3. News Value Flashcards
Social construction of news
-The GMG have shown the selection and presentation of news stories is not a neutral process but influenced by dominant ideology of society
-Media can’t report everything in the world, therefore what is selected is due to a range of factors
Influence of owners
-Sometimes private owners of media will impose their own views on their editors directly or indirectly
-Political views of majority media owners is conservative. They may:
•Occasionally give instructions to editors
•Influence resources available to pursue a story
•Journalists career depend on not upsetting owners, self censorship to avoid this
Making a profit
-Mainstream media predominantly run by large business with aim of making profit
-Much of this is from advertising, this is why media is so concerned with TV ratings, number of hits on websites etc
-Bagdikian suggests importance of advertising means news reports will be present in a way to avoid upsetting advertisers
-In order to attract large audiences it must appeal to everyone and therefore minority views often go unrepresentated which helps maintain hegemony of certain views in society
-Pressure to attract large audiences also lead to dumbing down which seems to attract audiences, e.g. reality TV replaces informative documentary’s
Globalisation, New technology and citizen journalism
-Mainstream news media can no longer rely on the attention of audiences as ppl are constantly tweeting, texting, and searching web for news that interests them
-Must compete globally to survive, must be up to date and tailor media to their market
-May choose celebrity stories and publish online
-Created opportunity for citizen journalism, such as YouTube, ordinary individuals who aren’t journalists able to report and spread news
-This can help overcome suppression of certain stories or biases
Organisational constraints
-Peoples habits and way they consume media have changed with less use of newspapers and more social media
-Ppl now expect to access up to date news at all times
-Social networking sights allow this to happen on a global scale
-Intensity of news has also changed with constant breaking news
-Journlaist and media companies have to respond, journalists increasingly write stories for web instead of newspapers
-Greater emphasis on getting story out first rather than getting it right
Agenda setting
-Ppl can only discuss things they know about, media provides this info
-This means public may not discuss some topics because they are not informed about them
-Media’s influence in selecting subjects for public discussion is known as agenda setting
-Idea that if media are unsuccessful in telling ppl what to think, they are successful telling ppl what to think about
-Therefore media can spread a dominant ideology influencing subjects public think about
Gatekeeping
-Media’s power to cover some issues and ignore others is called gatekeeping
-GMG suggest owners, editors and journalists construct the news by acting as gatekeepers, influencing knowledge public gains access to
-These issues could be ones that are damaging to dominant class
-Sometimes issues aren’t reported because writers and editors think audiences won’t be interested in them, but they could still be important to let ppl know
Norm setting
-Describes way media emphasises conformity to social norms and seek to isolate those who do not via unfavourable news reports
-Achieved through two main ways:
1) Encouraging conformist behaviour, not going on strike or advertising reinforcing gender roles
2) Discouraging non conformist behaviour, media give extensive and sensationalist treatment to serious crimes etc
-This norm setting is achieved through media representations
Social control
Agenda setting, gatekeeping and norm setting all forms of social control
Presentation of news
-Way news items are presented may influence how ppl are encouraged to see a story
-For example, position of a news story in a newspaper, order of importance in news bulletins, choice of headlines, if images are used
-The images used in news films may have hidden bias, GMG shown that employees often filmed in quiet of their office whilst workers seen shouting on picket lines (protesting)
-Media can also create bias by language used. Emotive language may be used to grab audiences interest
Inaccurate reporting and moral panics
-Other sources of bias may be inaccurate reporting details of a story may be incorrect. This may be due to organisational pressures but also to make story more accurate
-It can sometimes cause a moral panic, this is because of pressure to attract audiences and other pressures
-However other sociologists suggest new media made moral panics less common, this is because there are now more sources of information and increased scepticism of mainstream media
News values and newsworthiness
-Gatekeeping and filtering process involves journalists and editors deciding what is newsworthy.
-Research has shown that journalists operates with values and assumptions which guide them into choosing what’s newsworthy
-News therefore socially constructed by journalists
Galtung and Ruge newsworthy items
Composition- events that fit style of paper or channel
Continuity- events likely to have continuing impact
Elite nations or ppl- what journalists or media customers see as important
Frequency- events that occur unexpectedly
Meaningfulness- have meaning to audience
Negativity- bad news rates higher than positive
Activities of journalists and churnalists
-GMG emphasise importance of journalists in forming media content, links to dominant ideology approach to media.
1) Journlaists hierarchy of credibility, attach importance to views of those higher up
2) Ignore what they see as radical views
3) Journalists mainly white, male, middle class which likely to share views of dominant ideology
Churnalism
-Describes trend whereby journalists produce news articles based on pre packaged material from press releases and other sources without doing further research and checking facts
-Davies found 80% stories in UK partially constructed from second hand material
-Churnalism increased due to desire of owners to cut costs, attract audiences and time pressures on journalists
