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PEOPLE IN THE NEWSROOM

PEOPLE IN THE NEWSROOM


Newsgathering involves a range of people the editorial department, pagination, printing staff The Working Journalists and Other Newspaper Employees (Conditions of Service) Miscellaneous Provisions Act 1955 lists the following tasks as falling within the ambit of working journalists. Many of these are now obsolete because many functions of printing have been taken over by Desktop Publishing.

PEOPLE IN THE NEWSROOM


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Editor Leader-writer, editorial writer News-editor, Sub-editor, edits the copies, in detail you will learn in other editing classes Feature-writer Copy-taster, production journalist who checks and selects copy Reporter Correspondent, journalist covering specialist area Cartoonist News photographer Proof-reader, now not required, earlier had to manually check each page for errors

TYPES OF EDITORS HEIRARCHY/ FUNCTIONS


Editor-in-chief/ Editor: , responsible for content and reporters, meets with editorial staff, monitors quality of news content and readership/ audience response, gives direction to the news organisation, hires people, could be member of professional organisations, adjudicates complaints against reporters or the news content or organisation, liases with advertising and production departments, looks after necessities of production, responsible to check for legal trouble Associate editor, executive editor, deputy editor, resident editor indications of rank. Functions vary with organisation

TYPES OF EDITORS HIERARCHY AND


FUNCTIONS

City editor for a geographical area, city. Hands out assignments, amount of coverage, lead story for the day Managing editor, to look after administrative side keep to deadlines, stick to budgets, maintenance News editor: responsible for all copy that appears in the paper, looks after the subbing, ensuring stories reach on time, prepares newslists and decides how much coverage to give a story, display and page-making Copy-editor/ sub-editor: edits copy, provides headlines, and designs the pages Photo editor, responsible for photojournalists, for quality of photographs, composition, equipment, coordinates with various desks to supply appropriate photographs, hands out photo assignments,

TYPES OF EDITORS AREAS OF WORK OR


NEWS Rural affairs editor, only The Hindu has one Features editor Political affairs editor Investigations editor all major news organisations The Guardian, The Observer, Washington Post, The New York Times, Harinder Baweja at Tehelka, Jyotirmoy De, Crime and Investigations Editor of Mid-Day, Ritu Sarin, Indian Express Group, International Consortium of Investigative Journalists Foreign affairs editor Sports editor Business editor

GENDER (IN)EQUALITY IN THE NEWSROOM?


Women were not allowed to work on the night shift when I joined UNI as a sub-editor in Bombay in the 1980s. Some of my male colleagues protested when I volunteered for night duty. The news editor commented, So you dont mind being raped! and laughed till he was breathless. - Meena Menon, Deputy/ Assistant Editor, The Hindu, Mumbai Bureau.

GENDER (IN)EQUALITY IN THE NEWSROOM?


8.5 per cent of editors are women, rest, obviously men. Neerja Arora, Women Editors - Bridging the Gender Gap, 2011. Global Report on the status of Women in News Media, in Asia male:female journalists is 4:1. In India, in 1995 women were 12 percent of media workforce. By 2010, it is 25 percent. China has equal or more in some levels of reporting and decision-making India, Japan, Fiji and Australia, media organisations have made strides in adopting gender policies

GENDER (IN)EQUALITY IN THE NEWSROOM?

According to data compiled by Ammu Joseph (2005) women often get assigned to cover lifestyle, fashion, flower shows, gender She also records the kind of working atmosphere women journalists face. Women journalists report sexual harassment of various forms: gossip, character assassination, touching, demands for sexual favours Implementation of the Vishakha Guidelines 1997 SC guidelines on sexual harassment at the workplace Who is going to monitor implementation in the media? Situation is better now, at least in larger cities, both in India and internationally, at least harassment on job is being talked about.

GENDER (IN)EQUALITY IN THE NEWSROOM?


Editors are responsible for handing out assignments and beats. So it is important that the editor is free from bias and treats all journalists equally. Women editors: Bacchi Karkaria, Associate Editor with Times of India; A.T. Jayanti, Editor, Deccan Chronicle; Nirmala Lakshman, Joint Editor, The Hindu; Meena Menon, Deputy Editor, The Hindu, Mumbai; Parvati Menon, Chief of Bureau Karnataka, The Hindu; Tehelka has Shoma Chaudhury, Sagarika Ghose, Deputy Editor CNNibn; Barkha Dutt, Group Editor for NDTV.

REFERENCE MATERIAL
Writing for Journalists by Wynford Hicks and others for glossary of journalism terms Key Concepts in Journalism Studies by Bob Franklin and others for concepts News editing by Bhanu Pratap Mehta Making News Women in Journalism by Ammu Joseph Global Report on the Status of Women in News Media by International Womens Media Foundation

TYPES OF REPORTERS

Reporters Correspondents, those who cover a special area Special correspondent Freelances/ freelancers Stringers Foreign correspondent Reporter at large Legal Affairs Correspondent, Beat reporters crime; education; women; marginalised communities Dalits, tribal peoples, adivasis, sexual minorities; health, science, politics and political parties, defence, aviation, government departments and local governenance bodies, conflict Chhattisgarh, Sports Business reporters

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