NDM: News Values

1. Come up with a news story from the last 12 months for each of the categories suggested by Harriss, Leiter and Johnson:

Conflict: tension;surprise

• http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/politics/eu_referendum 
• This news story is about the EU Referendum and the Prime minister's decision to quit

Progress: triumph;achievement

•  http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/formula-1/lewis-hamilton-focused-job-bids-9117664 
• British Formula One champion Lewis Hamilton is trailing in the championship but is rapidly closing the gap. Gives the British people hope and belief in him to bring another trophy home for the nation

Disaster: defeat;destruction

• http://www.nbcnews.com/news/nbcblk/haiti-one-month-later-n678491
• Haitian Americans help their people get through the devastation of hurricane Matthew

Consequences: effects on individuals;community

•  http://abcnews.go.com/US/police-officers-shot-killed-ambush-attack-iowa/story?id=43238960
• Killing of two officers can have a direct impact on the community as police may be more likely to overuse their authority

Prominence: the well known;famous

• http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/tv/news/im-a-celebrity-2016-line-up-revealed-ola-jordan-carol-vorderman-danny-baker-a7401356.html 
• The Independent news institution want to speculate the possible candidates of the well known series 'I'm a Celebrity get me outta here'

Novelty: the usual;emotional

• http://www.news.com.au/entertainment/celebrity-life/hook-ups-break-ups/brangelina-sell-off-louisiana-home-amid-divorce/news-story/b16c81f8bcfbd2fc1785041a2ae45634
• Famous actor Brad Pitt and actress Angelina Jolie divorce and are now sorting out arrangements

2. What example news story does the Factsheet use to illustrate Galtung and Ruge's News Values? Why is it an appropriate example of a news story likely to gain prominent coverage?

The Factsheet uses the example of the war in Afghanistan and the unfortunate death of a young British soldier. The point they make is that although the war is taking place far away from Britain, we would still feel connected with updates because our nation is putting their lives at risk and the audience would feel the fallen solider because he is 'one of their own'. In contrast with the news story of the first female officer being killed its not as unusual. This is why it would have prominent coverage because audiences would want more news on the story. Especially because it is much closer and the its the first female officer to die, people want to know the background to it and also if the officer behaved in a masculine manor in the event.

3. What is gatekeeping?

Gatekeeping is the process of filtering information prior to dissemination. It is done to determine what is news and what scale the news reaches and it could be an editor deciding to choose one story over another or a journalists asking specific type of questions to reveal a side of story.

4. What are the six ways bias can be created in news?

The six ways are:

• Bias through selection and omission
• Bias through placement
• Bias by headline
• Bias by photos, captions and camera angles
• Bias through use of names and titles
• Bias by choice of words

5. How have online sources such as Twitter, bloggers or Wikileaks changed the way news is selected and published?

Some critics argue that the rise of e-media and the developments in technology are challenging the way media institutions 'gatekeep' news. Some bloggers have high profiles but are still not trusted with the news they publish because its not reliable. Many mainstream media outlets criticise the unprofessional practices of bloggers and the example of blogger, Ana Marie Cox, is used. She released exit poll results during the Obama presidential election campaign which is something mainstream press wouldn't do as it could affect the outcome. 

6. Give an example of a news story from the last 12 months that was reported as a result of online technology - Twitter, Wikileaks or similar.

The police brutality that has occurred the whole of this year has been captured through social media. We have seen many black people specifically in America being beaten and killed by police because of excessive aggressiveness. These videos have been posted on social networking sites like Instagram, Twitter, Facebook etc.

7.  Complete the task on the last page of the Factsheet regarding Sky News and Twitter:

• What does this reveal about how Sky views Twitter as a news source?

People are more willing to share significant events they have captured with their device through Twitter compared to giving it to news institutes like Sky news.

• What does it say about how news is being produced?

People would argue that journalists are at risk because people are slightly doing their jobs. This is because we have citizen journalists capturing events and reporting on what they have witnessed which audiences would prefer to see as they want the most realistic perspective of these stories. 

• What role does the audience have in this process?

Audiences would have the choice of watching a journalist report an event they haven't witnessed or watch raw footage of the event taking place with the person reporting it live. 

• Why might this be a problem for journalistic standards?

Journalism would take a decrease in quality because people are content with viewing unprofessional footage of an event.

“The Twitter phenomenon continues to explode. A photo with an eyewitness in Lahore yesterday came to us through Twitter. Last night’s breaking story on the death of a Briton in the Alps came to us from Twitter. The first phone on the Buffalo plane crash came from Twitter. The first photo of the Hudson River rescue came from Twitter. Convinced?”

8. In your opinion, how has new and digital media technology changed Galtung and Ruge’s news values? 

Technology has changed Galtung and Ruge's news values because there are no gatekeepers deciding what is news and the scale of each news story. This is because social media gives audiences the ability to post whatever they want and so any type of story can be constructed which can be dangerous as moral panics can be developed or created. For example, police brutality is nothing new but the captured footage of police beating black people constantly has caused people to retaliate.

9. How would you update them for 2016? Choose SIX of Galtung and Ruge's news values and say how each one has been affected by the growth of new and digital technology.

E.g. Immediacy is more important than ever due to news breaking on Twitter or elsewhere online. However, this in turn changes the approach of other news sources such as newspapers as the news will probably already be broken so different angles might be required. Newspapers now contain more comment or opinion rather than the breaking story.

Familiarity - this doesn't matter that much because news from all over the globe is posted on social media. This means that all audiences will view different news stories

Amplitude - if the news story isn't significant and its posted on social media, then it won't go viral. This means that the news story will only have a small viewing.

Surprise - social media provides audiences with wild and sometimes disturbing news stories. This is because there are no gatekeepers on these networks controlling and restricting the news posted so audiences would be able to share any type of video.

Elite nations and people - one way social media is used is for audiences to get closer to celebrities and their lives. So whenever there is news about famous people, people on social media like to speculate and instigate at times which can be dangerous. Also, political events can be shared amongst audiences who the politics doesn't directly effect like the US election

Negativity - news posted on social media isn't always bad. Social media unlike news institutes has ordinary people with a variety of views and values so the news posted on social networking sites vary. In addition, these people don't show bias when considering a video of a certain event that is being used as evidence because they are less likely to edit it. So there isn't as much bias here with the evidence.

Balance - this is similar to the point I have made on negativity. People can choose what they want to post on social media and they usually want to discuss topics of an event and don't really challenge each other on social media. Therefore, people only publish things on they are interested in and don't consider the type of news they post. So the type of news being published varies when considering an individual's social media activity.