News Values

NEWSPAPERS GCSE Media Studies

“ The News”
On a spidergram, note down the mediums (forms) we can access news through.
Which one do you use the most?
The News

Definitions of ‘the news’ Which one do you agree with the most? Television news needs visuals and interviews with eye witness accounts to make it seem real. News by itself is not entertainment; it is information about current events but it does have to be made into interesting stories for the viewer Good news stories are based on other peoples’ misery. Media news depends on negative happenings – otherwise we wouldn’t have anything to talk about All news is pre packaged by publicity managers and spin doctors News is about information and updating events News is about people; people stories interest viewers the most

Task
In your books, write a short paragraph definition of the news based on the class discussion and what you personally believe.

News Values
In 1965 some media researchers analysed international news stories to find out what kind of stories came top of the news ‘agenda’ worldwide. Their findings led to them creating a list of ‘news values’ – a kind of scoring system. A story that scores highly on each news value is very likely to make the front page, or the start of a TV news bulletin.
It is not just down to news values that decides which stories come top of the news agenda: journalists and news editors draw on their own experience to decide what should be deemed the most important, or what should come top.
Different news organizations have their own system of setting a news agenda: what one newspaper will put on the front page is not necessarily what another paper will put on the front page.
More of this next lesson!

The News Values
Negativity – bad news is always rated more highly than good news
Proximity – stories that involve people from their own country (“Australian jet crash kills 10 Brits”)or stories that are close to people geographically (“bomb scare in Harpenden”)
Recency – newspapers are very competitive about breaking news

The News Values
4) Currency – the opposite to recency: stories that have been in the public eye for some time are deemed valuable (i.e. Madeleine McCann case)
5) Continuity – events that are likely to have a continuing impact on readers, such as a 2 week sports event, or the war
6) Uniqueness – any story that covers a unique or unusual event (“2 headed dog in Birmingham”) has news values

The News Values
7) Simplicity – stories which are easy to explain are preferable to long-winded, complicated stories
8) Expectedness (predictability) – an event that was expected to happen (i.e. violence at a demonstration), or predictable for the target audience or newspaper (i.e. seeing a naked woman on page 3!)
9) Elite nations or people – stories about a powerful country or person (George Bush is always newsworthy)

The News Values
10) Exclusivity – if a paper is the first or only paper breaking a particular story, then that story will be rated very highly. The UK Sunday papers are very fond of exclusives.
11) Size – it does matter! The bigger impact a story has, the higher its value.

News Values: The things that make “good” news. Value Explanation / Example Proximity (Closeness to home) Recency Currency Continuity Personality Size Exclusivity Simplicity

Ex-Prime Minister Margret Thatcher dies in a car accident. Government insiders suggest there could be a new terrorist threat within the country. Newly released figures show that the sale of cigarettes has dropped 10% over the last year. A mother of two is killed in a road accident in Cornwall. A mudslide in Peru wipes out a village. Up to 2500 people are feared dead. Mount Helen in America starts smoking. Falling ash forces up to 200 locals to evacuate the area. The new Spice Girl record sells an amazing 10 million copies, raising tonnes of cash for Children in Need Madeleine McCann is reportedly seen by a Portuguese tourist swimming in the pool of a local family. Fabio Capello announces his squad for the 2010 work cup qualifiers. Channel 4 announce that there will be no more Big Brother. Kerry Katona re-enters rehab The French Prime Minister is accused of sexual discrimination after a senior minister is passed by for promotion.

Quick! A deadline is looming…
You are the news editor of a large popular press paper. Lots of stories have come through to your office, but you only have time to prepare and print 4 for the morning release.
Which four will you choose? And in which order?
Be prepared to explain your decisions…

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News Values

by MrRichards on Feb 28, 2010

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News Values — Presentation Transcript