News Values Essay
Galtung and Ruge - News Values - Theory.Galtung and Ruge (1973) believed that our perception of what constitutes an event is culturally determined and not a natural occurrence – but they also believed that it related to ‘human culture’ and therefore should not vary too much globally.
Their theory argues that the more an event accessed these criteria the more likely it was to be reported on in a newspaper (although the individual factors are inter-related, not independent of one another).
An example: in the Western world we are obsessed with celebrities and their lifestyles. David Beckham splits with Posh Spice and on the same day five children are killed in a minibus accident. The tabloids will carry the Beckham’s story on the front page because we as a society have decided that celebrity gossip is more interesting and news worthy than the other story.
These are 12 of the ‘most significant’ news values from the work of Galtung and Ruge:
1.Frequency— short-term events like murders are preferred over long-term developments like a famine
2.Threshold— basically the size of an event indicates his importance
3.Unambiguity— events do not have to be simple but they must be accessible to the public - i.e. simplified by the media
4.Meaningfulness— divided into two categories after Galtung and Ruge’s‘Familiarity’:
a) cultural proximity in which the event agrees with the outlook of a specific culture;
b) relevance where events will be reported and discussed if they seem to have an impact on the ‘home’ culture, especially a threat
5.Consonance— or ‘correspondence’ where the familiar is more likely to be thought than the unfamiliar
6.Unexpectedness— or ‘surprise’ where it is the rarity of an event which leads to its circulation in the public domain; Dutton notes that the ‘newness’ of the event is usually processed through a familiar context. It has to work with 4 and 5.
7.Continuity— once a story achieves importance will be continued to be covered for some time
8.Composition— this is to provide a sense of balance, gloomy news with good news, foreign with domestic.
9.Reference to elite nations— events are more likely to be reported if they occur in the developed world; the threshold system would apply for developing countries’ events to be reported
10.Reference to elite persons— the famous and the powerful are more newsworthy than ordinary people
11.Personalisation— events are seen as actions of people as individuals; an institution may be personalised by reference to a prominent person within that organisation
12.Negativity— bad news is good for the press and TV news; the threshold is much lower for bad news than for good news
Their theory argues that the more an event accessed these criteria the more likely it was to be reported on in a newspaper (although the individual factors are inter-related, not independent of one another).
An example: in the Western world we are obsessed with celebrities and their lifestyles. David Beckham splits with Posh Spice and on the same day five children are killed in a minibus accident. The tabloids will carry the Beckham’s story on the front page because we as a society have decided that celebrity gossip is more interesting and news worthy than the other story.
These are 12 of the ‘most significant’ news values from the work of Galtung and Ruge:
1.Frequency— short-term events like murders are preferred over long-term developments like a famine
2.Threshold— basically the size of an event indicates his importance
3.Unambiguity— events do not have to be simple but they must be accessible to the public - i.e. simplified by the media
4.Meaningfulness— divided into two categories after Galtung and Ruge’s‘Familiarity’:
a) cultural proximity in which the event agrees with the outlook of a specific culture;
b) relevance where events will be reported and discussed if they seem to have an impact on the ‘home’ culture, especially a threat
5.Consonance— or ‘correspondence’ where the familiar is more likely to be thought than the unfamiliar
6.Unexpectedness— or ‘surprise’ where it is the rarity of an event which leads to its circulation in the public domain; Dutton notes that the ‘newness’ of the event is usually processed through a familiar context. It has to work with 4 and 5.
7.Continuity— once a story achieves importance will be continued to be covered for some time
8.Composition— this is to provide a sense of balance, gloomy news with good news, foreign with domestic.
9.Reference to elite nations— events are more likely to be reported if they occur in the developed world; the threshold system would apply for developing countries’ events to be reported
10.Reference to elite persons— the famous and the powerful are more newsworthy than ordinary people
11.Personalisation— events are seen as actions of people as individuals; an institution may be personalised by reference to a prominent person within that organisation
12.Negativity— bad news is good for the press and TV news; the threshold is much lower for bad news than for good news
According to former Times and Sunday Times
Editor, Harold Evans, a newsworthy story consists of some of the few listed
below:
1. necessary
information and unusual events
2. based
on observable facts
3. should
be an unbiased account
4. should
be free from the reporter’s opinion
In todays society Journalists and editors draw heavily on their experiences - of what an audience expects, of what stories have had a major impact on public consciousness in the past, of what is important - and each news organisation will have their own system of setting a news agenda.
The news Article i looked at was about Peter Connelly – known as Baby-P. It includes a lot of negativity (Tragedy, Abuse, Death and Violence) which is why it made the headlines. It was about a baby who passed away, aged 17 months, following weeks of neglect and abuse. His mother, Tracey Connelly, along with her boyfriend, Stephen Barker, and Jason Owen, Barker’s brother, were each convicted of “causing or allowing” Peter’s death – it remains unclear who actually killed him.
This news was very Shocking to hear as its completely out of the ordinary. This gave it more value and attention than an everyday event because children don't usually die from abuse, it was even worse at how much the parent lacked guilt as these were her intentions.
It was shortly after this that the Sun newspaper launched a “campaign for justice” targeted largely at social workers and their managers. Under the headline Blood On Their Hands, he paper demanded that those involved in children’s services in the north London borough where Peter lived all lose their jobs. This demand was fulfilled by Ed Balls, then children’s secretary, and Haringey council. Proximity means news close to home or geographically. This article uses proximity as it is in London.
The Currency was very high as this story was in the public eye for around 2 years and was deemed very valuable.
This Story held a lot of meaningfulness as it was Local and mothers will be able to imagine grief of loosing a child or children can imagine losing siblings or friends.
there was a lot of continuity as people were eager to know what was going on.
So what has happened to those involved since then? Connelly and Owen have served their prison sentences, been released and then recalled to prison after breaking the terms of their post-release licence. Barker, who received the longest sentence, has remained in prison.
there was a lot of continuity as people were eager to know what was going on.
So what has happened to those involved since then? Connelly and Owen have served their prison sentences, been released and then recalled to prison after breaking the terms of their post-release licence. Barker, who received the longest sentence, has remained in prison.
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