MediA IssueS & DebateS

NewS ValueS...

What is gate-keeping?

Gatekeepers are primarily the editors who are responsible for selecting and ordering the news broadcasts or selecting and planning the newspaper layout. The selection of news events is not a reflex action, but the socially determined construction of reality. (Audiences expectation, application of news value and institutional requirements determine what texts get exposed)

What do we mean by bias?

Bias is the influence of a person's attitudes, background of its interview, writers, and photographers and editors-even before the gate-keeping process. This can be through:

Selection and omission
Placement
Photos, captions and camera angles
Use of names and titles
Statistics ad crowd counts
Source control
Choice and tone

Galtung and Ruge identified the following news values:

Frequency: The time span of an event and the extent to which it fits the frequency of the newspaper's or news broadcaster’s schedule.

Threshold: How big is an event? Is it big enough to make it into the news?

Prince Charles wants to ban McDonalds as he feels that a ban on junk food is the key to a healthier life style. He declared that obesity, which is the cause of chronic diabetes, is out of control in Britain.

Unambiguity: How clear is the meaning of an event?

Meaningfulness: How meaningful will the event appear to the receivers of the news?

Consonance: Does the event match the audience's expectations?

Unexpectedness: If an event is highly unpredictable, then it is like to make it into the news.

Vitamin pills and low-fat foods could be doing more harm than good. Women with a low-fat diet may find it harder to become pregnant.

Continuity: Once an events has been covered, it is convenient to continue to cover it- the running story

A car bomb killed 18 boys as they played football during one of the darkest days of blooshed in Iraq.

Composition: This is a matter of the balance of the news.

Reference to elite nations: This relates again to 'cultural proximity'. Those nations which are culturally closest to our own will receive most of the coverage.

Reference to elite persons: The media pay attention to important people. Anyone the media pay attention to must be important.

Tony Blair put pressure on Gordon Brown to ease the inheritance tax burden threatening millions off families.

Personalisation: This connects with Unambiguity and meaningfulness. Events are seen as the actions of individuals.

Negativity: Bad news is good news in terms of what is reported.

posted by Dinni @ 9:35 pm