Journalism

Joornaal is a Somali word for a periodical publication containing articles, news, or research. It is derived from foreign language terms (Italian/English giornale/journal), which originally meant 'daily' — indicating that such publications appear at regular intervals.

In broad usage, journalism comprises two main types: news journalism (newspapers or magazines for the general public) and scientific journalism (research publications whose articles are peer-reviewed by other scholars). Both types share a consistent publication schedule, but their audiences and methods of verifying information differ.

News Journalism

News journalism gathers, verifies, and publishes information on public affairs, politics, economics, and sports. The work is carried out by journalists, reporters, and photographers. The standard process is: information gathering (interviews, documents, on-site reporting), verification (ideally by at least two independent sources), analysis, and then publication. When a publication contains an error, many news outlets issue a published correction.

Scientific Journalism

Scientific journalism publishes articles written by researchers. A submitted article is first reviewed by editors, then sent to experts in the same field who evaluate the quality of the methods, data, and findings. Following their assessment, the article may be accepted, revision may be requested, or it may be rejected. Some journals use an open access model in which readers are not charged a fee.

Usage in Somali

In Somali, the word wargeys ('newspaper') is generally specific to news publications, while joornaal and majalad ('journal' and 'magazine') are used for scientific and periodical publications. Joornaaliste or saxafi ('journalist') refers to someone who works in journalism, and joornaalism or saxaafad ('journalism') refers to the profession as a whole.