13D: News Values

Galtung and Ruge (1981) defined a set of news values to explain how journalists and editors decided that certain stories and photographs were accepted as newsworthy, while others were not. The following list is adapted from their work:

Immediacy: has it happened recently?
Familiarity: is it culturally close to us in Britain?
Amplitude: is it a big event or one which involves large numbers of people?
Frequency: did the event happen fairly quickly?
Unambiguity: is it clear and definite?
Predictability: did we expect it to happen?
Surprise: is it a rare or unexpected event?
Continuity: has this story already been defined as news?
Elite nations and people: which country has the event happened in? Does the story concern well-known people?
Negativity: is it bad news?
Balance: the story may be selected to balance other news, such as a human survival story to balance a number of stories concerning death.

Classwork/Homework

How has new and digital media technology changed Galtung and Ruge’s news values?


How would you update them for 2014?

In a blog post, write how EACH news value has been affected by the growth of new and digital technology.

E.g. Immediacy is more important than ever due to news breaking on Twitter or elsewhere online. However, this in turn changes the approach of other news sources such as newspapers as the news will probably already be broken so different angles might be required. Newspapers now contain more comment or opinion rather than the breaking story.

Due: Wednesday after half-term

Critical Investigation: Notes & Quotes

You should by now have an in-depth, completed Critical Investigation Proposal on your blog. 

The next step is to develop a 'Notes and Quotes' document to contain all your research. This document will eventually be thousands of words and contain all your links, ideas, comments and quotes from everything you read and watch. It is essential that you have a wide collection of research and notes before you write a single word of your actual essay.

What does a great Notes and Quotes document look like? Have a look at Navneet's Notes and Quotes blogpost from last year - and bear in mind she went on to write an outstanding essay that achieved 47 out of 48 marks.

Your homework for half-term is to start your Notes and Quotes document and reach at least 750 words. 

You may want to do this on Microsoft Word initally but you WILL have to publish everything you've got to your blog at least once a week for the next month.

Fortunately, you already have a template for this document from the last section of your Critical Investigation Proposal. Indeed, you may have already copied everything over into a new blogpost under the heading Research Plan. 

Either way, you now need to create a blogpost called Notes and Quotes and start watching, reading and writing up any thoughts, ideas, quotes or comments you think of while you research.

You'll need this on your blog for your double Media lesson after half-term - good luck!

13D Cover Work/Homework: Fri. 17/10/14, p6

Remember the basic rules first:

• Arrive on time - make sure you register with the cover teacher/Mr Halsey;
• Stay in the classroom until the end of the lesson;
• Work responsibly on the tasks set.

Complete the following for Monday 22/10, p3:

Look at the Best Critical Investigations 2013...

• Select at least two that are closest to your own study;
• Read them, thinking about the ideas that are relevant for your study;
• Choose at least five quotes from each study;
• Make a blog post, with the quotes + website addresses/book details for each one;
• Explain how the quote links with your study.

Don't forget that if you've had your tutorial you should be working on the ten tasks I gave you in your feedback and posting these on your blog - get as much of this done as you can for homework.

If you haven't had your tutorial yet, continue working on researching for your proposal - in particular, including as many academic texts and internet links as you can, and explaining after each one how it will be useful.

13D: Citizen Journalism

Read the article from Media Magazine: The Rise and Rise of UGC (Dec 2009) and then create a blogpost where you make notes under the following headings: 

• examples
• theory (audience reception etc.) 
• benefits to institutions 
• benefits to audience 
• wider issues and debates 
• SHEP

Next, answer the following questions in the same blogpost:

1) What is meant by the term ‘citizen journalist’?
2) What was one of the first examples of news being generated by ‘ordinary people’?
3) List some of the formats for participation that are now offered by news organisations.
4) What is one of the main differences between professionally shot footage and that taken first-hand (UGC)?
5) What is a gatekeeper?
6) How has the role of a gatekeeper changed?
7) What is one of the primary concerns held by journalists over the rise of UGC?

Finally, consider the following questions:

What impact is new/digital media having on the following:

• news stories
• the news agenda (the choice of stories that make up the news)
• the role of professionals in news

Finish this for homework - due next Friday 24 October.

Remember, this is in addition to your regular NDM story on your blog that is due for next Wednesday as usual.

The Rise and Rise of UGC

13E: Read this article...

The Rise and Rise of UGC

Answer the following questions...

1. What is meant by the term ‘citizen journalist’?
2. What was one of the first examples of news being generated by ‘ordinary people’?
3. List some of the formats for participation that are now offered by news organisations.
4. What is one of the main differences between professionally shot footage and that taken first-hand (UGC)?
5. What is a gatekeeper?
6. How has the role of a gatekeeper changed?
7. What is one of the primary concerns held by journalists over the rise of UGC?

13D: the Murdoch paywall

Read the last page of the handout - Newspapers: The effect of online technology (from 'Should News be Free').

Also read this blog on the Times paywall three years on.

Answer these two questions on your blog with detailed, in-depth answers:

1) Do you agree with James Murdoch that the BBC should not be allowed to provide free news online?

2) Was Rupert Murdoch right to put his news content (The Times, The Sun) behind a paywall?

Finish for homework if you don't get it done in the lesson.

New Media Technician interviews

Year 13: tomorrow (Wednesday) we are interviewing for a new Media Technician. It means I'll be in and out of our lessons so you'll need to be working independently. You already know what you're working on currently, but here's a reminder:

13E (P1&2)
Your Critical Investigation Project Proposal is due today and I'll get a chance to look at them later. In the meantime, you can continue with the last part of the proposal which is starting to plan the research you will do for your essay. This will be our focus for the next two weeks so getting a good start now will be invaluable.


13D (P3&4)
We're still working on our News case study for new and digital media. As mentioned last week, we need to look into the decline of newspapers, and fortunately we have a detailed handout that does just that. Today, read The Decline of Newspapers and complete the task on page 2 that explores the difference between print and online newspapers.

Next, complete the task on page 3 that looks at the audience pleasures (remember Uses and Gratifications - Blumler and Katz) of the Guardian website.

You can continue to read the end of the document if you finish those tasks but I should be in for most of the lesson and we'll pick up the key points in discussion. We should have time to share our new and digital media stories too so be ready!

Thanks for your patience and don't forget to check our Twitter account for the latest stories and links.