Summary
Contents
The SAGE Key Concepts series provide students with accessible and authoritative knowledge of the essential topics in a variety of disciplines. Cross-referenced throughout, the format encourages critical evaluation through understanding. Written by experienced and respected academics, the books are indispensable study aids and guides to comprehension. Key Concepts in Journalism offers a systematic and accessible introduction to the terms, processes, and effects of journalism;a combination of practical considerations with theoretical issues; and further reading suggestions. The authors bring an enormous range of experience in newspaper and broadcast journalism, at national and regional level, as well as their teaching expertise. This book will be essential reading for students in journalism, and an invaluable reference tool for their professional careers.
Newszak
Newszak
A conscious neologism of journalist Malcolm Muggeridge, the term newszak was intended to reflect changing news values and news formats evident in print and broadcast journalism across the 1980s and 1990s (Franklin, 1997: 4). The implication was that these changes were for the worse and the resonance with the term muzak is clear.
Newszak allegedly marked: (1) a retreat from investigative journalism and ‘hard’ news to the preferred terrain of ‘softer’ consumer or life style stories; (2) a focus on entertainment rather than information resulting in ‘infotainment’; (3) journalists' preferences for human interest above the public interest; (4) news reports characterized by sensationalism rather than measured judgement; (5) the triumph of the trivial above the weighty which guaranteed that gossip about celebrities from soaps, sport ...