Journalism and Communication Research

Author: Institute of Journalism and Communication, Sichuan University
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2003-12-01
Features: Career and Journalism
Journalism studies human news phenomena and news activities. However, as one of its components, the historical part is named "History of Chinese Journalism" and "History of Foreign Journalism." Why not call it directly "Journalism History" instead of "Journalism Career History"? In other words, why is the word "career" added? This requires an explanation of what a career is. A career differs from general human activities. A career refers to "frequent activities that people engage in, with certain goals, scale, and systems and that have an impact on social development." There are five key words here: goals, scale, system, impact, and frequency. Together, they constitute the essential difference between general human activities and activities that can be considered careers. Of course, these five elements that make up a career are indispensable. Without any one of them, an activity cannot be called a career but can only be seen as a general human activity that has not reached the level of a career. However, upon deeper examination, it can be found that these five elements are not equal in importance but have primary and secondary roles or soft and hard distinctions—even though they are inherently interconnected. Let us analyze them one by one.
First, let's look at the goal. A goal refers to "the desired state or standard." Its elements are quite broad. As an element, it is relatively "soft." The previously mentioned news activities should all be said to have a certain degree of purposefulness and consciousness.
Next, let's consider the scale. Scale refers to size, and size is relative. The same scale, when measured against different reference points, can produce very different or even opposite results. The Wall Street Journal in the United States, with a daily circulation of over 2 million, is considered large compared to many other American newspapers! However, compared to Japan's Asahi Shimbun and Mainichi Shimbun, it is quite small. Those two Japanese newspapers each have a combined daily circulation of over 10 million. It is clear that scale has flexibility. As an element, it is relatively "soft." Moreover, in the definition, the word "certain" is added before "scale."
Next, let's look at the impact. Impact refers to the size of the effect or influence. It is similar to scale and is also a relative concept. The impact of the Wall Street Journal is undeniably significant compared to most American newspapers. However, if compared to radio and television news, which are even more frequent, the impact is relatively small.
Finally, let's consider frequency. Frequency refers to the frequency of activities, that is, the number of activities within a certain period. And clearly, this is also a relative concept. For example, newspapers in the early 17th century were mostly weekly. German newspapers like the Avisa, Relation und news (1609) and the Frankfurter Zeitung (1615) were all weekly. Compared to the publications of the 16th century, which were generally quarterly, monthly, or at most ten-day publications, these newspapers had a much higher publication frequency. However, compared to the general form of newspapers later and even today—daily newspapers—their frequency is undoubtedly quite low. If compared to the rolling news of radio and television today,