Newsworthiness

What is Newsworthiness?

• Newsworthiness is the term used to describe whether or not a topic is interesting enough for people to want to know or need to know.

Galtng and Ruge's 12 Values of Newsworthniess (1965)

1. Frequency - Did the event happen recently?
2. Threshold - IS the event large in scale? Does it involve or have relevance for many people?
3. Unambiguity - Can the story be easily explained?
4. Meaningfulness - Is it meangingful to a particular culture, community or nation?
5. Consonance - Is the story predictable? Does the story easily fit into an existing pattern of events?
6. Unexpectedness - Is the story unexpected? If it isn't, can it be represented in a suprising way?
7. Continuitiy - Is the story already part of the news? Does the story continue from what is known?
8. Composition - Does the story provide balance or contrast with other news stories on the same day?
9. Elite Nations - Does the news story involve elite or powerful nations?
10. Elite People - Does the news story involve famous or powerful people?
11. Personalisation - Does the story have an element of personal or human interest? Does the story have relevance to everyday human experience?
12. Negativity - Is it bad news? Bad news sells more copies than good news.