Debate Whether Galtung and Ruge's (1967) Model of the News Value Is Still Relevant in an Age of New Media, Citizen Journalism and User-Generated Content.'
DEBATE WHETHER GALTUNG AND RUGE'S (1967) MODEL OF THE NEWS VALUE IS STILL RELEVANT IN AN AGE OF NEW MEDIA, CITIZEN JOURNALISM AND USER-GENERATED CONTENT.'
The media in Western society provides a fourth estate' that alleges a neutral, objective and balanced perspective, independent of political input. The news forms the basis of this fourth estate', playing an important role in keeping the public informed and therefore promoting democracy (Marris and Thornham, 1996).
Daily there are millions of possible news headlines of which, only a small sample are published (Harcup and O'Neill, 2001). Journalists appear to have an unvoiced compilation of guidelines or news values passed down through education as well as industry experience, which aid them to decipher the newsworthiness of a story. It is these news values, which Galtung and Ruge attempted to identify in their 1967 study. Galtung and Ruge suggested in their key hypothesis that the more news values that are adhered to, the more likely a story is to be published (Reinemann and Schulz, 2006).
Walter Lippman first introduced the concept of the news value' in 1922. Lippman focused on news factors such as whether a story involved influential institutions, dramatic increase of damage, or a breach of order such as a strike or lockout.'(Kepplinger and Ehmig, 2006). As would be expected research into news values has progressed immensely since this period, however, despite contemporary research having been undertaken, it is Galtung and Ruge's paper, which has long been regarded as a landmark' study of news values and news selection.'(Watson, 1998 cited in Harcup and O'Neill, 2001).
News values can be defined as " journalists' hypotheses about the relevance of events" (Schulz, 1976 cited in Reinemann and Schulz, 2006). In a rapidly evolving and competitive market, it is vital for journalists to interpret what it is that is relevant, interesting and appropriate for their readership.
Modern research implies that
The media in Western society provides a fourth estate' that alleges a neutral, objective and balanced perspective, independent of political input. The news forms the basis of this fourth estate', playing an important role in keeping the public informed and therefore promoting democracy (Marris and Thornham, 1996).
Daily there are millions of possible news headlines of which, only a small sample are published (Harcup and O'Neill, 2001). Journalists appear to have an unvoiced compilation of guidelines or news values passed down through education as well as industry experience, which aid them to decipher the newsworthiness of a story. It is these news values, which Galtung and Ruge attempted to identify in their 1967 study. Galtung and Ruge suggested in their key hypothesis that the more news values that are adhered to, the more likely a story is to be published (Reinemann and Schulz, 2006).
Walter Lippman first introduced the concept of the news value' in 1922. Lippman focused on news factors such as whether a story involved influential institutions, dramatic increase of damage, or a breach of order such as a strike or lockout.'(Kepplinger and Ehmig, 2006). As would be expected research into news values has progressed immensely since this period, however, despite contemporary research having been undertaken, it is Galtung and Ruge's paper, which has long been regarded as a landmark' study of news values and news selection.'(Watson, 1998 cited in Harcup and O'Neill, 2001).
News values can be defined as " journalists' hypotheses about the relevance of events" (Schulz, 1976 cited in Reinemann and Schulz, 2006). In a rapidly evolving and competitive market, it is vital for journalists to interpret what it is that is relevant, interesting and appropriate for their readership.
Modern research implies that
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