News Media Processes

Answer

News Media Processes

1. Ranked list of news stories according to their newsworthiness, in a descending order.
2. Rest in peace Gazza: Star police dog shot and killed in police incident http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11627123
3. Armed stand-off in Porirua: Gunman found dead http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11627489

• Prince George stays up late to meet President Barack Obama and wife Michelle

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/lifestyle/news/article.cfm?c_id=6&objectid=11627537

1. Has pop Queen Bey shamed her cheating husband? …or is it all a cynical money-making stunt http://www.nzherald.co.nz/entertainment/news/article.cfm?c_id=1501119&objectid=11629544
2. Channel 4 rebrand in new reality TV tie-up http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11632383
3. The Primary Issue: Have kids got the skills they need to start school?

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11632287

• Floods shut down Wellington, one dead http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11448435
• Watch: Auckland motorway crashes cause traffic chaos http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11629440

1. Watch NZH Focus: Kiwi athletes mark 100 days until Rio

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11629472

2. A formal, academic rationalization/justification for the ranking of the top three stories on the grounds of “news values” discourses.

The news Rest in peace Gazza: Star police dog shot and killed in police incident satisfies several theories posited by scholars of news values. The event conveniently qualifies in impact, audience identification, and is well within the boundaries of realistic media coverage (Galtung & Ruge, 1965). The fact that the star police dog died, was bound to elicit emotions and reactions from the public. Police dogs are often identified with their handlers, as partners. The death of a police dog is often equated to the death of a police officer, and the impact of such an event in a culture where law and order takes prominence, is enormous.

The event identifies with the people of New Zealand and hence, it satisfies the familiarity threshold. Gazza was a well-known police dog that had been mentioned in several heroic cases in New Zealand. Furthermore, the dog was to star in a TV series about dogs and their handlers, and its death meant that the multitude of views who had anticipated the show would be disappointed. On this note, the event qualifies in terms of threshold and possible future impact.

The event is also a rare one. The public is not used to incidences of man shooting a dog. With the many organizations advocating for the rights of animals, this event was due to draw public attention. Culturally, shooting a dog is seen as immoral, as dogs have been viewed, for a long time now, as man’s friend. Hurting a friend is a violation of the social norms of the society and as such the media was keen to capitalize on the event’s negativity. Ultimately, this news proves Galtung & Ruge’s (1965) point that negative events are more likely to gain coverage than positive events.

The news of an Armed stand-off in Porirua: Gunman found dead almost bears a similar magnitude of news worthiness as the death of Gazza. This event is convenient in that it is a continuation of Gazza’s death and a follow up of previous events in the media. Such an event was bound to gain coverage because the existing news of Gazza’s death made it possible for the audience to follow. Hence the event satisfied the familiarity level.

The event was also meaningful to the public. The perpetrator of the heinous crime was a run-away criminal who faced eleven charges, and at the time of the event, had removed his electronic monitor. The criminal whose charges involved violence had engaged the police in a stand-off, endangering the neighbors in the community. When an event puts the life of the public at risk, it is bound to be newsworthy. In addition, the part of the news where a policeman involved in the apprehension of the criminal is injured after jumping from the second story of a building for safety, conforms to the society’s expectations of a police officer (Gans, 1979). This officer will be seen as a hero who was willing to put his life on the line to protect the society.

The fact that the man who had been on the run for about twenty three days had finally died, (though immoral) was a relief to the public, which felt threatened especially by the events that preceded the aftermath. The composition of the story is also satisfactory. The public’s emotions and conflicts regarding Gazza’s death were finally resolved after the revelation that the police were in control of the situation (McGregor, 2002). This directly resonates with the society’s culture and expectations that, perpetrators of crimes should be arrested and justice should be served accordingly.  

 The event is also unambiguous. The details are well known and there are credible sources to back up the facts, hence making it easy for the media to report the event to the public. All the characteristics of this event complement its value of newsworthiness.

The event where Prince George stays up late to meet President Barack Obama and wife Michelle qualifies to be in the top three ranking due to its identification of audiences. A keen review of this news story will reveal that, in particular, the meeting between the young prince and the power couple was not thoroughly reported. The rationale for using this event as the title for the news story is in the context of reference to elite persons. The shock value of the story is quite high, as seen in the accompanying photograph of President Obama squatting to speak to Prince George.

The news coverage of this event focused on the relationship between key elite people in two elite nations or governments. As the media expected, this news was bound to draw public attention to a wider audience, given the status of the two countries globally (Braun, 2009). It was also unexpected that a young boy stays up late to meet a grown up. However, this scenario conforms to the society’s expectation of Prince George’s royal status and his hypothetical relationship to Obama, as the future king of England. In this news story, while the meeting was formal, the meeting between America’s head of state and the future king of England was personalized to bring out the closeness in relationships between the two governments.

This incident served as an icebreaker for the main body of the news, which reported about Mr. and Mrs. Obama’s visit to the Queen of England. The story in itself is more of a continuance of a previous headline back in 2009 where Mrs. Obama, against royal protocols, hugged Queen Elizabeth, marking the beginning of a close relationship between the two powerful ladies. Finally, the event satisfies news values in terms of frequency, since such an occurrence rarely happens.