In 1965, media researchers Galtung & Ruge analysed news stories to find out what factors placed them at the top of the news agenda.
They came up with the following list of news values - a kind of scoring system to work out what might become news. A story which scores highly on each value is likely to be at the top of a TV news bulletin. Some of the news values they suggested include:
Negativity
The Nepal earthquake is an excellent example of negative news.
Closeness to home
Immediacy
How recently did it happen? TV news is very competitive about breaking news – although it is now beaten by social media.
Simplicity
Simple stories are preferred by TV news. Palestine is complicated, a plane crash is easy to follow.
Uniqueness
‘Dog bites man’ is not news. ‘Man bites dog’ is. Unusual stories make it into the news – especially if there is good video to go with it.
Elite nations or people
Stories that focus on important countries or people are likely to make the news. Obama and USA = news, Outer Mongolia not so much.
Immediacy
How recently did it happen? TV news is very competitive about breaking news – although it is now beaten by social media.
Simplicity
Simple stories are preferred by TV news. Palestine is complicated, a plane crash is easy to follow.
Uniqueness
‘Dog bites man’ is not news. ‘Man bites dog’ is. Unusual stories make it into the news – especially if there is good video to go with it.
Elite nations or people
Stories that focus on important countries or people are likely to make the news. Obama and USA = news, Outer Mongolia not so much.
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