News values blog task

News values: notes

In 1965, media researchers Galtung & Ruge analysed news stories to find out what factors placed them at the top of the news agenda.

They came up with the following list of news values - a kind of scoring system to work out what might become news. A story which scores highly on each value is likely to be at the top of a TV news bulletin. Some of the news values they suggested include:

Negativity

 the 'Nepal Earthquake' reinforces the news value of negativity as any news that involves death, tragedy and natural disaster should be a serious and top story. this also effects the audience as it makes them feel sympathetic towards the people involved and how their future lives will be.


Closeness to home

the London riots fits perfectly in the news value of closeness to home as the audience can relate more to the stories or involve people from their country. this will make the audience intrigued to find out what will happen next and then they will create questions.


Immediacy

Prince William "Very Happy" After Birth Of Daughter is a recent story which has informed most people in the UK. although TV News is very competitive about breaking news but social media beats it is more common.

SimplicitySimple stories are preferred by TV news.  Palestine is complicated, a plane crash is easy to follow.

Uniqueness
‘Dog bites man’ is not news. ‘Man bites dog’ is. Unusual stories make it into the news – especially if there is good video to go with it.

Elite nations or people
Stories that focus on important countries or people are likely to make the news. Obama and USA = news, Outer Mongolia not so much.