Common Terms Used in The Digital Journalism Major

Common Terms Used in The Digital Journalism Major. (sumber: Unsplash/@sammcghee)

For new students who are going to major in digital journalism, you need to know various common terms used in the digital journalism major that will definitely be mentioned often in class. Read along to figure out the most common digital journalism terms.

Common Terms in The Digital Journalism Major

• Off the record/on the record

Students in the digital journalism major will hear these words during interviews. The meaning is quite simple! If someone says, “this is off the record, okay?” it means that the following information that will be shared should not be recorded or disseminated. On the other hand, on the record means information that is said to be allowed to be recorded and disseminated.

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• Breaking news

Those who often watch the news must have often seen this word on TV or the internet. Breaking news means very important news being received and broadcasted about an event that has just happened or begun. Breaking news is important news that must be broadcasted or shared immediately. For example, the death of an important figure. Journalists will be asked to immediately cover the event if the media receives information about breaking news.

• Clickbait

This term may be familiar to most of us, including students outside of journalism. A clickbait is a sensational title or thumbnail that prompts someone to click on a link to an article, image, or video. Instead of presenting objective facts, the actual content is usually dubious and accurate. Unfortunately, websites, including mass media, use clickbait to attract as many clicks as possible, thereby increasing advertising revenue.

• Headlines

To simply put, headlines are important news that will be occupied at the top and displayed in large on news sites, newspapers, and others.

• 5W+1H

Students in journalism will always hear and see this word in class! The 5 Ws and 1Hs are who, where, what, when, why, and how. In the world of journalism, a reporter must answer these five w’s and one h questions through reporting. 5W+1H is the basis for every journalist when looking for information and packaging news.

• Lead

“Create compelling leads!” Don’t be taken aback when your lecturer says this. The lead is the opening paragraph that provides the audience with the most important information about the news concisely and clearly while keeping the reader’s interest (interesting). A lead can determine whether a reader will continue to read the rest of an article!

• SEO

Now, students in the digital journalism major can be taught about SEO in class. Journalism that applies SEO can also be referred to as SEO-based Journalism is being applied by all mass media globally! Implementing SEO means setting optimization strategies for a website to improve its position among Google’s organic results. SEO optimization can help articles appear higher in Google searches and bring more readers to the publisher’s website.

• V.O

V.O stands for Voice Over. Voice-over is a narration done by a reporter or talent where they will read from a script that has been prepared. The reporter’s voice will play “over” a series of videos that tells a story.

• Angle

Angle is the side or perspective of a story that the journalist focuses on. For example, there are forest fires in Australia. From various points of view that the journalist can choose to cover or write, a journalist decided to address the impact of forest fires on flora and fauna. The decision is an act of a journalist choosing a news angle.

• Vox Pop

Vox Pop is a technique/type of interview. Vox Pop is a short, quick interview in which a journalist aims to gather public opinion on an issue. Vox Pop tends to be only 1 to 1.30 minutes long. Journalism students will at least do a Vox Pop interview once during their studies in digital journalism.

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Here are 10 terms for digital journalism majors that journalism students need to know! Learning journalism is fun. Are you interested? Let’s study digital journalism at UMN!

By Levina Chrestella Theodora | UMN News Service

English translation by Levina Chrestella Theodora

Kuliah di Jakarta untuk jurusan program studi Informatika | Sistem Informasi | Teknik Komputer | Teknik Elektro | Teknik Fisika | Akuntansi | Manajemen| Komunikasi Strategis | Jurnalistik | Desain Komunikasi Visual | Film dan Animasi | Arsitektur | D3 Perhotelan , di Universitas Multimedia Nusantara. www.umn.ac.id