The construction of the news

Question 1

Who talks about the news as a social construction?

Answer 1

McQuail

Question 2

When did McQuail talk about news as a social construction?

Answer 2

1992

Question 3

What does McQuail say?

Answer 3

‘news’ is not objective and impartial = bias
- events happen but not all events can become news due to the sheer number of them

Question 4

What is the news (not definition wise)?

Answer 4

A socially manufactured product because it is the end result of a selective process

Question 5

What is being referred to when talking about bureaucratic routines of the news?

Answer 5

News coverage shaped by the way TV news companies and newspapers are organized

Question 5

How is bureaucratic routines illustrated?

Answer 5

• Finance
• Time
• Deadlines
• Audiences

Question 5

Who controls what/how events are covered?

Answer 5

Gatekeepers, such as editors and journalists and proprietors
> decide what events are important enough to cover & how to cover them

Question 6

Explain what is meant by finance

Answer 6

Sending personnel overseas and booking satellite connects can be very expensive
> may result in ‘news’ reports on very little events to justify heavy costs
- Decline in expensive forms of news coverage
(eg: investigative reporting or foreign affairs)
- more localized stores and neglecting LEDC countries in the news

Question 7

Explain what is meant by time

Answer 7

Amount of time available for a news bulletin or the column space in a newspaper
- events much more likely to be reported
> esp. on TV if there’s live sound of speech and film footage from an actual location
- Longer, more complex new stories aren’t reported on

Question 8

Explain what is meant by deadlines

Answer 8

Newspapers by their nature are dated
- all news included usually happened the day before
- TV news more immediate as it is often broadcasted as it happens
- Bureaucratic routines effects what is shown in the media and how its shown

Question 9

Explain what is meant by audience

Answer 9

Content and style of news programmes often dependent on the type of audience thought to be watching
- Newspapers content cater to the social characteristics of newspapers reader

Question 10

What’s an example of audience illustrated in the news?

Answer 10

The Sun
> aimed at a working class young readership
> using simplistic language because it believes that this is what its readership wants

Question 11

When did Galtung and Ruge talk about news values?

Answer 11

1965

Question 11

Who speaks about news values?

Answer 11

Galtung and Ruge

Question 12

What is extraordinariness?

Answer 12

• Unexpected, rare and surprising events have more newsworthiness than routine events bc they’re out of the ordinary

Question 13

What are some of the news values?

Answer 13

• Extraordinariness
• Personalization
• Reference to the elite
• Narratives and negativity

Question 13

What is personalization?

Answer 13

complex events and policies are often reduced to conflict between personalities
> journalists and editors believe their audiences will identify with a story if social events are seen as the actions of individuals

Question 14

What is reference to the elite?

Answer 14

Elite people: activities of the powerful and celebrities perceived as more newsworthy than exploits of ordinary people
(eg: pop stars)
Elite nations: stories about people who speak English as first language, look the same and have similar cultures as the audience, receive more coverage than those that don’t

Question 15

What did McLurg say in relation to reference to the elite?

Answer 15

Claimed 1 Briton worth 5 dead Frenchmen, 20 dead Egyptian, 500 dead Indians and 1000 dead Chinese in terms of news coverage

Question 16

What is narrative and negativity?

Answer 16

Narrative: journalists prefer to present news in the form of story with heroes and villains and a beginning, middle and end
Negativity: bad news regarded by journalists as more exciting and dramatic - potentially attracting a bigger audience

Question 17

What is supporting research for news value?

Answer 17

Buckley gave 12 TV editors 64 news stories, asked to classify for news worthiness
- All classified them in a similar manner and those items most likely to be reported were those with the greater number of news values

Question 18

What are the key sociologist theories for construction of the news?

Answer 18

Pluralism
The power elite
The propaganda model of the media
Instrumental Marxism

Question 19

What does Pluralism argue?

Answer 19

Journalists: disinterested, impartial and objective pursuers of the truth
- Modern world of journalism: these goals are increasingly difficult to attain

Question 20

Who speaks about pluralism?

Answer 20

Davies (2008)

Question 21

What does Davies say?

Answer 21

Modern day British journalism chatactrised by “churnalism”
- Uncritical over reliance by journalists on ‘facts’ churned out by public relations experts

Question 22

What stats are there that support Davies point?

Answer 22

80% of news stories in 2 national newspapers were sourced this way over a 2 week period in 1997
- Only 12% of stories were generated by journalists

Question 23

Who speaks about the power elite?

Answer 23

Bagdikian (2004)

Question 24

What does Bagdikian say about the power elite?

Answer 24

Critiques american news media as almost all media owners in the USA are part of a wider power elite made up of a powerful, industrial, financial and political establishment
- Media owners ensure that news content is politically conservative and their news outlets promote coverage values
- Such values permeate news

Question 25

What’s an example of Bagdikian’s argument?

Answer 25

Most newspapers have sections dedicated to business news but contain little on poverty or the growing gap between the rich and the poor in the USA

Question 25

Who speaks about the propaganda model of the media?

Answer 25

Herman and Chomsky (1988)

Question 26

What is the propaganda model of the media?

Answer 26

The argument that media participates in propaganda campaigns helpful to elite interest
- Suggests media performance largely shaped by market forces
- built into the capitalism system is a range of filters that work ceaselessly to shape media output

Question 26

What’s an example of Herman and Chomsky’s argument?

Answer 26

Advertisers want their advertising to appear in a supportive selling environment whilst government can pressure the media with threats of withdrawal of TV licenses therefore control the flow of info

Question 27

Who are instrumental Marxists that talk about the construction of the news?

Answer 27

Edward and Cromwell (2006)

Question 28

What do Edward and Cromwell argue?

Answer 28

Particular subjects are distorted, suppressed, marginalized and ignored by the British mass media
- EG: US/British gov responsibility for genocide, vast corporate criminality etc.
- Leaders of developing countries (disapproved by the west) are uncritically demonized
- USA presented as the champion of democracy

Question 29

What does Hall say?

Answer 29

• News supportive of capitalist interest
  > those in powerful positions have better access the media institutions than the less powerful
  > result of news values employed by most journalists
• Most journalists rank the views of primary definers
  > more important/credible than those of pressure groups etc or ordinary ppl
  = hierarchy of credbility

Question 30

What are primary definers?

Answer 30

Politicians, police officers, civil servants and business leaders

Question 31

Who critiques theories focused on elites?

Answer 31

Schlesinger (1990)

Question 32

What does Schlesinger say?

Answer 32

Media doesn’t always act in interests of the powerful
- contemporary politicians are very careful about what they say to the media
> aware that the media can shape public perceptions of their policies and practices
> influences voting behavior and puts them under considerable pressure to resign

Question 33

What does Schlesinger say about media owners?

Answer 33

Engaged in competition with each other
EG: newspaper price wars, public conflict between media owners over ownership
- doesn’t suggest a unified media