What is news? The word news, to describe the things journalists write about has been in use for at least half a century, well before newspapers were around. 2
News is the major function of journalism, as well as a money-making (profitable) product.
And it is always singular! 3 So, it is gathered, processed, packaged and sold by newspapers, news services, news magazines and other periodicals,
as well as by radio, TV (free-to-air or paid, cable, satellite, or IPTV), blogs and websites. 4
News is information (information is always singular too)
that journalists believe is important or interesting for their audiences (readers, listeners and viewers). 5
Thus news helps individuals in society make decisions about their lives and actions.
People use the news to help them make up their minds so they can function as informed citizens. 6
From the simplest and daily ones, like for example
whether to take an umbrella with you while going to work,
to more complex and difficult ones. 7
News is all around us.
Whether it is extraordinary events, like the September 11, 2001 terrorist attack 8
or everyday occurrences such as the weather forecast (weather itself can make extraordinary news),
news is an integral part of our existence. 9 On a societal level, news is one of the main ways in which a society examines itself.
That examination provides an important means by which the society can find solutions to its problems. Which society? 10
The open (democratic) one, in which information is accessed and exchanged (circulated)
with no or relatively little interference (censorship) from the government, or other organizations that control its norms. 11 How solutions are found?
Through public dialogue and debate.
This lecture outlines and explains SOME of the aspects of news. As we explore the concept of news, keep in mind a few basic points: 12
A. News is a construct of journalism: That is news is what journalism and journalists say it is. 13
News does not happen naturally, even though it can inform us about a natural disaster. 14
News is not just information. There is a lot of information around us.
Besides we live in the so called Digital World, or the Era of Information. Some of it qualifies as news, but most does not.
15
B. News relies on the experiences of the audience to be effective:
Journalists assume that we can understand what they are telling us, because we can relate our own experience to what they are saying. 16
Most people gather lots of experience as they go through their daily routines.
These experiences are important to the way in which we process and interpret the news that journalists produce for us.
17
C. The more open a society is, the better the news process works:
When information is freely available and accessed, journalists find it easier to obtain, interpret and process. 18
News consumers have more journalistic sources to go for information.
America (USA) has created a relatively open society, although the pressures to close off information are constant. 19
The events of September 11, 2001, have renewed efforts, particularly by the US government,
via its secret service and social security agencies, to restrict information and access to it. 20
Such efforts and attempts should be viewed very skeptically,
even when they are called for in the name of national security.
21 News Values What makes an event or topic news in the eyes of the journalist?
The same thing could happen to two people in two different places, and one would be a news story, while the other would not.
22
For instance, if you were involved in a minor automobile accident in which there are two injuries, the incident probably would not appear in the news.
23 Similarly, the deaths of 5 people in a local community is newsworthy to that community than the death of 500 people in a remote foreign country.
This is because audiences globally are usually considered to be most interested in things that affect them directly.
24 If the president was involved in that same type of accident, it would probably be the first story on all the nightly newscasts.
Similarly, the deaths of 5 people in a local community is newsworthy to that community than the death of 500 people in a remote foreign country,
25 The separation of events into news and not news categories
is a function of what we call as news values, qualities or elements of news, i.e. those themes that have been shown to strike a chord with media audiences.
26 The evaluation and selection of these newsworthy events, that will inform, educate or entertain the audience
is done through a process of news judgment (see role of intended audience).
27
Nobody is born with news judgment.
This is something you must absorb through experience, reading the media and hard work. 28 While news cannot be strictly defined, since -no standardized definition of news and -no reliable rule about what exactly constitutes news exist,
because there are many variables to predict...
29
SOME guidelines for sound news judgment can be provided. 30
These are concepts that help us decide what a mass media audience is or should be interested in. 31
There are millions of events that occur in our (globalized) society every day.
And they happen by the second. As we speak. 32
Those few events editors select, sending reporters to cover them as news
have at least one of the following characteristics: 33
Impact/Consequence Events that change people's lives are classified as news. Although the event itself might involve only a few people, the consequences may be wide- ranging. 34 For example, if the Parliament passes a law to raise taxes or if a researcher discovers a cure for a form of cancer, both actions will affect large numbers of people.
They have impact and consequence, thus they would be considered news. 35
Timeliness Timeliness is a value common to almost all news stories. It refers to the recency of an event. 36
For example, a trial that occurred last year is not news;
a trial that is going on right now maybe news. 37
How much time has to elapse before an event can no longer be considered news?
No single answer to that question applies to every case.
38
Most events that are more than a day- and-a-half old are not thought to be news.
However, combination or follow-up of a story, may extent its timeliness. 39
Prominence Prominent people, sometimes even when they are doing trivial things, make news. 40
The heads of states are prime examples. Whenever they take a trip - even for purely personal and private reasons
their movements are covered in great detail by the news media. 41 The president, prime minister, chancellor or king is a prominent and important person (power elite).
Anything he/she does is likely to have an impact on the country, and people are very interested in his/her actions. 42
Prominent personalities (celebrities), famous politicians, advocates of social causes, powerful organizations or institutions also make the news. 43 In Cyprus for example, the church (organization/institution)
and the archbishop (head of it and power elite)
make the news very regularly. 44
Proximity Events occurring close to home are more likely to be news than the same events that occur elsewhere, unless they have a direct effect at home. 45
For example, a car wreck killing two people that happens on a road in your home country is more likely to be reported in the local news media than the same kind of wreck that occurs 1,000 miles away. 46
We are interested in the things that happen around us.
If we know a place where something goes on, we are more likely to have a feeling for it and the people involved. 47 Newscasts have a separate International Section, covering non local events.
Hence if two people die from Ebola in Liberia, it might make the news, since the spread of the disease might reach our home. 48
Conflict When people disagree, fight, have arguments - that's news,
particularly if one of the other news values, such as prominence, is involved. 49
Conflict is one of the journalist's favorite news values
because it generally ensures there is an interesting story to write. 50
Conflict stories are very popular because drama is an ingredient of them
two or more competing forces, each striving to defeat the other.
51
Novelty/The bizarre/unusual or human interest A rare event is sometimes considered news. There is an adage in journalism that goes like this: "when a dog bites a man, that's not news; when a man bites a dog, now that's news". 52
If a dog however bites a child to death, that it is definitely bad news.
These events, though they may have relatively little importance or involve obscure people, are interesting to readers and enliven publication. 53
For example, it's not news when someone's driving license is revoked
(unless that someone is a prominent figure) 54 It is news, however, when the Inland Transport Department revokes the license of that person on the basis of being
"the worst driver in the country" because he/she had 22 accidents in the last 2 years. *see video 55
Additionally, what are we, as human beings, most interested in?
Chances are we are most interested in other people and how they behave. 56
Human interest stories cause audiences to laugh, cry or grief, to feel emotion.
If a little girl is trapped for days in an abandoned well, that's a human interest story. 57 If a dog mourns at his master's grave, that's another bizarre human interest story. *see video 58
Currency Issues that have current interest often have news value, and events surrounding those issues can sometimes be considered news. 59
For example, a panel discussion of doctors may be held in our university.
Normally, such a discussion might not provoke much interest for journalists. 60
If the discussion topic were the latest cancer or HIV, or Ebola fighting drugs, the news value of the event would change, and there would likely be a number of journalists, from various media, covering it. 61
Issues that have the value of currency come and go, but there are always many such issues being discussed by the public. 62 The above taxonomy is the American version.
We also have a European list of news values, which even though is stating them with different wording, yet it adds additional information as well as values:
63
Threshold/Magnitude Events have to pass a threshold before being recorded at all. 64
After that, the greater the intensity, the more gruesome the murder, the more casualties in an accident,
then the greater the impact on the perception of those responsible for news selection. 65
Frequency An event that unfolds frequently, is more likely to be selected as news than is a social trend taking place over a long period of time. 66
Unambiguity The less ambiguity, the less likely an event is to become news. The more clearly an event can be understood, and interpreted, without multiple meanings, the greater the chance of it being selected. 67 68
Meaningfulness/Relevance The culturally similar is likely to be selected because it fits into the news selectors frame of reference. 69
Thus, the involvement of Cypriot citizens will make an event in a remote country more meaningful to the Cypriot media. 70
Similarly, news from Greece and Turkey is seen more relevant to the two dominant communities of Cyprus
than is news from countries which are less culturally familiar. 71
Consonance Journalists may predict that something will happen, thus forming a mental pre-image of an event which in turn increases its chances of becoming news. 72
Unexpectedness The most unexpected or rare events, the greatest the chance of being selected as news.
73
Continuity Once an event has become headline news it remains in the media spotlight for some time, because it has become familiar and therefore easier to interpret. 74
Continuing coverage also justifies the attention that event attracted in the first place. 75
Composition An event may be included as news less because of its intrinsic news value than because it fits into the overall composition or balance of a newspaper or news broadcast. 76
Reference to elite nations The actions of elite nations are seen as more consequential than the actions of other nations. 77
Definitions of elite nations will be culturally, politically and economically determined and will vary from country to country, 78 although there may be universal agreement about the inclusion of the US and Cyprus.
The latter because it is the center of the world and the belly button of the earth! 79
Reference to elite people The actions of elite people may be seen as having more consequence than the actions of others, and the audience may identify with them. 80
Reference to persons News has a tendency to present events as the actions of named individuals rather than a result of social forces. 81
Reference to something negative Negative news could be seen as unambiguous, unexpected and occurring over a shorter period of time than positive news.
82
Bad news (conflict of tragedy) vs. Good news (rescues or cures).
Predicted, expected news vs. Unexpected, or breaking news
83
Additional news values have been suggested by other academics, such as: Competition (scoop)
Predictability (events pre-scheduled for journalists) 84
Prefabrication (readymade texts, like news releases, which are easily and quickly processed)
Follow-ups (stories about subjects already in the news)
85
Media Agenda/Relativity The most complex and subjective news value. Sometimes even when a story meets all the tests of news, it does not get published. Why? Because it does not fit the news organizations own agenda.
86
The lists are just predictive of a pattern of which events will and will not be reported,
but they cannot provide a COMPLETE explanation of all the irregularities on news composition. 87
Furthermore, identifying news values may tell us more about how stories are covered
than why they were chosen in the first place, 88
since what exactly lies behind news values, in terms of ideology,
is not always known and clear. 89
Remember this: news is both a product and a point of view, even in its most innocent form, which is the mere recording of facts. 90 MUST include
NEWS SENSE from Lynette Sheridan Burns book, Understanding News, p. 53 91
Other Factors Beyond these basic news values, however, are many other factors that affect the daily news menu, presented to us as news consumers. 92
One is the limited ability of a news organization to gather, process, and present news. 93
Every broadcast organization is limited by time and every newspaper or magazine is limited by the number of pages or space they have in which to place the news.
94
Only websites are not limited by time and space, but they are limited by staff.
Money and resources also constitute limitations that plague all news organizations. 95
Consequently, there are significant events or topics in a community that may not receive the coverage they deserve, because,
the decision process of what to cover, 96 depends on evaluation, selection and judgment,
elements that are different in every media outlet for a variety of different of reasons.
Ideology as we said is an integral part.
97 Why news matters? Functions of news News, essentially, is what journalists say it is, as we have seen.
What is so important about news, and why should anyone who is not involved with journalism care?
98
Like journalists (as per week no. 3), news also perform specific functions for society. 99
The contributions that news makes to our society can be classified into three categories:
- information, - entertainment, and - persuasion. 100
These are not mutually exclusive.
Rather, they are intertwined and sometimes difficult to separate in real life. 101
The information function of news is the most obvious and most important.
News tells a society or community about itself. 102
It helps to define and explain ourselves to ourselves, like introspection.
At one level, it simply gives us awareness that there are people, places, and events that are beyond our personal experience. 103 One psychological tendency that we have is to define the world in relationship only to ourselves and our experiences (short sighted).
News helps us step beyond ourselves to broaden our outlook, our spirit, our horizon. 104
Sometimes the news media are given too much credit, or blame for the decisions we make. 105
Some people believe, not wrongly, that they manipulate us, into making decisions on how to act
or forming our ideas on whom to vote for, because of news reports we see or read. 106
Advertising particularly, is thought to have this magical power: we see an ad for something, and we go out and buy it,
because a subliminal message is infiltrated into our subconscious mind.
107
However, decisions about what to buy or who to vote for, are much more complex and multileveled than that
and the news media are not the only factors that help, or affect people in making them. 108 They do contribute to a person's decision making process, however, and
the extent of this contribution is a source of continuing and important debate in society and media studies (i.e. media effects). 109
The second major function of news is entertainment. This function is not a playful one;
it is meaningful to us personally and has important implications for society. 110
Much of the news we receive does not affect us personally.
Rather, much of the news is merely interesting. 111
But, it is also distracting in a very positive sense.
News, as we have said earlier, takes us beyond ourselves and our egoism, as well as our routines. 112
It allows us to experience many people and events vicariously - experiences we would not otherwise have.
Those experiences are valuable and enriching, unless we are ethnocentric and/or chauvinists by nature. 113
The entertainment function of news has been a matter of debate among journalists for many years. 114
Some journalists and news shows have taken this function beyond what is considered to be standard journalistic practices
and have thereby - in the minds of some - distorted the information being presented. 115
One of the words for this is sensationalism or melodramatics,
while a most recent word used is infotainment. 116
The term means that vivid and colorful aspects of the news are emphasized
merely because those aspects will appeal to people and build an audience for the news program or publication. 117
The persuasion function of the news is the most subtle of the three functions but its importance is enormous. 118
As we discussed earlier, news helps us make about our personal and civic lives.
It helps us to understand the world in which we live and order the experiences and events that occur in our realm. 119
News aids in shaping our outlook.
News can also help us decide what is important, what we will think about, and what we will discuss. 120
As such many social critics have argued, the information we get from the news media helps to maintain social order. 121
Some have even gone so far as to argue that news helps to control society by letting us know what is proper to think about and what is not. 122
Two crude examples of this were the reactions of the news media and the public in the days and weeks after the
September 11, 2001 in the USA & the
July 11, 2011 Mari Blast in Cyprus. 123
In the first example, much was said about the goodness of America,
and a good deal of information about the nation's problems and the shortcomings of its leadership went unreported. 124
Also, much negative information about the Muslim religion and people who adhere to that faith was presented by the news media. 125
For a time it became appropriate for many Americans to think and speak negatively about Islam. 126
In the second example, much was said about the shortcomings of the government of Cyprus, specifically the president,
and a good deal about the army's problems and the deficiencies of its leadership went unreported. 127
Similarly, a good deal about the problems of the commercial banks and the deficiencies of their CEO's and governing boards,
went unreported during the financial crisis. 128 Unreported were also the roots of the crisis back in time.
For example during the 2003-2008 administration, Cyprus faced an unprecedented property bubble and perhaps indexes were manipulated in order to enter the Eurozone. 129
Some people tent to see this persuasive function of the news as a great conspiracy
whereby the masses of people are knowingly and openly controlled. 130
That would mean that a significant number of people inside the profession of journalism are there for motives other than the accurate presentation of news and information.
That is definitely not the case. 131
However, although we must recognize that journalists are also citizens of society,
who have also internalized the values all of us share,
132
and who do have an interest in maintaining the social order,
yet some mistrust does exist, as journalists are apt to different kinds of pressures. 133
Hard news: news of politics and government and stories about taxes, science, medicine, weather phenomena, environment, the economy and business
134
Soft, or light news: news of sex, gossip, show business, animals, an unfolding drama or offering opportunities for humorous treatment and laughing, entertaining photographs. 135