WHAT IS NEWS?The Fourth Estate: News Journalism

Topic 2

What is news?

Mencher in News Reporting and Writing (p. 71) gives us two definitions:

News is information people need to make sound decisions about their lives

News is information about a break from the normal flow of events, an interruption in the expected

NEWS VALUES

ImpactTimelinessProximityProminenceConflictCurrency The Unusual  

IMPACT'synonymous with newsworthiness' says

Conley and Lamble (p85)

Has breadth and depth: Either LOTS of people impacted somewhat or SOME people impacted heavily.

Impact varies from group to group

Interest rate rises & fallsBroad impact Deep impact

MANY people to varying degrees

Affects all households with mortgages

SOME people impacted heavily

Examples:Pensioners and

households on lower incomes

Households with very large mortgages and only medium incomes

Deep and tragic impact

Car crashes into childcare centre, causes fire

Critically injures several children

Only a FEW people impacted but impact is heavy and tragic

Image source: The Australian

TIMELINESS When

Also relates to the news value of 'currency'.

Journalists risk being scooped by others on the same story

Anniversaries of major news events and recurring events – opportunities for a related story

Online news media challenged traditional media’s news cycle

Image source: The Age

PROXIMITY‘Where did the event happen?’

But also more importantly for a newspaper's readers - how did it affect local people, and for international stories - Australians?

Media constantly localise international / national events by looking for local (ie Australian) connection

Not just a geographic bias - but a cultural and often ethnic one

Cultural and national biases in news values still prevalent, and reflect Australia’s connections and alliances with UK, NZ and the US.

Proximity versus ProminenceOne dead celebrity Many dead ‘nobodies’

CNN wrote in Feb an article on the imbalance on reporting famous and ordinary people:

http://edition.cnn.com/2014/02/06/us/heroin-investigations/

Imag

e s

ou

rce:

CB

C

PROMINENCE'Names make news'

Celebrity dominates many areas of news reporting

Position and power also qualify for prominence.

Prominence has different values in different communities, whether geographic or special interest.

Social media puts the celebrity further into public spotlight.

Prominence (and authority) has different values for different communitiesSurfing champ Steph Gilmour

Sex Discrimination Commissioner

CONFLICT Attracts readers and therefore journos

and editors love to write about conflict.

From war to brawls to neighbourhood disputes to differences of opinion – all are conflict-related

Crime, politics, sport, business - all have elements of conflict

Report conflict accurately and in a fair and balanced manner.

Conflict should be put in its proper context

Media should not inflame racial/tribal tensions should not be inflamed or exploited – eg Alan Jones and the Cronulla Riots.

“Pussy Riot attacked with whips by Cossack militia at Sochi Olympics“ URL: www.theguardian.com/music/2014/feb/19/pussy-riot-attacked-whips-cossack-milita-sochi-winter-olympicsImage sourced: The Guardian

CURRENCYLinked to timeliness

Tied to lifecycle of a news event or perceived trends.

When story ceases to provide new information or public tires of the story, it has lost ‘currency’

May be seasonal like the Bushfire season, the football season,

Or tied to an-going event: Philip Seymour Hoffmans’ death and coroner's reports, court trials, anniversaries. 

THE UNUSUAL

Man Bites Dog

Get your facts correct!!!

Image source: Gawker

News Values Generally accepted list but constantly debatedJournalists’ ‘news sense’ tends to become

internalisedApplication is flexible and depends upon:

Perceived audiencesPlace, day, time of publication

Newsworthiness ultimately hangs on the sense of disorder. (Hartley)

Journalists tend to favour conflict, prominence and unusual values

How do editors determine what gets a run in their paper? News flow exceeds editorial space (Sally

White)

Advertising volumes and the shrinking 'news hole' (Sally White)

Stories which will get readers clicking on it run

Financial interests of the newspaper itself

HARD NEWS VERSUS SOFT NEWS

HARD NEWS VERSUS SOFT NEWSSoft news Hard newshuman interest story, the how-to and self-

development or lifestyle features, the entertainment yarn.

HARD NEWS VERSUS SOFT NEWSSoft news Hard newshuman interest story, the how-to and self-

development or lifestyle features, the entertainment yarn.

Front pages & early news pages

Top stories on news website homepage

fair and balanced, accurate and brief account of issues or

events.

Opinions – whose are theyEditorial Opinion/Commentary

Opinions of ‘the newspaper’

http://www.smh.com.au/comment/smh-editorial/whatever-the-result-in-wa-senate-poll-farce-must-end-20140220-333w8.html

Position that the newspaper supports, supported by evidence

In opinion section, or identified as analysis

usually penned by experts or senior editorial staff because of their extensive knowledge on a topic.

GOOD commentary is supported by argument and evidence

News writing conventions5Ws and the H Inverted pyramid

News writing conventions5Ws and the H

WHOWHATWHENWHEREWHY

And HOW

Inverted pyramid

News writing conventions5Ws and the H

WHOWHATWHENWHEREWHY

And HOW

Inverted pyramid

Most important to least important

News writing conventions5Ws and the H

WHOWHATWHENWHEREWHY

And HOW

Inverted pyramid

Most important to least important,

with a summary lead/intro.

Inverted pyramid

Most important

Least important

http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-national/nsw-beaches-closed-on-tsunami-threat-20100228-paii.html (accessed 28 February 2010)

SummaryNews is that which is happening now, has just

happened or will happen;Journalists rely upon set of ‘news values’ in

deciding what stories to cover;Application of news values is contested by

journos + editorsHard news – a fair and balanced, accurate and

brief account of issues or events.Conventions of news writing include the 5Ws +

H, plus inverted pyramid