Critical Thinking Activity #2: Analysis of Reality Show and News Show - Dancer 17

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Chapter 9

News

Key Idea: News is not a reflection of actual events; it is a construction by news workers who are subjected to many influences and constraints.

Introduction

News is currently undergoing a dynamic change

Dynamic Nature of News

Desire for news

Dates back to preliterate culture

Mostly personal and local back then

Spread through interpersonal conversation

Newspapers

Started as pamphlets in 16th century

Evolved into daily newspapers in 17th century first in Germany and then throughout Europe

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People have always had a desire for news.

Potter, Media Literacy, 9e. © SAGE Publishing, 2019

Dynamic Nature of News

Newspapers

Early audience in Europe--elite class

Journalists corroborated facts for greater credibility

Audience in America: different colonies different political views different newspapers

The nature of news and its transmission has changed over time.

Early news was shared through interpersonal communication.

Newspapers did not begin until the 16th century in Italy.

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Dynamic Nature of News

Rise and Fall of “Big News”

American Civil War and compulsory education  rise in sense of nationhood  increase in demand for political news  growth of large circulation newspapers rise of “big news”

Radio mass media from 1920 to 1950 followed big news model

Rise of big news--peak in the 1980s

Following the Civil War, there was increased literacy in the United States.

This was seen as an opportunity to develop newspapers with large circulations.

The era of big news was lasted from increased newspaper readership through the penetration of the radio in the 1920s to the 1970s when it reached its peak.

Dynamic Nature of News

Potter, Media Literacy, 9e. © SAGE Publishing, 2019

Rise and Fall of “Big News”

Decline of “Big News”--after 1980s

Initially slow and then rapid decrease in numbers of:

Circulation of daily newspapers

Journalists

Local TV newscasts

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Dynamic Nature of News

Rise and Fall of “Big News”

Alternatives:

New blogs

Bulletin boards

Online news websites

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Citizen journalism | Paul Lewis | TEDxThessaloniki

Potter, Media Literacy, 9e. © SAGE Publishing, 2019

Dynamic Nature of News

Shift to Online Sources of News

Initially driven by younger people

Illustrates changes in people’s demands:

More efficient access to news

A different kind of news--local, entertaining, and “useful” information for people

Evidence: rise of social networking sites for accessing news

Some social networking sites used for accessing news: YouTube, Twitter, Facebook

Traditional news markets have been losing their audience.

They are failing to attract younger people.

They face increased competition from alternative news outlets on the Internet.

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Different Perspectives on News

Political Philosophy Perspective

Normative perspective

Built from the first amendment to the U. S. Constitution

Focuses on important events and people in a society

News stories constructed from accurate facts rather than journalists' opinions

Aim--to educate people and help them make informed decisions

Espoused by philosophers and social critics

Political Philosophy Perspective

The political philosophy perspective specifies what news should be.

This is a normative not descriptive perspective.

News should focus on the most important events and people in a society in order to keep people up-to-date about what is most significant.

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Different Perspectives on News

Traditional Journalistic Perspective

Journalists believe that their purpose is to inform the public, rather than persuade the public.

This is a normative not descriptive perspective.

Traditional Journalistic Perspective

Normative perspective

Summarizes the journalists’ view of “purpose and nature of news”

To inform the public rather than editorialize (persuade the public)

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Different Perspectives on News

There are seven criteria an event must have in order to be considered newsworthy: timeliness, significance, proximity, prominence, conflict, human interest, and deviance.

Timeliness: most obvious criterion for newsworthiness. An even has to be current in order to be considered news.

Significance: magnitude of the consequences of an event.

Proximity: how close the event is to the news audience.

Prominence: how well-known people and institutions are in the event being considered as newsworthy.

Conflict: the degree to which the parties in an event disagree.

Human interest: how strongly the event would appeal to human emotions.

Deviance: the degree to which an event is out of the ordinary.

Traditional Journalistic Perspective

Focuses on seven criteria to consider an event “newsworthy”

Timeliness

Significance

Proximity

Prominence

Conflict

Human interest

Deviance

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Different Perspectives on News

News-Working Perspective

Nonnormative perspective

Developed by scholars who study what news workers do to gather and present news

Story formulas

Inverted pyramid

Narrative

Simplified extended conflict (SEC)

Guidelines and story formulas--non-definitive prescriptions

News-Working Perspective

Use of sources

Although news workers are aware of normative news perspectives that tell them what they should do, they frequently cannot achieve the prescribed standards because of unavoidable constraints, such as deadlines, limited access to sources, and limited financial resources.

Over time, journalists develop the “news perspective.”

Story formulas: procedures that journalists learn as shortcuts to help them quickly select and write stories.

Inverted pyramid: Journalist put the information, one after the other, ranked according to importance until all the information is in the story. Developed in the early days of the telegraph.

Narrative: Journalists tell a story told in an entertainment format. It begins with a heated conflict, a gruesome description, or an unusual quote--all designed to grab the reader’s attention in an emotional manner, and then each bit of information is presented in the narrative like a story.

Simplified extended conflict (SEC): Journalists look for a simple angle of conflict while covering a story and play it over for several days. For example, political elections.

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Different Perspectives on News

Commercialism

News organizations are in the business of constructing large audiences so they can rent those audiences to advertisers.

News organizations present the kinds of stories that audiences want most.

Economic Perspective

Focuses on how news organizations operate as to increase profits and minimize expenses

Salient features

Commercialism

Ultimate goal of news

Journalists driven to construct stories that attract larger audience

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Different Perspectives on News

Economic Perspective

Salient Feature

Marketing

Journalists directed by marketing managers to present these stories in order to satisfy the existing needs in the market

Reasons of criticism

News confounded with advertising

Change in content of news in a way harmful to the public

Marketing

News decisions are made by marketers instead of journalists.

It tends to change the content of news in a way that is somehow harmful to the public.

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Different Perspectives on News

Consumer Personal Perspective

Current trend--People seek information about information

That does not conform to the old traditional journalistic perspective on news

Strategically that benefits them

People are seeking out information strategically that benefits them.

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Different Perspectives on News

Consumer Personal Perspective: Selective Exposure

A psychological concept that says people seek out information that conforms to their existing belief systems and avoids information that challenges those beliefs.

The individual determines for himself or herself what is news rather than relying on an outside authority

As the audience for news fragments, news vehicles are getting more and more specialized, which is known as hyper-localism.

Selective exposure is a psychological concept that says people seek out information that conforms to their existing belief systems and avoid information that challenges those beliefs.

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Consumer Standards for Evaluating the Quality of News

Objectivity

Separateness from the object being observed so that the object is perceived accurately and that the perception is not distorted by human limitations

Unrealistic standard for journalists

Objectivity

The idea of objectivity is a very general philosophical concept.

It means a separateness from the object being observed so that the object is perceived accurately and that the perception is not distorted by human limitations.

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Ben Goldacre: Battling Bad Science

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Consumer Standards for Evaluating the Quality of News

Accuracy

Good criterion for judging the quality of news if a story reports one fact and that fact is easy to check

Complicated for stories with more than one fact

Accuracy as a criterion for news involves truthfulness and neutrality but there is more.

Full set of facts

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Consumer Standards for Evaluating the Quality of News

Accuracy: Completeness

Complicated while judging a partial story, one that is either told from a single point of view or major story of a story isn’t covered though events continue to occur

Presenting only a partial story is a type of distortion that is not usually regarded as bias.

One form of partial story is when a major story stops getting covered, even though important events continue to occur.

Another type of partial story is when a journalist tells a story from a single point of view.

Consumer Standards for Evaluating the Quality of News

Accuracy: Context

Helps audiences understand the meaning of the event in the news stories, without which the story has an ambiguous meaning

Context

Context is what helps audiences understand the meaning of the event in the news stories.

Consumer Standards for Evaluating the Quality of News

Neutrality

Neutrality means that the story is free from journalistic bias or editorializing.

Observed in terms of lack of bias and balance

Lack of Bias

Bias is a willful distortion on the part of a journalist, but it is difficult for audiences to recognize when this is occurring

Consumer Standards for Evaluating the Quality of News

Neutrality: Lack of Bias

Lack of bias means truthfulness

Actual bias means when a journalist willfully distorts a news story and perceived bias means when audiences think that the story is slanted

Truthfulness

Truthfulness means that the story contains no lies, either by the sources used or by the journalist.

Truthfulness also requires that journalists not make up facts to fill in the gaps of their stories or to “sweeten” their stories.

Consumer Standards for Evaluating the Quality of News

Neutrality: Balance

Criterion: Journalists present all sides of an issue in an equal manner

Problems

Determining which issues are equally balanced controversies and which are not and who should be trusted to determine the type of issue

Balance

Fairness requires that journalists present both sides and try to do so with equal weight.

The future of news media is in our hands | Rickey Bevington | TEDxPeachtre

How Can We Become More Media Literate With News?

Exposure patterns to news are an unavoidable process of constructing knowledge structures, beliefs, and attitudes

Thoughts on exposure patterns and the implications of those patterns  Gain control over the process and make it work in our favor

Becoming more media literate involves the periodic assessment of:

exposure

quality

How Can We Become More Media Literate With News?

Exposure matters

Shaped by what we consider news from personal to global dimension.

Agenda setting theory

Explains that media are selective in what they present as news and what they emphasize as being the most important news

Exposure Matters

Our exposure decisions are likely to be shaped by what we consider to be news.

Media literacy warns against a narrow focus.

How Can We Become More Media Literate With News?

Quality matters

Periodic evaluation of quality of news sources to eliminate the risk of believing we are well informed when in reality we are not

Quality Matters

If we don’t periodically evaluate the quality of our news sources, we run the risk of believing we are well informed when in reality we are not.

How Can We Become More Media Literate With News?

Quality Matters

Makes interactive features available that draw people into news and make it more useful to them

The complexity of interactive features increases the likelihood of confusion and frustration.

Interactive features of news : searchable archives, hyperlinks, discussion forums, and easy downloading of information.

This Weeks Assignment

Critical Thinking Activity #2: Analysis of Reality Show and News Show

What emotions were triggered when you watched both episodes?

Do you think these emotions were planned by the producers of the show?

If so, what language was used to incite these emotions?

Do you feel like you were led to a particular conclusion rather than left to make up your own mind? How so?

Was information presented in meaningful context when comparing both shows?

Was the information presented in a way that was factual, informative, descriptive, persuasive, coercive? Why?

Summary

The idea of what is news has undergone many changes over time and has influenced different perspectives, particularly the perspectives of political philosophy, traditional journalism, news-working, economic, and personal. These changes also lead us to question what is a journalist and how should we judge the quality of news? These questions are especially important now that we are in the new media environment where nontraditional news outlets are so prevalent, so niche oriented, and open to so much interactive participation among audiences, journalists, and newsmakers.