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3.1: Some News Values

  • Page ID
    294850
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    News values can help us to decide whether something is news and whether people will be interested in the news. You will see that some of these news values overlap; it is possible for a story to be news because it meets various of these news values. News values are not universal, this means in different cultures people might have different news values. Some of the most well-known news values are discussed below. Thinking about the relevance of information is a way to evaluate news values. Ask yourself the question: Will my audience read this story and find it interesting? If the answer is yes, the news will be of value to your audience.

    Timeliness

    Did something happen recently, or did we just learn about it? If so, that could make it newsworthy. The meaning of “recently” varies, depending on the medium, of course. For a weekly news magazine, anything that has happened since the previous edition the week before may be considered timely. For a 24-hour news channel, the timeliest news may be “breaking news”, or something that is happening right now and can be covered by a journalist live at the scene. With the arrival of social media, it has become very difficult for news media to “break” news (be the first to tell the news), because now, often, eyewitnesses are on the scene of a news event long before the news media. This means people often see the news as it is happening on social media by following the reporting of people who are on the scene. The role of the news media has, in many cases, become one of interpreting, explaining and clarifying the news, with less of a focus on “breaking” the news.

    Impact

    Are many people affected by the story or just a few? Contamination in the water system that serves your town’s 20 000 residents has impact because it affects your audience directly. A report that 10 children were killed from drinking polluted water at a summer camp in a city far away has impact, too, because the audience is likely to have a strong emotional response to the story. However, if you live in Johannesburg, the fact that there is load-shedding in Cape Town is not news for you. As someone who lives in Johannesburg, the power cuts in Cape Town would not have an effect on you – it is too far away and does not have an impact on you.

    Proximity

    Proximity considers the location of the event in relation to the target audience of the media outlet. Audiences are more likely to pay attention to stories that take place in their local communities. Did something happen close to home, or did it involve people from your own country? A small plane crash in Chad would probably make headlines in N’Djamena, but it is unlikely to be front-page news in Johannesburg, unless the plane was carrying South African passengers. Similarly, something that only affects people in a specific town, such as potholes in Klerksdorp, would not be news to people living in Durban. Klerksdorp is too far away from Durban; local events in Klerksdorp do not have any meaning for people living in Durban.

    Controversy (including conflict)

    Are people in disagreement about something? It is human nature to be interested in stories that involve conflict, tension, or public debate. People like to take sides and see who the winner will be. For example, stories about war, crime, and social discord are newsworthy because their conflict narrative spurs interest. Stories about major sports competitions, such as the African Cup of Nations, relate to conflict, because teams are competing against one another. Conflict does not always entail pitting different views against one another. Stories about doctors battling disease or citizens opposing an unjust law, for example, also involve conflict.

    Prominence

    Stories that feature well-known individuals or public figures, such as politicians and entertainers, carry news value. People are interested in reading about what the rich and famous do. Ordinary activities or mishaps can become news if they involve a prominent person like a prime minister or a film star. Small motor car accidents are generally not news, unless the person involved is a celebrity or famous person. In the digital era, well-known influencers who do relatively ordinary things also sometimes become the news because they are very prominent in the online space. Many people would like to read about their lives.

    Currency

    This is not about money; in this context, “currency” means “being current” – “happening now”. “Hot topics of the day”, or stories that are constantly in the general public discourse (stories that everyone are talking about at a specific time), are other examples. Topics that have currency value generally have a short lifespan in the news cycle because they are discussed only briefly by the public. The news value “currency” can also be called “trending”; this refers to something that is happening right now, and everyone is talking about it. Oddity (or novelty)

    Stories that are odd, unusual, shocking, bizarre, or surprising have novelty value. An example would be a story about an unusual animal friendship, such as one between a dog and a zebra. Because such a friendship is not a normal occurrence, it sparks the curiosity of audiences. The extraordinary and the unexpected appeal to our natural human curiosity; anything that is strange or unusual can be news. In mid-2021, there were reports that people discovered diamonds in a small village in KwaZulu-Natal. Many people went there to dig for diamonds, even though nobody was sure whether these stones were actually diamonds. This was a strange story that made the news because of the unusualness of the story. The diamond story is an example of two news values: it was something novel; and it was also something that was trending, everyone was talking about it, so the news value “currency” is also valid for this example.

    Human interest

    Stories that are emotionally compelling capture the audience’s attention and appeal to their attitudes and beliefs. Feature articles often are good examples of human-interest stories when they depict a person, organisation, or community in a way that triggers an emotional connection between the audience and the characters. Other examples are a behind-the scenes look at the life of an athlete, or the story of a person struggling to overcome an obstacle. Examples can be someone who managed to climb the highest mountain in Africa at a very young (or very old) age, animals doing cute or strange things, people achieving good things in their lives, or people doing special things for their communities.

    Size

    Stories about the biggest and the best, or even the worst, about new records and achievements, also attract readers. People like to know about events such as the best rugby team, the newest self-driving car, or the latest release of a popular TV or streaming series.

    How to

    Many news media help people to do things. These are stories that, for example, tell people how to register for a coronavirus vaccine, how to apply for social grants, or how to register and participate in elections. This is a public service that news media play.


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