Selection & presentation of the news

Question 1

structural factors

Answer 1

• cost
• competition and globalisation
• profit
• time and space

Question 2

other influences

Answer 2

• new social media
• role of the audience
• formal media controls

Question 3

ideological factors

Answer 3

• influence of owners
• agenda setting
• gate keepers
• norm setting
• news values

Question 4

cost

Answer 4

• wages
• distribution costs
• citizen journalist videos = cheap over news cameras and reporters

Question 5

news values examples

Answer 5

• extraordinariness
• threshold
• unambiguity
• reference to elite persons
• reference to elite nations
• personalisation
• frequency
• narrative
• negativity

Question 6

new social media

Answer 6

• citizen journalism = help overcome suppression of stories or biased reports

Question 7

Philo & Berry (GMG) - new social media

Answer 7

many British tv reports were over reliant on official Israeli perspectives, whereas members of the Machsom group able to post own pov on their website to counter reports

Question 8

role of the audience

Answer 8

pluralists - content and presentation is a reaction to type of audience = audience choose what they want to see

Question 9

formal media controls

Answer 9

some limits in UK - OfCom & IPSO

Question 10

influence of owners

Answer 10

• instructions to editors
• fear of owners = self-censorship & producing to please owners
• drive for profit = thrive of unethical journalism

Question 11

agenda setting

Answer 11

• media provides public with information they can discuss and make opinions on = gives control to companies = influence/push certain agendas

Question 12

GMG - agenda setting

Answer 12

media organisations and journalists work within a dominant ideology which helps decide subjects individuals should think about and how = little choice from audience

Question 13

Philo - agenda setting

Answer 13

media effective at channelling public anger at ‘scumbag millionaires’ (the Sun) during 2008 banking crisis and considering solutions within the existing system = ignores and stopped people discussing solutions that challenged current systems

Question 14

gatekeepers

Answer 14

media power to refuse to cover some issues but let others through
may occur due to lack of interest (damage to profit) or too threatening to society
e.g. benefit fraud reported on but not tax evasion of the rich

Question 15

GMG - gate keeping

Answer 15

owners, editors & journalists construct news by acting as gatekeepers, influencing what knowledge public is exposed to

Question 16

norm setting

Answer 16

• encourage conformist behaviour (e.g. not going on strike, reinforce gender stereotypes)
• discouraging non-conformist behaviour (e.g. sensationalised stories about violence, benefit fraud etc) - lessons given on how to behave through emphasising consequences (e.g. AIDS portrayal warned society homosexuality was unacceptable)

Question 17

news values

Answer 17

news socially constructed by journalists operating within values and assumptions also tied up with economic pressure to make profit

Question 18

extraordinariness

Answer 18

more newsworthy as more rare
e.g. death of Diana

Question 19

threshold

Answer 19

bigger the size of the event, the more likely to be reported
e.g. war or natural disaster

Question 20

negativity

Answer 20

bad news more dramatic and exciting than good news = gets more audience