The nature of news and news gathering
News is an aspect of human communication that has become more or less synonymous with human civilization and every modern society has come to find it an indispensable part of human progress. For people to share ideas and emotions, knowledge and wisdom in a dynamic way there has to be a channel that can allow passage of information across the diverse segments of the society with some level of credibility and consistency, and the mass media have emerged to do this for modern society.
News has been affirmed to be a necessity in a modern society more so in a democratic society because it allows society to understand itself and comprehend the perils and hazards it is confronted with as it journeys through times and epochs. News is a necessity because it allows people to enjoy a free and open encounter with vital ideas and interesting personalities, issues and facts, problems and solutions as well as compelling and inspiring stories so relevant to human struggle and survival that people are moved to positions where they can best map their destiny.
Stories do not exist rather they happen and are experienced by people and they are news immediately they are told from one person to another in a way relevant to and resonating with individual struggles, needs and interests.
The nature of news
What is the news? News may be as old as human civilization and may have predated what we recognize today as mass media. It is believed that the Romans were the first to gather news somewhat systematically and that news was posted as far back as 69 BC and that the first newspaper was published by Johann Carolus in Strausbourg, Germany in 1609. At that time the idea of the freedom of the press was barely emerging and news was not disseminated without much hazard to the publishers. However, the idea of freedom of information soon followed in the wake of the early newspapers and people began to advocate for the right to know the news as a foundation for good governance, and for survival andthe pursuit of happiness. [Campbell and Wolseley, 1961]
The question of what news is and why people have a right to know the news around them may not be unconnected withthe nature of the news. What then is news? Is news everything that happens or ‘anything you didn’t know yesterday’ or what people talk about and want to know about? There have been so many other answers to the question, what is the news? Is it what a reporter finds satisfaction in writing or what a well trained editor decides to publish? Is the news the report of an event or anything timely? Is it stimulating information? Some definitions say that it is literature in a hurry; others say it is tomorrow’s history. There are many other glib definitions of news. One of the most frequently quoted is attributed to nineteenth-century editor John Bogart: ‘when a dog bites a man, that is not news; but when a man bites a dog, that is news.’ Other popular definitions of news include the following: ‘it is something you didn’t know before, had forgotten, or didn’t understand’; ‘it is a timely report of facts or opinions that hold interests or importance or both for a considerable number of people’. [Dennis and Ismach, 1981]
Here then is Campbell and Wolseley [1961] answer to the question, what is the news? First, news is a story, report or account. At one time it was termed tidings. It may be transmitted person-to-person or by news media. The story may be oral, written or pictorial or moving image in form. Originally spelled newes, the term first appeared in 1622 in the title of a London paper, the Weekly Newes. Second, news is an account of an idea, event, problem or issue that enough men are concerned about. Third, news is an account of something real and is based upon material facts that are ‘truly material’. ‘It is a truthful account of the day’s events in context which gives them meaning.’ News is not fiction even when it tells dramatic stories. Such dramatic stories must be of some real event, people or issues. Fourth, news is current. It is a perishable product, unwanted within a matter of minutes, hours or days after the fact are reported and spread. All news is timely. Fifth, news is an account of something that interests people even though the level of interest may vary in different kinds of news story. When we put all of these elements together we arrive at a simple definition: ‘news is an account of a current idea, event, problem, issue or people that interests people’. The discussion about the correct definition of news is not just another academic diversion as the determination of what news is underscores what reporters and editors are supposed to do and what information the public are given access to. Simply put the definition of news indicates the essence and nature of news in the journalistic process. Journalists generally agree about what news is not, but they have real problems identifying just what news is. For the inexperienced reporter deciding what news is may be important and worrying as what the reporter does depends on an ability to recognize what news is in the face of myriads of events, people and issues. Even experienced reporters must also cultivate a ‘nose for news’ even when they are not consciously worrying about how to recognize news in their daily endeavor. Reporters and editors must constantly make choices as to what news is and what ought to be published. Deciding what news is usually is not a matter of absolutes but rather it is a matter of the relative newsworthiness of different events, people and issues at any given time. What is news today gets published today but may not make it the next day because of a different mix of available stories, available time or space or any other factors that may affect the decision as to what gets published and what does not.
It may be true to say that nobody knows what news is because there are no universally accepted criteria, but in reality journalists have tended to use one set of criteria or another depending on professional trends that may change somewhat from time to time. Space, time and competing events or issues actually determine what gets published and guidelines exist to help reporters do their work with some level of certainty, though, such guidelines have evolved and changed over the years. In spite of this, there still exist at any given time, broad agreements and professional acceptance of certain news elements and news values. The many factors that determine what news is are demonstrated in this discussion by DeFleur and Dennis cited by Dennis and Ismach [1981]:
“News is something newspersons know when they see it, something what scholars ruminate about, something that public officials try to influence. Essentially, though, when all is said and done news must be defined as a journalistic report that presents a contemporary view of reality with regard to a specific issue, event or process. It is shaped by a journalistic consensus about what will interest the audience as well as constraints both within and outside the news organization. News usually monitors change of importance to individuals or society and puts it in the context of what is common or characteristic. News is a product that has specific uses for the individual ranging from forecasts about potential danger to the mundane details of life. News has social consequences as it helps identify and define political issues and social trends. News is the result of a daily bargain game in news organizations involving timely decisions that sort out the observed human activities of a given day (or time period) and is extremely perishable. News is the imperfect result of hurried decisions made under pressure.”
In spite of the difficulties of having a universal definition of news, journalist’s focus on events and personalities that are deemed to have news value tend to relate to information about government, business, popular culture and entertainment and socio-political issues of contemporary nature.
In addition there are some common characteristics in news stories that have been more or less accepted universally and these are:
Timeliness
News stories tend to stress immediacy of events and issues as well as interest in the subject. Journalists often focus on current events and try to report them ahead of their competitors in what is referred to as ‘scoops’. And when stories that are not current are being reported, they are reported from fresh perspectives and new details that had hitherto been used by competitors.
Impact
Journalists often look for the effect of events or issues on institutions and people. Stories are valued for the effects orthe consequences the events being reported is perceived to have on a significant number of people. The impact and importance of what is reported is often considered as a proven characteristic of news.
Prominence
News stories are considered of high value whenever the event or issue can be associated with celebrity or notoriety ofthe individual or institution involved in the event. Even routine events may be considered newsworthy when they involve prominent individuals or institutions or places or even ideas. Sometimes stories about ordinary people are deemed newsworthy where they are associated with something bizarre, unexpected or odd. In this case oddity becomes another characteristic of news.
Proximity
The closer an event is to the location of the news organization and the people; the more newsworthy it is deemed to be by journalists. Proximity may be geographical and this type is the one most often reported, or it may be psychological in which case what is being reported is deemed to resonate with a significant number of people.
Singularity
Newsworthiness may also be considered on the basis of the degree to which people have a need to know about the event, and its significance to society. Deviations from the normal, when they involve conflicts or controversies or competition and drama or change are often considered newsworthy.
Human interest
The degree to which the event appeals to emotion or depicts human drama or is beneficial may also indicate the newsworthiness. The story that expresses that which is of deepest interest to the average human being and which may be of pleasure or enjoyment or curiosity is often deemed newsworthy. Also, stories that may evoke sympathy, indignation or anger or fear may be considered to be of human interest. The key is that a story that benefits the people in whatever significant way may be deemed of human interest.
[Dennis and Ismach, 1981; Campbell and Wolseley, 1961; Fedler, Bender, Davenport, and Drager, 2005]
Apart from the characteristics of news mentioned above, there are other factors that may influence what is deemed newsworthy and what is ultimately published. The presence of a newsworthy criterion does not guarantee that an event or issue shall be covered. There are many instances where an event that meets any of the criteria of news still did not get coverage either because they inadvertently escaped the attention of reporters and their news organization or because of some other organizational factors such as news policy, the beat system, content pattern, space allocation, and journalistic treatment. News policies differ from one news organization to another as different news organization place different emphasis on type of news covered and on what ideas, events, problems they recognize as news andthe manner in which such stories are presented. News policies may not be unconnected with the type of press system operating in the society in which the news organization is located. For instance, media systems in developing countries tend to be more authoritarian than libertarian and may champion the ideals of development journalism rather than more libertarian philosophies. Even within the same society news organizations operate within the constraints of ownership and policies are different between a government-owned media and a private-owned one. Privately owned news organizations may pander to the dictates of the market place and may be influenced more by commercialism intheir news policies whereas state-owned media may work as much as possible to foster the interests of the government in power or the ruling elite.
Another characteristic of news is that it may vary from one medium to another. Daily newspapers emphasize events more on the basis of proximity and timeliness whereas weekly news magazines cover more in-depth stories based on human interest and singularity and broadcast media tend to emphasize impact, conflict and more dramatic stories thatare not complicated.
Content pattern of different media may also differ. Some news organizations are intended primarily to inform, others to influence or educate, and yet others to entertain. Newspapers may publish more informative stories whereas radio and television place more emphasis on entertainment, and there are news channels that focus mainly on news stories or talk programmes.
Another area of difference may occur between a local or regional newspaper and a national or international one. Eventhe days of the week and what policies emphasize may differ from media to media. In reality, each news organization serves different audiences and also develops tendencies and traditions to emphasize some type of news over others.While news organizations may not openly admit this, certain subjects or individuals or organization may be deemed sacred cows reflecting the interests of management and ownership or political interests.
Policies differ in journalistic treatment of news. Some news media attempt objective, accurate and impartial treatment of news whereas some others permit interpretive analysis and editorializing, and yet others emphasize the sensational. In addition, news media differ in the amount of time or spaces allocated for news stories as against advertisements or commercials and these may affect what news holes are provided for news stories.
The beat system is another of the news policies that may influence what becomes published news. Media
The nature of news and news gathering
News is an aspect of human communication that has become more or less synonymous with human civilization and every modern society has come to find it an indispensable part of human progress. For people to share ideas and emotions, knowledge and wisdom in a dynamic way there has to be a channel that can allow passage of information across the diverse segments of the society with some level of credibility and consistency, and the mass media have emerged to do this for modern society.
News has been affirmed to be a necessity in a modern society more so in a democratic society because it allows society to understand itself and comprehend the perils and hazards it is confronted with as it journeys through times and epochs. News is a necessity because it allows people to enjoy a free and open encounter with vital ideas and interesting personalities, issues and facts, problems and solutions as well as compelling and inspiring stories so relevant to human struggle and survival that people are moved to positions where they can best map their destiny.
Stories do not exist rather they happen and are experienced by people and they are news immediately they are told from one person to another in a way relevant to and resonating with individual struggles, needs and interests.
The nature of news
What is the news? News may be as old as human civilization and may have predated what we recognize today as mass media. It is believed that the Romans were the first to gather news somewhat systematically and that news was posted as far back as 69 BC and that the first newspaper was published by Johann Carolus in Strausbourg, Germany in 1609. At that time the idea of the freedom of the press was barely emerging and news was not disseminated without much hazard to the publishers. However, the idea of freedom of information soon followed in the wake of the early newspapers and people began to advocate for the right to know the news as a foundation for good governance, and for survival andthe pursuit of happiness. [Campbell and Wolseley, 1961]
The question of what news is and why people have a right to know the news around them may not be unconnected withthe nature of the news. What then is news? Is news everything that happens or ‘anything you didn’t know yesterday’ or what people talk about and want to know about? There have been so many other answers to the question, what is the news? Is it what a reporter finds satisfaction in writing or what a well trained editor decides to publish? Is the news the report of an event or anything timely? Is it stimulating information? Some definitions say that it is literature in a hurry; others say it is tomorrow’s history. There are many other glib definitions of news. One of the most frequently quoted is attributed to nineteenth-century editor John Bogart: ‘when a dog bites a man, that is not news; but when a man bites a dog, that is news.’ Other popular definitions of news include the following: ‘it is something you didn’t know before, had forgotten, or didn’t understand’; ‘it is a timely report of facts or opinions that hold interests or importance or both for a considerable number of people’. [Dennis and Ismach, 1981]
Here then is Campbell and Wolseley [1961] answer to the question, what is the news? First, news is a story, report or account. At one time it was termed tidings. It may be transmitted person-to-person or by news media. The story may be oral, written or pictorial or moving image in form. Originally spelled newes, the term first appeared in 1622 in the title of a London paper, the Weekly Newes. Second, news is an account of an idea, event, problem or issue that enough men are concerned about. Third, news is an account of something real and is based upon material facts that are ‘truly material’. ‘It is a truthful account of the day’s events in context which gives them meaning.’ News is not fiction even when it tells dramatic stories. Such dramatic stories must be of some real event, people or issues. Fourth, news is current. It is a perishable product, unwanted within a matter of minutes, hours or days after the fact are reported and spread. All news is timely. Fifth, news is an account of something that interests people even though the level of interest may vary in different kinds of news story. When we put all of these elements together we arrive at a simple definition: ‘news is an account of a current idea, event, problem, issue or people that interests people’. The discussion about the correct definition of news is not just another academic diversion as the determination of what news is underscores what reporters and editors are supposed to do and what information the public are given access to. Simply put the definition of news indicates the essence and nature of news in the journalistic process. Journalists generally agree about what news is not, but they have real problems identifying just what news is. For the inexperienced reporter deciding what news is may be important and worrying as what the reporter does depends on an ability to recognize what news is in the face of myriads of events, people and issues. Even experienced reporters must also cultivate a ‘nose for news’ even when they are not consciously worrying about how to recognize news in their daily endeavor. Reporters and editors must constantly make choices as to what news is and what ought to be published. Deciding what news is usually is not a matter of absolutes but rather it is a matter of the relative newsworthiness of different events, people and issues at any given time. What is news today gets published today but may not make it the next day because of a different mix of available stories, available time or space or any other factors that may affect the decision as to what gets published and what does not.
It may be true to say that nobody knows what news is because there are no universally accepted criteria, but in reality journalists have tended to use one set of criteria or another depending on professional trends that may change somewhat from time to time. Space, time and competing events or issues actually determine what gets published and guidelines exist to help reporters do their work with some level of certainty, though, such guidelines have evolved and changed over the years. In spite of this, there still exist at any given time, broad agreements and professional acceptance of certain news elements and news values. The many factors that determine what news is are demonstrated in this discussion by DeFleur and Dennis cited by Dennis and Ismach [1981]:
“News is something newspersons know when they see it, something what scholars ruminate about, something that public officials try to influence. Essentially, though, when all is said and done news must be defined as a journalistic report that presents a contemporary view of reality with regard to a specific issue, event or process. It is shaped by a journalistic consensus about what will interest the audience as well as constraints both within and outside the news organization. News usually monitors change of importance to individuals or society and puts it in the context of what is common or characteristic. News is a product that has specific uses for the individual ranging from forecasts about potential danger to the mundane details of life. News has social consequences as it helps identify and define political issues and social trends. News is the result of a daily bargain game in news organizations involving timely decisions that sort out the observed human activities of a given day (or time period) and is extremely perishable. News is the imperfect result of hurried decisions made under pressure.”
In spite of the difficulties of having a universal definition of news, journalist’s focus on events and personalities that are deemed to have news value tend to relate to information about government, business, popular culture and entertainment and socio-political issues of contemporary nature.
In addition there are some common characteristics in news stories that have been more or less accepted universally and these are:
Timeliness
News stories tend to stress immediacy of events and issues as well as interest in the subject. Journalists often focus on current events and try to report them ahead of their competitors in what is referred to as ‘scoops’. And when stories that are not current are being reported, they are reported from fresh perspectives and new details that had hitherto been used by competitors.
Impact
Journalists often look for the effect of events or issues on institutions and people. Stories are valued for the effects orthe consequences the events being reported is perceived to have on a significant number of people. The impact and importance of what is reported is often considered as a proven characteristic of news.
Prominence
News stories are considered of high value whenever the event or issue can be associated with celebrity or notoriety ofthe individual or institution involved in the event. Even routine events may be considered newsworthy when they involve prominent individuals or institutions or places or even ideas. Sometimes stories about ordinary people are deemed newsworthy where they are associated with something bizarre, unexpected or odd. In this case oddity becomes another characteristic of news.
Proximity
The closer an event is to the location of the news organization and the people; the more newsworthy it is deemed to be by journalists. Proximity may be geographical and this type is the one most often reported, or it may be psychological in which case what is being reported is deemed to resonate with a significant number of people.
Singularity
Newsworthiness may also be considered on the basis of the degree to which people have a need to know about the event, and its significance to society. Deviations from the normal, when they involve conflicts or controversies or competition and drama or change are often considered newsworthy.
Human interest
The degree to which the event appeals to emotion or depicts human drama or is beneficial may also indicate the newsworthiness. The story that expresses that which is of deepest interest to the average human being and which may be of pleasure or enjoyment or curiosity is often deemed newsworthy. Also, stories that may evoke sympathy, indignation or anger or fear may be considered to be of human interest. The key is that a story that benefits the people in whatever significant way may be deemed of human interest.
[Dennis and Ismach, 1981; Campbell and Wolseley, 1961; Fedler, Bender, Davenport, and Drager, 2005]
Apart from the characteristics of news mentioned above, there are other factors that may influence what is deemed newsworthy and what is ultimately published. The presence of a newsworthy criterion does not guarantee that an event or issue shall be covered. There are many instances where an event that meets any of the criteria of news still did not get coverage either because they inadvertently escaped the attention of reporters and their news organization or because of some other organizational factors such as news policy, the beat system, content pattern, space allocation, and journalistic treatment. News policies differ from one news organization to another as different news organization place different emphasis on type of news covered and on what ideas, events, problems they recognize as news andthe manner in which such stories are presented. News policies may not be unconnected with the type of press system operating in the society in which the news organization is located. For instance, media systems in developing countries tend to be more authoritarian than libertarian and may champion the ideals of development journalism rather than more libertarian philosophies. Even within the same society news organizations operate within the constraints of ownership and policies are different between a government-owned media and a private-owned one. Privately owned news organizations may pander to the dictates of the market place and may be influenced more by commercialism intheir news policies whereas state-owned media may work as much as possible to foster the interests of the government in power or the ruling elite.
Another characteristic of news is that it may vary from one medium to another. Daily newspapers emphasize events more on the basis of proximity and timeliness whereas weekly news magazines cover more in-depth stories based on human interest and singularity and broadcast media tend to emphasize impact, conflict and more dramatic stories thatare not complicated.
Content pattern of different media may also differ. Some news organizations are intended primarily to inform, others to influence or educate, and yet others to entertain. Newspapers may publish more informative stories whereas radio and television place more emphasis on entertainment, and there are news channels that focus mainly on news stories or talk programmes.
Another area of difference may occur between a local or regional newspaper and a national or international one. Eventhe days of the week and what policies emphasize may differ from media to media. In reality, each news organization serves different audiences and also develops tendencies and traditions to emphasize some type of news over others.While news organizations may not openly admit this, certain subjects or individuals or organization may be deemed sacred cows reflecting the interests of management and ownership or political interests.
Policies differ in journalistic treatment of news. Some news media attempt objective, accurate and impartial treatment of news whereas some others permit interpretive analysis and editorializing, and yet others emphasize the sensational. In addition, news media differ in the amount of time or spaces allocated for news stories as against advertisements or commercials and these may affect what news holes are provided for news stories.
The beat system is another of the news policies that may influence what becomes published news. Media houses differ as to their beat systems. Some are based on location and others are based on areas of expertise or knowledge. Certain other physical needs of news organizations have impact on what reporters cover and how it is covered: deadlines, accessibility and predictability are worthy of mention here.houses differ as to their beat systems. Some are based on location and others are based on areas of expertise or knowledge. Certain other physical needs of news organizations have impact on what reporters cover and how it is covered: deadlines, accessibility and predictability are worthy of mention here.
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