9.1.5

News Selection

Test yourself

TV News

TV news is often regarded as the most reliable.

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Why?

  • Newsreaders are seen as ‘neutral’ observers.
  • They dress smartly.
  • They maintain eye contact throughout the broadcast, viewers feel like they can trust them. 
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Why?

  • Body language suggests authority.
  • They sit up straight, behind a desk, often wearing powerful clothing. 
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High-tech

  • High-tech delivery demonstrates the extent gone to to gain the ‘truth’. - E.g. statistical summaries and graphs, green screens, world correspondents etc.

News Values​ 

News values are the values and assumptions held by editors and journalists which guide them in choosing what is ‘newsworthy’.

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News values

  • For each new story that is published or broadcast newsmakers ask themselves a series of questions and aim to create the most newsworthy story.
  • The more news values the story holds, the more newsworthy it is seen to be and ultimately the more people that will engage with the story.
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Composition

  • Composition​:
    • ​Do the events fit the style and politics of the newspaper?
    • Will there be a balance of items? ​ 
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Extraordinariness

  • Extraordinariness​ :
    • ​Unexpected or rare events have more newsworthiness than routine events because they are out of the ordinary.​ 
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Threshold

  • Threshold:
    • ​The bigger the event the more likely it will be nationally reported.
    • E.g. natural disasters. ​ 
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Reference

  • Reference to elite persons​:
    • ​Those stories which show coverage of the famous and the powerful are often seen as more newsworthy than those which feature the general public. ​ 
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Negativity

  • Negativity​:
    • ​Bad news seems to be more exciting to viewers/readers than good news.​ 
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Personalisation

  • ​Personalisation​:
    • Events may be personalised by associating a particular celebrity or leader with the specific event.​ 

Sociological Approaches to News Selection

Neo pluralist, marxist and neo marxist approaches to news selection in the media.

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Neo pluralism​ 

  • Neo-pluralists argue that journalists are objective and impartial pursuers of the truth. ​ 
  • However they acknowledge this has become increasingly difficult to achieve in a modern world. ​ 
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Davies

  • Davies suggests that journalists fail in their basic function to check facts​ due to 24 hour news.
  • This creates 'churnalism', where journalists are uncritical and have an over reliance on ‘facts’ produced by government spin doctors.
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Marxism

  • Marxists argue that owners influence the content of the news.
  • They do this by giving direct instructions ​ to journalists and broadcasters regarding the stories that should and should not be covered.
  • They will often use their newspaper or news program to promote their political agenda, this is now happening more and more due to the concentration of ownership.  
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Neo Marxism

  • ​Neo-marxists suggest biased news is linked to the social background of media professionals.
  • The specifically focus on journalists. ​
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The GUMG

  • The GUMG (Glasgow University Media Group) argue that the way the news is gathered and presented is the result of a journalists' social background​.
  • These journalists are often socialised in middle class families and education systems and they see nothing wrong with society so do not criticise it within their reporting. ​ 
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Socialisation

  • As a result they side with the rich and powerful because they have more in common with them​.
  • Therefore, media bias is a by-product of middle class journalism and not intentional as Marxists argue. 

Jump to other topics

1Theory & Methods

2Education with Methods in Context

3Option 1: Culture & Identity

4Option 1: Families & Households

5Option 1: Health

6Option 1: Work, Poverty & Welfare

7Option 2: Beliefs in Society

8Option 2: Global Development

9Option 2: The Media

10Crime & Deviance

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