D. Lokeshwaran's document discusses agricultural journalism. It defines agricultural journalism as gathering information related to agriculture and publishing it for farmers using print, electronic, and computer media. The document outlines the importance and scope of agricultural journalism in disseminating technologies and news to farmers. It discusses the principles of news writing like being timely, factual, and unbiased. The document also covers the different sources and types of news stories for farm publications as well as the merits and limitations of agricultural journalism.

1. AGRICULTURAL JOURNALISM

2. D.LOKESHWARAN
PG SCHOLAR
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURAL
EXTENSION
COURSE TEACHER
DR.J.MEENAMBIGAI
ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURAL
EXTENSION

3. AGRICULTURAL JOURNALISM
Journalism is the systematic and reliable dissemination of public information,
public opinion and public entertainment by modern mass media of
communication.
(Welsely and Campbell) - Journalism is the profession of gathering information
that is of need and interest and then writing, reporting, editing and publishing it
for the general public with the use of various print, electronic and computer-
aided media.

4. DEFINITION
• Agricultural journalism is the profession of gathering information relating to
technologies, issues and achievements in agricultural and allied areas and then
writing, reporting, editing and publishing / disseminating it for the target
audience (i.e. farmers in rural areas) with the use of various print, electronic
and computer-aided media. It is same as Farm Journalism and similar to Rural
Journalism

5. SCOPE & IMPORTANCE
AGRICULTURAL JOURNALISM
Journalism tries to utilize the potential of various mass media for technology
dissemination, as more and more people are gaining better access to such media
It involves collecting relevant and useful information, news and informing to
the mass audience along with photographs / pictures.
 It aims to serve the farming / rural community to improve their socio-
economic status by publishing relevant news stories, feature articles, success
stories and other relevant information.

6. WHAT IS NEWS ?
• Any new information, idea, event, situation or development, that is of interest to a
large number of people, is news.
• It is a report of any event, technology or person, containing timely and unknown
information which has been accurately gathered and written for the purpose of serving
readers / audience.

7. PRINCIPLES OF NEWS WRITING
• Timely / New Factual (not opinion-based)
• Interesting
• Unusual
• Unbiased / truthful
• Important to and not affecting the readers.

8. BASIC QUESTIONS BEFORE WRITING
NEWS
• ‘Why’ to provide the information?
• For ‘Whom’ to write ?
• ‘What’ to write? (Choose subject)
• ‘Where’ it happened ?
• ‘When’ to write? ( Is it Timely, Seasonal ?)
• ‘How’ to write? (Be specific, concrete & practical, interesting, Accurate,
Convincing etc.,)

9. • CONTENTS OF A NEWS
• Title/ Headline – Specific, Short, Attractive, Simple with Standard Abbreviations
• Lead – Create interest in the mind to go ahead.
• Body – Create interest to grab several ideas.
• Conclusion- Opinion of the public / writer, emphasizing the main theme, if needed.

10. DETAIL ABOUT THE LEAD FACT LEAD-
THE MOST IMPORTANT FACT OF STORY
INVERTED PYRAMID STYLE OF NEWS WRITING
 Detail about the Lead fact Lead- the most important fact of story.
 More details & additional interesting facts.
 Minor details, less important facts-It is required for editing, according to space
available.

11. SOURCES OF NEWS STORIES (ESPECIALLY
FOR FARM PUBLICATIONS)
• RESEARCH STATIONS
• KVKs
• GOVT / NON-GOVT ORGANISATION
• EXPERTS AND SUBJECT MATTER SPECIALISTS
• LITERATURE / REPORTS & LIBRARY
• INTERNET
• FARMERS
• PEOPLE THEMSELVES

12. TYPES OF NEWS NEW TECHNOLOGY /
INNOVATIONS (LOW COST)
 Research achievements
 Success stories (even some failures/ losses)
 Relevant information – govt policies, schemes, events, weather forecast,
epidemics, input availability and prices, market prices of produce, solutions to
problems
 Cases of progressive farmers / farmers’ groups
 Disasters
 Financial (loans / benefits)

13. MERITS OF AGRICULTURAL
JOURNALISM
• Can inform, integrate and inspire audience
• Can reach a mass audience within a short time
• Can reach audience in areas which can be accessed with difficulty
• Can create better public opinion
• Print matter published can be used for future reference
• Cost of mass production low (even though initial investment may be high)

14. LIMITATIONS OF AGRICULTURAL
JOURNALISM
 Low literacy and language may be a barrier for print media
 Access to mass media may not be there to certain target groups.
 Details which may be needed by an audience, may not be published due to
space constraints Target audience may not pay attention to matters published in
mass media .
 Target audience may not clearly understand matters published timeliness of the
news / matters published may be lacking Information provided may not be
useful to few sections of audience.