News values refer to the qualities which explain why photos and stories are selected as newsworthy. The following list is not exhaustive, as each institution will apply its own set of values, however it outlines some of the most commonly used.
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Immediacy – Has it happened recently?
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Familiarity – Will it mean something to the audience? Will they be able to
relate to it?
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Numbers – How many people are involved?
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Frequency – Does it fit the schedule?
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Unambiguity – Is it clear? Are the results/effects obvious?
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Predictability – Do we expect it to happen?
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Surprise – Is it a rare or unexpected event?
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Continuity – Has it already been classed as news?
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Elite countries and people – Will the audience be able to identify / relate?
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Personalisation – Is it a personal or human interest story?
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Negativity – Is it bad news?
- Balance – Does it balance out the coverage of home/foreign news, economic/human interest, or bad/good news?
The two newspapers have contrasting news values because of the different political ideologies. The Guardian is left wing and the Daily Mail is right wing. This is reflected in the content and often in the language register used to create bias (to make the reader feel one way or another about a topic). Their audiences enjoy to read the paper's content that matches their own political position and so their readership is very different. Click on these logos to find out more about the newspapers's target audience demographics and readership.
Task: You need to look at three news stories from the Daily Mail and The Guardian. You need to analyse the content looking at the headline, image, language register (tone), any bias or political comment and whether the coverage is negative or positive or not positioned either way.
Make notes about your chosen content and then write your analysis, using the questions below to help you and add this to your original blog post from the previous lesson.
- How does the news article appeal to the target audience? Consider how is may be relevant to them?
- Do you notice any language techniques being used? Consider what effect they have on the reader.
- What is the language register (tone) being used. For example, is it full of warnings or is informal?
- Can you spot any bias (for example, places where the newspaper clearly supports one side of the story more than the other) or do you consider the story to be objectively written?
- Comment on the ideology behind the story. Why has the paper chosen the story to be of news value to their readers?
- Comment on the images being used if they add to your analysis of news values and ideology.
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