Techniques of News Collection and Transmission

For readers, listeners and viewers the news may appear simple and relevant only till they have newspaper in hand or are before the radio or TV set, but the news is the result of tireless efforts of a horde of people popularly called journalists. From collection to publishing/ broadcasting/ telecasting, the activities involved are called news process.

Reporters and photographers are the persons resonsible for collection of information. They work under Chief Reporter. Senior and competent reporters, who have established their credibility, may be made Special Correspondents. The special correspondents are accredited to different ministries/ departments of the government. The best lot from amongst the special correspondents are made the Foreign Correspondents, who are accredited to capitals of selected countries.

Methods for collection of news/journalistic information

1. Observation : Observation is the most important starting point for collection of real life information of an event. It broadly involves selecting, recording and encoding significant events or occurrences in their natural settings.

2. Verbal interaction : Verbal interaction may range from a simple conversation to hardcore interviewing. It is a psychological Stimulus-Response (S-R) situation. The answer/reply of the respondents depends upon the quality and strength of the stimulus put forth by the reporter. At the lower level, the collection of journalistic information through verbal interaction is generally informal and unstructured. However, at higher level, it gets more formal and structured.

3. Other : The work of a reporter is made easy by different organisations and agencies. The organisations release press notes about their activities/events with some details. The press releases are handed over to the reporters by the media incharge of the organisations and in some cases these are directly faxed/sent to the press. Besides, there are national and international news agencies like United News of India, Varta, Reuter etc. which collect news on regular basis.

Photo journalism

Photo journalism is journalism through taking photographs of objects, events, or situations having

some news value and dispatching them with appropriate caption or news. A photograph gives a vivid and comprehensive account of an object, event or situation. The communication through photograph is visual, and as such the comprehension of information by the audience is easy. Photographs are used not only for highlighting the news, but also to make features and articles more informative and interesting.

Photographs make investigative journalism more authentic by providing evidence of the facts.

Recording tools of a journalist

Pen and paper have been the oldest, simplest and widely used tools for recording journalistic information. But there are tools which are in use by the reporters of different media.

a) Print media : The reporters use still photography camera and tape recorder. The photographs constitute an integral part of the newspapers. A good 35 mm, single lens reflex camera is suitable

for taking still photographs. The pictures may be in colour or black and white depending upon importance of the news and standard of the newspaper.

b) Radio : Radiojournalism is different from newspaper and TV journalism. In radiojournalism, the

reporters have to create effect only through voice. Therefore, they need to carry an efficient and sturdy sound recording system.

c) TV : The TV journalists have the advantage to create effect through sound and picture. Therefore, the quality of both audio and video is important for them. To lend quality, the reporter is generally accompanied by videographer.

News transmission

Timeliness is the most important factor contributing towards news value. The early transmission of news to the press, radio station, and TV station is as important as the collection of news itself. The information technology has provided ample opportunities for instant transmission of news.

a) Fax : The facsimile exchange facilities are now available in small towns and in some developed villages. This has facilitated collection and transmission of news from remote rural areas. The reporters collect news during the day, prepare their write-ups and fax the news in the evening.

b) Cell phone : Newspaper journalists pass on the latest information to their press, when they do not have time to prepare the write-ups. It is also used in collecting latest news for the newspaper. Radio journalists are frequently using cell phones for transmission of the news.

c) E-mail : The texts, photographs, graphs etc. can easily be sent by reporters to the press instantly.

d) VSAT : VSAT stands for very small aperture terminal. It is a device that can directly link up with the satellites. The TV journalists transmit their video clippings to the TV station immediately through VSAT. Sometimes, the important events are shown directly which we call live telecast by the use of VSAT. The TV channels possess VSAT fitted on some vehicle which can easily be taken to the place of events.