Philippine E-Journals

News: Reportage or Reading?

Brian Saludes Bantugan

Discipline: Journalism

 

Abstract:

The author tries to reconcile whether news is reportage or reading through the different studies done in the past. He was able to conclude that what counts in democratic societies is a journalism that empowers citizens to make responsible decisions that enhance governance, that is, a journalism that, according to Sotirovic and McLeod, “stimulate reflection and encourage individuals to create meaning that can assume social relevance.” According to him, news must go beyond the facts that make up reportage and orient itself towards the learning or a sense-making process that defines news as reading in the context of a democratic interpretive community.