Types of Journalism

The Basics: What is Journalism?

Journalists write and report stories covering topics ranging broadly from sports to breaking news for the public. As time has progressed, journalism has developed into more than just print; broadcast journalism is more widespread than ever with news networks like CNN garnering on average 68.8 million viewers per month and outlets like NPR with about 165 million monthly listeners, and social media is becoming more and more crucial in this digital-first world. Additionally, publications are growing more and more dependent upon their online audience through their websites.

Subsections of Journalism

There are many different sections of journalism, each of which have different requirements and career paths. There are print and non-print forms of these major sections, which include:

News

News reporters gather information about happenings and breaking news and present their findings to the public. In writing their articles, news reporters focus on what the most important information is and the accuracy of this information.

Investigative/Watchdog

Investigative journalism is all about maintaining accountability. Stories generally take a long time (months-years!) to complete, as this is large-scale reporting that often involves in-depth research and analysis that reveal secrets to the public.

Opinion/Editorial

While most journalism is dictated by objectivity, opinion journalism centers around subjectivity. An opinion writer relays facts of a story/topics and their opinion regarding them. For editorials, members of a publication’s editorial board come together to express their view on a matter. While both these aspects of opinion journalism mostly focus on the writers’ perspectives, they require heavy research so as to support/defend one’s claim.