The document outlines several news values that determine how newsworthy a story is: proximity to the audience, negativity and bad news, continuity of ongoing stories, unexpectedness and shock value, focus on personalities, currency and recency, and simplicity over complexity. Stories that are close to home, negative, part of an ongoing narrative, unusual, about people, recent, and easy to understand are generally rated as more newsworthy.

1. News Values.

2. Closeness to home
• Stories about events and situations in
someone’s home community are more
newsworthy than events that take place far
away.

3. Negativity
Bad news is more exciting than good news.
Stories about death, tragedy, bankruptcy,
violence, damage, natural disasters, politics or
extreme weather conditions are always rated
above positive stories.

4. Continuity
• A story which is already in the news gathers a
more attention as the story develops more,
this is usually because correspondents and
news teams are ready to report on any further
developments as they are aware of the story.

5. Unexpectedness
• If the story is bizarre or out of the ordinary it is
more likely to attract more attention than any
other everyday occurrence as it the shock will
have a huge impact on the story.

6. Personality
• Stories that are focused on a certain person
can be presented from a ‘human interest’
angle particularly if the person is well known.

7. Currency
• This means how relevant and recent the story
is. If its happening now its more likely to
gather attention rather than something that
happened last week.

8. Simplicity
• Stories which are simple and easy to
understand are preffered over stories which
go much more in depth. For example, cat
stuck up a tree.