Values of News

News values are the degree of prominence a media outlet gives to a particular story.

They are usually rated under the following criteria:

1. Impact

Anything that grabs our attention and makes us react. 

2. Audience identification

Things that are related to the audience, that is local, that is relevant. Anything that is interesting to the local audience or affects the viewers. 

3. Pragmatics - ethics

Includes thing such as facticity, practice vs. practicalility, current affairs and everyday news. 

4. Source influence

Journalism and public relations need to work together in the current time so that stories are accurate, have trustworthy sources and are able to stand up against scrutiny.

 

But how do the news companies decide what news they will run? How do they know what is the most newsworthy story? 

Well, 'If it bleeds-it leads!' or, more recently there is also, 'If its local-it leads!'

A table of news values and how they rate in relation to newsworthiness is displayed below.

There are also three hypotheses of newsworthiness: 

• The additivity hypothesis - that the more factors an event satisfies, the higher the probability that it becomes news.
• The complimentarity hypothesis - that the factors will tend to exclude each other. 
• The exclusion hypothesis - that events that satisfy none or very few factors will usually not become news.

Galtung & Ruge

A review of these hypotheses by O'Neill & Harcup presented a revised number of hypotheses that justify newsworthiness. 

1. THE POWER ELITE. Stories concerning powerful individuals, organisations or institutions.
2. CELEBRITY. Stories concerning people who are famous.
3. ENTERTAINMENT. Stories concerning sex, showbusiness, human interest, animals, an unfolding drama, or offering opportunities for humorous treatment, entertaining photographs or witty headlines.
4. SURPRISE. Stories that have an element of surprise and / or contrast.
5. BAD NEWS. Stories with particularly negative overtones, such as conflict or tragedy.
6. GOOD NEWS. Stories with particularly positive overtones such as rescues and cures.
7. MAGNITUDE. Stories that are perceived as sufficiently significant either in the numbers of people involved or in potential impact.
8. RELEVANCE. Stories about issues, groups and nations perceived to be relevant to the audience.
9. FOLLOW-UP. Stories about subjects already in the news.
10. NEWSPAPER AGENDA. Stories that set or represent the news organisation’s own agenda.

So to summarise, news values are what allows editors and such to determine what is relevant and appropriate news to publish. They measure the stories against these criterion and then publish what will get them the most views or most bought newspapers. It is all about optimising the news sales for that day/week/month/etc.