Lecture 9

News Values. What makes a story news worthy? How do media outlets decide what to publish? News values are certain elements that journalists use to determine if a story will be successful. It’s ‘official’ definition (as given in the lecture), is: The degree of prominence a media outlet gives a story and the attention that is paid by an audience. It is also a broadly agreed set of values that determine newsworthiness. News can encompass many things; however across all aspects it is usually something that will grab the reader, or audiences, attention. People like to read, see and hear news that is relevant to them and their world, hence why audience identification is an important element of all news stories. In the lecture we were introduced to the adage, if it bleeds it leads, referring to the high level of interest in news stories regarding violence and tragedy. In local media outlets, however, they prefer leading with local stories, ones which they believe will resonate the most with the audience. In the lecture we were introduced to several sets of news values from different eras. Despite the ongoing changes as to how media is delivered and consumed, the news values haven’t changed all that much. The set that I believe is the most applicable today is the set from 2001 by O’Neill and Harcup. They are power elite, celebrity, entertainment, surprise, bad news, good news, magnitude, relevance, follow-up, newspaper agenda. They have also been summed up into 6 general headings, of:
 1. Significance (impact)
 2. Proximity
 3. Conflict
 4. Human interest
 5. Novelty
 6. Prominence

 These are all elements that make up a successful news story, and are evident when looking at any news story today. Here is the more detailed list with some brief explanations.