week 4: the functions and values of news

8/10/2019 Week 4: The functions and values of news

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COMM-125 Introduction to Journalism

Section 1- Language of instruction English

Wednesdays 15:00-18:00

Venue: NEWTON Amphitheatre

Lecture no. 4

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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.

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News is the major function of

journalism, as well as a money-making

(profitable) product.

And it is always singular!

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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), blogsand websites.

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News is information (information is

always singular too)

that journalists believe is important or

interesting for their audiences (readers,

listeners and viewers).

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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 canfunction as informed citizens.

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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.

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News is all around us.

Whether it is extraordinary events, like

the September 11, 2001 terrorist attack

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or everyday occurrences such as the

weather forecast

(weather itself can make extraordinary

news),

news is an integral part of ourexistence.

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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?

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The open (democratic) one, in which

information is accessed and

exchanged (circulated)

with no or relatively little interference

(censorship) from the government, orother organizations that control its

norms.

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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 inmind a few basic points:

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A. News is a construct of

journalism: That is news is whatjournalism and journalists say it is.

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News does not happen naturally, even

though it can inform us about a naturaldisaster.

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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 mostdoes not.

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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 aresaying.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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 accessto it.

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Such efforts and attempts should be viewed

very skeptically,

even when they are called for in the name of

nationalsecurity.

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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 otherwould not.

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For instance, if you were involved in a

minor automobile accident in which

there are two injuries, the incidentprobably would not appear in the

news.

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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.

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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,

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The separation of events into news

and notnewscategories

is a function of what we call as newsvalues, qualities or elements of

news, i.e. those themes that have

been shown to strike a chord with media

audiences.

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The evaluation and selectionof these

newsworthy events, that will inform,

educate or entertain the audience

is done through a process of news

judgment (see role of intended

audience).

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Nobody is born with news judgment.

This is something you must absorb

through experience, reading the media

and hard work.

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While newscannot be strictly defined,

since

-no standardized definition of news and

-no reliable rule about what exactlyconstitutes news exist,

because there are many variables topredict...

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SOME guidelines for sound news

judgment can be provided.

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These are concepts that help us

decide what a mass media audience isor should be interested in.

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Those few events editors select,

sending reporters to cover them as

news

have at least one of the following

characteristics:

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Impact/Consequence

Events that change people's lives are

classified as news. Although the eventitself might involve only a few people,

the consequences may be wide-

ranging.

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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 numbersof people.

They have impact and consequence,

thus they would be considered news.

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Timeliness

Timeliness is a value common to

almost all news stories. It refers to therecency of an event.

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For example, a trial that occurred last

year is not news;

a trial that is going on right now maybe

news.

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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.

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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.

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Prominence

Prominent people, sometimes even

when they are doing trivial things,make news.

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The heads of states are prime

examples. Whenever they take a trip -

even for purely personal and privatereasons

their movements are covered in greatdetail by the news media.

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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.

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Prominent personalities (celebrities),

famous politicians, advocates of social

causes, powerful organizations orinstitutions also make the news.

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In Cyprus for example, the church

(organization/institution)

and the archbishop (head of it andpower elite)

make the news very regularly.

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Proximity

Events occurring close to home are

more likely to be news than the sameevents that occur elsewhere, unless

they have a direct effect at home.

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For example, a car wreck killing two

people that happens on a road in your

home country is more likely to bereported in the local news media than

the same kind of wreck that occurs

1,000 miles away.

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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.

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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.

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Conflict

When people disagree, fight, have

arguments - that's news,

particularly if one of the other news

values, such as prominence, isinvolved.

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Conflict is one of the journalist's

favorite news values

because it generally ensures there is

an interesting story to write.

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Conflict stories are very popular

because drama is an ingredient of

them

two or more competing forces, each

striving to defeat the other.

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Novelty/The bizarre/unusual or

human interest

A rare event is sometimes considerednews. 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".

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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.

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For example, it's not news when

someone's driving license is revoked

(unless that someone is a prominent

figure)

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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

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Additionally, what are we, as human

beings, most interested in?

Chances are we are most interested in

other people and how they behave.

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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.

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If a dog mourns at his master's grave, that's another

bizarre human interest story. *see video

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Currency

Issues that have current interest often

have news value, and eventssurrounding those issues can

sometimes be considered news.

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For example, a panel discussion of

doctors may be held in our university.

Normally, such a discussion might not

provoke much interest for journalists.

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If the discussion topic were the latest

cancer or HIV, or Ebola fighting drugs,

the news value of the event wouldchange, and there would likely be a

number of journalists, from various

media, covering it.

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Issues that have the value of currency

come and go, but there are always

many such issues being discussed bythe public.

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The above taxonomy is the American

version.

We also have a European list of newsvalues, which even though is stating

them with different wording, yet it adds

additional information as well as

values:

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Threshold/Magnitude

Events have to pass a threshold before

being recorded at all.

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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.

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Frequency

An event that unfolds frequently, is

more likely to be selected as news thanis a social trend taking place over a

long period of time.

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Unambiguity

The less ambiguity, the less likely an

event is to become news. The moreclearly an event can be understood,

and interpreted, without multiple

meanings, the greater the chance of it

being selected.

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Meaningfulness/Relevance

The culturally similar is likely to be

selected because it fits into the newsselectorsframe of reference.

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Thus, the involvement of Cypriot

citizens will make an event in a remote

country more meaningful to the Cypriotmedia.

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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.

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Consonance

Journalists may predict that something

will happen, thus forming a mentalpre-image of an event which in turn

increases its chances of becoming

news.

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Unexpectedness

The most unexpected or rare events,

the greatest the chance of beingselected as news.

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Continuity

Once an event has become headline

news it remains in the media spotlightfor some time, because it has become

familiar and therefore easier to

interpret.

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Continuing coverage also justifies the

attention that event attracted in the first

place.

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Composition

An event may be included as news

less because of its intrinsic news valuethan because it fits into the overall

composition or balance of a newspaper

or news broadcast.

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Reference to elite nations

The actions of elite nations are seen as

more consequential than the actions ofother nations.

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Definitions of elite nations will be

culturally, politically and economically

determined and will vary from countryto country,

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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!

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Reference to elite people

The actions of elite people may be

seen as having more consequencethan the actions of others, and the

audience may identify with them.

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Reference to persons

News has a tendency to present

events as the actions of namedindividuals rather than a result of social

forces.

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Reference to something negative

Negative news could be seen as

unambiguous, unexpected andoccurring over a shorter period of time

than positive news.

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Bad news (conflict of tragedy) vs.

Good news (rescues or cures).

Predicted, expected news vs.

Unexpected, or breaking news

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Additional news values have been

suggested by other academics, such

as:Competition(scoop)

Predictability (events pre-scheduledfor journalists)

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Prefabrication (readymade texts, like

news releases, which are easily and

quickly processed)

Follow-ups (stories about subjects

already in the news)

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Media Agenda/Relativity

The most complex and subjective news

value. Sometimes even when a storymeets all the tests of news, it does not

get published. Why? Because it does

not fit the news organizations own

agenda.

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The lists are just predictive of a

patternof which events will and will not

be reported,

but they cannot provide a COMPLETE

explanation of all the irregularities on

news composition.

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Furthermore, identifying news values

may tell us more about howstories are

covered

than whythey were chosen in the first

place,

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since what exactly lies behind news

values, in terms of ideology,

is not always known and clear.

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Remember this: news is both a

product and a point of view, even in itsmost innocent form, which is the

mere recording of facts.

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MUST include

NEWS SENSE

from Lynette Sheridan Burns book,Understanding News, p. 53

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Other Factors

Beyond these basic news values,

however, are many other factors thataffect the daily news menu, presented

to us as news consumers.

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One is the limited ability of a news

organization to gather, process, andpresent news.

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Every broadcast organization is limited

by time and every newspaper or

magazine is limited by the number ofpages or space they have in which to

place the news.

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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.

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Consequently, there are significant

events or topics in a community that

may not receive the coverage theydeserve, because,

the decision process of what to cover,

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depends on evaluation, selection andjudgment,

elements that are different in everymedia outlet for a variety of different of

reasons.

Ideology as we said is an integral part.

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Why news matters? Functions ofnews

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?

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Like journalists (as per week no. 3),

news also perform specific functionsfor society.

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The contributions that news makes to

our society can be classified into three

categories:

- information,

- entertainment, and

- persuasion.

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These are not mutually exclusive.

Rather, they are intertwined and

sometimes difficult to separate in real

life.

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The information function of news is the

most obvious and most important.

News tells a society or community

about itself.

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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.

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One psychological tendency that wehave 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.

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Sometimes the news media are given

too much credit, or blame for the

decisions we make.

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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.

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Advertising particularly, is thought to

have this magical power: we see an ad

for something, and we go out and buyit,

because a subliminal message is

infiltrated into our subconscious mind.

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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.

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They do contribute to a person'sdecision 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).

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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.

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Much of the news we receive does not

affect us personally.

Rather, much of the news is merely

interesting.

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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.

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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.

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The entertainment function of news

has been a matter of debate amongjournalists for many years.

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Some journalists and news shows

have taken this function beyond what is

considered to be standard journalisticpractices

and have thereby - in the minds of

some - distorted the information beingpresented.

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One of the words for this is

sensationalism or melodramatics,

while a most recent word used is

in fota inment.

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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.

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The persuasion function of the news is

the most subtle of the three functions

but its importance is enormous.

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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 inour realm.

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News aids in shaping our outlook.

News can also help us decide what isimportant, what we will think about, and

what we will discuss.

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As such many social critics have

argued, the information we get from

the news media helps to maintainsocial order.

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Some have even gone so far as to

argue that news helps to control

society by letting us know what isproper to think about and what is not.

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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.

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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.

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Also, much negative information about

the Muslim religion and people who

adhere to that faith was presented bythe news media.

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For a time it became appropriate for

many Americans to think and speak

negatively about Islam.

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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 itsleadership went unreported.

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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.

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Unreported were also the roots of thecrisis back in time.

For example during the 2003-2008administration, Cyprus faced an

unprecedented property bubble and

perhaps indexes were manipulated in

order to enter the Eurozone.

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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.

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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.

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However, although we must recognize

that journalists are also citizens of

society,

who have also internalized the values

all of us share,

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Hard news: news of politics and

government and stories about taxes,

science, medicine, weather

phenomena, environment, the

economy and business

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Soft, or light news: news of sex,

gossip, show business, animals, an

unfolding drama or offering

opportunities for humorous treatment

and laughing, entertaining

photographs.

week 4: the functions and values of news

Documents