When a dog bites a man, that’s not news When a dog bites a man, that’s not news. But if a man bites a dog, that’s news. — John B. Bogart, New York Sun, 19th Century newspaper editor

What is News? Which brings us to... With information from “The Editorial Eye by Jane T. Harrigan and “News Reporting and Writing” by Melvin Mencher

The tools we use to report the news have changed...

Journalist as “curator” Journalist as Tweeter Journalist as “curator”

As juggler...

But what news is has not really changed...

“If your momma tells you she loves you, check it out.” Or... “If your momma tells you she loves you, check it out.” Check everything out...

The form of journalism may change, Even more broadly... The form of journalism may change, but what it is at its heart does not From Principles of American Journalism: Journalism is a set of transparent, independent procedures aimed at gathering, verifying and reporting truthful information of consequence to citizens in a democracy

But how do we decide specifically what information to report? That’s where the “news” comes in...

According to Principles, what’s the difference between “information” & “news”? “Don’t be fooled by the volume and accessibility of information. It’s tempting to see a cascading Twitter feed as a substitute for journalism, but it’s not. Without journalism, what we have is lots of information vying for dominance, untested, unvetted and, often, coming from people wishing to persuade, rather than inform.” p. 67

But how do what determine what’s “newsworthy”? So “news” is a specific kind of information, more useful to citizens than raw information. But how do what determine what’s “newsworthy”?

And now, a presentation on: Modern News Values Hold it! We’re going off script...

Impact How many people will the story affect? How deeply will it affect them? How was the story responded to? Examples? Impact need not be immediate. But when it builds incrementally, showing it is a challenge. (An example?) The degree of impact may depend on where an event happened.

as Nuclear Bomb Destroys Europe Proximity Local Man Killed as Nuclear Bomb Destroys Europe Obviously, a satirical headline But it embodies the idea that events close to home are considered more newsworthy than those far away. “Localizing a story”: Search for the local impact of national and international events. How might we find a local angle to the Ebola crisis?

Timeliness “Old news” is an oxymoron. Traditionally, newspapers have reported on new events or developments. Print edition of newspapers report on what happened yesterday. Obviously, online news and social media have changed things With Twitter, news reporting can be almost instantaneous What’s the potential problem with that?

Second Virginia Tech shooting as reported on Twitter The story behind the story...

Prominence Let’s get a little “Meta” here with a scene from “Almost Famous”

Prominence Philip Seymour Hoffman made headlines when he died of a drug overdose. Hundreds of people died of overdoses that week. Some may have received coverage in their local news outlets. But not nationally. Like it or not, people are curious about prominent people. What can we do about this as journalists? What else?

Conflict Examples of stories involving conflict? A national story An international story Why is conflict such a potent news value?

Conflict Where there’s smoke there’s fire Where there’s conflict, there’s news. Conflict shows people care about an issue. That doesn’t mean we cover just the protest. We should cover why people are protesting. What are the issues?

Novelty When a man bites a dog... Who would want to read a story saying that “no homes burned down today”? Or that “air quality was normal today”? The humdrum isn’t compelling. Things happening as expected are rarely newsworthy. The novel, unusual, weird, & surprising are. Do you see any downsides to this?

Deviancy Examples of deviancy? Sphere of Consensus: Motherhood & Apple Pie Sphere of Legitimate Controversy: Balance is sought Deviancy: Journalism casts off neutrality Examples of deviancy? Source: D. Hallin, The Uncensored War (Berkeley: Univ. of California Press, 1986), p. 117

Homosexuality was once considered an illness The State used its power against homosexuals And many newspapers cast off all neutrality

1950s newsreel about Communism

Newspapers cast off neutrality Another example: Communism during the Cold War What do you think of this? What is our role as journalists? Go to 1:20 in the video.

On this issue, journalism did begin to change... But journalism made leftist dissent in America part of the sphere of legitimate controversy The same happened with dissent against the Viet Nam war. An example here.

Reader Interest/ Currency Much of what is in the news is there because editors and producers think the audience needs to know about it. But some events simply are being talked about in the community. These events have currency, meaning there is high audience interest in them.

The times are changing Celebrity has steadily become more dominant as a news value So has sensationalism People may say they want less celebrity coverage But many flock to CNN’s Headline News (“all child abductions, all the time”...) and CNN when it turns itself into a celebrity rag Why do we care about celebrities?

Changing times... The most commented-on stories can lead to more coverage of that topic Ditto for the most-emailed stories Readers can reddit and newsvine it, influencing how editors see a topic What do think is good about this? What about the downside?

Is our responsibility to cater to what our audience desires? What if those desires fail to coincide with what the public needs to know? Examples? What if covering things the public needs to know is boring, or angers lots of people? Solutions: make important news interesting and relevant Convey controversial news fairly

Yellow Journalism What does it mean to you? Sensational Lurid But entertaining Bad?

The audience What do readers want? Is it what they need? How is ‘serious’ news like spinach? What sells newspapers and drives readers to cable news channels? Sensationalism and celebrity news are not really new or unique