News Values

News Values are factors that help to explain how journalists and editors decided that certain news stories were accepted as newsworthy, while others were not. These values were defined by Galtung and Ruge, and also define where, and when a news story appears in a news bulletin.

The following news values, along with examples, will help determine whether a news story will be included in a bulletin, and where it will appear in a bulletin:

Immediacy - Whether the story has happened recently, and if the story is 'breaking'.

Familiarity - If the story is culturally or geographically close to us (London, Britain, Europe, Asia etc).

Amplitude - If the story is a big event or if it involves a lot of people.

Frequency - Whether the story happens often.

Impact - Whether or not we can identify the story as having a profound effect on our own lives, and whether the story contains elements that would make us feel threatened.

Predictability - Whether we expected it to happen or not.

Surprise - If it was an unusual or unexpected event.

Continuity - Whether or not the story has already been defined as news, and whether or not it is part of an ongoing or long-running story.

Conflict - If the story contains drama in describing disagreements, arguments, fights, or battles between two or more people/organisations.

Elite People - Whether the story concerns well-known people, such as celebrities.

Personalisation - If it is a human interest story.

Negativity - If the story contains bad news.

Scandal - Whether the story is likely to provoke moral outrage from parts of the audience.

Balance - Whether or not the story is selected in order to balance other news, such as human survival story to balance a number of stories concerning death.