Text 1. Deciding what is news
Out of the millions of things that happen every day, print and electronic journalists decide what few things are worth reporting. Deciding what is newsworthy is not an exact science. News values are formed by tradition, technology, organisational policy, and increasingly by economics. Nonethless, most journalists agree that there are common elements that characterize newsworthy events. Below are listed the six qualities of news about which there is most agreement.
1. Timeliness. Undoubtedly, the time factor is of paramount importance. News should be new, yesterday’s news is not interesting to anyone. A consumer who picks up the evening paper or turns on the afternoon news expects to be told what happened earlier that same day. Scoops and exclusives — new news are a consistent goal of news organizations.
2. Proximity. News happens close by. Readers and viewers want to learn about their neighbourhood, town or country. All other things being equal, news from close to home is more newsworthy than news from a foreign country. Proximity, however, means more than a simple measure of distance. Sometimes it can acquire a psychological dimension.
3. Prominence. The more important a person, the more valuable he or she is as a news source. Thus, activities of the president and other heads of state attract tremendous media attention. In addition to political leaders, the activities of sports and entertainment figures are also deemed newsworthy. Even the prominence of the infamous has news value. The past lives and recent exploits of many criminals are frequently given media coverage.
4. Consequence. Events that have an impact on a great many people have built-in news value. A tax increase, the decision to lay off a thousand of workers, a drought, inflation, an economic downturn — all these events have consequence. Note that the audience for a particular news item is a big factor in determining its consequence. The blackout in France might be front page news there, but it would probably have less coverage in other countries.
5. Human interest. There are stories that arouse some emotion in the audience; stories that are ironic, bizzare, uplifting or dramatic. Typically these items concern ordinary people who find themselves in circumstances with which the audience can identify. For instance, when the winner of the state lottery gives half of his winnings to the elderly man who sold him the ticket, it becomes newsworthy.
6. Conflict and negativity. Finally, all reporters know that the best news is bad news. Positive information is less interesting to the wide public than coverage of conflicts, riots and violence. News stories about fires, tsunami victims and bomb explosions are more thrilling than routine information about politics and business.
In addition to these six traditional elements of news value, there are other things that influence what information gets published or broadcast. Most journalists agree that economics plays a large role. First, some stories cost more to cover than others, besides, the cost of the new technology is reflected in the types of stories that are covered. When TV stations went to electronic news gathering, stories that could be covered live became more important. In fact, many organisations, conscious of the scheduling of TV news programs, planned their meetings and demonstrations during the newscast to enhance their chances for TV coverage.
Economics alters news values in other, more subtle ways. The rise of big media conglomerates (big companies that own newspapers, broadcasting stations and other media properties) has posed a new problem for journalism. Can a newspaper or TV station adequately cover the actions of its proprietor? For example, could a Gannett-owned paper adequately cover events at USA Today, another Gannett property?
Economics plays a part in local news markets as well. Newspapers make their money from circulation figures, and it has been charged that some publishers appeal to public taste to inflate circulation figures. Media baron Rupert Murdoch was criticised for this when he took over The NewYork Post and changed its news policy, placing great emphasis on sensationalism in an atempt to attract more readers. A similar situation exists in local TV news. The local newscast is an extremely profitable item for most TV stations and competition is fierce. So the quest for higher ratings( and revenues) at the expense of traditional news values is evident.
It is also important to note that news values have the potential to vary from one news institution to another. Those of television and braodcasting are not necessarily the same as those of print journalism. Those of tabloid newspapers are not the same as those of the broadsheets. And they also vary from one national culture to another.
(After The Dynamics of Mass cCommunication by J. Domenick)
Give English equivalents to the following words and expressions:
освещать события в прямом эфире
события, обладающие новостной ценностью
привлекать внимание СМИ
ценный источник информации
раздувать тиражи
менять новостную политику
жесткая конкуренция
делать ставку на сенсационность
сетка телевизионных новостных программ
повышать чьи-либо шансы
новости с первой полосы
Answer questions
1. By what factors are news values formed?
2. What are common elements that characterize newsworthy events?
3. What is meant by timeliness and proximity as applied to news media?
4. What sort of people and events usually attract media attention?
5. What kind of news stories are called “human interest”?
6. How can you comment on such elements of newsworthy events as consequence, negativity and conflict?
7. What role do economic and technological factors play in news reporting?
8. How can news values vary?
Text 2. Categories of news and reporting
Generally news can be subdivided into three broad categories: 1) hard news, 2) soft or feature news, and 3) investigative reporting. Hard news stories make up the bulk of news reporting. They typically embody the traditional news values discussed above. Hard news consists of basic facts: who, what, when, where, how.
It is news of important public events, such as government actions, international happenings, social events, the economy, crime, environment, culture and science. Hard news has significance for large numbers of people. The front sections of a newspaper or magazine and the lead stories of a radio or TV newscast are usually filled with hard news.
There is a standard technique used to report hard news. In the print media it is the traditional inverted pyramid form. The main facts of the story are delivered in the first sentence (called the lead) in a clear straightforward style. Less important facts come next, with the least important at the end. This structure aids the reporter (who uses it to compose facts quickly), the editor (who can cut the last few paragraphs of the story to make it fit the page without damaging the sense of the story), and the reader (who can tell at a glance if he or she is interested in the news).
In the broadcast media, with the added considerations of limited time, sound and video, the inverted pyramid is not used. Instead, broadcast reporting follows a square format. The information level stays about the same throughout the story. As far as the way of delivering information is concerned, TV and radio news stories use either a “hard” or a “soft” lead. A hard lead contains the most important information, the basic facts of the story.
A soft lead is used to get the viewers’attention, it may not convey much information. Soft lead is then supported by the body of the story, which introduces new information and amplifies what was mentioned in the lead. The summary, or the final few sentences in the report, can be used to personalize the main point, introduce another fact or discuss future developments. So the writing style of broadcast news is completely different from the one in the print media. Here the writing is more informal, conversational and simple as it is designed to complement sound bites (the text of the newsmaker) or videotape segments.
Soft, or feature news covers a wide territory and typically rely on human interest for their news value. They appeal to people’s curiosity, sympathy, and amazement. They can be about places, people, animals, topics, events or products. Some stories that would be classified as soft or feature news might include the birth of a tiger at the local zoo, or a portray of a lottery winner.
The techniques for reporting feature news are as varied as the features themselves. In the print media features seldom follow the inverted pyramid pattern. The main point of the feature is often withheld to the end, much like the punch line to a joke. Some features might be written in chronological order, some start with a shocking statement, others can be structured in the question-and-answer format. Actually reporters are free to adopt any structure they think is suitable.
Broadcast features also use a variety of formats. Some rely on a simple narrative structure, used in everyday storytelling, others use humorous leads and delay the main point until the end. The interview format is also popular, particularly when the feature is about a well-known personality.
As the name implies, investigative reports are those that uncover significant information about matters of public importance. Although most contemporary reporting involves investigation, the true investigative reports require a considerable expenditure of time, money and energy. Because of this heavy investment, they are generally longer than the typical print or broadcast news item.
Broadcast investigative reports are usually packaged in thirty or sixty minute documentaries, in a series of short reports spread through the week on the nightly newscast. Print investigative pieces are usually run as series of articles, though sometimes magazines might print a special issue devoted to a single investigation, such as, for instance, Princess Diana’s death.
On television and radio the investigative reporter usually has less time to explore background issues. Documents and records are hard to portray on TV, so less emphasis is placed on them. Instead the TV journalist usually comes up with interviews and other visual aspects that can illustrate the story.
(After The Dynamics of Mass Communication by J. Domenick)
Answer questions
1. Into what categories can news be subdivided?
2. What are the main characteristics of hard news?
3. What is a standard technique for reporting hard news in the print media?
4. What format does hard news reporting follow in the broadcast media?
5. What is the difference in the writing styles in the broadcast and the print media?
6. What is meant by soft or feature news?
7. What techniques are used for reporting soft news in the print and the electronic media?
8. How can investigative reporting be defined?
9. What formats are typiucally used for investigative reports in the print media and on TV?
Fill in the gaps with words and expressions from the text
Generally news can be into three broad categories: 1) hard news, 2) soft or feature news, and 3) investigative reporting. Hard news stories make up of news reporting. They typically the traditional news values.
There is a used to report hard news. In the print media it is the . The main facts of the story are delivered in the first sentence (called the lead) in a . Broadcast reporting follows a format.
The main body of the story introduces new information and what was mentioned in the lead. In the broadcast media the writing style is more as it is designed to complement or videotape segments.
Soft, or feature news covers a wide territory and typically rely on for their news value. The techniques for reporting feature news are as as the features themselves. Broadcast features use a variety of .
As the name implies, investigative reports are those that uncover significant information about . On television and radio the investigative reporter usually has less time to explore . Documents and records are hard to portray on TV, so less is placed on them. Instead the TV journalist usually comes up with interviews and other that can illustrate the story.
Read news items below and access them in terms of news values and categories
1. The Arctic could see the complete disappearance of all-year-round ice in a few decades, American scientists have said. Data presented to the National Geophysical Union showed that ice was recovering poorly from the summer melt.
2. Ahead of a European Union summit, EU foreign ministers agreed to suspend a large part of Turkey’s membership negotiations. This is punishment for Turkey’s failure to fulfil its obligation to open its ports and airports to (Greek) Cyprus. The Turks fumed about injustice, noting that the Europeans had not fulfilled on their promise to lift a trade embargo on northern Cyprus.
3. Hewlett-Packard agreed to pay $14.5 m to settle a civil case brougt against it by California over the boardroom spying scandal that rocked the comnany in the autumn. Sue Dunn? HP’s former chairman, and four others have been indicted on charges stemming from the methods used to uncover the source of a boardroom leek and pleaded not guilty.
4. Thousands of people hoping to fly home for Christmas were plunged into chaos today when heavy fog forced British Airways to cancel all domestic flights out of Heathrow. With the fog likely to remain over south east England for the next couple of days the prospect for travelers looks bleak, with road conditions also likely to be treacherous.
5. Touts are selling tickets for the Queen’s Golden Jubilee concert at Buckingham Palace next weekend for 
2,500 a pair, an investigation by The Telegraph has revealed. The disclosure, which is a potential security threat and goes against the spirit of the unprecedented event, has concerned and disappointed Buckingham Palace, which had put in place strict measures to try to prevent the tickets being sold on.
6. American military scientists have developed a new battlefield weapon: the indestructible sandwich. It can survive air drops and rough handling. The sandwiches are designed to stay fresh for up to three years at 26C, the temperature of a warm summer’s day, or six months at 38C. They are the result of a long search by the United States army for rations that can be eaten on the move. Scientists are now working on indestructible pocket pizzas and cream-filled bagels.
7. A French tourist who was found guilty of punching and kicking his eight-year-old son while on holiday in Britain has expressed outrage over the “humiliating” verdict. He spent two nights in a police cell after the incident in Edinburgh but insisted in court that he only smacked his “naughty” son’s bottom to teach him a lesson. The case has attracted widespread indignation in France while re-opening the debate in Britain about moves to ban parents from smacking their children. Its outcome prompted a warning yesterday that the case could lead to a flood of cases against parents who punish their children in public.
8. A new internet television service that will allow millions of viewers to download films and television programmes over a telephone line was unveiled yesterday. Users of BT’s video on demand service, due to start next summer, will be able to choose from a library of thousands of films and TV shows. They will also be able to replay instantly programmes from the previous week’s digital television schedules including EastEnders, Coronation Street and Desperate Housewives.
9. America’s Congress passed legislation allowing nuclear cooperation with India. The governments in Delhi and Washington, DC, declared it a great day for bylateral relations. But india’s main opposition party continued to object, as did its Communists and some nuclear scientists.
10. At least 35 people were killed and more than 150 were missing after a series of tornadoes lashed the eastern United States. Entire communities from the Gulf of Mexico to the Great Lakes were flattened in one of the worst storms to hit the region for a decade. People hid in cellars as cars were thrown at buildings, roofs were lifted off houses and caravans were flipped over when the storms raced through on Sunday night. In Tennessee, winds reached 140mph and were accompanied by torrential rain and hailstones the size of golf balls.
Text 3. An alternative view of the world
Single out quotations in the text below and analyse the role of quoted speech in media texts.
Set up 10 years ago by the Emir of Qatar, Al Jazeera has grown to become an influential antidote to the Western bias of the global media. Recently it has launched a new English-language channel Al Jazeera International. Four studios — in London, Doha, Kuala Lumpur and Washington DC — will allow AJI to “follow the sun,” broadcasting around the world via satellite television and the internet, 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
“This will be the last great adventure in TV news,” says the station’s Europe correspondent, Alan Fisher. “It sounds like a terrible clich
, but the world is getting smaller, and there’s a huge untapped market that isn’t served by a rolling news station. I’d put that potential audience in tens, if not hundreds of millions.” It’s a bold claim, but Al Jazeera has made a habit of living up to the hype that has surrounded it since the original Arabic station hit the airwaves just 10 years ago.
Those involved say that AJI will continue to follow the news agenda of its parent station. They deny accusations of bias; instead, they say, the station offers a counterbalance to the “Western tyranny” of other international broadcasters. “We will take a global view, rather than looking at things from a purely Western perspective,” Alan Fisher said.
“Our choice of stories is also different. We will be looking much more at how world events affect ordinary people. An example is how Al Jazeera covered the American assault on Falujah. Other networks were going through official US spokesmen, but our sister station was more interested in showing what the attacks were really doing to people on the ground.”
One result of this is that Fisher will not be attending daily Downing Street press briefings. “That’s typical of the Western way of doing TV news, where you take something seriously simply because a big statesman is saying things,” he says. “We aim to look at how real people are affected. I really don’t want to attack the BBC or CNN, but they are aimed squarely at businessmen sitting in hotel rooms. We’ve got a different agenda, to reach the audience you’ll find on the street.”
The target audience of AJI is the millions of inhabitants — Muslim or otherwise — of regions such as south-east Asia, many of whom speak English as a second language. It’s a potential audience of one billion, who have different priorities to traditional television news viewers. “It’s an independent production and we have full editorial control,” says the editor, Charlie Courtauld. “That is very important, because it is undeniable that some people have strong views about Al Jazeera which are generally based on second-hand info, because they don’t speak Arabic. It will allay their concerns if people understand that we are making an independent programme, and that will help us get voices that are normally unheard on TV news outlets. We are focusing on world leaders from Africa, South America, and south-east Asia. The usual fare has become very jaundiced.”
The big question, of course, is whether it will work. Although events of recent years have seen Al Jazeera become one of the world’s most influential television networks, it generates little in the way of advertising revenue, and is still heavily subsidised by the Emir of Qatar.
Task. Read the texts below and find words and word-combinations used to describe weather conditions and climate
1. Britain braces for icy weather
Snow and icy conditions are predicted to hit much of the country next week as temperatures drop across Britain. Met Office forecasters are expecting wintry conditions to arrive after one of the warmest starts to January on record. The temperature is set to drop from 11C to as low as 4C with northern and eastern parts most likely to be affected by the weather.
Yesterday, a ship abandoned in last week’s storms beached a mile off the Devon coast. Environmentalists voiced concerns about the risk of pollution from the potentially dangerous chemicals on board. Meanwhile, thousands of people across the country were still without electricity. Around 19,000 households in the east of England alone still have no power. Elsewhere, 5,000 homes in southern England were last night without electricity. The worst-hit areas are Berkshire, Hampshire, Surrey, Sussex and Oxfordshire. An extra 160 engineers are working to restore power across the region.
2. European summers hottest in 500 years
European temperatures over the past few summers have been the highest for more than 500 years, says a survey published today. The summers between 1994 and last year appeared to comprise the hottest series of consecutive summers in half a millennium, says the study, which provides evidence of the extent of climate change across Europe.
Dr Jurg Luterbacher and colleagues from the University of Bern also found that last summer was by far the hottest for at least half a millennium, and that the 30-year averages of winter and annual mean temperatures between 1973 and 2002 were the highest over the same period.
In Science, the team presents a “high resolution reconstruction” of temperature patterns back to AD 1500, based on tree rings, ice cores and other evidence, to determine trends, extremes and seasonal and annual mean temperatures for Europe.
The information will help scientists detect whether recent events mark an unusual degree of climate change. The team said that previous temperature reconstructions spanning the past 1,000 years have not provided this same level of seasonal and geographic detail.
For example, the new study shows how the hot summer of last year in many European areas marked a much bigger variation from the climate norm than seen in more northerly latitudes. It would therefore be expected to have a much bigger impact on the regional environment, economy and society, as shown by the heat-related deaths recorded in France and Britain. By one estimate, 2,000 people were killed by the heatwave in England and Wales in August.
3. Weather wreaks havoc across Britain
More than 100 flood warnings are in place across Britain today after gale-force winds and driving rain caused chaos around the country. Carlisle, in Cumbria, has been completely cut off as severe flooding forced the closure of all routes into the city. Heavy rain prompted environment agencies to issue seven severe flood warnings of imminent danger to life and property and more than 100 lesser flood warnings on rivers. The worst hit areas include the North East, North Yorkshire, Cumbria and North Wales.
Police in Carlisle appealed for help from boat owners in the area because cars were unable to reach the city centre. People were evacuated from their homes as flood water reached the height of kitchen tables and began to creep upstairs, shops were forced to close and people watched as cars floated past them in the street.
Hurricane-force winds caused a ferry to run aground off the west coast of Scotland, stranding 100 people on board. In Northumberland 40 people were evacuated from their homes into temporary shelter in a village school after the River South Tyne burst its banks.
The Environment Agency had a severe flood warning in place for the River Conwy flood plain and the town of Llanrwst in Wales, while in the North West there were also severe flood warnings for River Caldew at Denton Holme and River Eden at Carlisle. There were a further 81 flood warnings in England and Wales. In addition, the Scottish Environment Protection Agency had four severe flood warnings on stretches of the rivers Tay, Isla and Teith and 20 flood warnings
