News Values

Come up with a news story from the last 12 months for each of the categories suggested by Harriss, Leiter and Johnson:

• Conflict - Tension or Surprise  

• Progress - Triumph or Achievement

• Disaster -Defeat or Destruction

• Consequence - Effects on individuals or community

• Prominence - The well-known or famous

• Novelty - The unusual or emotional

What example news story does the Factsheet use to illustrate Galtung and Ruge's News Values? Why is it an appropriate example of a news story likely to gain prominent coverage?

• 'British servicewoman dies after Afghan bomb blast' it links with familiarity, continuity and is also a tragic story, which appeals to an audience. 

What is gatekeeping?

• Gatekeeping 'is the process of filtering information prior to dissemination' 

What are the six ways bias can be created in news?

• Selection and omission
• Placement
• Headline
• Photos, Captions, Camera Angles
• Use of names and titles
• Choice of words

How have online sources such as Twitter, bloggers or Wikileaks changed the way news is selected and published?

• They have provided an aspect of transparency within the News industry, as well as providing access to news stories before they reach the mainstream media or gone through correct regulation processes. 

Complete the task on the last page of the Factsheet regarding Sky News and Twitter:

• What does this reveal about how Sky views Twitter as a news source?

Twitter is viewed as crucial to the growing immediacy of news however the examples used show that the lack of regulation means that the information provided is perhaps unethical.  

• What does it say about how news is being produced?

News is far more immediate and it is far more widespread. Twitter as a medium allows for information to be communicated quickly and be accessible for the masses, as well as giving light to some stories perhaps ignored by the mainstream national press. 

• What role does the audience have in this process?

They interact with tweets and share them, sometimes at their own detriment, which allows the news to have a large audience reach. 

• Why might this be a problem for journalistic standards?

As mentioned above, information is not always completely true or valid, impartial or regulated before being shared and is sometimes shared with the intent to gain attention rather than inform; this means that information being shared and circulated is sometimes socially detrimental for example in the case of Johnny Depp's domestic abuse claims. 

In your opinion, how has the digital age changed Galtung and Ruge’s news values? 

• The digital age has offered a larger range of news stories available to the public however the News Values have not changed significantly, except for the rise of digital age meant the subsequent rise of American Culture and thus American news now falls under the Familiarity and Continuity.

How would you update them for 2020? Choose TWO of Galtung and Ruge's news values and say how they have been affected by the growth of digital technology.

• Negativity and Amplitude. The spread of bad news has become astronomical with the introduction of the internet and 'clickbait' since bad news garners traffic and in alliance with Freud's theory of Scopophilia [the human instinct to want to see something society views as taboo] people rarely seek out to find out about the good particularly with the rise of natural disasters and social degradation and warfare within the last 12 months [Amplitude] there is a higher density of information available on said disasters than there perhaps would've been in 2000.