Write an essay 400-800 words using the following title which news values apply in the story?

News Values

News today is converged and dispersed across a range of platforms and a huge range of sources/producers.

News values systematically construct rather than simply accompany the gathering of news.

These are not values consciously held by journalists. Most maintain the ideal of achieving

Objectivity or truth. How truthful is the news?

Negativity-  It’s bad news

Predictability- News consists of predictable events but presents events as surprising.

Continuity and Narrative- News that involves story telling just like fiction and is convenient for journalists to cover stories which are likely to continue over a period of time, with new events unfolding. Protagonists, antagonists, and other recognisable characters will drive the narrative.  Binary oppositions (Levi- strauss) will be favoured to help the audience to understand quite complex stories.

Composition- Newspapers need to be balanced out, and if the editor feels that there is a disproportionate type of one news it will be balanced out. In the same way, front covers may be composed to encourage the reader to make (often incorrect/ manipulative) connections between unlinked stories.

Personalisation- Events are often personalised to give them a human angle

Galtung and Ruge (1981)

These theorists argued that news is structured according to unspoken values, rather than discovered.

Here are some of their key terms...

Frequency

This value is to do with the time scale of events perceived to be "newsworthy." In pre- Web 2.0 days, stories which unfolded daily were favoured. Now with a much faster news agenda, 24 rolling news channels, online and social, events need to be much more frequent to be favoured in news coverage.

Proximity

This value is to do with how close to home a story is. So for example, in 2017, the terror attacks in London and Manchester got much greater coverage in the UK than those (much worse) atrocities in Somalia, where at least 300 were killed. However proximity clearly has an ideological agenda… Stories from "the West" are favoured over those from the developing world, regardless of the geographical proximity. This reinforces existing prejudices and "otherness" (Gilroy)

Threshold

This is the size of an event that's needed for it to be considered "newsworthy". Commonly occurring events happening to individuals will not usually count (except for local news) unless they involve either a celebrity or an unusually violent or sensational happening.

The ‘Other’ non- Paul Gilroy -white people in the media are often defined in the media as what makes them different  from the “white” majority.

Al jeezera Article

Do the statistics link to the proportion of news coverage? No, as it discloses a biased as western Europe is only accountable for 1% whereas the middle east has more.

Otherness links as they exclude other countries apart from the UK.

Find more info about news values-

Uk newspaper

Choose a news story from an online /print newspaper- next wednesday

Write an essay 400-800 words using the following title which news values apply in the story? Give a range of examples and make specific reference to theory Galtung and Ruge and narrative Levi Strauss. Consider the role of ideology.

Intro= 2-3 sentences

Interpret the question

Define news values

Introduce the news article you will use- this essay will explore

Main body

1 Paragraph on each news value the article contains

In total having 4/5

In paragraph

Introduce news value

Give examples from news article(quotes, image analysis, data)...

Reference to theory/ ideology if relevant

Conclusion

1-3 sentences

Refer back to the question

Never put anything new you haven’t already covered in the main body

Summarise the key news values

Choose a news story from an online /print newspaper

Write an essay 400-800 words using the following title which news values apply in the story? Give a range of examples and make specific reference to theory Galtung and Ruge and narrative Levi Strauss. Consider the role of ideology.

In this essay I will be applying the concept of news values, the are general guidelines or criteria used by media outlets, in this case newspapers, to determine how much prominence to give a story. In this essay I will explore the British actor Ed Westwick’s rape allegation.

One of the news values in this article was negativity aimed towards the star, as it is bad news as it is a rape allegation placed by Kristina Cohen the article goes on to make assumptions that as he played a playboy character on his hit tv show, analysis of the image we can see what is a ‘Heavy . . . Gossip Girl scene with Blake Lively’ therefore he must have done this ‘The star of the American teen drama has distanced himself from the lecherous behaviour of on-screen character Chuck Bass’ that’s why they have a  negative headline 'I'M A GOOD GUY' British actor Ed Westwick denies rape claim and says his party-mad playboy Gossip Girl character is ‘diabolical’ as they know that this is more likely to make the headlines than good news.

Another value is threshold this is the size of an event that's needed for it to be considered "newsworthy" as this is as this involved an individual  but him being the celebrity, Ed westwick the star of the hit television show Gossip Girl is displayed here as this makes the news sensational. Another reason it is sensational news is that he played the ‘lecherous’ character and the accusation by Kristina Cohen (if proved to be correct) mimics the character he plays in Gossip girl in real life. Furthermore in regards to his real life his reputation precedes him as a ‘ladies man in the Big Apple,  partying with hot actresses and snapped with models posing on his arm.’

Galtung and Ruge (1981) the theorists argued that news is structured according to unspoken values, rather than discovered and one of their key terms used in this article was also frequency as being a star, he has a large fan base that would like to be kept informed. The other point is it is an accusation which falls into the sensational category would make it more frequent. Ultimately people would be interested in the legal conclusion of the serious charges against him.

Another value used in this article is personality as he is a celebrity, he is a person of interest. Furthermore another personality aspect of the article is defined when he says “There are lot more differences than similarities between Chuck and me.”  Which seems to be a call out to the common man to acknowledge his personal positive personality traits rather than those displayed by his onscreen character. This is amplified by a message posted on twitter by his ex girlfriend Jessica Serfaty “I know you, I know the truth. Such sadness in my heart. I love your kind gentle soul. Bless.” which speaks for itself.

The Strauss' theory is the theory that conflict is based around binary opposites, making these the central climax of a narrative structure which in turn relates to this article as Kristina’s allegation  displays her as the victim and him the perpetrator, It is the guy vs girl ideology and the weak vs the strong as she is near to a nobody ‘little known 27-year-old, who has had small roles in US shows’ and he is very well-known.

The key news values displayed in the 'I'M A GOOD GUY' British actor Ed Westwick denies rape claim and says his party-mad playboy Gossip Girl character is ‘diabolical’ were negativity; a bad story, threshold; newsworthiness, frequency, personality; person of interest, and the Strauss’ theories of conflict and binary opposites.