not an essay (news) 6 hours

News Values

What makes news newsworthy? How is news different than other tidbits of information? The answer is: news value. News value is measured in a number of ways. Specifically, there are characteristics of information that make it newsworthy – characteristics called news values. The more of these characteristics information has, the more newsworthy it is. When editors decide which stories will go on the front page of the newspaper, or at the top of a newscast, they choose the stories with the most news value – the stories with the greatest number of characteristics listed below.

NOTE: There is no standardized list of news values, but those below are generally accepted to constitute the core news values. You may see other lists with differently worded or slightly more or fewer news values.

News values:

Timeliness – Happening right now, or recently

Proximity – Happening close-by

Impact – The greater the number of people affected by an event or trend, the newsier the story.

Conflict – Any disagreement in a community or within an influential group is newsworthy.

Celebrity/Prominence — The more famous or important the person, the newsier the story.

Oddity – “News of the Weird” or something that is rare or special

Frequency – Stuff that happens all the time is worth exploring, too. Sometimes called “process stories” or commemoration of regular events. Regular governmental meetings or anniversaries, for example. Also, annual awards ceremonies, elections, court proceedings, etc.

Human Interest — Interesting, often emotional, stories about compelling or unique people with whom readers can relate. You will often see such stories on the “features” page.

The more of the above elements a story has, the more newsworthy it is. As a copyeditor, you should make sure that the most newsworthy elements of the story are noted high up in the story – in the first few paragraphs. If a reporter has left out some newsworthy aspect of the story, you must be sure it gets added in.

If a reporter pitches a story that lacks news value, brainstorm with that reporter to see what other news values can be added to the story to make it more newsworthy. Can it be made more local, more timely? Can it feature a compelling source to add human interest? Can it emphasize the impact on a local community?

Adding context

Adding news value to a story also means adding context. It isn’t enough to tell the audience “what happened”; you must tell them why it matters and how it compares to other events or trends.

For example, if a reporter was interested in doing a story about “bad campus dorm food,” there are several ways to turn that rather dull topic into a story idea with news value – aka “finding a news peg.” Below are some key questions you can ask to coach a reporter toward a more newsworthy story:

REPORTER’S TOPIC: Bad campus dorm food

Can you add …

… timeliness? Has the menu on campus changed lately? Is there some new alternative to eating on campus?

… proximity? How is the local campus different from other campuses? Avoid citing examples from far away when a comparison with a more local or similar campus is possible.

… impact? Adding impact often involves finding numbers and data. How many students eat in campus dorms? How many calories/fat grams, etc. are in dorm meals? How much do students spend on dorm food? How much does the food service get paid to provide campus meals? Is there a recent study about college students’ nutrition or eating habits? Answering these questions means readers will know why this story matters – why it has an impact.

… conflict? Is there a student group protesting the campus menu? Is there a group trying to make the menu healthier, more flavorful, more affordable? Is someone providing competition for campus food service? Find people who have a stake in the issue and explore their concerns.

… celebrity/ prominence? Is there a prominent or well-known person advocating healthier campus menus? For example, could you tie first lady Michelle Obama’s project against childhood obesity and for healthier school menus to college campus food offerings? Or has the college president spoken out against the food offerings?

… oddity? Is there something unusual about the food menu – strange ingredients, unusual health impacts, some uncommon policy about the menu preparation?

… frequency? Is it time for the college to renew its annual contract with the food service provider? Is it time for students to pay their annual food service fee? Is there a deadline for the food service company to meet some governmental safety or nutrition standard?

… human interest? Find the most interesting people who have a stake in the dorm food issue. It could be the freshman who gained 20 pounds because of deep-fried campus food; the health-conscious student who spends hours preparing her own meals and refuses to eat the dorm food; the food service administrator trying to find tasty menu options on a limited budget; the harried and hassled cook who receives the brunt of student complaints. Think about all the different perspectives of the people involved with the campus food. Human interest is the easiest news value – and the most important, in my opinion – to add to a story. Stories about people will always be more interesting than those about abstract ideas and processes.

Two more things

In addition to the above news values, every good story should also answer two key questions:

What happened before? Is this issue new or has it been an ongoing controversy? What is the history of dorm food on campus?

What’s next? What is happening on campus to improve the food in dorms? Is there a meeting scheduled between students and administrators? Think about how your news organization can facilitate communication and improvement by hosting a public forum or exploring alternative solutions to the problem.