Defining News (Notes)
15.8.15Notes from reading:
Miles Maguire, ‘Defining News’, chapter 2, Advanced Reporting: Essential Skills for 21st Century Journalism, Routledge, New York, 2015, pp. 22–39.
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- Whether in a good or bad way
- It's something out of the ordinary, an anomaly
Job of a reporter
- Not a recorder
- Condense and rearrange information to make it accessible to readers
- It's possible to learn to be a better reporter
The ability to spot an anomaly can be honed
- Try to spot things that do not normally go together
- Need to know about the topic at hand to be able to recognise anomalies
News isn't always what's not supposed to be
- Oft-reported events like elections and sports matches are not anomalies yet still newsworthy
- But they don't happen every day and the people/teams involved are always different
- Also the results are what's out of the ordinary
- Following the news a way of people controlling their environments
- With the reporter presenting organised information, consuming news is a way of controlling the uncontrollable, making sense of the world
Six observable characteristics of news
- Timeliness - even news of a traffic jam is newsworthy if it is current
- Singularity/oddity/uniqueness - if traffic jam caused by an overturned truck, more interesting
- Proximity/nearness - the traffic jam you're trying to avoid is the most important
- Prominence - just a normal person being caught speeding or drink driving isn't newsworthy but if it was a celebrity it would be
- Impact/outcome/consequences - minor traffic accident vs one in which a person is killed
- Conflict - basic element of human existence, news on conflict allows people to form opinions
- In reality, reporters need to consider an infinite number of things.
Norwegian model of news (study by Norwegian scholars)
- Developed list of dozen factors affecting reporters' decisions to report as news
- Daily newspapers focus on events that take one day, weekly newspapers on events that take a week, and so on - consider social media
- Emphasises cultural context - reporter needs to consider affect of their news
The race to win the scoop
- Need to consider the competition
- Winning the race to be wrong
- Conceptual scoop - looking at available information the grouping it so that the its significance becomes clear
In the age of the internet, writing can be easily copied and has less value
- No such thing as an original copy
- Only way to overcome is trust - trust in the newspaper which is gained by trustworthy reporting
- Information has little value unless it can be explained
- Bias is unavoidable - reporters should not be without opinions but they should be aware of their biases so that they can test their evidence for accuracy
Types of news stories
- Spot reporting - reaction to something specific that's happening
- Enterprise journalism - initiated by journalists and in many different categories such as investigative, public service and explanatory
Very different but at the same time share similarities
- From true events
- Same fact gathering tools (but in different proportions)
Event stories classified according to news intent
- Naturally occurring events - such as wildfires and traffic accidents presenting deadline challenges, restrict fact gathering, but no pressure to favour sides
- Scheduled events - such as court cases and cultural events which allow reporters to prepare in advance and maintain an objective stance
- Pseudo-events - such as announcements by government and corporate anniversary celebrations, manmade events to promote a specific public relations message
Characteristics of pseudo-events
- Planned
- Intended to be subject of a news report
- Ambiguity - motivations unclear and unresolved
- Self-fulfilling prophecy - projects air of significance simply by virtue of its existence
Enterprise stories
- Often less important than spot stories so rookie reporters are often assigned to trend stories
- Optional story - doesn't have to be done and belongs to the particular news reporter or news organisation
Reading mentions DOT methodology but does not explain it, online search revealed:
- Documentary analysis
- Observations made in the field
- Talking (interviewing)
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