The selection of news stories by journalists is influenced by their audience. This effect is particularly prevalent in the digital age, where audiences often dictate what stories get published. This is especially true of social media, where stories are often disseminated through audience recommendations and shares. This study offers insights into how audiences select stories for publication, and how this affects journalists’ decisions.
Crime
Many commentators have argued that the disproportionate coverage of violent crimes in the news causes a high level of public fear. They cite various reasons for this, including the failure of news media to contextualize and humanize crime perpetrators. One study examined the news coverage of violent crime in a mid-sized city, finding that homicides were covered far more extensively than other types of crime.
Money
Students at Grady College in Atlanta, Georgia, completed a capstone course in “Money in the News” during which they learned about personal finance in the news and how to write about it in the media. Their articles were published through College Connect, a program operated by the Society for Advancing Business Editing and Writing (SABEW) with support from the National Endowment for Financial Education. Among them was Jeanne Davis, who won the competition for the best article.
Unplanned events
Unplanned events are becoming more frequent, more unpredictable, and more severe. Last year alone, the Atlantic hurricane season saw seven named storms make landfall in the U.S. The upcoming 2020 wildfire season has already started earlier than expected and is projected to be the worst ever. Because of this, organizations must be more prepared to respond to unplanned events than ever before.
Timeliness
Historically, the news industry has valued timeliness of news to engage audiences. However, the dissemination of news by telegraph has transformed news into a quasi-property. In an effort to protect themselves, large news organizations have often sought protection from legislatures and courts.
Locality
Recent studies show that the locality of a news story influences its newsworthiness. The locality of a story may make it more newsworthy because it affects a greater number of people. For instance, a story about violence in a particular community may be more newsworthy if it involves the local community.
Exclusivity
Exclusivity in news has a number of benefits for news organizations and their readers. It can prevent competing outlets from running the same story. However, exclusivity also carries certain risks. For example, the news that one organization has may be of inferior quality to news that another outlet has.
Shareability
As more people consume news online, the shareability of news stories is a major issue for newsrooms. Stories that are widely shared tend to spread false information faster, so news outlets should take steps to ensure their reporting is accurate. One way to do this is to develop an alert system for journalists that will notify them when an article is shared online. The Shareability Alert system scores headlines and displays an alert if the score is higher than a threshold. It is a great way for newspaper editors to ensure that their reporting is as accurate as possible.