Microsoft Word Revised Syllabus Ver doc

The 'power' of the Press
The 'power' of the press to bring about social and political change or economic 
development is extremely limited. In capitalized societies, the press is primarily like any 
other business or industry. It exists to raise advertising revenue and circulation with the aim 
of making profits. 'Public Service' and 'Public interest are not the main concerns. The 'Power' 
of the press depends on its credibility among readers, as well as on how the news reported is 
understood and interpreted. Different groups 'read' the same news items in varied ways 
depending on their own social backgrounds. How news is read is not entirely in the hands of 
journalists. Indeed, the press often succeeds only in reinforcing widely held beliefs and the 
status quo rather than bring about change and development.
The press rarely initiates changes, innovation and developments. Because of its 
dependence on commercial interest and the dominant groups, it is of necessity conservatives 
and status quoits. The widespread support that the anti-vandal riots and the 'liberalization' 
policies of the government have received from the 'national' and 'regional' press is a reflection 
of that dependence.
The current news values of Indian journalists are no different from the news values of 
their counterparts in the west. These are timeliness, immediacy, proximity, oddity, conflict, 
mystery, suspense, curiosity and novelty. The new development alternative journalists, 
however, challenge these elite and immediacy - oriented values, and the mass-bites-dog 
approach to news. They believe that the voice of the silent, suffering majority should be 
heared through the press. Not politics, business, finance, sports should be the stable of news 
but rather what is of value in terms of equality, social justice and peace.
Feature-writing
While news reports present brief write ups on events, issues and people, features 
present detailed analyses of the some, often in the form of discussions, narratives, or critique. 
Further, news reports are written mostly in the inverted pyramid formal structure and style 
features follows the structure of essays and discussions and present a distinct point of view. 
News reports are written by staff reporters, stringers or correspondents but features are 
usually contributed by senior reporters, assistant editors, editors are who by outside experts 
who may be academics, free-lancers, researchers and others.
A feature, then is an essay-like piece written for publication in newspaper or 
magazines features take up most space 'Cover Stories' in magazines are usually written in the 
forms of features, while in newspapers the main or lead story would be written in the form of 
a news report.

---

106 
Interviews
Features may sometimes take the form of interviews, or use interviews as important 
sources of information. Features frequently quote several opinions which have been collected 
through interviews. The Sunday papers carry interviews with eminent people in out and 
literation. These interviews are sometimes presented in a 'question and answer' format, 
without any comments from the writer; at other times, the interviews are presented in the 
form of a news report or a feature where excepts from the interview are highlighted, but the 
whole interview is not presented verbatim.