Week 2: Assignment

MondayNov 20 at 12:42pm

Manage Discussion Entry

Entertainment News

Out on the Beat

There are few things more likely to lift an editor's ear than a unique angle to a trending topic. As most of you are aware, sports and entertainment journalism have become a saturated and bloated market. Therefore, staff writers, columnists, TV anchors and radio voices must fight for dependable sources and fresh story angles. While there are many young reporters making the jump into sports or entertainment coverage with high journalistic standards, the two venues face criticisms from within.

In fact, there are many in the field questioning the validity of news organizations that employ a high number of commentators with no credentials. From a distance, both entertainment news and sports journalism appear more editorial than objective news options, especially at the national level. However, there are a great number of valuable examples at the local and regional level creating compelling and objective content for both genres. Unfortunately, once most reporters crash the national and global scenes, they are paid more for their opinions than objective reports.

Although entertainment and sports news are specialized venues, the basics of journalism for the professionals along these beats must remain intact.

After all, good reporters are still objective, accurate and use the AP Style to write their stories. It is critical young journalists understand these fundamentals before committing their services to any newspaper or beat.