to contend with deepfakes created by AI.

This year will see some of the best journalism of our lifetime. (You’ll find much of it here in The Atlantic .) But because both the media and their audiences are badly fractured, much of that reporting is siloed off from the voters who need it most. Because millions of Americans are locked in information bubbles, half of the country either won’t see important journalism about the dangers of a second Trump term or won’t believe it.

As Paul Farhi notes in The Atlantic , MAGA-friendly websites have experienced massive drops in traffic, but social media continues to thrive on negativity and providing dopamine hits of anger and fear. And of distraction—last week, the most-liked videos on TikTok about the presidential race included a video of a man singing to Biden and Trump’s visit to a Chick-fil-A .

To put it mildly, the arc of social media does not bend toward Edward R. Murrow–style journalism.

So what’s to be done? I don’t have any easy answers, because I don’t think they exist. Getting it right this time does not mean that journalists need to pull their punches in covering Biden or become slavish defenders of his administration’s policies. In fact, that would only make matters worse. But perhaps we could start with some modest proposals.

First, we should redefine newsworthy . Klaas argues that journalists need to emphasize the magnitude rather than simply the novelty of political events. Trump’s ongoing attacks on democracy may not be new, but they define the stakes of 2024. So although live coverage of Trump rallies without any accompanying analysis remains a spectacularly bad idea, it’s important to neither ignore nor mute the dark message that Trump delivers at every event. As a recent headline in The Guardian put it, “Trump’s Bizarre, Vindictive Incoherence Has to Be Heard in Full to Be Believed.”

Why not relentlessly emphasize the truth, and publish more fact-checked transcripts that highlight his wilder and more unhinged rants? (Emphasizing magnitude is, of course, a tremendous challenge for journalists when the amplification mechanisms of the modern web—that is, social-media algorithms—are set by companies that have proved to be hostile to the distribution of information from reputable news outlets.)

The media challenge will be to emphasize the abnormality of Donald Trump without succumbing to a reactionary ideological tribalism, which would simply drive audiences further into their silos. Put another way: Media outlets will need all the credibility they can muster when they try to sound the alarm that none of this is normal . And it is far more important to get it right than to get it fast, because every lapse will be weaponized.

The commitment to “fairness” should not, however, mean creating false equivalencies or fake balance. (An exaggerated report about Biden’s memory lapses , for example, should not be a bigger story than Trump’s invitation to Vladimir Putin to invade European countries .)

In the age of Trump, it is also important that members of the media not be distracted by theatrics generally. (This includes Trump’s trial drama, the party conventions, and even— as David Frum points out in The Atlantic —the debates.) Relatedly, the stakes are simply too high to wallow in vibes, memes, or an obsessive focus on within-the-margin-of-error polls. Democracy can indeed be crushed by authoritarianism. But it can also be suffocated by the sort of trivia that often dominates social media.

And, finally, the Prime Directive of 2024: Never, ever become numbed by the endless drumbeat of outrages.

• Political analysis needs more witchcraft.
• Right-wing media are in trouble.

Today’s News

• The Senate dismissed the articles of impeachment against Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and ruled that they were unconstitutional, ending his trial before it got under way.
• House Speaker Mike Johnson will proceed with a plan, backed by President Joe Biden, to vote on separate bills to provide aid to Ukraine, Israel, and U.S. allies in the Indo-Pacific. The proposed move has raised criticism from some conservative representatives.
• Four Columbia University officials, including the president, Nemat Shafik, testified in a congressional committee hearing about student safety, free speech, and anti-Semitism on campus.
• The Trump Trials : The first days of the criminal case against Donald Trump have been mundane, even boring—and that’s remarkable, George T. Conway III writes.
• The Weekly Planet : The cocoa shortage could make chocolate more expensive forever, Yasmin Tayag writes.

Explore all of our newsletters here.

Evening Read

Something Weird Is Happening With Caesar Salads

By Ellen Cushing

On a November evening in Brooklyn, in 2023, I was in trouble (hungry). I ordered a kale Caesar at a place I like. Instead, I got: a tangle of kale, pickled red onion, and “sweet and spicy almonds,” dressed in a thinnish, vaguely savory liquid and topped with a glob of crème fraîche roughly the size and vibe of a golf ball. It was a pretty weird food. We are living through an age of unchecked Caesar-salad fraud. Putative Caesars are dressed with yogurt or miso or tequila or lemongrass; they are served with zucchini, orange zest, pig ear, kimchi, poached duck egg, roasted fennel, fried chickpeas, buffalo-cauliflower fritters, tōgarashi -dusted rice crackers. They are missing anchovies, or croutons, or even lettuce … Molly Baz is a chef, a cookbook author, and a bit of a Caesar obsessive—she owns a pair of sneakers with “CAE” on one tongue and “SAL” on the other—and she put it succinctly when she told me, “There’s been a lot of liberties taken, for better or for worse.”

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Free Journalism Essay Examples & Topics

A journalism essay is a type of paper that combines personal records and reports. Besides news and facts, it should contain a story. An angle that creates a unique narrative of the events you are describing is crucial. However, let’s start with the definition.

No matter how often people hear about journalism, they still might get confused about what it is. It is an act of informative writing about news stories. It can be digital and non-digital, print and non-print. Journalists strive to present information in an interesting way while staying true to the source.

If you have seen journalistic article examples, you know there are two types. News can cover “hard stories”, meaning world events and politics, and “softer stories” about celebrities, science, etc. Journalism as a profession is multidimensional in nature. It can include texts, photography, interviews, and more. Content varies between different categories, such as literary reportage and yellow journalism.

Here, our experts have combined tips about how to write a good journalistic essay. We gathered information that will be useful for starting research and completing it. Moreover, you will find journalism topic ideas. You can use them for inspiration or to practice. Finally, underneath the article you will discover some stellar journalistic essay examples written by other students.

How to Write a Journalistic Essay

In this section, you’ll find tips that can help you start writing. However, nothing is more vital than choosing an appropriate journalism essay topic beforehand.

Before picking the subject, ask yourself several questions:

• What themes do I want to explore?
• What will my story be about?
• What points do I want to make?
• What is my attitude towards the topic?

Answering these questions can allow you to improve your storytelling. What’s more, look for one that can allow you to write intimately. Personal touches and views will influence your paper immensely. With all that in mind, try our free topic generator to get more ideas.

To write an outstanding journalistic essay, you should try these tips:

• Gather facts and references first.

Collect all the information you may need for your paper. For a story in journalism, you may be required to interview people or visit a location. Most importantly, you’ll have to research online. Also, you can read stories written by other people on the Internet to gain a better perspective.

• Organize your ideas and arguments before writing.

A good story is always organized. The structure of a journalistic should represent an inverted pyramid. The most crucial facts appear on the top, less important details go further, and extra information stays on the bottom. You can reflect in your writing. Organize all your arguments before writing, sticking to a logical structure.

• Rely on storytelling.

The story should become the main focus of your work. The writing should serve it and grab the reader’s attention from the start. Think about storytelling techniques that can keep your reader interested till the very end.

• Work on your style and language.

Another essential technique to keep your work both logical and engaging is to write in short sentences. If you search for any journalistic writing examples, you’ll see that’s how journalists write. The main goal of your paper is to deliver a clear and strong message. So, working on your style is going to help you further this agenda.

21 Journalism Essay Topics

There are so many journalism topics you can write about, and it can sometimes be challenging to stick to one. If you are still unsure what to describe and explore in your paper, this section can help you make this choice.

Here are some original journalism topic ideas:

• The way race impacts the news in different states in the US.
• Super Bowl as a phenomenon is more important than the game.
• Why people refuse to believe in climate change.
• How have sports changed international politics?
• Is creative writing in high school an essential subject?
• How vital is transparency in broadcast journalism?
• Is media responsible for the Covid-19 crisis in the US?
• Journalism as a profession can help change the world.
• A privacy issue between British journalism and the royal family.
• Are social media and blogging the future of journalism?
• The role of religion and race in Hollywood.
• Why has the Chinese economy risen so much over the past decade?
• How can media help in battling poverty in developing countries?
• Can music be used as political propaganda?
• Connections between social media and depression.
• Should mobile phones be allowed in educational institutions?
• Has the Internet impacted the way how newspapers and articles are written?
• Should fake news be banned on social media?
• What are the biggest challenges of investigative journalism?
• Can reality television be viewed as a type of journalism?
• How can athletes impact social awareness?

Thank you for reading the article! We hope you will find it helpful. Do not hesitate to share this article or a list of journalism essay examples with others. Good luck with your assignment!

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Covering Crisis and Conflict: The Role of War Journalism

• Published: November 22, 2023
• By: Yellowbrick

In today’s fast-paced and interconnected world, the role of war journalism is more important than ever. As conflicts and crises continue to unfold across the globe, it is the responsibility of journalists to provide accurate and unbiased coverage of these events. War journalism goes beyond simply reporting the facts; it delves into the heart of conflicts, shedding light on human stories and the impact they have on societies. In this article, we will explore the crucial role that war journalism plays in covering crisis and conflict, and the skills and qualities required to excel in this field.

1. Reporting from the Frontlines

War journalists are often found at the frontlines of conflict, risking their lives to bring the truth to the world. They provide firsthand accounts, capturing the chaos and devastation that war brings. These journalists play a critical role in ensuring that the public is informed about the realities of war and its consequences. Their reports can shape public opinion, influence policy decisions, and even help bring about change.

2. Unbiased and Ethical Reporting

In war journalism, maintaining impartiality and adhering to ethical standards is paramount. Journalists must strive to present a balanced view of the conflict, avoiding personal biases and agendas. They are tasked with presenting the facts objectively, giving voice to all sides involved, and providing context to help the audience understand the complex dynamics at play.

3. Telling Human Stories

War journalism goes beyond the statistics and political rhetoric; it humanizes the conflict by telling the stories of those affected. Journalists capture the struggles, resilience, and courage of individuals caught in the midst of war. Through their reporting, they give a voice to the voiceless, shining a light on the human toll of conflict and fostering empathy and understanding.

4. Investigative Journalism

Investigative journalism plays a crucial role in uncovering the truth behind conflicts and crises. Journalists dig deep to expose corruption, human rights abuses, and war crimes. Their work holds those responsible accountable and seeks justice for the victims. Investigative war journalism requires meticulous research, extensive fieldwork, and the courage to confront powerful individuals or organizations.

5. Digital and Multimedia Skills

In today’s digital age, war journalists must possess a range of technical skills to effectively report and disseminate information. They must be proficient in using various multimedia tools, including photography, video, and social media, to capture and share stories. These skills enable journalists to reach wider audiences, engage with them, and provide real-time updates from the field.

6. Cultural Sensitivity and Language Skills

War journalists often find themselves in unfamiliar territories, navigating different cultures, languages, and customs. Having a deep understanding and respect for the local culture is essential to build trust with the communities they cover. Language skills are invaluable, allowing journalists to communicate directly with sources, overcoming barriers and capturing nuanced accounts of the conflict.

7. Resilience and Mental Well-being

Covering crisis and conflict can take a toll on journalists’ mental and emotional well-being. Witnessing and reporting on traumatic events can lead to stress, compassion fatigue, and other psychological challenges. It is crucial for war journalists to prioritize self-care and seek support when needed. Building resilience and maintaining mental well-being are essential for long-term success in this demanding field.

The role of war journalism in covering crisis and conflict is vital for informing the public, holding accountable those responsible, and giving voice to the affected. It requires a unique set of skills, including unbiased reporting, investigative journalism, storytelling, digital proficiency, cultural sensitivity, and resilience.

Key Takeaways:

• War journalism plays a crucial role in providing accurate and unbiased coverage of conflicts and crises, going beyond reporting facts to shed light on human stories and societal impact.
• War journalists report from the frontlines, risking their lives to bring firsthand accounts and raise awareness about the realities of war.
• Maintaining impartiality and adhering to ethical standards are essential in war journalism to present a balanced view of conflicts and provide objective context.
• War journalists humanize conflicts by telling the stories of those affected, giving a voice to the voiceless, and fostering empathy and understanding.
• Investigative journalism uncovers the truth behind conflicts, exposing corruption, human rights abuses, and seeking justice for victims.
• Digital and multimedia skills are crucial in today’s digital age, allowing war journalists to effectively capture and share stories using various mediums.
• Cultural sensitivity and language skills are vital in navigating unfamiliar territories and building trust with the communities being covered.
• Resilience and prioritizing mental well-being are necessary for war journalists due to the potential psychological toll of witnessing and reporting on traumatic events.

To acquire the knowledge and skills necessary for a career in war journalism, consider taking the NYU | Modern Journalism online course and certificate program. These programs offered by New York University (NYU) and Parsons School of Design (Parsons) can provide valuable education and training to excel in this field. By embracing the responsibilities and challenges of war journalism, you can make a significant impact and contribute to a more informed and compassionate world.

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Outside roles by NBC’s Conde, others reveal a journalism ethics issue: being paid to sit on boards

FILE - In this Tuesday, Aug. 20, 2013 photo, Cesar Conde speaks about the Fusion tv network during a tour of the facilities in Miami. Most news organizations hold its journalists to strict ethical standards to avoid conflicts of interest either real or perceived. Is the same true for its bosses? Outside corporate positions held by NBC Universal News Group chief Cesar Conde and CNN boss Mark Thompson reveal an ethical issue that has received little discussion. Should people who supervise news organizations, even if their background is more corporate than journalistic, be held to the same standards as their journalists? (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee, File)

FILE - Mark Thompson arrives at Portcullis House in London, Monday, Sept. 9, 2013. Most news organizations hold its journalists to strict ethical standards to avoid conflicts of interest either real or perceived. Is the same true for its bosses? Outside corporate positions held by NBC Universal News Group chief Cesar Conde and CNN boss Mark Thompson reveal an ethical issue that has received little discussion. Should people who supervise news organizations, even if their background is more corporate than journalistic, be held to the same standards as their journalists? (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth, File)

FILE - Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos speaks at the Amazon re:MARS convention in Las Vegas on June 6, 2019. Most news organizations hold its journalists to strict ethical standards to avoid conflicts of interest either real or perceived. Is the same true for its bosses? (AP Photo/John Locher, File)

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NEW YORK (AP) — As NBC News Group chairman, Cesar Conde is already busy overseeing the network’s broadcast and digital news operations, along with CNBC, MSNBC, Telemundo and NBC-owned local affiliates.

Yet the executive also has a second paid job. And a third — as a member of Walmart and PepsiCo’s corporate boards. The arrangement has raised some ethical concerns, and reveals a potential blind spot for a news business usually very serious about conflicts — real or perceived.

CNN’s new chief executive , Mark Thompson, chairs Ancestry.com’s board. And although Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, owner of The Washington Post, is not a journalist, the newspaper reminds readers who he is when writing about Amazon. Former President Donald Trump has eagerly pointed out Bezos’ dual roles.

A former NBC News executive, Bill Wheatley, recently questioned the propriety of Conde’s outside corporate roles at a time when the news division’s leadership is already under fire for the hiring and quick dismissal — following a staff revolt — of former Republican National Committee head Ronna McDaniel as a contributor.

“It seemed to me that this was an additional instance of NBC management not understanding the rules by which news leaders are supposed to play,” said Wheatley, who retired in 2005 as NBC News’ executive vice president and has done work as a news consultant since.

Conde was on the Walmart and PepsiCo boards before he took over as NBC News Group chairman in 2020. The NBC News chief earned $275,018 from Walmart in 2022 and $320,000 from PepsiCo, in a combination of cash and stock, according to Salary.com.

NBC wouldn’t comment to The Associated Press on the matter.

NO EVIDENCE OF ANY EFFECT ON THE NEWS

There’s no evidence that Conde has been involved with any NBC stories involving the two corporations. NBC pointed to a 2021 Wall Street Journal article where the network said he would recuse himself from any reporting on the companies.

Generally, journalists work hard to avoid any situation where a conflict could be alleged, even if the conflict itself does not come to pass: Did reporters, for example, write positive stories on a corporation that a boss is involved with, or ignore bad news because it might anger a superior? Perception can be as important as an actual conflict; some journalists go so far as to not even vote in an election that their outlet is covering.

This holds true within NBC as well. Among other rules: The business network CNBC that Conde oversees forbids its journalists — and their spouses — from owning stock for these reasons.

Recusal is a good step, Wheatley says, but it doesn’t cure the conflict.

“In an ideal world, I think news executives should avoid situations like this,” said Jane Kirtley, a professor of media ethics and law at the University of Minnesota. If the situation can’t be avoided, it’s important to disclose it and make clear the companies will face reporting that takes place “without fear or favor,” she said.

Kelly McBride, senior vice president and ethics expert at the Poynter Institute, the pre-eminent journalism think tank, agrees that the situation isn’t ideal. At the same time, she says, “we don’t want executives or anybody in journalism to be a blank slate.”

Leaders in journalism have traditionally worked their way up the ranks but that’s not always the route anymore. Conde succeeded in corporate, not news, roles at Univision and Telemundo before getting his current job. CNN’s Thompson was a top executive at the BBC and The New York Times. At the latter, his biggest achievement was more in business than journalism, shepherding a successful digital transformation.

CNN would not discuss whether Thompson is paid for his Ancestry.com job. Representatives for the company, a private one not obligated to disclose salaries, did not respond to a message. The Glassdoor jobs website estimated directors at Ancestry are paid in a similar six-figure range as the Walmart and PepsiCo jobs.

Thompson has recused himself from any news involving Ancestry or other genealogical companies, network spokeswoman Emily Kuhn said.

ABC this spring appointed Debra O’Connell, a longtime executive at the network and its corporate owner, the Walt Disney Co., to a position that oversees ABC News. O’Connell’s background is in sales and marketing. She has unpaid positions on boards involving National Geographic and the A&E Networks, both companies affiliated with Disney.

HOW DO JOURNALISTS APPROACH THIS SITUATION?

It’s hard to make assumptions about how journalists will deal with knowing the boss has interest in a particular company.

It’s human nature to want to avoid problems, although McBride notes that some contrarian journalists who want to prove their independence would dive right in. For example, The Washington Post in 2021 analyzed government data for a story on the dangers faced by Amazon warehouse workers.

Because NBC wouldn’t address questions about Conde, it’s not clear whether anyone at NBC Universal signed off on him continuing with his paid board positions.

The New York Times and Wall Street Journal are two news companies with conduct codes that specifically talk about such roles. The Times says staff members “may not join boards of trustees, advisory committees or similar groups except those serving journalistic organizations or otherwise promoting journalism education.” The Journal says its employees “may not serve as directors, officers, advisors, investors, consultants or partners of any company or venture devoted to profit-making.”

Other situations are murkier. ABC, CBS and Fox News said its news leaders don’t serve on paid outside corporate boards, but couldn’t or wouldn’t point to policies that forbid the practice.

The AP employee handbook says that “we avoid addressing, or accepting fees or expense from, governmental bodies; trade, lobbying or special interest groups; businesses or labor groups; or any group that would pose a conflict of interest.” Neither AP President Daisy Veerasingham nor Julie Pace, AP’s executive editor and senior vice president, sits on any outside boards, a spokeswoman said.

It would make sense for news organizations to make clear policies about service on outside boards, and outline procedures if it is allowed, Poynter’s McBride said. “I don’t think it was much of an issue in the past,” she said. “The nature of news companies has gotten much more complicated that it’s likely to become an issue in the future.”

News organizations are also left to decide for themselves how to alert readers or viewers of potential conflicts. The Post generally makes clear its owner’s ties to Amazon when writing about the company; a September 2023 story about workplace safety included this disclaimer: “Amazon founder Jeff Bezos owns the Washington Post.”

The Post knows it is being watched. Trump has called the newspaper the “Amazon Washington Post” on social media and wrote on Twitter in 2018 that “The Washington Post is nothing more than an expensive ... lobbyist for Amazon.”

On NBC"s “Nightly News” last July, reporter Jacob Ward reported a story about how Walmart was using artificial intelligence to help stock its shelves and change the jobs of some of its employees. Burns quoted a company spokesman saying that AI wouldn’t result in job losses, and a business school professor who expressed some skepticism about that.

While Conde’s NBC corporate profile mentions his association with Walmart, it was not included as part of Ward’s story or in a handful of digital pieces that have run about the company.

David Bauder writes about media for The Associated Press. Follow him at http://twitter.com/dbauder.

The story has been edited to correct the reference to NBC News reporter Jacob Ward.