What: Lecture 9
Who: Dr. Bruce Redman
This weeks lecture was about News Values and was taught by Dr. Bruce Redman. The lecture was very fascinating, and it was interesting to see what news values are depicted in the media more than others.
What Do We Mean By News Values?
During the lecture, Dr. Bruce Redman defined news values as, "The degree of prominence a media outlet gives to a story, and the attention that is paid by an audience".
An example of this is the prominence of the Baden Clay story by Brisbane's media outlets over the past few weeks. The Baden Clay story has remained prominent in the news because it is an ongoing investigation. The audience consumes the story because the story has impact and it's local. The audience wants to know what happened to the missing lady, will she be found alive or have they found her murderer?
News values vary between news services and media outlets and vary across cultures. A news story that is shown on channel "Ten" may be different to a news story shown on "ABC". Similarly, a news story shown in America may be different to a new story shown in Australia.
During the lecture, Dr. Bruce Redman stated four key points that govern news values. This is what they are:
- Impact - Impact refers to something that has a large effect on the audience. News that surprises the audience or as mentioned in the lecture "anything that makes the reader say "Gee Whiz!"" (Arthur MacEwen, US Editor).
- Audience Identification - Audience identification refers to something that is interesting, and something that relates to the audience and what's happening internationally, nationally and locally. The audience wants to know what's happening in the world.
- Pragmatics - Pragmatics refers to ethics, facticity, practice, current affairs and everyday news.
- Source Influence - Source influence refers to Public Relations (PR) and how it has become rather prominent in the media/journalism industry.
Very Simple News Values
During the lecture, Dr. Bruce Redman stated two ways a media outlet decided what stories lead. This is what they are:
This means that if the story results in blood, guts, death and tragedy, the story usually leads. It could be a story about the death of a celebrity, a terrorist attack, war, murder, a car accident, a shooting, etc.
In Australia, commercial media outlets such as channel "Ten", "9" and "7" depict local news. Dr. Bruce Redman stated that local news is all about "proximity". Meaning that the news is all about what's happening in specific local area like in Queensland it's all about the Queensland floods, politics, missing people, local shootings and our local sporting teams.
Newsworthiness - The 12+ Factors
During the lecture, Dr. Bruce Redman identified six lists of news values. Each list was developed by renowned people in the media industry.
After analysing the six lists, it is evident that over the years there has been a vast range of news values that have remained the same and prominent. The news values that have remained most prominent include proximity, negativity, prominence, personality/celebrity, emotion, timeliness, and elite nations and people, just to name a few.
In the past when I would consume news, I would never consider what news values the news story contained. In contemporary times when I consume news, I can't help but notice these news values. Today I read an article on the "Courier Mail" website about a woman who was found dead in her Bracken Ridge home. Some of the news values that I noticed in this article were proximity, negativity, recency, impact and emotion.
Threats to Newsworthiness
Dr. Bruce Redman stated three tensions of newsworthiness. This is what they are:
- Journalism/Commercialisation of media and social life
- Journalism/Public Relations
- Journalism's ideals/Journalism's reality
Journalism/Commercialisation of Media and Social Life
During the News Values lecture and the Commercial Media lecture, the commercialisation of media was described as untrustworthy and corrupt. Commercial Media is profit driven, and its main focus is to entertain and not educate. Commercial Media outlets produce low quality news stories that aren't as serious as news stories produced by public media outlets.
Journalism/Public Relations
Another tension of newsworthiness is the everyday reuse of Public Relations press releases by media outlets. During the lecture, Dr. Bruce Redman stated that this is called 'churnalism'. Churnalism is when a media outlet reuses a press release without re-writing the news story or checking the facts. Dr. Bruce Redman also mentioned that, in the media industry, it's easier to publish a press release than it is to find a journalist to write a news story.
Journalism's Ideals/Journalism's Reality
During the lecture, Dr. Bruce Redman identified the ideals of journalism and the harsh realities.
The ideals of journalism:
- A first obligation to the truth.
- A first loyalty to citizens.
- An essential discipline of verification.
- Independence from faction.
- Monitoring power and giving a voice to the voiceless.
- Provision of a form for public criticism and compromise.
- Striving to make the significant interesting and relevant.
- Keeping the news comprehensive and proportional.
- Freedom to exercise personal conscience.
The reality of journalism:
- The journalism and media industry is infected by Public Relations.
- Rapid news cycles and the commercialisation of the media means that journalism is of lesser quality, incomplete, untrustworthy and irresponsible.
- Media mergers create news cartels that corrupt the news process. They also cause a lack of serious coverage and limit the diversity of news.
The Future Of News Values
What are tomorrow's news values?
Over the years, a lot of the news values have remained the same, and I presume that they will remain the same tomorrow, give or take a few. In this weeks tutorial, Carmel Rooney informed my peers, and I that health and wellbeing may become a news value.
What 'drives' the decision made in media organisations about what is 'newsworthy'?
I believe that the public and audience drive the decisions made by a media organisation about what's newsworthy. A media organisation should provide news stories containing news values that the audience would like to view or read.
What do you think is 'newsworthy'?
Dr. Bruce Redman mentioned during the lecture that journalists should rely on experience when deciding what's newsworthy. At the moment I have no experience in the media and journalism industry, so instead I'll rely solely on my instincts. I believe that news stories that have an impact are newsworthy. News stories have to have proximity because the audience want's to know what is happening in their local area. I believe that news stories that are bad and negative are more popular and entertaining than those that are good.
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