tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26520814468377915582024-03-12T21:31:39.318-07:00THINK WITH MEthink and share what you think on whats happening arround...Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04184727287532131700noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2652081446837791558.post-69374134419801603642013-08-15T21:23:00.000-07:002013-08-15T21:23:03.200-07:00<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<h2 style="text-align: left;">
JOURNALISM AND ETHICS </h2>
Journalists' main goal is to ensure the right of citizens to truthful
and important information, which allows them to form adequate impression
about social processes, their essence and importance, about the
situation in the modern world.
<br />
The journalist bears responsibility before the society in general,
before the law and before the professional association. The social
responsibility of the journalist requires that he acts in accordance
with his personal ethical standards.
<br />
The ethics of the trade involve permanent responsibility of the
journalist for everything he/she does in the framework of his/her
professional obligations, rather than sticking to the rules which were
established once and for all.
<br />
The present Code shall set a high standard of ethical and professional
behaviour for people involved in searching, receiving, keeping,
distributing and commenting on information in the mass media. The norms
of the Code are not obligatory requirements and formulated as moral
guidelines or standards against which media employees can compare their
professional work. The norms of the journalists Ethics Code cannot be
used as the ground for holding media employees criminally,
administratively, disciplinarily or otherwise responsible, except the
responsibility in the framework of media self-regulation.
<br />
<h3>
Freedom of the press</h3>
Mass media freedom is one of the major guarantees of the freedom of
speech, an obligatory element for ensuring other civil rights and
freedoms. The freedom of the press involves the possibility to freely
discuss and criticize the activities of both the authorities and civil
and private structures. Journalists contribute to the realization of the
right to express unpopular opinions or agree with the point of view
expressed by the majority.
<br />
The journalist must defend the freedom of speech, retain independence of
his/her political views and convictions. He/she must resist any efforts
to distort information or introduce censorship.
<br />
Like any other citizen, the journalist has a right to political and
other convictions. However, in his/her professional activity he/she
should remain neutral and objective</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04184727287532131700noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2652081446837791558.post-41386307772098197002013-07-26T03:08:00.000-07:002013-07-26T03:08:49.328-07:00<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span class="contentpara"><span class="contentpara"> <span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"> NO MORE TELEGRAM</span></span></span><br />
<br />
<span class="contentpara">We have all been
reading a number of articles in various newspapers on the sad end to a
wonderful means of communication, the ‘Telegram’ and the telegraph
service.
</span><br />
<span class="contentpara">The telegraph service was
established in India in 1853. However, it all began in 1839 when Dr.
William Oshaugh-nessy, an Assistant Surgeon to the Bengal Medical
establishment of the East India Company, laid the first telegraph line
in India from the Botanical Gardens in Calcutta.
</span><br />
<span class="contentpara">As always happens, this novel
idea too met with its fair share of opposition from people who were
indifferent to it and even the authorities too were not very
encouraging. Sanction, however, came from the latter almost twelve years
later and as a result, the line between Calcutta and Kedgree was
declared open in 1950. This speaks volumes of the pioneering efforts,
that in 4 years this system was considered sufficiently established to
be opened to the public.
</span><br />
<span class="contentpara">Later, Dr. William
Oshaugh-nessy, who took a keen interest in telegraphy, developed a new
system and laid wires between Calcutta and Diamond Harbour, a distance
of about 21 miles. Officially, this is considered to be the inaugural
telegraph line in the country; it was the year 1853. The centenary
celebrations were held in November 1963. Farther North, another line was
laid between Agra and Calcutta in 1854. The year 1865 is a landmark in
the history of the telegraph service because England and India were
connected by this remarkable new system.
</span><br />
<span class="contentpara">In 1859, a school was opened for
the training of young men in telegraphy. Since the Morse Code was in
English, a large number of Anglo-Indian and English-knowing Indians
joined the telegraph service.
</span><br />
<span class="contentpara">Morse Code which was used in the
transmission of signals consists of dots and dashes in different
combinations. For example, one dot and a dash represents the letter ‘A’
and two dots side by side represents the latter ‘I’, three dots
represents the letter ‘S’ etc. This system became useful for
transmission of telegrams quickly and to far away places.
</span><br />
<span class="contentpara">The telegraph key/tapper
consisted of a brass lever mounted on a wooden base and a receiver
called the Duburn Sounder and it worked on electricity from a battery or
power source connected to the apparatus. By the up and down movement of
the key, the lever on the top of the sounder moves with a make and
break in the circuit, thus the codes were used for transmission. The
telegraphists were nick-named ‘Brass Beaters’ because they tapped the
brass lever of the key in order to transmit the telegram.
</span><br />
<span class="contentpara">The charges for the transmission
of a telegram varied from time to time. Greeting telegrams were also
introduced with various phrases for all occasions to help the public and
the charges were reduced for these. It was also the quickest way to
send death and congratulatory messages to friends and family.
</span><br />
<span class="contentpara">On a personal note, I would like
to mention here with immense pride that four of the members of my
family (including myself) served the P&T Department (some members
served between 1927 and 1996). My father James Rodrigues joined the
postal service in 1928 as a clerk in the post office located in
Halladakeri. He was paid Rs. 8 and later Rs. 10 as a monthly salary and
later became a signaller with an increase of Rs. 2 after training. He
was happy with the white collared job.
</span><br />
<span class="contentpara">The transmission of telegrams
was chiefly looked after by the Postal Wing for several decades. Later,
the telegraph service was extended to large cities and Postal Department
continued to look after the transmission and delivery of telegrams in
smaller town post offices. In 1943-44, several postal clerks,
signallers, telegraphists and jamedars volunteered their services during
Word War II on the Burma front, Italy and Middle East.
</span><br />
<span class="contentpara">Around 1950, the transmission of
telegrams from the Head Post Office was taken over by the CTO Wing
which became an independent wing after bifurcation and several smaller
towns connected with Morse facility were joined to it. The main office
began to expand and improve down the years. Teleprinters were gradually
introduced in the department like ‘Siemens’ (German model), ‘Creed
(British), ‘Olivitti’ (Italian) and finally ‘Hindustan’ teleprinters
(Madras) to help in quick transmission of messages and even lenghty
press messages without much strain.
</span><br />
<span class="contentpara">Messages conveying ‘Death’,
‘Serious’ or ‘Start immediately’ followed by a reason of urgency were
given top priority. Even press messages were given priority. Press
correspondents who handed in their reports were of a very friendly
nature, especially Krishna Vattam, who is known to me since several
years, stands tall among them. The number of telegrams slowly increased
due to several factories and business establishments that were on the
rise and thus thousands of telegrams were handled everyday.
</span><br />
<span class="contentpara">Talking in terms of the number
of telegrams handled per day reminds me of the highest number of
telegrams received and transmitted at CTO, Mysore, as I recall being on
duty that day, was on the day of the marriage of Princess Gayathri Devi,
which added to the already large number of regular marriage telegrams
during the marriage season. Several thousands, both inland and foreign
telegrams, used to be handled by the dedicated staff under the
Superintendent in-charge.
</span><br />
<span class="contentpara">However, with the introduction
of computers, FAX etc., the entire Morse code lines were removed in
January 1997, a year after I retired from service. At the turn of the
millennium with the coming of other gadgets like the cell phone, with
its SMS and the internet, with its e-mail sounded a death knell to the
telegraph service. It is a great pity that this public service should
come to an end, after having served in the Department for several years.
I can only offer a ‘silent tear.’
</span><br />
</span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04184727287532131700noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2652081446837791558.post-59335337147813539682013-07-23T08:20:00.000-07:002013-07-23T09:25:37.229-07:00<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><b>Photojournalism</b> is a sub discipline of photography which
involves of capturing images to help tell a story. In a large number of
cases, these individuals are hired by newspapers or magazines. A number
of famous newspapers have made a name for themselves based on the
photographs that were published under their publications.</span></div>
<div>
</div>
<div style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;">There are three qualities which make photojournalism distinct from
other branches of photography such as documentary, celebrity or street
photography. The first is relevance. In photojournalism, the images
captured have meaning consistent to the published record of events.
Objectivity is the second. The image captured must be unbiased, accurate
and fair in representing the event being documented. This has become
harder in the days of the digital camera and the use of editing
programs. The third involves the narrative that combines the image with
the other elements of the news, giving the reader or viewer greater
insight into the event or situation.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;">There are two basic types under this field. The first branch involves
capturing photos in support of a news article. Some journalists work
closely together with photographers for a particular story. The
photographers would be paid for the images that get published along with
articles. Under this type of photojournalism, there is no limit as to
the number of photographs will be used or published. This decision is
left to the discretion of the photo editor. </span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;">The second type is the more popular form of photojournalism. Under
this type, the photograph stands on its own without any article or words
to accompany and describe the image. The number can range from a single
picture to as many as ten to one single publication.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Smaller, lighter and more powerful cameras and equipment have made
the job of photojournalists easier. However, it has also made their
responsibility more difficult. With the development of digital cameras,
thousands of images can be captured and then stored on a single memory
card. Images can be captured, scanned and sent to their respective
publications or news companies within minutes or even seconds of being
taken. This is a big leap from 15 years ago and more where publications
need to wait at least 30 minutes before receiving the images. The
availability of such technologies to the average consumer has given each
one the ability to become a photojournalist.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Citizen journalism has become more popular with the development and
availability of more powerful cameras and equipment. This makes each
individual who owns a camera or camera phone aware of their own
surroundings, capturing the moment and publishing them online.
Photographs are a testament to what has happened in the past and
present, capable of making people aware of events and situations which
are happening in other places.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Photojournalists document events, helping communities connect with
one another. Even years after the event is over, people will remember
the event and the emotions involved with just seeing a single
photograph.</span></div>
</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04184727287532131700noreply@blogger.com0