News values
News values are general guidelines or criteria which determine how much prominence a media outlet gives a news story. They explain why a story interests its audience; and how editors and other journalists decide that one piece of information is news while another is not.
Galtung & Ruge
Negativity
| Bad news - involving death, tragedy, bankruptcy, violence, damage, natural disasters, political upheaval or simply extreme weather conditions - is always rated above 'positive' stories (royal weddings, celebrations etc) |
Closeness to home (Proximity)
| Audiences supposedly relate more to stories that are close to them geographically, or involve people from their country, or those that are reported that way(eg '12 Hong Kongers aboard Australia Crash Plane'). News gatekeepers must consider carefully how meaningful a story will be to their particular audience |
Recency
| Newspapers are very competitive about breaking news - about revealing stories as they happen. 24 hour news channels such as CNN and BBC World also rate this value very highly. However, as we have seen with the events of September 11, stories may take a while to develop, and become coherent, so recency is not always the best value to rate. |
Currency
| This is almost opposite to recency, in that stories that have been in the public eye for some time already are deemed valuable. Therefore a story - for instance about the abduction and murder of a child - may run for weeks and weeks, even if nothing new really happens. |
Continuity
| Events that are likely to have a continuing impact (a war, a two week sports tournament) have a high value when the story breaks, as they will develop into an ongoing narrative which will get audiences to 'tune in tomorrow'. |
Uniqueness
| 'Dog Bites Man' is not a story. 'Man Bites Dog' is. Any story which covers a unique or unusual event (two-headed elephant born to Birmingham woman) has news values |
Simplicity
| Obvious, but true. Stories which are easy to explain ('Cat stuck up tree') are preferred over stories which are not (anything to do with the Balkan or Palestinian conflicts) |
Personality
| Stories that centre around a particular person, because they can be presented from a 'human interest' angle, are beloved of newspapers, particularly if they involve a well-known person. Some say this news value has become distorted, and that news organisations over-rate personality stories, particularly those involving celebrities ('Kate Middleton Goes Shopping'). What do you think? |
Expectedness (Predictability)
| Does the event match the expectations of a news organisation and its audience? Or, has what was expected to happen (violence at a demonstration, horrific civilian casualties in a terrorist attack) actually happened? If a news story conforms to the preconceived ideas of those covering it, then it has expectedness as an important news value |
Elite Nations Or People
| Any story which covers an important, powerful nation (or organisation) has greater news values than a story which covers a less important nation. The same goes for people. Barack and Michelle Obama are newsworthy whatever they do. |
Exclusivity
| Also a major factor when setting the news agenda. If a newspaper or news programme is the first and only news organisation breaking a story, then they will rate that very highly. The UK Sunday papers are very fond of exclusives, and will often break a story of national or international importance that no one else has. |
Size
| does matter when it comes to news stories. The bigger impact a story has, the more people it affects, the more money/resources it involves, the higher its value. This is also known as threshold |
Impact
Threshold
The scale or size of an event. The more people a story affects, or the more money or resources it involves, the bigger its impact. An event must exceed a threshold before being recorded. Beyond that threshold, the greater the intensity of the event and the more extreme its effect, the more likely it will be selected. For instance, the more gruesome the murder or the more casualties in an accident, the better the chances of the event hitting the news-stands.
Frequency
Events that suddenly occur are most newsworthy. For instance, motorway pile-ups, murders and plane crashes. This is because they fit well with a news producer’s schedule. Events which unfold gradually, or at inconvenient times, are less likely to be reported. Long-term trends are also unlikely to receive much coverage.
Negativity
Bad news is more exciting than good news. Stories about death, tragedy and bankruptcy always rate higher than positive ones such as royal engagements or celebrations. So do stories about violence, damage, natural disasters, political upheaval or simply extreme weather conditions. Journalists are more likely to select bad news stories rather than good ones. This is because these stories score higher on other news values, particularly threshold, unexpectedness, unambiguity and meaningfulness,
Unexpectedness
Journalists are likely to select an event that is out of the ordinary rather than an everyday occurrence. As the New York Tribune and Sun editor, Charles A Dana. famously put it, “If a dog bites a man, that’s not news. But if a man bites a dog, that is news.”
Unambiguity
Events that are easy to understand are more likely to be newsworthy. The clearer they are, the greater their news value. Stories with a complex background that depend on specialist knowledge tend to be ignored. Journalists prefer the simpler and more straightforward events.
Audience identification
Personification
People are interested in people. News stories presented from a human interest angle and centre on a particular person are more likely to be newsworthy, particularly if they involve a well-known person. Some people claim this news value has become distorted, and that news editors over-rate personality stories, especially those involving celebrities are more likely to appear in newspaper columns.
Meaningfulness
This relates to cultural proximity and the extent to which the audience identifies with the topic. Stories about people who speak the same language, look the same, and share the same preoccupations as the audience receive more coverage than those involving people who do not.
Reference To Elite Nations
Stories concerned with global powers receive more attention than those dealing with less influential nations. This also relates to cultural proximity. Those nations which are culturally closest to our own will receive most of the coverage.
Reference To Elite Persons
The media pay attention to the rich, powerful, famous and infamous. Stories about important people get the most coverage. Hence, the American President gets more coverage than your local councillor.
Pragmatics of media coverage
Consonance
Stories which match the media’s expectations receive more coverage than those which contradict them. At first sight, this appears to negate the notion of unexpectedness. However, consonance refers to the media’s readiness to report an item. Journalists are more likely to cover an event for which they are prepared. Indeed, they often have a preconceived idea of the angle to take even before they get there.
Continuity
A story which is already in the news gathers a kind of momentum. In other words, it is a running story. This is partly because news teams are already in place to report the event. It may also be because previous reportage has made the story more accessible to the public.
Composition
Editors will seek to provide a balance of different types of coverage. This means stories must compete with one another for space. For instance, if there is an excess of newsworthy foreign news, some of these stories may be dropped to make way for unimportant domestic news. So, the prominence given to a story may depend on the news value both of itself and also competing stories. This becomes a matter for the editors’ judgement.
Impact
The facts and events that have the greatest effect on the audience are the most newsworthy
Weight
The significance of a particular fact or event lies in its value with respect to other facts or events
Controversy
Arguments, debates, charges, counter charges, and fights increase the value of news
Emotion
Take into account human interests that touch our emotions
The Unusual
When a dog bites a man it's not news. But when a man bites a dog, it is news. (Old journalistic cliche)
Prominence
More prominent individuals are given more attention
Proximity
Concentrate on news that is of local interest; the closer to home the better
Timeliness
Emphasize what is ne
Currency
Take into account what is on people's minds
Usefulness
Help the audience answer questions and solve problems in their daily lives
Educational Value
Make readers more knowledgeable rather than merely informed
British National Newspapers – An Overview
British newspapers are an important and well established part of British culture.National newspapers are distributed throughout the country and can be divided into three genres:
Tabloids (red-tops): The Sun; The Star; The Sport and The Daily Mirror.
Mid-Range Tabloids (black-tops): The Daily Mail and The Daily Express.
Broadsheets: The Times; The Guardian; The Independent and The Telegraph.
Revision Point: Key Features of the Tabloid Press
• Sensationalised or exaggerated versions of current events.
• Tabloids tend to foster and uphold public opinion and are very often responsible for starting moral panics regarding controversial issues.
• Use of soft news over hard news stories.
• Exclusive interviews.
• Tabloids focus mainly on the personal impact of a story as opposed to examining the overall effect an event has had.
• Dominant use of images to direct the narrative.
• Use of informal language and mode of address to the audience. • Emotional and personal response to the news stories featured.
• Simplistic in their mode of address and written style, using images and large headlines to convey the narrative quickly to their audience
• Tabloids often use binary opposites i.e. good versus evil, to quickly attract and position audiences.
Media Industries
Name the organisation that publishes the sun newspaper
It was founded in 1964 as a successor to the Daily Herald; it became a tabloid in 1969 after it was purchased by its current owners
The sun is a national tabloid newspaper. give two other examples of national tabloid newspaper in the UK
Daily Express
Sunday People
