News values

News value decides a factor influencing which messages in the mass media appears, whether it is newsworthy, to what extent and in what guise. The term comes from the journalism and communication science, especially the news research.

Overview of the news value theory

The news value theory is a theory of news selection. Analyzes of media content measure characteristics of reported events. Together with the ascribed news value ( as indicators, for example, scope, placement, presentation, etc. are used), conclusions arising on journalistic selection criteria. The allow for future reporting for given event characteristics ( news factors ) to forecasts.

The theoretical development of the news value theory long suffered from the mixing of event characteristics and journalistic selection criteria. Although both variables influence the selection decision and awarded the news value, is always only the result, so the media content studied ( Galtung and Ruge, 1965; Schulz, 1976; Staab, 1990). The work of journalists would be there - probably unrealistic - a mere reflection of the event characteristics ( causal model). Staab (1990 ) therefore concluded that there had to be at the news value theory is less a theory of news selection as a description of the structures of the media reality. If you immerse yourself in this position, the theory, however, its original relevance, namely the declaration of journalistic selection decisions loses.

Therefore Kepplinger (1998) called for a theoretical new beginning, the stronger should take into account the character of the two components in the process of news selection ( Journalistic selection criteria and event characteristics). Since it ceases to recognize journalistic selection criteria solely from the media content, the only way to it from the statistical relationship (correlation and regression) of news values ​​and news factors (event characteristics) is to open up. The determined indices for the " news values ​​of the news factors " have prognostic content for predicting future selection decisions ( Kepplinger, 2000).

Beginnings of the news value theory

The first study on the news value goes back to Walter Lippmann in 1922, the ten elements identified as follows:

Lippmann coined in the chapter " The Nature of News," the concept of "news value" ( news value ). In it, he introduced journalistic ideas about audience interests or newsworthy dar.

The term is then found primarily in the American tradition of research. It provides small newsworthy properties of events, and is mainly used in the training of journalists. These experimental studies could replicate well ( the journalists they had internalized well ), so called, for example, Warren ( 1934):

The European research tradition began in the 1960s. Walther von La Roche refers in the first German-language journalism textbook, the "Introduction to the practical journalism " on the American tradition. The Norwegian peace researcher Einar Östgaard (1965 ), Johan Galtung and Mari Holmboe Ruge ( Galtung and Ruge, 1965) referred to the established of Lippmann concept of news value, as they examined distortions in international news flow. They stressed that the media are our only source of information when it comes to international events.

Against the background of the researchers catalogs of event characteristics which hold journalists particularly newsworthy: the news factors. While Östgaards catalog still only four factors limited (simplification, identification, sensationalism and threshold ), extended Johan Galtung and Ruge Mari Holmboe the canon news items significantly cheaper.

Are mentioned here already 12 factors. The first eight factors are as " independent of culture " (Valid in all cultures ), the last 4 as " culture-sensitive " (depending on different culture ) to understand.

Culture -independent factors:

Culture-specific factors:

Galtung and Ruge build their finds from a perception psychologically based information theory. According to their hypothesis, the news factors are additive, ie, the more news factors apply to an event, the publication worthy it is, and they are complementary: ie the absence of a message factor can compensate for the other. Galtung and Ruge test their theory only in relation to some detail hypotheses. Much more important than the empirical part of the work of Galtung and Ruge, however, is the enormous theoretical fertility. The work is to be regarded as the starting point for a whole series of studies with reference to Galtung and Ruge with the news value theory are concerned (eg Sande, 1971). The considerations of Galtung and Ruge have been critically examined.

So give them (and subsequent studies) before, for example, with their news factors to measure event features. In fact, they consider media content. Furthermore, the theoretical derivation of the factors is rather weak. For example, not all factors, see or frequency variation, (alone) to establish by perceptual psychological influences. The operationalization is difficult due to the lack of independence of the factors. These problems went Winfried Schulz 1976 (see next section).

Winfried Schulz, 1976: Theoretical Reorientation

A basic theoretical reorientation and expansion made ​​in 1976 with the included constructivism. First Schulz expanded the number of messages on more than 18 factors once more, he rushed one in six dimensions. Gradations on four-level scale also raised the level of scales on quasi- metric level.

The reorientation was that Schulz did not see the first news factors as characteristics of events, but as a " journalistic hypotheses of reality." This means that not having the characteristics of an event to decide what the media publish (passive editor ), but that the journalist or editor of a publication worthy event ascribes certain characteristics and so actively through their selection gives them newsworthy. An event with the features XY is not automatically published. Influence until the editor ( editorial line), the publisher, the advertising industry, whether XY at this time is appropriate and interesting or not. If you leave the event with the features XY unpublished, it has the characteristics XY anyway and would have been published also possibly at a different time.

Schulz systematized the following dimensions:

• Duration
• Theming

• Spatial
• Politically
• Culturally
• Relevance ( degree of impact and existential significance of the event )

• Regional and
• National centrality ( political and economic power and importance of the event region )
• Personal influence ( political power of the people involved )
• Prominent figures

• Surprise
• Structure ( complexity of the waveform )

• Conflict
• Crime
• Damage
• Success

• Personalization
• Ethnocentrism ( the extent to which it affects the population of the country in which the medium appears)

Recent Developments

Recent studies suggest journalists to a much larger ( instrumental ) role in the construction of messages. News factors are for example used to legitimize journalistic selection decisions (Final Model ) by exaggerating event characteristics (explicit) or turn to (implicitly). This characteristic must be considered a functional news value theory.

See also: Hans Mathias Kepplinger, two-component model of news value theory and Joachim Friedrich Staab, Final model of news value research.

Furthermore, it was asked anew the question of news factors on the recipient side: Man tried to map how the perception of the news value of a message by the recipient influenced the recording of the message. Eilders performs cause messages pretending factors in the reception of messages schemes of the relevance and thus significantly influence the selective attention and information processing of the recipient.

For practical journalism events have a news value, if they have a novelty value and at the same information in their readers, listeners and viewers. We distinguish three levels of information:

Events that have a novelty value and information value are current.