Social Construction of the News
- Created by: Elysia
- Created on: 29-01-14 09:14
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- Social Construction of the News
- Journalists
- Trained media professionals who report on events
- Stories must be seen as newsworthy to be selected
- Journalists use a range of criteria called news values
- News values reflect the beliefs and attitudes of the journalists
- Ruge (1965) analysed international news and found that news values were present in the stories that made it to the top of the news agenda
- EVALUATION
- Vasterman (1995) argues that journalists do not report events, they construct the facts into "a" reality
- Hall (1981) argues that the list of news values fails to shed light on the ideological factors underlying them
- Editors
- Editors are trained media professionals who supervise journalists
- Have the ability to change/rewrite stories
- Curran and Gurevitch (2005) make note of the self-censorship journalists employ in order to please theireditors
- Sumpter (2000) suggests that editors keep a close eye on audience figuress and make decisions based on increasing audience figures
- Editors have greater power and control that journalists and are involved in agernda settings
- Agenda setting involves the shaping of a news story, including the focus given to particular issues
- Owners
- Strive to ensure their organisation is a profitable as possible
- Owners employ media professionals to write and report news stories
- There is much speculation as to the role of the owner
- Some argue that owners leave the media professionals to construct the news
- Others argue that owners seek to exert influence over the content of the news
- The State
- Laws
- Certain stories can be censrored or banned through the use of laws based on the grounds of national security
- Officials Secrets Act
- Terrorism Act 2006
- Certain stories can be censrored or banned through the use of laws based on the grounds of national security
- Spin Doctors
- Place a particular 'spin' on a news story that conveys a messae in a way they want the public to percieve it
- Another spin technique involves delyaing bad news until a day where it will do the least damage
- Constitutional Constraints
- The BBC Royal Chrater sets out a public purpose for the BBC
- This involves promoting education and learning and stimulating creativity and cultural excellence
- The BBC is rrequired, under the terms of the Charter, to maintain an independant approch
- The BBC Royal Chrater sets out a public purpose for the BBC
- Laws
- Journalists
- Both journalists and editors are gatekeepers - a form of censorship
- The processes of gatekeeping and agenda setting means that some events and issues are not reported
- Some argue that this process is influenced by wider ideological influences
- The processes of gatekeeping and agenda setting means that some events and issues are not reported
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