News: News Values

Question 1

Gate keepers

Answer 1

Media’s power to let some issues in and kept out of the news

• editors decide what makes the cut and what doesn’t
• Marxism - depends of values of the media owners

Question 2

Norms setting

Answer 2

The process where the mass media emphasise and reinforce conformity to social norms and isolate others who don’t conform by making them victims of unfavourable media reports

Question 3

Addenda setting

Answer 3

Media’s influence in lying down list of subjects for public discussion

• people can only discuss and form opinions on things they have been informed about by the media
• those in charge of media have power as they choose what is in the news
• some subjects will not get discussed as the public never get informed about it

Question 4

Regulation of news

Answer 4

OFCOM: regulates media and news content to check for quality and libel

Question 5

Journalists code of ethics

Answer 5

List of ethics journalists are recommended to follow ( respect privacy, avoid harassment)
- many don’t follow this

Question 6

Journalists ethics Exampel

Answer 6

Leveson enquiry into the phone hacking scandal
- news of the world hacked into Millie Dowler who was a girl who went missing as well as celebrities phones to find out about their lives

Question 7

Constraints on news content FATSID

Answer 7

Financial cost 
Audience 
Time/ space availability 
Sources of news
Immediacy 
Deadlines

Question 8

Galtung and Ruge- news worthy items included

Answer 8

• Elite people (important figures)
• Unambiguity (easy to understand)
• Unexpectedness (surprising news will make headlines)
• Negativity (bad news more interesting)
• personalisation ( apply to people’s lives)

Question 9

Evaluation

Answer 9

Not based on British news - may not apply to the UK

- news is now diverse may not fit into these categories