reportage

yellow journalism

In newspaper publishing, the use of lurid features and sensationalized news in newspaper publishing to attract readers and increase circulation. The phrase was coined in the 1890s to describe tactics employed in the furious competition between two New York papers, Joseph Pulitzer's World and William Randolph Hearst's Journal. When Hearst hired away from Pulitzer a cartoonist who had drawn the immensely popular comic strip “The Yellow Kid,” another cartoonist was hired to draw the comic for the World; the rivalry excited so much attention that the competition was dubbed yellow journalism. Techniques of the period that became permanent features of U.S. journalism include banner headlines, coloured comics, and copious illustrations.

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Encyclopedia Britannica, 2008. Encyclopedia Britannica Online.

journalism

Collection, preparation, and distribution of news and related commentary and feature materials through media such as pamphlets, newsletters, newspapers, magazines, radio, film, television, and books. The term was originally applied to the reportage of current events in printed form, specifically newspapers, but in the late 20th century it came to include electronic media as well. It is sometimes used to refer to writing characterized by a direct presentation of facts or description of events without an attempt at interpretation. Colleges and universities confer degrees in journalism and sponsor research in related fields such as media studies and journalism ethics.

Learn more about journalism with a free trial on Britannica.com.

Encyclopedia Britannica, 2008. Encyclopedia Britannica Online.

Reportage

Reportage sometimes refers to the total body of media coverage of a particular topic or event, including news reporting and analysis: "the extensive reportage of recent events in x." This is typically used in discussions of the media's general tone or angle or other collective characteristics.

Reportage is also a term for an eye-witness genre of journalism: an individual journalist's report of news, especially when witnessed firsthand, distributed through the media. This style of reporting is often characterized by travel and careful observation.

Literary reportage is the art of blending documentary, reportage-style observations, with personal experience, perception, and anecdotal evidence, in a non-fiction form of literature. This is perhaps more commonly called creative nonfiction and is closely related to New Journalism. The prose of such reporting tends to be more polished and longer than in newspaper articles.

Etymology

All forms have a common route, being adapted into English in the late 19th century from the French word of the same spelling.

Examples of Reportage in photography

Reportage styles of photography can be applied outside of photojournalism. People who have worked in the journalistic profession sometimes move their skills acquired into other areas of photography such as weddings or portraits, pets and animals or event photography.