Skills of Community Journalist

1. Skills of Community Journalist Sehrish Mushtaq

2. Key Words of CJ • Practical and technical competence, • Compassion • Common sense • Responsibility • Independence • Involvement • Initiative • Integrity • Performance and UnderstandingPeople.

3. Essence of the CJ Philosophy • The effective community journalist holds his or her position in the public interest and by the public’s trust.

4. Public Trust • This trust places a great burden of responsibility on the operator of a community publication. This trust is based on the community journalist’s ability to manage the qualities listed above.

5. Independence and Detachment • Community journalists must maintain their independence while being part of the scene and the seen, not by being isolated. • Just far enough off to the side to be able to see potential conflicts of interest.

6. Part of Community & Coverage of Local Event • It is a disgrace when an event attracts hundreds of people and no one from the news media show up. • People look for their local news media to cover things that matter, and when large numbers are involved, it matters, one way or another. • The paper must be seen at the chamber banquet, the town or religious festival, at civic clubs and special school events.

7. Being Active • The community journalist must be an active, not passive, journalist. There are so many things going on that the community journalist may be tempted to allow the schedules and agendas of the community to control his or her own agenda.

8. Compassion • Finally, compassion for and understanding of people — first those with whom you work and second those whose lives and activities you cover — are the most important factors in effective community journalism, both from a professional and financial perspective.

9. PUBLIC LISTENING • Public listening is the first step in a journalist's research of an issue. • Journalists need to know how the community feels and what's important to the people. That's exactly what public listening is. • It is the process of finding out from the community members the issues that are important to the community.

10. PUBLIC LISTENING • Being a community journalist, the reporter should ask the community, "what's important to you?" and allow the community to form the questions that the media can help to answer through the reporting. • Just don’t ask people about what's wrong with their community. Ask the public what's "right", so that the community can also see that there are good things going on so the community and can build on what has made their community good to help solve the problems.

11. PUBLIC LISTENING • The media must consider the public, the community, and the agenda? What are their issues? These issues, in the final analysis, may not be the issues the media think are the most important.

12. Layers of PUBLIC LISTENING • Throughout this discussion of the community journalism model, ideas have been shared about how journalists identify the issues that are important to the people. The media don't set the agenda. They go to the people and try to find out what the people's (the community's) agenda is. • The “public” can be segmented into five basic groups or places.

13. The OFFICIAL group • Those people who are part of the political system or recognized leaders of institutions in society;

14. The Quasi OFFICIAL group • Organizations or people who are involved in the community, but not necessarily representatives of either national or local government. These people tend to be considered “leaders” by the community but not by the office held.

15. THIRD PLACES • Organizations or people who are involved in the community, but not necessarily representatives of either national or local government. These people tend to be considered “leaders” by the community but not by the office held.

16. INCIDENTAL PLACES • Are where people are simply able to talk informally with one another.

17. PRIVATE PLACES • In the privacy of one's home; in people own private lives.