2.3 Selection and Presentation of News Flashcards
(25 cards)
1.1 2005 Research
72% of people indicated that TV was their primary source of news.
- 10% relied upon newspapers / 9% relied on radio
- Ofcom (2005): 94% of the population believed that it is important for TV news to be impartial.
- 67% regarded TV news as the most trusted news medium and saw it as a ‘window on the world’
- Only 7% saw newspapers in the same light (politically motivated)
1.2 TV News (3)
Couldry et al: 85% of people watched the TV news regularly.
- Also found that 23% used internet this way and there has been a decline in newspaper reading.
Chandler: way TV news is presented results in it being regarded as the most reliable source of news by its audience.
- Newreaders are presented as ‘neutral’
- Manner is always friendly
- High tech studio (scientific lengths gone to find truth)
Buckingham: interviews with 12-15 year olds about TV shows that the news was hardly ever challenged by them
1.3 Construction of Reality in the News
- McQuail: ‘news’ is not impartial
- Events happen, this does not mean they will be reported
- there are ‘gatekeepers’ that decide
- News is ‘loaded’ information that tends to reflect the perspective of the powerful.
- Critics are news selection has 3 influences: Bureaucratic Routines, News Values, Ownership
2.1 Financial Costs
- Sending personnel overseas can be expensive
- Results in the BBC giving ‘news; reports even if little is happening to justify such costs.
2.2 Audience
- Style of the news is determined by who is targeted.
- The Sun targets youngish WC men (simplistic language)
- Guardian / C4 target MC professionals
2.3 Source of News
- Many News organisations purchase their information from press agencies such as the Press Association (PA)
2.4 Time Available
- News has to be tailored to fit time available (TV) or space available (Paper)
- BBC 9 O’Clock News generally covers 15 items over 30 minutes
2.5 Immediacy
- Technological advances (new media) have made possible a level of immediacy in gathering materials for news.
- E.g. pictures of 7/7 bombing came from mobile phones
Spencer-Thomas: uses Burma to illustrate the growing influence of citizen journalism.
1988 Protests in Burma: little coverage as foreign press were banned.
2007 Protests: more coverage as citizens documented it with modern technology
2.6 Deadlines
- TV news’ 24/7 coverage means a lack of deadlines
- Print media focuses on yesterday’s news
3.0 News Values (Intro)
- Spencer-Thomas: News values are a set of guidelines that determine worth of a news story.
- Galtung and Ruge: identify following news values…
3.1 Composition
- News outlets attempt to ‘balance’ the reporting of events.
- E.g. if there is an excess of foreign news, the lest important foreign story will make way for domestic
3.2 Unambiguity
- Events that are to grasp are more likely to be reported.
- Columbia Journalism Review: Revealed that the most regular reason why stories don’t appear is that they are ‘too complicated for the average person’
3.3 Narrative
- Journalists perfer to present news in the form of stories.
E.g. Iraq War was reported in this way (Iraq was led by a brutal dictator who was harbouring WMD. UK: ‘our boys’ fought to restore democracy)
3.4 Threshold
- Bigger the size of the event, more likely to be reported
- Death of Diana given 24 hour coverage
3.5 Frequency
- Dutton: ‘time span’ taken by an event.
- Murders: instant, meanings can be deduced quickly#
- Inflation: gradual
3.6 Extraordinariness
- Unexpected events are more newsworthy
3.7 Reference to Elite Nations
- Cultural Proximity
- McLurg’s Law: ‘one dead Briton was equal to, 5 dead Frenchman, 20 dead Egyptians, 500 dead Indians and 1,000 dead Chinese in terms of news coverage)
3.8 Negativity
- Bad news attracts larger audiences
- Fiske: American journalist arrived in the Belgian Congo and approached a group of white women shouting ‘Has anyone here been raped and speaks English?’
3.9 Continuity
- Once a story is ‘running’ it will be covered for some time
3.10 Personalization
- Events often personalized because gatekeepers assume audiences identify with stories more
3.11 Reference to Elite Persons
- Famous seen as more newsworthy
5.2 Contemporary Examples
Ecstacy Use
- Redhead:
- Thornton:
Refugees (2003)
Hoodies:
- Fawbert: analysed newspaper reports about ‘hoodies’
5.3 Why do Moral Panics Come About?
Reaction to Social Change
Means of Making a Profit
Serving Ruling-Class Ideology
Reflection of Real Fears
5.2 Contemporary Examples
Ecstacy Use (Late 80s)
- Redhead: led to police settling up roadblocks on motorways. turning up at raves in full riot gear and eventually led to the passing of the Criminal Justice Act
- Thornton: attracted more young people to rave culture
Refugees (2003)
- MP about number of refugees entering UK and their motives.
- Tabloid press focused on the links between asylum seekers and terrorism.
- Media reduced the motives of asylum seekers to terrorism, crime of exploiting the UK’s benefit system.
Hoodies:
- Fawbert: analysed newspaper reports about ‘hoodies’
- 2004: Only one article in national papers that used the word to describe a young thug
- Year later: Bluewater Shopping Centre banned its shoppers from sporting hoodies
- Blair vowed to clamp down on antisocial behaviour perpetrated by Hoodies
