Lecture 9- News values

News stories are decided by impact and audience identification. 

IMPACT

‘News is anything that makes a reader say, “Gee Whiz!” - Arthur MacEwen, US Editor. 

AUDIENCE IDENTIFICATION

‘news is anything that's interesting, that relates to what's happening in the world, what's happening in areas of the culture that would be of interest to your audience.’ - Kurt Loder, US Journalist. 

News values relate to pragmatics and source influence. 

PRAGMATICS

ethics – facticity - practice / practical current affairs – everyday (24-7 news). 

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.

Commercial media is known for using the 'if it bleeds, it leads!' However in recent campaigns channel 9 has used the 'If it happens in (local area of Brisbane) it's on 9'. This is a use of Hyperlocalisation. 

Newsworthiness

Golding and Elliot’s (1979) News Values

Drama, Visual attractiveness, Entertainment, Importance, Size, Proximity, Negativity, Brevity, Recency (exclusives, scoops), Elites and Personalities. 

'Data suggest a need for media professionals and suicide experts to work together to balance newsworthiness against the risk of copycat behavior' (Pirkis, J.; Burgess, P.; R Warwick B.; Francis, C. 2007. 

The Newsworthiness of Suicide. Suicide & Life - Threatening Behavior37). 

This statement shows the effect of the Media's reporting of important issues such as suicide. The research found that the media reported 1% of suicides within a year period. Suicides of particular gruesome circumstances, age and gender were both sidelined and reported.