COMM260W:

Lesson 2 Overview

 

Introduction

Previously, we pointed out that journalism differs from other types of writing because of its mission to serve the public interest by providing people with the information they need to make decisions about important issues.

We also noted that news stories are fact-based accounts driven by solid reporting and not simply the writer’s opinion about something she or he finds interesting.

We stress the idea of informational value. By selecting the most important facts and writing

efficiently, our stories meet the needs of people who live busy lives. We also noted the ways that news stories differ from other types of writing you’ve done previously.

Before you dive into writing the news yourself, it’s important to understand what is newsworthy. This is an ever-changing definition, and one of those questions with no easy answers in today’s media environment.

However, there are a few guiding principles that help reporters and editors — and marketing and public relations professionals — determine what information the public needs to know. We’ll review those principles this week, and you’ll have the opportunity to try them out for yourself.

Objectives

Here are the objectives for this lesson.

• Identify the elements of newsworthiness
• Determine how sources, attribution, and credibility impact the production of news
• Rank stories for newsworthiness based on the factors outlined in the lesson

Lesson Readings and Activities

By the end of this lesson, please complete the readings and activities listed in the Lesson 2 Course Schedule.

Newsworthiness

Those in the news business generally are in agreement on a number of elements common to a story that makes it newsworthy:

• Timeliness or immediacy: This is also known as the “breaking news” mindset. In general, the more timely something is, the more newsworthy it will be. This is especially true of social and digital media, but not as much in magazines and other long-form stories that deliberately take a long view. However, cable news has been criticized for turning everything into “breaking news,” which can increase feelings of fear, anger, and anxiety among viewers.
• Proximity: This refers to how close the news is to the people who will consume it. People need to know what’s happening in their communities, but news coverage tends to be dominated by national issues in politics, business, and other areas.
• Impact and consequence: The greater the impact, the more newsworthy a story is. Think of a major employer leaving an area or going out of business. Not only does this change have an immediate impact on the firm's employees, but it also can have consequences for the entire community from businesses to schools. Government decisions at all levels—local, state and federal—also have high impact.
• Prominence and eminence: When someone is in the public eye because of her position as a CEO, elected official or pillar of the community, that person's actions are often considered newsworthy because of the influence the individual has. Similarly, if someone is recognized as an authority or an expert, that person's actions are considered newsworthy.
• Conflict:  Stories involving conflicts also are newsworthy. Everything from activists protesting in the streets to politicians debating legislation to public spats on Twitter speaks to conflicting world views, values and policies. While journalists report on conflicts, professional communicators often are expected to respond to conflicts. Some PR firms specialize, for instance, in conflict management.
• Novelty: How unusual is the event or circumstance? Generally, the more novel something is, the more newsworthy it is considered. Case in point, this story from the Associated Press in June 2020.

Like most things in life, the news does not always fit neatly into these boxes. In fact, some of these elements stand in contrast to one another. Someone making news in close proximity to an audience is not likely to rate high in prominence. Situations like this require journalists to use editorial judgment in determining what information is presented to readers, viewers or listeners.

Real-World Example

Erica Mandy, a former broadcast journalist who now hosts and produces a podcast called The Newsworthy, has to make these judgments every day when she distills the most important stories from across the U.S. and around the world into one 10-minute podcast episode.

On Instagram, she summed up how she applies the principles of newsworthiness to her editorial process

There are essentially 3 things we consider when deciding WHAT goes in each 10 min of our news show:

1. How much does this IMPACT the lives and decisions of our listeners and their loved ones? And/or impact the country and world overall.
2. Is this part of the national CONVERSATION? So, would our listener be expected to know this while talking with friends, family, clients or colleagues? Or perhaps it allows them to start or add to an interesting or important discussion.
3. Does this provide VARIETY to our show? We always share the necessary serious stuff you need to know for the day, but we also want to make sure to have some fun! From what’s happening in tech to what’s trending in entertainment and beyond, we ensure every episode keeps you super well-rounded.

 

How to Approach a Story

Every piece of news that’s created is a combination of deciding what is newsworthy and how to appropriately gather and present information to your audience. Regardless of the format (story, Tweet, 60-second TV spot, etc.), a reporter will approach each story by asking these three basic questions.

Click each question to learn more.

 

For professional news reporters or students in COMM 260W, questions 2 and 3 in the process are critical to achieving informational value for their stories.

Anybody who was in the neighborhood that day would know there was a fire. Why should they take time to read, view or listen to your story if it simply tells them what they already know? That's why solid reporting and smart use of sources are vital.

Sources, Attribution, and Credibility

Not only do sources add to the informational value of a news story and separate it from something people can easily find by Googling it, they also reinforce both a reporter’s credibility and the public’s trust in the media overall.

For our news stories to be seen as credible by the public, we need to reveal where the information is coming from (attribution) — and why those sources are in a position to know what they are saying (credibility).

So, for the public to trust our news stories, we must attribute the facts to various sources (whether people or documents) and establish their authority to provide the information.

Today’s media environment makes it easier than ever for someone to “call out” a journalist who misrepresented information or was otherwise lazy in their reporting. In 2018, a woman in Minnesota took to Medium to write a widely-publicized account of how a reporter from the German outlet Der Spiegel was lazy and untruthful in his coverage of her community.

She writes:

Knowing that Relotius’ purpose was likely to focus on a few of our many conservative voters, I still had an ounce of faith in journalism. Maybe, just maybe, since he was a professional, award winning, international journalist and was spending not one day here but several weeks, he would craft an interesting, nuanced story about how we all somehow manage to coexist with each other in Trump’s America without burning each other’s houses down.

But I also had a distinct gut feeling that his portrayal of this town could go very, very wrong.

Lesson 2 Wrap Up and Looking Ahead

Summary

A journalist has a responsibility to report the news fairly and accurately, which involves being curious and talking to people who can provide you with the information you need. There are also many judgement calls that need to be made about whether something is newsworthy and how information should be presented. These standards are ever-evolving, but rooted in several key principles that we covered in this lesson.

Check and Double Check

By the end of this lesson, make sure you have completed the readings and activities found in the Lesson 2 Course Schedule.

Looking Ahead

The rest of the class will shift away from the theoretical framework of journalism and into the mechanics of how to report and write stories and other types of content. We’ll start next week by breaking down the anatomy of a news story and reviewing the fundamentals of Associated Press style.