News Values

A2 Media Portfolio

Mikhael Ellis

Immediacy

• Immediacy in terms of local newspapers is news that happens over a week, however, If they have a website then they can update their news daily, even hourly.

Has it happened recently? Is it new?

The issue is the 17th December issue which means all news between 10th and 17th December will be in here

Main story changes every day.

A2 Media Portfolio

Familiarity

• Because we are researching local newspapers the majority of the news will be about the borough we live in unless there is breaking national news or even sometimes world wide news.

Does it mean something to us where we live? Can we relate to it?

This story from the hackney gazette is related to schools in hackney

A2 Media Portfolio

AmplitudeIs it a big event? Does it involve many people?

This is a story from the harrow observer about the in the infamous ‘Sir Alan Davies’ this involved 100 people that worked in Copland school.

A2 Media Portfolio

Frequency

• Events that happen every year and are reported on i.e. Notting hill carnival.

• This type of news would mainly come from a newspaper like ‘Paddington & Westminster times’ or ‘Harrow Observer’ yearly because it relates to their areas they cater for. Whether it maybe the celebration itself, crime that is associated with it or maybe even to the monstrous traffic that is throughout all of harrow road, they will report on it.

Is it something that happened fairly quickly or regularly?

A2 Media Portfolio

Unambiguity

• Newspapers have the tendency to not reveal certain stories if they think that they are too difficult to explain, local newspapers may also adopt this same principle.

Is it clear? Are the results/effects obvious?

A2 Media Portfolio

Predictability

• When the July 7 bombings happened of course it would be filtered through the media as soon as it happened, of course that was to be in the evening editions of newspapers or the papers the next day. And on newspaper articles on websites we would expect it to be there the very next day.

Is it predictable? Do we expect it to happen?

Late article relating to 7/7 bombings .. That are still in the news even till this day.

A2 Media Portfolio

Surprise• Many people may argue that London, being given the chance to host the Olympics in

2012 came as a surprise, which was of course in the papers the next day.

Is it a rare or unexpected event?

A2 Media Portfolio

Continuity

• The Story of Madeleine McCann is a story that rocked the nation but has lasted for nearly 3 years.

Has it already been defined as news? Is it a running story?

A2 Media Portfolio

Elite nations orpeople

• The world cup going to South Africa was big news as it was the first world cup on African soil. Local newspapers may talk about the effect that the world cup may have on the area.

Has the event happened in a country that is important to the audience? Does it concern well-known people?

A2 Media Portfolio

Personalization

• Stories that effect normal people like me and you or stories that relate to you personally or experience’s you may have gone through.

Is it a personal or human interest story?

A2 Media Portfolio

NegativityIs it bad news?

A2 Media Portfolio

Exclusivity

• If a newspaper gets a unique story then it would be very beneficial for them as they will make money and in turn increase the level of competition.

“Are we the only newspaper that has this story?”

A2 Media Portfolio

Visual Impact

• Images are said to have a big impact on how a story is taken. If an image is strong enough to add a large amount of emphasis or seriousness to the story, the reader will started to visualise the story and be more inclined to read the story.

Is there a really strong image?

A2 Media Portfolio

Balance

• Of course, balance will probably be used in some form in local newspapers. There is always a story that will be of some comfort as the government probably wouldn’t want the country to be in fear.

Is it being used to counterbalance other stories?

A2 Media Portfolio