Media Flashcards
The first type of journalism is broadcast (119). You might hear people say “The Presidential Election will be broadcasted tonight on CNN”. Broadcast is the transmission (120) of news using electrical method. The keyword here is ‘electrical’. Also, when information ‘moves’ from A-B, we call that ‘transmission’ or the information is transmitted. We don’t say the information is transported. It’s transmitted.
When the news is broadcasted or transmitted through mass media, the information is disseminated (121) to the public. ‘Disseminate’ means ‘spread’ but we usually use it for information. For instance, if you have a secret cooking recipe and you don’t want it anymore, you can disseminate it so everyone in the world will know.
Broadcast = electrically transmit
Disseminate info = spread info
Sometimes, you might see different reporters or individuals cover a single news story at different locations like the presidential election voting events at multiple states or on-site weather reports. This type of journalism is called Collaborative journalism (122), meaning that reporters like different pieces of puzzle collaborating with one another to make the story complete.
Collaborative journalists = pieces of puzzle
Another type is investigative journalism (123). Whenever you see the word ‘investigate’, it signals something related to the police or law or crime. Investigative journalists spend months or years to deeply investigate an issue in order to expose something dirty. The keyword here is ‘expose’.
Blogging is another type of journalism. Blogging can fall under the alternative media category since anyone can create his or her own blog and start transmitting news at zero cost. You can blog and so can I.
Investigative journalism is used to Texpose the truth
One of the primary purposes of journalism is to relay (125) facts. Nowadays, journalism has a tendency to transcend (126) that regular way of reporting by giving extensive content like more indepth analysis on news by interviewing people or analyzing facts to engage the audience. This is called Analytical journalism (127). You will notice media people offering opinions or commenting on certain subject matters on TV. These people are called pundits (128).
Pundits are expert on media who offer opinions. You will see a lot of pundits commenting on the US Presidential Election. These opinions are sometimes contradicting one another, which causes a lot of confusion to the public. If you watch a lot of financial news, you will see there are a whole bunch of financial pundits advising you which stocks or bonds to buy or sell or even predict the future. Pundits are not necessarily experts. They are just mass media people who offer opinions based on current events that we see on TV all the time.
Analytical journalism transcends facts to offer opinions and commentaries
Next, immersion journalism (124) is a special type of journalism that focuses on experience rather than people or the author himself. Let’s say if you decided to embark on a journey to South Africa by yourself to experience. You videotaped and wrote down your different experiences on the journey. After getting home, you write a article about your experience rather than yourself so that the readers can immerse themselves on the experience like they are travelling. Another example is when you are trying to describe your horrible experience of your University. If you purpose is purely for the reader to experience, then this is immersion journalism. The keyword here is ‘experience’.
Immersion journalism focuses on experience rather than the writer
Here are different people in the media you might have met.
1. News anchor (129) is the presenter of the news we see on TV all the time. You might be wondering why these people can speak eloquently without looking at the notes. Do they have perfect memory? The answer is no. They use a tool called Teleprompter (130). A teleprompter is a tool used by news anchors to read news while still looking at the camera at the same time. So it’s a great tool for news anchors to speak like an ‘expert’ with nothing in mind. Analytical journalism transcends facts to offer opinions and commentaries
2. Columnist (131) is a writer of a newspaper or a magazine that may offers opinions. He’s not a news reporter. He’s a columnist. What’s the difference? Let’s say you are a writer of Kenh14. If you report current events happening, you are reporter. If you regularly offer your opinions on a certain topic, then you are a columnist.
3. Editor (132) is the gatekeeper between the writer and the audience. His job is to prepare, modify, polish and enhance the writing to make sure it’s okay before disseminating it. There might be many levels of editing in a big news corporation. The one that sits at the top is called chief editor (133).
4. Correspondent (134) is a guy who stays or even lives in a distant place to regularly gather and report news. There are tons of VTV correspondents living all around the world.
5. Ombudsman (135) is from the public authority representing the public interest to investigate and address public complaints. This one is not common in Vietnam. But you will see it once in a while if you read some types of English newspapers.
6. Meteorologist (136) can be a beautiful chick or a good-looking guy you see at the end of the daily news section conducting weather forecast.
Some other interesting terms you need to know in this topic are Fourth Estate (137) and Fifth Estate (138). Fourth Estate represents the mass media. Fifth Estate represents alternative media like blogging or YouTubing. You can date back to the old days to better understand the origins of these terms but I deem them unnecessary. These are words that I called ‘good to know’.
What type of news is Kenh14 or Soha? They are tabloids (139). Tabloids deliver news on different sensational topics like scandals, zodiac signs, or gossips. Reading tabloids can be entertaining at times but overall that is such a waste of time.
Next one is propaganda (140). Propaganda is used by mass media controlled by the government to manipulate the public so that the government can get what it wants. The Chinese government is famous for spreading propaganda to the public to instill hatred on America. North Korea is known for disseminating and brainwashing the public by using propaganda, saying its leader is God. Vietnam same thing. When we talking about propaganda, we are talking about corrupted mass media, the government, manipulation and brainwashing.
If you pay enough attention, you will see that the Vietnamese media can very easily make you feel that sacrificing for the country is necessary. You are willing to die for the country. The fact is you perhaps have been manipulated by the government’s propaganda. It’s everywhere. It’s widespread. It tells you what’s the ‘right’ thing to do. The Chinese government can do the same things for its public if it feels that war is necessary.
It will spread propaganda everywhere 24/7 so the public can have a sense of nationalism (141). Nationalism is the feeling of ‘my country is better than all the rest’. Nationalism is the feeling of ‘us’ and ‘them’. Chances are many of us have been brainwashed or manipulated by the government to have such sense of nationalism. Like, the US is evil. Vietnam is a heroic nation. China is bad. Our country-Vietnam stands for the righteousness.
You will see that propaganda has a lot of phrases like “Our country”, “We”, “Sacrificing is virtuous”, you name it. Nationalism is the same as patriotism. Before war, one thing that will always happen is that you will hear a lot of propaganda from the mass media telling you to serve the military for the good of ‘our’ country.
Fourth Estate ~ Mass media
Fifth Estate ~ Other than Mass media
Propaganda - An effective tool used by the government’s mass media manipulating and brainwashing the public
