A. Gathering the news

NEWS TODAY

There are a number of different types of journalism: print journalism¹, broadcast journalism², online journalism³—and, increasingly, citizen journalism: this is where ordinary citizens use social media to report, photograph and share news with others.
Professional journalists gather news in a number of different ways. They may get stories from pressure groups⁴ which want to air their views⁵ in public. Journalists also attend press conferences⁶ where politicians or others may issue a statement or press release⁷. A person seeking publicity⁸ will try to include a soundbite⁹ in what they say.
Journalists also hunt for¹⁰ stories by tapping useful sources¹¹ and by monitoring¹² international news agencies like Reuters. The more important a story is, the more airtime¹³ it will achieve and the more column inches¹⁴ it will be given in the newspaper or on the webpage: in other words, the more coverage¹⁵ it will receive. Paparazzi¹⁶ follow celebrities or public figures and try to get photographs of them for newspapers and magazines.

• ¹ newspapers and magazines
• ² radio and TV
• ³ news websites
• ⁴ people trying to influence what other people think about a particular issue
• ⁵ express their opinions
• ⁶ meetings to give information to and answer questions from the press
• ⁷ give a formal announcement to the press
• ⁸ wanting to reach a wider audience
• ⁹ short memorable sentence or phrase that will be repeated in news bulletins and articles
• ¹⁰ look for
• ¹¹ making use of people or organisations which regularly provide news
• ¹² regularly checking
• ¹³ minutes given to it on radio or TV
• ¹⁴ space
• ¹⁵ media attention
• ¹⁶ an informal and sometimes disapproving word for press photographers

B. Delivering the news

A rag is an informal word for a newspaper and suggests it is not of very high quality. The gutter press is a disapproving term for newspapers and magazines more interested in crime and sex than serious news.

Journalists produce copy, which has to be ready for a deadline. With printed newspapers, when everything is ready, the newspaper goes to press.

Previous issues of a paper are known as back copies. These are usually accessible in an online archive.

A story found only in one newspaper is an exclusive or scoop. Newspapers or TV news channels hope to run a story no one else has discovered.

A major story can hit the headlines on the day it is published. At that time, the story breaks or becomes public knowledge.

A newspaper may be taken to court for libel or defamation of character if it publishes an untrue story that wrongly accuses someone.

Journalists of different political persuasions will put their own gloss/spin on a story. [present it in their own way]

Some journalists gather stories by muck-raking. [collecting scandal]

Newspapers often make stories sound more dramatic by using words like heroic and triumph, even for some occurrence that is quite ordinary. [happening, event]