Agricultural Journalism

Journalism is the systematic and reliable dissemination of public information, public opinion and public entertainment by modern mass media of communication. (Welsely and Campbell) Journalism is the profession of gathering information that is of need and interest and then writing, reporting, editing and publishing it for the general public with the use of various print, electronic and computer-aided media.

Agricultural Journalism Agricultural journalism is the profession of gathering information relating to technologies, issues and achievements in agricultural and allied areas and then writing, reporting, editing and publishing / disseminating it for the target audience (i.e. farmers in rural areas) with the use of various print, electronic and computer-aided media. It is same as Farm Journalism and similar to Rural Journalism

Scope & importance Agril. Journalism tries to utilise the potential of various mass media for technology dissemination, as more and more people are gaining better access to such media It involves collecting relevant and useful information, news and informing to the mass audience along with photographs / pictures It aims to serve the farming / rural community to improve their socio-economic status by publishing relevant news stories, feature articles, success stories and other relevant information

WHAT IS NEWS? Any new information, idea, event, situation or development, that is of interest to a large number of people, is news. It is a report of any event, technology or person, containing timely and unknown information which has been accurately gathered and written for the purpose of serving readers / audience.

PRINCIPLES OF NEWS WRITING Timely / New Factual (not opinion-based) Interesting Unusual Unbiased / truthful Important to and affecting the readers

BASIC QUESTIONS BEFORE WRITING NEWS ‘Why’ to provide the information? For ‘Whom’ to write ? ‘What’ to write? (Choose subject) ‘Where’ it happened ? ‘When’ to write? ( Is it Timely, Seasonal ?) ‘How’ to write? (Be specific, concrete & practical, interesting, Accurate, Convincing etc)

CONTENTS OF A NEWS Title/ Headline – Specific, Short, Attractive, Simple with Standard Abbreviations Lead – Create interest in the mind to go ahead. Body – Create interest to grab several ideas. Conclusion- Opinion of the public / writer, emphasizing the main theme, if needed

Detail about the Lead fact Lead- the most important fact of story INVERTED PYRAMID STYLE OF NEWS WRITING Detail about the Lead fact Lead- the most important fact of story More details & additional interesting facts Minor details, less important facts -It is required for editing, according to space available

SOURCES OF NEWS STORIES (ESPECIALLY FOR FARM PUBLICATIONS) RESEARCH STATIONS / KVKs GOVT / NON-GOVT ORGANISATIONs EXPERTS AND SUBJECT MATTER SPECIALISTS LITERATURE / REPORTS & LIBRARY INTERNET FARMERS / PEOPLE THEMSELVES

Types of news New Technology / innovations (Low cost) Research achievements Success stories (even some failures/ losses) Relevant information – govt policies, schemes, events , weather forecast, epidemics, input availability and prices, market prices of produce, solutions to problems Cases of progressive farmers / farmers’ groups Disasters Financial (loans / benefits)

Merits of agril. journalism Can inform, integrate and inspire audience Can reach a mass audience within a short time Can reach audience in areas which can be accessed with difficulty Can create better public opinion Print matter published can be used for future reference Cost of mass production low (even though initial investment may be high)

Limitations of agril. journalism Low literacy and language may be a barrier for print media Access to mass media may not be there to certain target groups Details which may be needed by an audience, may not be published due to space constraints Target audience may not pay attention to matters published in mass media Target audience may not clearly understand matters published Timeliness of the news / matters published may be lacking Information provided may not be useful to few sections of audience