JOUR1111 - Lecture Nine

So, like me, you're one of the few who still read newspapers. You take a stroll to the newsagent, supermarket, petrol station - anywhere you can get your hands on some quality print - and walk inside. You see the collection of newspapers and magazines, each beaconing you to read the ever-so important story on the front. You take a closer look. What do you see? Oh yes, the same story, x10, repeated and spat out on every front page in sight. 

News Values and Newsworthiness.

How media outlets determine the degree of prominence given to a story.

In this weeks lecture, we were told; "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."

Now, whether or not you agree with this statement is irrelevant, however, it certainly does seem true when we take a look at the media outlets responsible for the coverage of such newsworthy events. Media outlets are only interested in front page stories that make the reader say "Gee Whiz!" - ultimately because this is what sells. The same goes for "If it bleeds it leads" and "If its's local it leads." Because newspapers are competitive, obviously the more shocking and unbelievable the story, the better. Thus, below is a guideline created to determine a story's value. 

Firstly, you look for;

1) Impact - Make a reader say 'Gee Whiz!'

Then;

2) Audience Identification - Anything interesting and relatable to the readers, in terms of the world and culture. 

3) Pragmatics - Ethics, Facticity, Current Affairs, 24/7 News

4) Source Influence - Journalism's relationship with Public Relations

However, News Values are not universal - they vary dependant on the country and the news service.

We then have to ask if the news is newsworthy.

In 1965, Galtang & Ruge created 'The 12+ Factors' of Newsworthiness. OR, 'What will lead a TV/Radio News Bulletin or become a headline or online feature? The 12 Factors are as follows; frequency, threshold, unambiguity, meaningfulness, consonance, unexpectedness, continuity, compositional balance, elite nations, elite people, personification and negativity. However, with this in mind, Galtang & Ruge developed this theory with newspaper dailies in mind - no prediction of technological journalism advances. Therefore, we have been able to reduce 'The 12+ Factors' to '4' - still relevant today - and quite clearly speak for themselves. 

Visualness 

Conflict 

Emotion 

Celebrification of the journalist

Like last week's talk of 'Ethics in Communication', similarly, I think news values and newsworthiness are much left to what you - as the journalist - feel is most important and relatable to your readers. With experience, Journalists learn to determine crap vs. quality - in terms of news and front page newsworthiness. Hopefully, as a budding journalist, I'll soon be able to do this and confidently rely on  and trust my own ethics, morals and opinions, to judge whether or not the story I am writing is of quality and genuine interest and concern to the public. As mentioned last week, likewise, these 12 Factors aren't compulsory, and therefore is left very much to your own judgement. Let's just hope it's good.