Selection and Presentation of the News

Question 1

Outline the different factors that influence the selection of news.

Answer 1

• ownership of media news organisations
• news values
• organisational or bureaucratic constraints/routines

Question 2

Explain new values as a factor influencing the selection of news.

Answer 2

These are the values used by organisations, such as the BBC and individuals, such as editors and journalists, to guide and underpin their understanding of newsworthiness: the stories, among the many generated each day around the world, deemed worthy of being selected and presented as news.

Question 3

Explain Galtung and Ruge’s news values.

Answer 3

IMPACT:
Extraordinariness
Threshold
Unambiguity
Negativity

AUDIENCE IDENTIFICATION:
Reference to elite persons
References to elite nations
Personalisation
Meaningfulness

PRAMGATICS OF MEDIA COVERAGE:
Frequency
Continuity
Consonance
Composition

Question 4

Explain the hypotheses presented by Galtung and Ruge.

Answer 4

The more events satisfy the criteria mentioned, the more likely that they will be registered as news (selection).

Once a news item has been selected what makes it newsworthy according to the factors will be accentuated (distortion).

Both the process of selection and the process of distortion will take place at all steps in the chain from event to reader (replication).

Question 5

How do sociologists know about news values?

Answer 5

News values are rarely, if ever, articulated. Rather, sociologists and media researchers uncover these values through their research- e.g. through content analysis.

Question 6

Explain how the murder of policeman Andrew Harper is the perfect news story.

Answer 6

Extraordinariness- the murder of a police officer is a very rare event in the UK.

Threshold- murder is the most serious crime, and tends to be big news, with the murder of a policeman even more so. Not only this, but the fact that we don’t know who did it led to 10 travellers being arrested, which is an unusually high suspect count for any individual crime.

Unambiguity- the media quickly labelled the event murder, and the main suspects were from a local travellers’ site. This adds to the ‘perfect narrative’ of ‘good cop, keeping us safe’ killed by deviant travellers who harass and steal from good local communities.

References to elite nations- not only did the event take place in the UK, it took place in middle England, in the home counties.

Personalisation- the wedding photos of the happy couple have been widely circulated in the media, as was an open letter from Harper’s widow.

Meaningfulness- happened in ‘middle England’, and the role of a police officer is one everyone is familiar with.

Frequency- occurred suddenly, on a single night.

Continuity- as the story developed, the media were primed to report on it.

Consonance- fits with negative (and racist) stereotypes of travellers.

Negativity- a wholly negative and very sad incident.

Question 7

Evaluate Galtung and Ruge’s news and values.

Answer 7

(-) Their research was limited to Norwegian newspapers.

(-) Further, Brighton and Foy argue that broadcast news programmes had only recently been established, newspapers were still essentially serious publications, and the internet did not exist: all of this weakens the validity of their work today.

(-) Harcup and O’Neill (2001) updated Galtung and Ruge in their study of British newspapers, concluding that their were 10 criteria newspaper reporters used to judge newsworthiness: power elite, celebrity, entertainment, surprise, bad news, good news, magnitude, relevance, follow ups, and media agenda.

(-) However, Brighton and Foy criticise all such lists because their compilers assume that there is consensus or general agreement among both journalists and audiences as to what is newsworthy, and this is unlikely, with considerable diversity between news outlets and among audiences.

(-) Finally, Brighton and Foy argue that journalism is undergoing change and that traditional news values may no longer be relevant in the age of spin doctors, churnalism, and citizen journalists.

(-) Marxists might also argue against the idea that journalists are primarily selecting news based on these values.

Question 8

List the other influences on the selection of the news.

Answer 8

Spin doctors
Churnalism
Citizen journalism

Question 9

Explain spin doctors.

Answer 9

Since 1884 political reporters based in parliament have been fed news (‘briefings’) by government ministers on the understanding that they do not identify the specific source of this information.

The last few governments have appointed an unprecedented number of press officers, known as ‘spin doctors’, whose role is to meet journalists in order to ‘manage’ news stories so that they are favourable to the government.

The existence of both lobby journalists and spin doctors challenges the idea that all news stories are the product of news values, with some news stories clearly constructed to favour particular political points of view.

Question 10

Explain churnalism.

Answer 10

Churnalism refers to a process where journalists produce news based on pre-packaged press-releases from government spin doctors, public relations consultants or news agencies .

The journalist Waseem Zakir has been credited with first using the term in 2008 while working for the BBC when he noted that more and more journalists were resorting to Churnalism and that there was a corresponding decline in journalists actually going out and doing their own reporting and checking facts for themselves.

Davis (2008) found that 80% of stories in the major UK newspapers were wholly or partially constructed from second-hand material provided by news agencies or public relations firms such as the Press Association. He further found that many of the companies providing material for these newspapers were actively promoting particular political or economic interests.

Philips (2010) pointed out that reporters have increasingly been asked to rewrite stories that have appeared in other newspapers or websites, such as the BBC News Site, and to lift quotes without attributing them.

The rise of the blogosphere also raises the possibility that professional journalists might lift quotes from bloggers who aren’t as constrained by media industry standards and may derive their information from unverified sources, even from rumours circulating on social media.

Question 11

Explain citizen journalism.

Answer 11

Citizen journalism is journalism that is conducted by people who are not professional journalists but who disseminate information using Web sites, blogs, and social media.

Citizen journalism has expanded its worldwide influence despite continuing concerns over whether citizen journalists are as reliable as trained professionals.

Citizens in disaster zones have provided instant text and visual reporting from the scene, and people in countries affected by political upheaval and often in countries where print and broadcast media are controlled by the government have used a variety of technological tools to share information about hot spots.

Question 12

Name the organisational routines impacting the selection and presentation of the news.

Answer 12

Financial costs
Time or space available
Deadlines
Immediacy and actuality
The audience
Journalistic ethics

Question 13

Explain financial costs as an organisational routine impacting the selection and presentation of the news.

Answer 13

Financial costs concerns have a major impact on the selection and presentation of news.

News gathering can be an expensive business, and investigative journalism and overseas reporting are two of the most expensive types of news to produce, because they former involves sustained long-term investigation and the latter involves overseas expenses. Financial pressures have led to news companies changing the type of news they produced, with two major consequences:

1) investigative journalism has declined, and that which remains has become more about digging up dirt on celebrities rather than in-depth exposés on corrupt politicians or corporations.

2) the news has become more about ‘infotainment’ – that is entertainment has become increasingly important as a factor in the selection of news items. Entertaining items achieve larger audiences which means more advertising revenue and more income.
Even the BBC isn’t immune from these pressures- Clarke (2004) described BBC News as ‘More Madonna than Mugabe’.

Question 14

Explain time or space available, deadlines and immediacy and actuality as an organisational routine impacting the selection and presentation of the news.

Answer 14

Time or space available is a major constraint on what is reported. TV news programmes and newspapers only have so much time/ space, and sometimes news stories are included or excluded simply according to whether they fit the time or space available.

Deadlines further influence what makes the news. TV news, particularly 24 hour news, has an advantage over newspapers: the deadline for something to reach tomorrow’s newspaper is around 10pm the previous evening.

Immediacy and actuality refer to the fact that an item is more likely to be included in the news if it can be accompanied by live footage and if relevant people can be found to comment on the issue or offer soundbites because these are thought to add dramatic reality.

Question 15

Explain the audience as an organisational routine impacting the selection and presentation of the news.

Answer 15

The audience may influence the content of the news as it is tailored to the perceived characteristics of the audience.

For example, a tabloid like The Sun is aimed at less well educated people whilst a ‘broadsheet’ like The Guardian is aimed at people with a higher level of education, and this effects both the selection and presentation of news items.

The time of day of a news report may matter in terms of content- morning news programmes- playing as people get ready for/ commute to work- tend to have more business items, content of day time news may change to reflect the interests of stay at home parents- e.g. there may be more ‘parenting’ items.

Question 16

Explain journalistic ethics as an organisational routine impacting the selection and presentation of the news.

Answer 16

Journalistic ethics should constrain the type of news which is reported, and the way in which news is reported.

All UK newspapers sign up to the Press Complaints Commission’s voluntary code of conduct which stipulates that journalists should avoid publishing inaccurate information and misrepresenting people and should respect people’s privacy and dignity.

However, there is some evidence that journalists do not always act ethically. For example, the News of the World phone hacking scandal in the early 2000s – the paper hacked various celebrities and royals’ phones as well as those of victims of the July 2005 London bombings.

The Leveson report (2012) found that news stories frequently relied on misrepresentation and embellishment, and it seems that press watchdogs have little power to enforce journalistic ethics today.

Question 17

Explain the Marxist critique of Galtung and Ruge’s news values.

Answer 17

Marxists are extremely critical of the idea that truth-telling is the primary function of journalists and that newsgathering is mainly based on objective news values.

Those working for mainstream news media may claim that the news they construct is objective and unbiased, but this is a myth according to Marxists, and the news primarily serves to legitimate capitalism and maintain the status quo.

Question 18

According to instrumentalist Marxists what factors shape the selection and presentation of the news.

Answer 18

News gathering as shaped by market forces

Capitalist values permeating news

The influence of owners

Question 19

Explain the influence of owners as a factor shaping the selection and presentation of the news.

Answer 19

Whilst owners may not be able to shape the day to day content of the news, especially live 24 hour news, they can shape the broader context by setting the policies of their companies and influencing the general approach to selecting and editing news.

Owners have the power to hire and fire Chief Executive Officers and other high-ranking officials, and they can exercise direct control over such decisions because they do not have to be made that often.

According to Marxist theory, owners will generally appoint senior officials who share their ideology and then lower ranking media professionals will avoid publishing content that might annoy them for fear of their jobs.

Question 20

Explain news gathering as shaped by market forces as a factor impacting the selection and presentation of the news.

Answer 20

Herman and Chomsky (1988) argue that news-gathering is largely shaped by market forces- particularly the power of advertisers- and news output thus generally supports and disseminates capitalist ideology.

They argue that this is unsurprising given that most news agencies are part of profit seeking media corporations partly funded by advertisers who want their advertising to appear in a supportive selling environment.

Consequently, news and news values are now objective- instead, they constitute a form of propaganda, because news-gathering and output are shaped by a neo-liberal and politically conservative ideology which extols the virtues of free-market capitalism and is critical of any alternative perspective.

Question 21

Explain Capitalist values permeating news as a factor impacting the selection and presentation of the news.

Answer 21

Bagdikian (2004), writing about the USA, notes how capitalist values almost imperceptibly permeate news.

For example, most newspapers have sections dedicated to business news, which present corporate leaders as heroes or exciting combatants, and frequently uncritically report corporate or stock market news.

In contrast, very little attention is paid to ordinary Americans and the economic pressures that they face.

Edwards and Cromwell (2006) argue that the media’s role as a ‘propaganda machine’ for capitalism means that subjects such as corporate criminality or the poor human rights record of UK allies are often ignored by the British media.

Question 22

Outline the neo-Marxist perspective on the news.

Answer 22

Neo-Marxists see the following as influencing the selection and presentation of the news:

The hierarchy of credibility

The social background of media professionals, and news as a ‘circuit of communication’

Moral panics

Question 23

Explain the hierarchy of credibility as a factor impacting the selection and presentation of the news.

Answer 23

Stuart Hall (1973) suggested that the news is supportive of capitalist interests because those in powerful positions have better access to media institutions than the less powerful.

Journalists rank people in elite and professional positions as being more credible sources of authority than those lower down the social class order.

Heads of companies, government officials, the police and academic experts are all more likely to be invited to comment on news items than those from pressure groups, less popular political parties, or just ordinary members of the general public.

The elite thus end up becoming the ‘primary definers’ of the news agenda.

The news often reports on what such people think of events, rather than the events themselves, so we end up with an elite/ middle class frame of the world through the news.

The media’s focus on primary definers means that minority groups are often ignored or portrayed negatively by the media.

Question 24

Explain the social background of media professionals as a factor impacting the selection and presentation of the news.

Answer 24

The Glasgow University Media Group (GUMG), which takes a hegemonic Marxist perspective, argues that the way in which news is gathered and presented is actually the product of the middle-class backgrounds of most journalists and editors.

This means that they tend to unconsciously side with the powerful who they have more in common with. Journalists often do not welcome the kind of radical change proposed by the representatives of the poor and powerless.

The GUMG studied news broadcasts and found that the language and images used by journalists were more sympathetic to the interests of the powerful and often devalued the points of view of less powerful groups. Fiske (1987) found that trade unions were typically presented by journalists as ‘demanding’, whereas management made ‘offers’

Question 25

Explain the news as a circuit of communication as a factor impacting the selection and presentation of the news.

Answer 25

Recent GUMG research has focused on the news as a ‘circuit of communication’ in which production, content, and reception of news are constantly affecting each other. Philo and Miller (2005) identified four participating groups:

1) Social and political institutions and their influence on the supply of information- These institutions include a vast range of organisations – government, business, interest or pressure groups, trade unions, universities and research institutes, scientists, think-tanks, lobbyists and PR consultancies.
2) The media and their content- What is included as news and how it is covered.
3) The public- Stratified in terms of class, gender, race/ethnicity, nationality, sexual identity and age as well as by professional and political commitments and social experience.
4) Decision-makers- In local, national and supranational government as well as in business organisations, interest groups, universities, think-tanks and lobbyists and PR consultancies.

The news as a circuit of communication approach involves a simultaneous examination of these four elements in order to understand how news content is both produced and received.

These different elements constitute a circuit and lead in some senses into one another, so ‘decision-makers’ (number 4) are also key figures in social and political institutions which supply information to the media. In formulating policy statements for public consumption, politicians and other decision-makers will consider in advance how what they release will be received and interpreted by the media and the likely public response.

Although all elements in the circuit of communication are important, powerful groups can sometime bypass parts of the circuit to exercise power. For example Miller (2015) has shown how corporations use lobbying and PR to promote their own interests in direct communications with politicians and other decision-makers. The role of the media and public debate are marginal in this respect – much lobbying takes place off the public radar, but can still have a significant impact on policy decisions.

Question 26

Explain the moral panics as a factor impacting the selection and presentation of the news.

Answer 26

The news media sometimes focus on particular groups and activities, and, through the style of reporting, define these groups and activities as a problem worthy of public anxiety and official control.

The term ‘moral panic’ was popularised by Stanley Cohen in his classic work Folk Devils and Moral Panics to refer to the anxiety and sense of threat it produces among the general population.

In turn, this anxiety or panic puts pressure on the authorities to control the problem and to discipline the group responsible. However, the moral concern is usually out of proportion to any real threat to society posed by the group or activity.

Question 27

Why do certain types of news reporting result in a moral panic?

Answer 27

The types of issues and events that result in moral panics may conform to the news values on Galtung and Ruge’s list: they are newsworthy events.

Cohen and Young (1981) suggest that moral panics originate in the consensual nature of the news media in the UK: journalists see ‘problem groups’ as newsworthy because they assume that their audiences share their moral concerns.

Moral panics may serve a particular purpose.

Moral panics may also simply be the product of the desire to sell newspapers, and a good example of how audiences are manipulated by the media for commercial purposes.

Question 28

Explain the research of Stuart Hall.

Answer 28

Neo-Marxist scholar Stuart Hall (1978) studied news coverage of mugging in the 1970s and concluded that the moral panic that resulted functioned to serve capitalist interests.

Judges, police and the politicians lined up with the media in stressing the threat that this crime posed to society.

Hall rejected the view that the panic was inevitable and an understandable reaction to new and rapidly increasing forms of violence. Hall examined the statistics and found that for the nearest legal category to mugging – assault with intent to rob – the official statistics showed that this type of crime was growing more slowly as the time the panic took place then it had done so in previous decades.

Question 29

What are the stages of a moral panic?

Answer 29

Stage 1: The tabloid media report on a particular activity/ incident or social group, using sensationalist or exaggerated
language or headlines.

Stage 2: Identify the group as a social problem and and oversimplify the reasons why the group or activity appeared

Stage 3: Moral entrepreneurs such as such as politicians and religious leaders react to reports and make statements condemning the group or activity.

Stage 4: There is a rise in the reporting of incidents to the police as the public are more aware of it an the authorities stamp down hard on the group or activity.

Stage 5: Deviancy amplification may occur as the group reacts to the moral panic and it becomes harder to control. More arrests and convictions occur.

Question 30

Evaluate moral panic theory.

Answer 30

(-) Critcher (2009) believes that the concept of moral panics is too abstract to be testable and that the news characteristics associated with it, such as sensationalism and disproportionality, are too vague and potentially value laden.

(-) Jewkes (2015) is critical of the idea that the general public naively and passively trust the news reports that underpin moral panics.

(-) Postmodernists similarly argue that news content is subject to a diversity of media
interpretations, all of which can claim relevance, and, consequently, media audiences are less likely to accept that the problem
presented by the media is real. According to this view, moral panics are now hotly
contested.

Question 31

Evaluate Marxist perspectives on news selection and presentation.

Answer 31

(-) Instrumentalist Marxists rarely explain how an
owner’s media manipulation works in practice, with the
evidence tending to be anecdotal rather than based on empirical research.

(-) Instrumental Marxists are economic reductionists-
feminists would criticise them for ignoring the way
women are represented in the news.

(-) Instrumental Marxists fail to acknowledge that many
journalists/ publications regard themselves as guardians of public interest and work to hold the powerful to account.

(-) It is argued that the growth of the new media means that media owners and establishment oriented
journalists are now subject to more surveillance and
criticism from ordinary people/ more critical journalists.