Newspapers: News values

Read Media Factsheet 76: News Values and complete the following questions/tasks. 
Our Media Factsheet archive is on the Media Shared drive: M:\Resources\A Level\Media Factsheets

1) Come up with a news story from the last 12 months for each of the categories suggested by Harriss, Leiter and Johnson:

• Conflict - tension or surprise - Brexit
• Progress - triumph or achievement - England reaching far in World Cup
• Disaster - defeat or destruction - Hurricane Florence 
• Consequence - effects on individual or community - Brexit deal
• Prominence - the well known or famous - Meghan Markle and Prince Harry get married
• Novelty - the unusual or emotional - death of Aretha Franklin

2) What example news story does the Factsheet use to illustrate Galtung and Ruge's News Values? Why is it an appropriate example of a news story likely to gain prominent coverage?

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/apr/20/british-servicewoman-lisa-headkilled-afghanistan?INTCMP=SRCH

Using the example pictured, Afghanistan, in terms of geographical proximity, is far away from the U.K. but when a young British soldier dies, the story gains cultural proximity as British audiences see the soldier as ‘one of their own’. On an intensity scale, the first female

officer to be killed is considered more newsworthy as it is unusual. The ongoing war in

Afghanistan is a continuity story but often the interest in the story lies in that fact that

deaths, even though inevitable, are not predictable; a bomb disposal expert may be

expected to live rather than die, which makes the story all the more shocking. There is

also clarity of facts from an authoritative source, namely the Ministry of Defence. This

particular story, in its online form, had about 3,100,000 search engine results, suggesting

that it was high on the scale of news values for many institutions as well as being of

interest to audiences.

3) What is gatekeeping?

Gatekeeping is the process of filtering information prior to dissemination. This process is usually done via the editor, but the gatekeeping process could be seen to be more than simply an editor choosing one story over another, it could also refer to how journalist select certain lines of questioning, or use some words over others to describe people and event. In general, gatekeeping is about opening or closing the channels of communication and, in the case of news, it is a way for news institution to control the ‘flow’ of information passed on to the audience.

4) What are the six ways bias can be created in news?

• Bias through selection and omission- some details are specified where as some are not in order to give readers a point of view already

• Bias through placement- stories at the front are seen as more important compared to those at the back

• Bias by headline- larger and bold text is more intriguing and can often be misleading as it conveys excitement but the story really isn't.

• Bias by photos, captions, and camera angles- heavily influence the public’s perception of a person or event.

• Bias through use of names and titles- Labels and titles used to describe people or places.

• Bias by choice of words- People can be influenced by the use of positive or negative words with certain connotations as well as the tone the writer is using.

5) How have online sources such as Twitter, bloggers or Wikileaks changed the way news is selected and published?

Wikileaks has several news stories that are all raw materials, meaning that people can read it in any way without editors of news industries gatekeeping the stories. This is mostly used by journalists to gather sources for their own stories. 

6) Complete the task on the last page of the Factsheet regarding Sky News and Twitter:

• What does this reveal about how Sky views Twitter as a news source?
• What does it say about how news is being produced?
• What role does the audience have in this process?
• Why might this be a problem for journalistic standards?

It says website files cannot be found.

7) In your opinion, how has the digital age changed Galtung and Ruge’s news values? 

The digital age has changed G&R's news values in terms of Continuity and Unexpectedness. Anything can happen around the world and therefore not much is expected also, the continuity is important as online everyday there is several stories every single day and therefore it can be difficult to keep the readers intrigued with the same story.

8) How would you update them for 2018? Choose TWO of Galtung and Ruge's news values and say how they have been affected by the growth of digital technology.

Continuity: social media is always being updated as it is much easier for people around the world to post stories, newspapers wouldn't be able to keep up with how fast social media updates.

Time span: The growth of digital technology means that news is instantly available for the consumers and this makes it difficult for newspapers as it would take time to publish the newspapers out, and the news would already be available to the consumers.