Lecture Ten

News Values. 

News values, occasionally referred to as “news criteria” or “news factors,” are a conceptual framework used within journalism studies and journalism education to describe the gatekeeping practices of the mainstream news media.  Specifically, news values are defined as qualities of events that increase the likelihood of their being covered in the news.

http://mediaresearchhub.ssrc.org/icdc-content-folder/news-values/

(By Joshua A. Braun, Cornell, 2010)

"News is what a chap

who doesn't care much

about anything wants to

read. And it's only news

until he's read it. After

that it's dead."

Arthur Evelyn Waugh

What are News Values?

1. IMPACT

The impact of news is generally to deliver information that is in the interest of their consumers.

2. AUDIENCE IDENTIFICATION

News is information about anything that is/has happened in the world. It generally needs to be of interest to views and informs them about events/information that they were unaware of.

3. PRAGMATICS

ethics – facticity - practice / practical

current affairs - everyday

4. SOURCE INFLUENCE

"Journalism loves to hate PR … whether for

spinning, controlling access, approving copy, or

protecting clients at the expense of the truth. Yet

journalism has never needed public relations more,

and PR has never done a better job for the media."

Julia Hobsbawm, UK PR executive

In this lecture we linked a fair bit back to lecture one when we talked about how to construct news. Again, the upside down pyramid is relevant. 

"Journalists rely on

instinct rather than logic‖

when it comes to the

defining a sense of news

values."

Sergeant (2001)

This lecture closely linked to last weeks lecture about 'agenda settings'. Although, as journalists we can choose what we want the public to see and what we choose to show them over other news stories, we have to consider whether the audience will even be interested. If we continue to present news about information that no one cares about, then yes, the journalism industry will come to an end. So we have to find a perfect balance between news values and want we want to create as agenda setting. Ultimately though, it is the audiences decision about what they want to hear, cause without them, journalists would be nothing. There is no point reporting if no one wants to read it.