World News Day your views
‘A good newspaper is a nation talking to itself’
Dewan Chand,
Suva.
Today, Monday 28th September the world will mark/celebrate World News Day. What an exciting event to celebrate while we are living during the information explosion age! News galore and the news media have to be technologically well advanced to gather, collate and present news in an appealing and an acceptable manner. It has to be accurate, reliable and unbiased. However, with the proliferation of modern communications technology the news has been hijacked by social media. Thus fake news and propaganda have become a pandemic..
For the news media: Print, broadcast or television or internet live in a cut-throat business environment.
All the rules in the business book have to be applied to capture the readership, listenership or the audience. For this they need a team of professional journalists who are trained and armed with skills to gather information and write articles for various types of readers, listeners or audience. These could be an investigative, watch-dog, online, broadcast, opinion and sports journalists.. It is a painstaking job where each has to meet a deadline.
In the production of newspapers many techniques are used to ensure that the newspaper is appealing to the eye through use of bold headlines, colors and different types of letterings. It must be delivered to the news stands very early in the morning so that it catches readers.
Many newspapers ensure that the papers are delivered to the door steps of readers. This is a great business tactic in building bridges with the readers.
The digital age with the introduction of the internet, smartphones and e-reader have created a whole new ball game for the media companies. They have to sell digital news on these devices if they are to financially keep afloat. Yes, the digital revolution has converted the world into a global village. The rate with which news travels around the world is mind boggling indeed. May I wish all consumers of news a very happy World News Day.