Newspapers, News, and the News Media

1
Newspapers, News, and the News Media

• What is news?
• Two definitions of news.
• Sources of news
• Types of news
• Traditional values in news reporting.
• Two theories Gatekeeping and Lippmanns
  unintentional news distortion

• Story formats
• Journalistic styles
• Gathering, selecting, processing, presenting the
  news (in a dream-world and in a real world).
• Developments in the newspaper industry.
• Two contrasting conceptions of the nature of
  news.
• Types of contemporary newspapers
• Ethical issues.
• The future of newspapers.

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What is news?

• Transmission theory
• News is current and fresh knowledge about an
  event or subject that is gathered, processed, and
  disseminated via a medium to a large and diverse
  audience.

• Ritual/cultural theory
• News is a symbolic representation whereby reality
  is produced, maintained, repaired, and
  transformed.

3
Sources of news

• On-the-spot coverage
• Eye-witness accounts
• Expert accounts
• News releases
• Published documents
• Public records

• Problems of accuracy
• Human processes of perception, memory, and
  recall.
• No human is an observation, recording, or
  remembering machine.
• Biases, misrepresentations
• These are inevitable problems.

4
Categories of News

• Geographic territories
• Local
• Regional
• National
• International
• Specialized Topics
• Organizations

• Extension of stories through time
• Spot news
• Developing news
• Continuing news
• Hard news
• Soft news

5
Traditional news values whats newsworthy?

• Impact how many people will be effected by such
  event?
• Timeliness dont let it cool down, serve it
  while its hot.
• Prominence people in the public eye have higher
  news value.
• Proximity the closer to home an event is, the
  more newsworthy it becomes (maybe not always true
  for Moroccan news media).

• The bizarre when a dog bites a man, thats not
  news it happens so often. If a man bites a dog,
  that is news.
• Conflict harmony is dull, strife is newsworthy.
• Currency if you like it, well give you more of
  it.
• Consequences e.g. stories about breakthroughs in
  science are being replaced by celebrated murder
  and sex scandals.

6
Developments in news organizations

• Wire services
• Syndicates
• Changing patterns of ownership

7
Gathering, selecting, processing, and presenting
the news

• In a dream-world
• Reporters leave their offices to monitor
  newsworthy places and personalities, and carry
  out investigative reporting when necessary.
• Send their initial accounts to the newsrooms.
• Stories are selected (gatekeeping process)
• Stories are edited and arranged in terms of their
  importance (lead stories with large headlines on
  front pages etc.)

• In a real world
• Reporters stay in their offices.
• They receive most of their stories from wire
  services.
• They select, edit, and arrange them.
• They leave their offices when exceptional events
  take place.

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Two theories Gatekeeping and Lippmanns
unintentional news distortion

• Gatekeeping
• The process of screening, decision-making, and
  selecting which news stories go through and which
  do not.
• The use of a complex set of criteria
  organizational policy personal preferences
  definitions of newsworthiness conceptions of the
  relevant audiences fourth estate obligations.
• A limited number of news stories are presented to
  the public.
• Personnel in the news organization become
  gatekeepers who limit and the control the
  publics knowledge of the actual events
  occurring.

• Lippmanns theory
• News is not truth
• The press monitor numerous events.
• Selects an agenda they believe is important.
• Many factors limit their ability to investigate
  and report all events time, money, technology,
  expertise.
• As a result, selectivity, omissions, and
  distortions occur.
• the pictures in the audiences heads
  constitute a pseudo- environment, with limited
  correspondence with the facts in reality.

9
The Agenda-Setting theory influencing public
policies and laws. Maxwell McCombs and Donald
Shaw

• News media select a number of issues, topics, and
  events from the political and social environment.
• Some news stories get more prominence than others
  depending on what is considered newsworthy.
• A daily news agenda is formed.

• The public perceives the news medias order of
  prominence (agenda) and use it to determine their
  personal rankings of importance.
• Politicians become aware of the publics rankings
  and turn them into their own policy making
  agenda.

10
Types of contemporary newspapers

• Metropolitan/national dailies
• Weeklies papers
• Specialized papers

11
Story formats

• The five Ws
• The inverted pyramid
• In TV
• The word story
• VOT (voice over-tape)
• Stand-up
• Stand-up with package

12
Journalistic styles

• The sensational or tabloid stressed shocking
  and bizarre events, sometimes even appalling
  transgressions of social norms.
• The objective or impartial separates fact
  from opinion emotionally detached present both
  sides of the story. News in columns and opinion
  in editorial page.

• The advocacy style reporters promote a cause or
  position
• Precision journalism use of accurate
  quantitative info.
• Civic or public journalism developed in the
  1990skeep the press grounded in the concern s of
  ordinary citizens, rather than those of the
  elites.

13
Contrasting conceptions of the nature and
function of news

• The marketing approach news, information, or
  infotainment
• The adversarial watchdog of the public interest
• Investigative reporting
• Computer-assisted investigative reporting
• The Agenda-setting function of the press

14
American Newspapers

• Two broad categories General news and
  Specialized news
• How often they publish and whats their
  circulations
• Metropolitan dailies copies sold exceed 250,000
• Medium sized and small dailies modest
  circulations of 50,000-100,000

• Non-daily newspaper a.k.a. community or
  grassroots press
• Free distribution newspapers
• The ethnic press
• Other specialized papers industrial, commercial,
  labor, religious, environmental

15
The future of Newspapers

• The good news newspapers are portable,
  predictable, accessible, and cost effective
• The bad news theyre perishable, not popular
  with young people, and their share of the money
  spent by advertisers is declining
• Newspapers are becoming part of the digital world
• New technologies may replace the newspaper all
  together, but the processes of gathering,
  processing, and shaping the news will remain the
  same.

16
Moroccan Government Support to the Newsmedia

• The Government grants an annual subsidy to the
  press and political parties
• 1. The first portion 20 million dirham, goes
  to political parties, trade unions and the press.
  
• 2. The second portion is shared out as follows
  
• 7.6 MDH for the purchase of press paper.
• 1.9 MDH for phone and telex expenses.
• 0.5 MDH for newspaper carriage costs.
• The press also gets some 10 MDH in the form of
  fees paid for the publication of legal, judicial
  and administrative announcements.
• Other support 10 MDH.
• TOTAL 50 MDH (some US 5.7 Million
  ).Furthermore, the proceeds of foreign
  newspapers and periodicals on sale in Morocco
  (more than 1,200 publications in different
  languages) amount to US 10 Million.

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Maghreb Arab Press (M.A.P)

• Inaugurated by the late King Mohammed V on
  November18,1958. Its motto is News is sacred ,
  comment is free".
• In 1977, it became a state owned corporation with
  autonomous legal and financial status. It is
  considered among the largest Arab, African and
  Islamic news agencies.
• It uses a large national network (over 4,000 km)
  and an International network (80,000 km) .
• M A P dispatches 1, 876,160 words a day and
  receives 1, 995, 130 words daily.
• The Government's determination to support this
  ambitious agency was materialized in December
  1988 with the building of new premises and the
  purchase of high-tech equipment.
• Headquarters Rabat.
• 10 regional offices, Casablanca, Fez, Tangier,
  Marrakesh, Beni Mellal, Agadir, Oujda, Laayoune,
  Meknes, Nador.
• 17 International offices Madrid, Paris,
  Brussels, London, Washington, Tunis, Cairo,
  Dakar, Bonn, Jeddah, Algiers, Rome, Moscow,
  Beirut, Geneva, New-York, Montreal.

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Newspapers in Morocco

• In 1997 there are 644 newspapers
• 430 papers in Arabic
• 199 in French
• 8 in Berber
• 6 in English
• 1 in Spanish

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Statistics on Moroccan Media Professionals

• The number of cards granted to journalists has
  increased from 921 in 1992, to 1,031 in 1993,
  to1,097 in 1994, and to1,200 in 1997
• Printed press 412
• MAP 169
• Radio 175
• First TV channel 198
• 2M Television Network 98
• International Mediterranean Radio 25
• Photography Service (Ministry of Communication )
  14
• Morocco Cinematographic Center (CCM) 13
• Radio FM 2