1. Agricultural Journalism

2. 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.

3. 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

4. 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

5. 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.

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

7. 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)

8. 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

9. 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

10. 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

11. 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)

12. 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)

13. 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