News Values

1
News Values

• Reading the News

2
Task

• Listen to these two short news broadcasts
• Note down what stories are featured
• Note down also any interesting things you spot

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News 001 - TFM

• Extract Removed

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News 002 Radio 1

• Extract Removed

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News Values

• Choices are based on News Values.
• This is based on what the Radio Station thinks
  the audience will be interested in

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Gatekeeping

• If a story does not fit into the news agenda it
  will not be reported (Gatekeeping)
• Decisions influenced by audiences
• News providers must appear to be
• authoritative and trustworthy
• interesting and informative
• relevant

7
Hard News

• Serious Crime
• Politics
• Economy
• Foreign affairs
• Home/ National affairs
• Disasters

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Soft News

• Human interest stories
• Sport
• Entertainment
• Less serious crime

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Balance

• Only a few stories can be covered
• On radio, story given more prominence if audio
  footage available (aural imperative)
• Generally, negative news given priority over
  positive news

10
Personalisation

• Events involving individuals more likely to be
  reported than events about faceless
  institutions
• Politicians on walkabouts
• Baby x on waiting list
• Celebrity gossip (Rooneys metatarsal)
• Can lead to cult of celebrity names matter
  more than events

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Amplitude/ Threshold

• Bigger events more newsworthy
• Commonly occurring events not usually (except on
  local news)
• Unless they involve a celebrity or an unusual
  event

12
Familiarity/ Proximity

• Closeness of an item to an audience
• News usually consists of items relevant to the
  region (local or national)
• Many people dying in a boat capsizing in Thailand
  will not compete with a few people dying in a
  boat capsizing in the Channel
• A story about a single murder in the South is
  less likely to be reported on local radio than a
  violent robbery in the North

13
Negativity

• Bad News is Good News
• Constructive events less likely to feature than
  catastrophes or violence
• Positive stories are more usually used as a
  happy ending to bulletins (and finally.
• The ordinary is taken for granted stories come
  from the extra-ordinary

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Listen Again
Newsbeat
TFM

• Listen to both news programmes again.
• Fill in the table and see if you can spot where
  News Values occur