J1100 Unit 3

Changing roles

Citizens have the ability to create. Citizens contributing to news is not a new thing — became more easy and common with platforms like Twitter and Facebook Citizen contributions to news are now commonplace

True or False: A "pseudo-event" is a type of event that occurs naturally, such as a fire or natural disaster, that journalists cover.

False

True or False: At a newspaper, section editors report to the copy editor.

False

True or False: In a newspaper newsroom, it is typical that the editor-in-chief will work in close coordination with the editor of the opinion section.

False

True or False: Magazines, newspapers, and television stations essentially have identitical newsroom hierarchies.

False

True or False? "Convergence" has had little effect on how news is produced.

False

True or False? Audience engagement only occurs in the processing and editing stage of news routines.

False

True or false: Newspaper circulation rates have continually risen year after year since the 1990s.

False

In contrast to legacy news organizations, digital startup news agencies (i.e., Buzzfeed, Huffington Post) generate significant revenue from which of these?

Native advertising and sponsored content

True or False: "Media literate" citizens demand high standards from news.

True

True or False: "You meet with your editor to discuss several story pitches, which you came up with after exhaustive research. This is an example of proactive reporting." Correct!

True

True or False: Many "digitally-native" news sites have a looser relationship with the objectivity norm, instead insisting that transparency is a preferable norm.

True

True or False: The original meaning of objectivity relates journalism to the scientific method.

True

True or False: The pre-Internet "broadcast model" of journalism is characterized by few senders and many receivers.

True

True or False? News organizations have measured audience exposure for as long as advertising has been its main revenue model, what has changed recently is the level of sophistication of what they can know about audiences.

True

True or false: A paywall that requires a subscription before accessing any content is known as a "hard" paywall.

True

True or false: Reforms to how people voted, with the emergence of the secret ballot, contributed to the rise of objectivity as a journalistic norm.

True

New role:

Engagement editor

"Dollars to Dimes"

Increase in digital ad marketing Decrease in print ad sales Newspaper digital ad sales is stagnant Peaked in 2000

Analyzing Your Information diet

Information diet metaphor as a nutrition diet

13.4 Citizen journalism

Journalist's sense of purpose has been derived from their sense of responsibility to be effective gatekeepers

Where do these routines come from?

Journalists are socialized into them — in newsrooms — in classrooms — "this is how _______ is done"

11.2 News gathering Basics

2 Videos

Internet model

Many senders Direction of communication goes both ways Many receivers Hierarchies have been flattened

Now

— lower producer power — Hugh consumer power —high advertiser power

The crux of the problem

"The reliance of advertising was an unchallenged fixture of journalism economics over the course of the twentieth century, with no alternative displacing it. The wedding of a free press with the free market encouraged complacency about journalism's future hostility to alternative and international models, and a failure to create contingencies (Drew & Thomas)

Earliest theories

- "Magic bullet" or "hypothetic needle" approach - presumes strong, direct, uniform effects - nobody serious believes in this anymore The media said it there for it must be true

#6: prevents journalists from taking necessary moral stands

- "The media need not be objective towards terror,racism, fascism, genocide, and slavery. In contrast to the demand for objectivity on the part of the media that is often echoed, the media do not have to be objective towards phenomena which contradict their basic values..the media need not stay neutral when values and institutions of democracy are threatened and attacked... Quite the opposite: they should denounce and condemn such phenomena" (Raphael Cohen - almagor) - "objectivity means giving all sides a fair hearing, but not treating all sides equally... Objectivity must go hand-in-hand with morality " Christian amanpour -2005 attacks on London, "bombers " or "terrorists"? - "I hasten to think that one who conducts act of terror is a terrorist, exactly as one who murders deserves to be called a murderer, and one who rapes to be called a rapist. - journalists "do not stand outside the community they cover... Their identity as citizens in democracies does matter... When clearly immoral practices such as racism are at issue, morality is a pertinent and significant factor that prescribes partiality rather than neutrality " (onen-almagon)

#5: turns journalists into disinterested observers

- "as disinterested observers, as impartial reporters' journalists are expected to be morally disengaged and politically inactive " (glasser, 1984) - argument: journalists should embrace a role as active participants in public life, concerned with the success of the community they serve - voice of San Diego, "what we stand for": Government transparency, open meetings, and accountability A well-informed, well-educated community ready to participate in civic affairs Government agencies that are just, efficient, and excellent High quality education for all children Quality housing but is affordable to all residents World class infrastructure that supports tree enterprise and job creation A robust and inclusive arts and culture scene A clean environment -Arquement: journalists should consider what they are for - journalists are "for a healthier democracy, for giving voice to many ideas and opinions and concerns that make a community and not just giving voice to the experts or people in power "(warhover)

Priming

- News consumption activates memory when asked to evaluate things — example: coverage of the economy people to think about the economy when asked to evaluate the performance of the President

#4 objectivity as a defense mechanism

- The claim: journalists are prone to being " bias bullied" (coratt&davis) - leads them to shy away from critical reporting - "quoting official sources with impeccable interviews: juxtaposing conflicting truth claims and claiming both as facts. The conventions are used as a defensive measure: " we're not saying that the earthisflat i we are saying that he said the world is flat" (Tom / warhover)

#3: elite source dependence

- The journalist can't interpret, so they become dependent on sources who can. -surrendering judgement to sources - happens when "reporters do not seek independent confirmation or use a critical method to test the statements issued by officials (Koch, 1990)

Agenda-Setting

- The press may not be successful much of the time in telling people what to think, but stunningly successful in telling readers "what to think about " (cohen) - The greater coverage of an issue, the more likely it is that people will see issue as important - but does not argue that news shapes what they think about that issue (good/bad) I for / against) etc.

More sophisticated approaches

- The two-step flow of communication - agenda setting -priming -framing

Take two newspapers..

- newspaper #1: serves a small, rural, conservative town -newspaper#2: serves a large, urban, liberal city You will find remarkable similarity between the newspapers despite differences in audience and topics of news coverage, for example: — use of sources — use of inverted pyramid — absence of opinion in news

Editing and Processing

- shaping the story into what it will ultimately turn out to be - going through multiple channels ("gatekeepers") — section editors — copy editors

The two-step flow of communication

- what really matters are opinion leaders - you take your cues from people you trust, respect, and admire

News doesn't occur; it is made

-" the daily agenda of reports... called 'news' is not the inevitable product of chance events; it is the result of decisions made within news organizations - consider the implications of "all news that's fit to print"

Broad cast model _

-""one-to-many" Few Senders Direction of Communication one sided Many receivers Journalists hold a lot of gate keeping power in this model — in other words, they hold a lot of control over the flow of communication.

Framing

-A frame is a "central organizing idea" (gamson - A question that is emphasized within the story

Addressing the critiques

-Critique #1: making choices in reporting does not mean the whole process is subjective - just as the scientist choosing what hypothesis to test is not objective - what matters is now the evidence is obtained, analyzed and interpreted -Critiques #2-4: we should return to the original understanding of objectivity as a method to use in pursuit of truth -Critiques #5-6: we should center on journalism's obligation to democracy and democratic values

#2:objectivity obscuring truth,,

.-- "false balance "or "balance as bias "(boycoff e boy coff) - when "balance" leads to inaccurate reporting - climate coverage as an illustration of this -straying from objectivity's original meaning "He said, she said journa,lism" "journalism of assertion" vs "Journalism of verification " (kovach & Rosenstein) - problem: placing balance ahead of accuracy & verification - goal: find and weigh the evidence - objectivity is more than just balance

Six critiques to consider.

1. Objectivity is impossible because value judgements are baked into journalism 2. Objectivity can obscure the search for truth 3. Objectivity leads to elite source dependence 4. Objectivity is a defense mechanism rather than a vir tue 5 objectivity turns journalists into disinterested observers 6. Objectivity prevents journalists from taking necessary moral stands on issues that threaten core democratic values

New Business Models

4 new-ish models — paywalls — non-profits — native advertising — public (ie government) funding

12.4 what about bias?

A recent poll found that six in ten Americans believe there is "partisan bias" in U.S. journalism (meaning that they believe journalism has a bias toward a particular political party). More specifically, the survey found that "almost two-thirds (64%) of those who believe the media favors a political party say it is the Democratic Party. Only about a third as many (22%) believe the media favors Republicans." This is a common critique of journalism. As Craft and Davis note: "One of the most frequently heard critiques of journalism is that is has a liberal bias, that it favors liberal viewpoints over conservative ones" (p. 218). There is no evidence to support this. Research also shows us that belief in partisan bias in journalism strongly correlates with partisan identity. In other words, the stronger a conservative you are, the more likely you are to believe that journalism is biased in favor of liberals and the stronger a liberal you are, the more likely you are to believe that journalism is biased in favor of conservatives (sources: here and here). In a way, accusations of partisan bias may tell us more about the partisanship of the person making the accusation than they do about the journalist or news organization being accused. It is for these reasons that Craft and Davis say that "political bias is probably the least useful lens through which to examine journalism. What people see as bias in the news is very much rooted in their pre-existing beliefs about the word." Craft and Davis note that this doesn't mean we shouldn't be concerned about bias, rather that the endless attention on partisan bias leads us away from other problems within journalism that can be considered "biases." They draw our attention to the work of Andrew Cline, who has identified a list of nine "structural biases" in journalism. These are as follows: 1. Commercial bias: A bias in favor of what attracts readers or viewers and will thus be commercially successful. 2. Temporal bias: A bias toward what's new and fresh. 3. Visual bias: A bias toward what can be visualized. 4. Bad news bias: A bias toward conflict and problems over cooperation and solutions. 5. Narrative bias: A bias toward stories that have a beginning, middle, and end, with "good guys" and "bad guys." 6. Status quo bias: A bias toward the system itself, to the detriment of alternative perspectives about how government might run and what government might do (or not do). (Another way of thinking about this is to consider whether news organizations ignore the Libertarian and Green parties because they are unsuccessful or if the Libertarian and Green parties are unsuccessful because news organizations ignore them). 7. Fairness bias: A bias toward seeking an alternative or balancing source in the name of fairness, even when that is unwarranted or unnecessary. ("False balance" is a common manifestation of this kind of bias). 8. Expediency bias: A bias toward what can stories can be done quickly, easily, and inexpensively. 9. Glory bias: A bias toward stories that will result in professional prestige. These biases, Craft and Davis write, are far more useful lenses through which we can evaluate journalism.

For most of journalism's modern history, what condition basically ensured profitability?

All of these options

True or False: "Media literate" citizens demand high standards from news.

All of these options

"The press may not be successful much of the time in telling people what to think, but it is stunningly successful in telling its readers what to think about" describes which media effects theory?

Agenda setting

Automated journalism

Algorithmic journalism or robot journalism, news articles are generated by computer programs. Through artificial intelligence (AI) software, stories are produced automatically by computers rather than human reporters

Quiz

Answers

Case study: false balance

As a warm-up, let's watch this clip from Last Week Tonight With Jon Oliver. It illustrates a topic closely associated with objectivity, balance - and in particular the problem of what social scientists have called "false balance" or "false equivalence," which has been defined as when "truth claims that are not equally valid are presented as equal" (Thomas, Tandoc, & Hinnant, 2017, p. 153). This occurs when, in a seemingly well-intentioned effort to balance a story (i.e., provide different perspectives on a given issue), journalists inadvertently allow misinformation to reach the public by creating the perception of uncertainty when there is, in fact, consensus. Oliver uses the example of global warming to illustrate the problems with this kind of balancing. This clip is a humorous way of presenting a serious point - that when journalists "balance" evidence against falsehoods and leave it to audience members to draw their own conclusions, this is a disservice to those audience members as it undermines the central goal of journalism, which is the dissemination of accurate information so that audiences can make informed decisions.

14.4 New Voices

Blogging

Thinking of news organizations as organizations first

Characteristics of organizations: — goal-directed — hierarchical structure — clearly delineated roles — clearly defined routines

ConvErgemce

Clear delineation of roles is increasingly no longer the case — print reporters need to be proficient in audio and video — TV/radio reporters expected to write text for online Remains important to know organizational structure

What is the name given to the newsroom role that involves proofreading for clarity and accuracy?

Copy editor

Which of the following describes a relatively new newsroom role that has emerged in the social media age?

Engagement editor

Interpretarion

Engaging with the audience post-publication — how audiences are interacting with the story — how journalists are interacting with the audience about the story

How these values would be applied in practice

Factuality - Truth —All events and statements must be able to be corroborated. —The report must be as complete as possible; the report should not mislead through omission. —The report should provide sufficient context to get at "the truth behind the facts." —The report should get beyond what people say happened so that audiences can understand what actually happened. - Relevance —The information should be in the public interest. —The information should help the audience in some way. —The information should align with journalistic news values. Impartiality - Balance/non-partisanship —The balance sought is proportional to the evidence, not necessarily equal. —Journalists should avoid taking sides in reporting; if their pursuit of facts happens to be advantageous to one or another party, this is not a concern, but setting out to take the side of a party is unacceptable. —Journalists should not insert their opinions into their reporting. - Neutral presentation —There should be clear separation of reporting from commentary and opinion. —Journalists should consider how the manner of presentation can fail the impartiality test (e.g., how a guest or source is described or introduced, what imagery is selected to accompany a story, etc.)

**True or False: In order for the public to get information on all sides of an issue, all sides of the issue deserve equal weight, regardless of the strength of the evidence in support of them.

False

**True or False: Journalists should avoid correcting false statements made by politicians since doing so evidences bias.

False

**True or False? The "hypodermic needle" or "magic bullet" approach to media effects remains popular and valid to this day.

False

Classified advertising once allowed somebody who wanted to sell a car, to rent an apartment, to post a job, or to announce the death of a loved one in the form of an obituary, to pay for an ad in a newspaper. In some instances, this model produced up to 70% of overall ad revenue for a paper. What primarily changed this stream of income and led to the loss of billions of dollars?

Free online advertising (i.e., the "Craigslist effect")

Four Ways of Thinking About Convergence

Grant and Wilkinson (2019) summarize four ways of thinking about convergence: as a process, as an attitude, as an industry, and as a set of technologies. — To think of convergence as a PROCESS emphasizes the way that convergence has changed reporting routines (i.e., processes). Think about a report from an event includes background detail from social media including traditional means, recording interviews and/or natural sound, tweeting about the event, taking images and video of the event, writing up a story about the event, and linking to social media responses from other individuals who were there. When it comes to telling the story itself, think of the variety of methods that Sterne identifies in the article above! — To think of convergence as an ATTITUDE emphasizes how the journalist looks at a story and assesses the best method of conveying that story to an audience. Some stories are inherently more visual, while others lend themselves to text. A convergence attitude doesn't just mean being proficient in multiple storytelling methods but understanding the appropriate method for the kind of story. —To think of convergence as an INDUSTRY emphasizes the migration of legacy news organizations (television stations, newspapers, magazines) to online. This has meant new roles at these newsrooms, such as videographers and video editors working for The Washington Post. It also characterizes the emergence of digitally-native news organizations like the Huffington Post, Politico, and Vox for whom convergence is normal. —Finally, thinking of convergence as aSET OF TECHNOLOGIES means embracing the fact that resources that were once dispersed across a newsroom - or, indeed, multiple newsrooms - are in the palm of a reporter's hand via a smartphone.

Critiques of objectivity

Having considered some practical examples (climate change and war reporting), let's now summarize the central objections that critics of objectivity have made:

In the legacy model of journalism, there were three conditions that ensured profitability. Which of the following was NOT one of them?

High levels of consumer power

12.2 objectivity and truth telling

In a 2012 column, Arthur S. Brisbane, The New York Times' then-public editor (i.e., their ombudsman) wrote a column titled "Should The Times Be a Truth Vigilante?" In it, Brisbane "sought reader input on whether and when New York Times news reporters should challenge 'facts' that are asserted by newsmakers they write... And it so, how can the Times do this in a way that is objective and fair? Is it possible to be objective and fair when the reporter is choosing to correct one fact over another? Setting Brisbane's confusing term "truth vigilante " aside, the point he was making . was actually quite straightforward: let's say a politician says something that is false should a journalist make clear to their audience that this statement is false? The response Brisbane received to his column was very interesting. Readers were, in a word, exasperated at what they saw as high-protile journalist seemingly failing to understand the most basic obligation of journalists. What was very telling about Brisbane column was that he saw fact-checking politician's claims as a potential breach of objectivity. His readers saw it differently. That journalists have an obligation to fact-check the claims-of political figures, and this is entirely consistent with what we ought to expect from journalists in a democracy. Brisbane's column raises an important point: what happens when objectivity gets in the way of truth-telling? Brisbane was falling into what craft and Davis describe as "the objectivity trap' - where journalists become so fearful of being accused of being biased or "unobjective" that they forget that their main obligation is to the truth. Correcting the false hoods of a political figure is not subjective or biased at all - it is, in fact, entirely consistent with the original understanding of objectivity as a method ut weighing evidence and evaluating claims in the pursuit ot the truth.

What are the characteristics of media literate citizens?

In an essay published in the Journal of Media Ethics, the researchers Christopher Meyers, Wendy Wyatt, Sandra Borden, and Edward Wasserman propose the following: — First, media literate citizens are sophisticated consumers of news. They read broadly, and they read well. I tell my students that reading for breadth is insufficient unless you also read for quality. Telling somebody that you read conservative content and liberal content is meaningless if either one or both of them are bad content. It's like if you are walking along the street and you step in dog's mess with your left foot. You wouldn't then step in dog's mess with your right foot to balance it out. Ideally, you'd want to avoid the dog's mess altogether. That is what I mean when I say that reading broadly must go hand-in-hand with reading well - that is, reading for quality. — Second, media literate citizens take into consideration the people and organizations behind news messages. They know that the expectations of a local government reporter and an opinion columnist are very different. They know that they shouldn't expect their local newspaper to be covering what's going on in Washington, DC or to expect BuzzFeed to be covering what's going on in their town. — Third, media literate citizens recognize the difference between news and advocacy. They are able to tell when somebody is giving them information to help them make up their mind, versus trying to persuade them toward a particular point of view. — Fourth, media literate citizens pay attention not only to what appears in the news, but to what's left out. They are critical news consumers, in other words. They recognize the importance of comprehensiveness and proportionality. — Fifth, media literate citizens demand high standards of journalism - that is, for journalism that is both technically and ethically excellent. This fulfills a critical function as an accountability mechanism by urging journalists to strive for better.

11.3 News Routines

In his classic sociological study of newsrooms, News From Nowhere, the sociologist Edward Epstein said that "the daily agenda of reports... called 'news' is not the inevitable product of chance events; it is the result if decisions made within a news organization." Every day, a limitless number of things occur. Very, very few of them make it into the pages of newspapers and magazines or onto television or radio newscasts. Partly that is because not all of those events will be newsworthy - they will fail to align with a particular news value, as we've discussed. At every stage of the journalistic process, from topic selection through to publication (and, as we'll see, beyond) important decisions are made by reporters and editors about how, ultimately, the story will turn out. To understand this better, we need to look at what sociologists have called "news routines." This is a topic that has fascinated sociologists for decades - how and why does news turn out the way it does? Why is it, given the many differences between and among news organizations and the communities they serve, that news in fact looks remarkably similarly from community to community? In this video, I explore these questions further.

Changing consumer patterns

In order: — TV — online — radio — print newspaper

News values in practice

In practice, news values function as "a system of criteria which are used to make decisions about the inclusion and exclusion of material" (Palmer, 2000, p. 45). They provide a frame of reference for journalists to be able to quickly judge whether or not a story should be covered. They are taught in classrooms (like this one) and reinforced in newsrooms so that new journalists come to understand why some stories are worth pursuing and others are not. They are demonstrations of judgment - i.e., the ability to make a decision wisely. Many different lists of news values have been drawn up over time. This helpful infographic (right) designed by my colleague Professor Amy Simons captures eight of the most common. News values are important not only for the way they streamline the news production processes but for giving journalists the vocabulary to explain to the public - the people to whom they owe their ultimate loyalty, remember - why certain things were covered and certain things were not (note: this does not automatically assume that journalists made the right call - just that their call had some journalistic basis). News values thus help us avoid the tendency to treat news as something journalists have an unexplainable "gut feeling" for, or something that "I know it when I see it," which in fact only mystify the news creation process and do little to strengthen the relationship between journalists and the public.

Audience engagement and participation

In the early 10th century, a lot of books were published captioning the idea that the internet would revolutionize communications, journalism, and amocracy. Among the most prominent were we the media by Dan gillmor (2004) Ana weare all Journalists now by Scott gant (2007) , both of which emphasized the blurring of boundaries between journalist and audience number. The writer, Jay Rosen famously described this as the relationship between the and "the people formerly known as the audience". There were also more general books looking at society - wide changes, like here comes everybody by clay shirk (2008) and the wisdom of crowds by James , which emphasized how people how have the tools to do things together, collatoratively. What the se books illustrate is the difference between "broadcast" and "Internet" models. These are sometimes referred to as "one-to-many" and "many-to-many" models (see visual on the right from mark posters the second media age1

Sociologists have classified news routines into five stages. When a journalist discusses and debates their story with readers on social media, what stage is this a part of?

Interpretation

How does citizen journalism impact the role the press plays in a democracy?

It eliminates journalism's gate keeping role

How does a "soft" paywall operate?

It provides some content for free before requiring a subscription

13.1-Media effects

Media effects theories

11.1 News Judgement, News Values, and News Worthiness

News doesn't just happen- it is made. Recall the New York Times' slogan "All the News That's Fit to Print." embedded in that slogan is the understanding that The journalists at the times have assessed, of the literally thousands of possible Pieces of information to spotlight, the relative handle that they deem "fit to print" - In other words, the items they deem newsworthy. There are only so many pages in a newspaper and so many minutes in a broadcast news segment, while the Internet helps, transcend some of these limitations, a news organization would Simply not have the resources to cover every possible thing going on in a community, and certainly not the world. Therefor, journalists and editors must Make daily judgements about what stories to pursue and, ultimately, cover.

Routinization= standardization

Nightly news -organized around an anchor - reporters "in the field" - use of vox pops - sports, weather segments

Being "organized and operated exclusively for charitable, scientific, religious, or public safety purposes" describes what kind of organization?

Non-profit

l2.1 definitions and origins ot objectivity

Objectivity has been described as a "mega-concept", defined by social scientists as "conceptual conglomerates each of which has entangled with a number ot often unspecified concepts " McLeod & pan,2005 - P. 17). Huh? Simply put, a mega-concept is a concept that can be defined in reference to another related concept. When we define objectivity, we invariably define it in ways that invoke other concepts. Some of the most common are accuracy, balance, even-handedness, fairness, honesty, impartiality, independence neutrality, non-bias, non-partisanship and truthfulness. All of this reinforces the problem that objectivity is, as kovach and rosensteil put it "one of the great contusions of American Journalism One attempt that came to work through this confusion came from the scholar Juergen Westerstahl in a 1 983 article in the journal communication Research. His model of objectivity is as follows: Objectivity Factuality. Impartiality Truth. Relevance. Balance/non-partisanship Neutral presentation This model breaks objectivity into two sub-concepts, factuality and impartiality, each of which can be broken down yet further.

Big picture process

PRE STORY; -access and observation -selection and filtering THE STORY TAKES SHAPE -editing and processing THE STORY POST STORY -distribution -interpretation

Week 13

Quiz

Week 14

Quiz

Which of the following best describes U.S. journalism of the 19th century?

Partisan funded by the political parties

Print vs. Online Advertising

Print advertising: — publishers set rates — rates based on color, size a,d location — maximum exposure potential is publication circulation — print had monopoly on space, access to audience Online advertising — advertisers have more power setting rates — rates based on impact (clicks, likes, views, shared) — exposure and impact are highly trackable — print has lost monopoly over space, access to audience

Where does news come from? PROACTIVE

Proactive refers to things that journalists discover through their own effort - that is, their own enterprise. It is so-called because the journalist in question takes the initiative on a story. These can develop from cultivating a network of reliable sources while covering a beat or through time- and labor-intensive investigative work. Beats come from police vernacular, where a beta is a particular segment of the community in a similar fashion - police, education, health, and so forth. Here is an example of how the Columbia Missourian - which many of you will go on to write for - organizes its beats. Every news organization will have its own system for organizing its beats. Enterprise journalism comes from journalism that looks outside the daily and breaking news but through the journalist's own initiative. Nikki Usher notes that "enterprise journalism works to understand and expose the context and factors that shape events, rather than reporting an event after it happens." Tony Rogers notes that enterprise journalism comes from observation and investigation.

14.3 the Future of News

Progression of News Media Outlets — printing press (AD) in China — gutenberg press (1440) — the electronic telegraph (1840) — radio (1920s) — television (1939) — the internet (1962)

Newspaper newsrooms as part of larger organizations

Publisher Newsroom. Advertising. Circulation. Production. Administration.

Determining the newsworthiness of a potential story takes place at which stage of journalistic routines?

Salad toon and filtering

Week 12

Quiz

What the research tells us

Routines can be categorized into five stages: — access and observation — selection and filtering — editing and processing — distribution — interpretation

11.4 Newsrooms

Routines don't happen by themselves. They are enacted by people, generally acting as part of larger organizations. In the final video of this module, we'll look at the organizational structure of newsrooms, focusing specifically on newspapers, magazines, and television news.

Case study: moral neutrality in war reporting

So far, so straightforward (perhaps) • but what about other issue s? But what about other issues? What about a kind of "moral balancing?" here, I'd like for you two watch these clips of the veteran war correspondent Christine amanpour discussing the role of objectivity and neutrality in war reporting • In particular, she focuses on her experiences covering the breakup of Yugoslavia and subsequent conflicts in Croatia (1991-95) and Bosnia (1992-95). Accounts of these conflicts indicate that there was a clear aggressor- namely serbia - and clear victims - namely, Bosnian Muslims, with acts of genocide being perpetrated against those Bosnian populations. Amanpour discusses the problems of applying "objectivity" and "neutrality" to these circumstances, because it treated each "side" as morally equal. Note how Amanpour argues that journalists taking a mor al stand in this war was in fact entirely consistent with journalistic principles: . "Objectivity means, I believe, giving each side their hearing, but not treating each side the same, not drawing a moral equivalence which would be a false equivalence, not saying 'on the one hand, on the other hand'... If you think that it is your duty to see the murdered and the murderer... and give them equal time and equal weight, under the false impression that you are being objective, then you are an accomplice." In the first clip, Amanpour discusses her experience reporting on these wars with investigative journalist Charles Lewis. The second clip features an exchange that Amanpour had with then-President Bill Clinton which was, at the time, controversial because Amanpour was accused of violating the journalistic norm of objectivity by being critical of the Clinton administration's stance at the time. In the third clip, Amanpour reflects on her career, reiterating her belief that objectivity means giving all sides a fair hearing but not, ultimately, treating all sides the same. Amanpour's perspective provides an additional layer of complexity to an already complex topic. But that's simply a result of the enormously consequential power that journalists have - these are issues that we need to think through and take seriously. What do you think about objectivity? Does it help or hinder journalism? Are there circumstances under which journalists should not be objective? Or is objectivity an outright impossibility? You will have an opportunity to weigh in on this topic in the discussion board that will conclude this module.

Identifying News Values

Sometimes, what is newsworthy is an easy judgment to make. The assassination of A president, a terrorist attack, or a supreme court ruling that affects millions of people nationwide are, we could say obviously newsworthy. But why? And what About the coverage decisions are less "obvious"? That is where news values come In. "Only an infinitesimally small fraction of events happening in the world on any given day are ever likely to become news for anyone beyond those most closely involved in the events in question. Journalists will simply be unaware of most events. Even of the minority of events of which journalists do become aware, only a small proportion will be deemed worthy of being constructed as news stories. To help them decide which ones to select for such treatment, journalists are commonly said to apply criteria known as news values" (Harcup, 2019, p. 2 News values can be defined as "a shared shortland operational understanding Of what working journalists are required to produce to deadline "(Harcup & O'Neill, 2017, p. 1470). Let's break this definition down:

Critiques summarized,

The impossibility of objectivity: 1. Objectivity is impossible because value judgements ave baked into journalism 2. Objectivity can obscure the search for truth. The misapplication of objectivity: 3.Objectivity leads to elite source dependence 4. Objectivity is a defense mechanism rather than a virtue The limits of objectivity: 5-objectivity turns journalists into disinterested observers 6. Objectivity prevents journalists from taking necessary moral stands on issues that threaten core democratic values

The role of Social media

The information diet analogy works, but up to a point• while we can make a concerted effort to turn off the cable news network and pick up a newspaper, or to vary our reading habits so that we are exposed to diverse opinions, social media has made it more difficult for audiences to cultivate healthy reading habits. The interactive Wall Street journal article illustrated how social media helps create 'echo chambers ", where users only see postsfrom like-minded friends and media sources as the algorithm behind the application adapts to your existing tastes - not challenging these tastes • The Wall Street journal''s piece illustrates how Facebook users are offered vastly different information diets based on their existing political beliefs. Similarly, because Facebook has a generally "hands off" approach to regulating content shared on it's side, it allows for false information to be spread rapidly and widely.

Which major political reform of the late 19th century contributed to the emergence of objectivity as a journalistic norm?

The introductions of the secret ballot

We discussed different reasons why objectivity emerged as a journalistic norm. The emergence of journalism schools at universities and the development of codes of ethics corresponds to which of these reasons?

The professionalism of journalism

The invention of which of these was key to the emergence of objectivity as a journalistic norm?

The telegraph

Which theory of media effects focuses on the role of opinion leaders?

The two-step flow of communication

The relevance of effects theories today.

These can be applied to many different topics aside from journalism.

There's a local election being decided today, and your outlet opts to cover it. What set of news values BEST apply to this situation?

Timeliness, impact, proximity

Organizational Convergence

This is when once-separate news organizations are combined into a single entity that publishes a newspaper, television channel, radio station, and, of course, online. Examples of once-separate organizations merging into a single newsroom include: The Tampa Tribune and WFLA-TV of Tampa, Florida. The Arizona Republic and WFLA-TV of Phoenix, Arizona. The St. Louis Beacon and St. Louis Public Radio of St. Louis, Missouri

A reporter goes to cover the opening of a local business. Which of these news values best applies?

Timeliness

True or false: Some journalists, ethicists, and scholars have argued that adherence to the objectivity norm leads to journalists being unable or unwilling to take stands on issues that affect democracy itself, such as terror, racism, genocide, and slavery.

True

True or false: The "structural bias" called "narrative bias" describes a bias toward stories that have a beginning, middle, and end, with "good guys" and "bad guys."

True

AR — augmented reality

Using this method of technology to engage their audience "The promise of AR is that you and I are having a great conversation right now. Arguably, it could be even better if we were able to augment our discussion with charts or other things to appear. And your audience would also benefit from this, too. I think. And so when I think about that in different her it's health, whether it's education , whether it's gaming, whether it's retail. I'm already seeing AR take off in some of these areas with the use of the phone. And I think the promise is eve. Greater in the future" Journalism right now is in a radical state of flux.

Where does news come from? REACTIVE

We can classify sources of news into two large areas: Reactive and Proactive. REACTIVE refers to spontaneous events that occur that journalists respond to. Something happens — a flood, a fire, an assault, a politician's resignation - and journalists themselves may be eyewitnesses to these things but more often rely on the testimony of those who can speak to the topic with some authority. There are other events that journalists respond to that are not "naturally occurring", so to speak. Think about press conferences , photo opportunities,press releases, and the like. The historian Daniel Boorstin referred to these as pseudo-events, with "pseudo" meaning having the appearance of (in other words, "manufactured" events). These are events that are created for the purpose of attracting the attention of journalists and receiving coverage. As Ferrucci (2019) notes, "due to the ease with which they can be reported on and the inability of a news organization to cover every important event, journalists rely more and more on staged happenings, or pseudo-events, for information about important topics. And public relations officials and powerful sources, to get their information to the public in a desirable manner, depend on journalists' willingness to cover pseudo-events" (p. 2). While important information can be shared in the course of a pseudo-event - something might be announced at a press conference, for example - covering them comes with some caveats because of the powerful position it places the person behind them in, with an ability to control - or at least shape - the news agenda. As Ferrucci (2019) goes on to say: "Powerful people carefully craft pseudo-events so that they can skillfully shape how the press covers an issue, person, or organization; this shaping often results in news stories that have very little to do with the actual reality of a situation. These constructed and carefully crafted events also deliver sometimes undue and unwarranted attention to happenings that would otherwise go unnoticed; for example, a staged event such as a business's ribbon cutting generates more news content than if a business simply opens. Pseudo-events provide the powerful with the ability to shape a news story or generate coverage with a spin they desire" (p. 2). So pseudo-events need to handled with care. At the same time, they can be opportunities for good journalism to occur - think about how press conferences can sometimes serve as opportunities for journalists to fulfill their watchdog function and ask tough questions of political elites.

Recent example

We can see a positive example of this in journalists coverage of the claims that the president has made regarding the most recent presidential election. Here, journalists make clear that the claims the president is making about voter fraud are inaccurate and misleading. For example: — ABC News: "A look at 5 false or misleading Trump team claims of election fraud" - Note how the headline makes clear that the claims are false or misleading. The article also describes the claims as "unfounded" and lists five specific claims "that have been widely pushed and debunked." — Forbes: "All The Elections Trump Has Claimed Were Stolen Through Voter Fraud" - Note how the very first line highlights how "President Donald Trump has repeatedly claimed without evidence that the 2020 election was stolen from him through widespread fraud" (I've italicized the important bit). — Forbes: "Trump Fires Cybersecurity Chief Who Debunked Unfounded Voter Fraud Allegations" - Note how the headline specifically notes the claims are unfounded. — The Guardian: "Trump rails at judges as another court rejects his lawyers' claims of voter fraud" - The article mentions that the legal challenges filed by the Trump campaign "are based on a series of debunked conspiracies alleging widespread voter fraud" and these claims are "without evidence." The point here is to illustrate how journalists have demonstrated their commitment to truth-telling by making clear what claims are supported by evidence and what are not. This is what we would expect from journalists. It is not subjective or biased to do so. As Craft and Davis note, correcting errors and falsehoods is fair. It's fair to the truth and to us."

13.2 media literacy and audience responsibilities

When we talk about the responsibilities of audiences, we are approaching the issue of journalistic quality from a different direction. We're still concerned with journalism, but instead of focusing on its creators, we are focused on it's audiences. The logic goes that in addition to talking about now journalists can better fulfill their democratic obligations, we should also be talking about how journalists can better fulfill their democratic obligations, we should also be talking about how journalists can better learn to navigate the complex news landscape. This is often referred to as media literacy.

12.3 considering critiques objectively

Would it surprise you to know that objectivity is a topic of controversy among journalists, commentators and scholars? Some of them disagree about the extent to which journalists (or anybody) can actually be objective. Others point out that journalists should be objective but fail to. Others still argue that journalists should not be objective because it inhibits the fulfillment of their obligations to truth telling and to democracy In this book objectivity in Journalism, Steven Maras writes that "few ideas are as c+ontentious in the world of media and journalism as the ideal of objective reporting." and as we've talked about in the previous lecture, objectivity is a far from straightforward concept to evaluate, given that it encompass accuracy, balance, fairness impartiality, neutrality, non-partisanship, and a whole host of other rented concepts o as Mara puts it,: "if journalistic objectivity is an ideal, it is surely a complex one... Does it mean the ideal is worthless for does it represent the ultimate journalistic virtue?" let's explore some critiques of objectivity.

14.2 Convergence

You may, at some point, have heard of the term "convergence" in relation to journalism. What does this mean? Convergence describes "the integration of previously distinct media components and technology to create new organizational forms and media technologies" (Grant & Wilkinson, 2019). In the pre-Internet era, journalists only needed to focus on the skills necessary for one platform. Now, newsrooms are converged and journalists must be proficient in a number of different storytelling methods. Broadcast journalists are having to write stories for the web, for example; newspapers are providing video in addition to still photography. News organizations of all ages, shapes, and sizes now use a combination of text, photo, video, audio, and graphics to tell stories online. A classic example of this is The New York Times "Snowfall" story - it is well worth your time to look at the variety of methods used to tell a compelling story, and how they enhance the story being told.

14.1 New Economic Model s

You will recall from the previous module the tension between journalism as a public good that is essential to democracy and journalism as a product funded, largely, by advertising via the "2-sided" or "dual product" revenue model. You will also hopefully recall from Craft and Davis that the ownership trends of the late twentieth century - conglomeration and concentration of ownership - exacerbated these existing tensions. Journalism's advertising-based economic model has been most thoroughly tested in the 21st century. This has prompted a search for a "new revenue model" to replace advertising. In order to set the stage for the economic models that may be on the horizon, we first need to look at the factors that are prompting this search for sustainability to begin with. That's the topic of this lecture video.

#I objectivity as an impossibility

what c you cover and what you don't What sources you use (and which ones you don't) which pictures you run (and which ones you don't) How much time and space you devote cand how much you don't) -- consider the moral assumptions reflected in investigative journalism - corruption=bad - abuse of power = bad - crime = bad

Paywalls

— "a subscription model which limits public access to all or to some digital news content if no fee is paid" — Q: How to maximize revenue while not alienating an audience that has come to expect online content for free? — first paywall: Wall Street Journal (1997) — has been very successful — why? Early, affluent audience with a greater deal of disposable income.

Why should we care about objectivity in journalism?

— Because of journalism's relationship to politics and government - "with its universalistic intent, its concern for public rationality based on equal access to the facts, objectivity harbored a profoundly democratic promise" — because it is central to journalism's authority - providing information audiences can trust — Because the public demanded it - "clearly people want the press to appear objective. The best proof that lies in their frequent complaints that it isn't" (Tucher, 1994) — Because of its relationship with news judgement and ethics - central to questions of what news is presented and how it's presented

Complementary Definitions

— Bowman and Willis on citizen journalism - "The act of a citizen, or a group of citizens, playing an active role in the process of collecting, reporting, analyzing and disseminating news and information. The intent of participation is to provide independent, reliable, accurate, and wide-ranging and relevant information that a democracy requires." — Craft and Davis on journalism: - "A set of transparent, independent procedures aimed at gathering, verifying, and reporting truthful information of consequence to citizens in a democracy"

Engagement as a part of journalistic routines

— access and observation - engaging readers in the development of story ideas — selection and filtering - inviting readers to determine priorities — processing and editing - inviting audience contributions — distribution - encouraging and sharing of articles, subscribing, etc — interpretation - commenting on and evaluating the work

"The Craigslist Effect"

— classified advertising - "rivers of gold" (Rupert Murdoch) - ~70% of ad revenue at some newspapers — from 2000 to 2011: - overall: $19.6 to $5b - Auto: $6.03 to $1.10b - Real Estate: $3.12b to $0.85b - Jobs: $8.71b to $0.74b - Obits/personal: $2.7b to $2.29b — "sometimes rivers dry up... I don't know anybody under the age of thirty who has never looked at a classified ad" (Murdoch, again)

Public (govt) funding

— commonplace in other democracies — historically, a no-go in the US First Amendment grounds - many legal scholars say there should be no First Amendment issues - but this is different to whether government funding of journalism should occur... — growing calls for public funding as a stable model considering decline of advertising-based revenue model - but no take-federal level — local initiatives, eg, New Jersey's Civic Information Consortium — Govt allocation of $500,000 to fund projects that would enhance local news coverage — "what if every state in the union provided some seed money for local journalism — as a way to rebuild some of what's been lost through years of budget cuts and layoffs? That's what New Jersey is doing"

Hyperlocal journalism

— covering very specific neighborhoods, communities - DCIst (Washington DC) - Barstanet ( Essex County, IN ) - West Seattle Blog - Honolulu Civil Beat - Charlotte Five

Blogger's distinctions of journalism

— covering what was uncovered in the mainstream - "what I tried to do from the beginning of time I started the site to write about things that are being discussed within the Washington press corps but aren't getting published" —"Snark" - "an important stylistic influence on the emerging field of blogging and has turned into the de facto voice of blogs today" — transparency over objectivity - to say to readers:"look, I'm not going to pretend that I have no view. Instead, I am going to level with you about where I'm coming from on this. So, factor that in when You evaluate my report. Because I've done the work, and this is what I've concluded."

Measuring Audiences

— dates back to when advertising became journalisms dominant revenue model — form exposure-based (quantity) to performance-based (quality) measures — we now have sophisticated analytics at our disposal

Non-profit journalism

— definition (From the IRS) - "being organized and operated exclusively for charitable, scientific, religious, or public safety purposes" - "collecting income and turning over entire amount less expenses to organizations or individuals who are lawfully recognized as legitimate charities" — does not pay taxes, must put profit back into the organization and hen donate remainder Main concern: generalizability However, a definite source of optimism

Selection and Filtering

— determining the newsworthiness of a potential story — application of news values — gate keeping process

What this means is

— digital era: not just increasing the number of voices, but the kinds of voices — Looser relationship with objectivity: stronger embrace of transparency — those help us have a pluralistic media system - A "complex democracy" needs both "Segmented" and "non-segmented" media

Origins

— early US journalism was staunchly partisan — Federalist papers, Republican papers — no distinction between news and opinion — role: Political Mobilization Objectivity emerged gradually from the 1930s to the 1920s no "magic moment"

Why is engagement important?

— efficiency — enhancing the quality of the product — enhancing brand loyalty

Why does this matter?

— emphasizes that news is made, not something naturally occurring "out there" — helps us see that journalism is ultimately about decisions and priorities

Access and Observation

— finding events/information that can be turned into a story — typically organized beats (geographical/topic areas) — building network of sources

Economics

— from party funding to advertising — objectivity as a business strategy - attracting advertisers seeking access to large audiences

Paywalls

— generally, a model pursued by legacy news organizations — require relationship-building between organization and audience

Bloggers as unwelcome outsiders

— greeted with suspicion and disdain by mainstream journalists — "As news outlets, blogs often fall into the shadowy space between reporting and advocacy. Outside of their links to stories from the conventional press, blogs tend to have little independent reporting, and more stores of consciousness commentary and analysis. They are often fiercely partisan.

Changes are still developing

— growth of podcast popularity — social media

Types of paywalls

— hard - requires a subscription before accessing ANY content (WSJ) - viewed as economically risky — soft - provides some content for free before requiring subscription (TNYT) — combination models - Boston Globe operates two sites - Slate and Slate Plus - a "freemium paywall" — subscription spikes and/or dropped paywalls during major national events

Ethical Questions raised by automated journalism

— how much of a news story must be written by a human to be considered written by a journalist? — if a human journalist relies on an ai research and assemble their news theory, did the human or the machine report the news? — can a machine even be a journalist? — how can a machine judge news value? — who is legally and morally responsible if a machine writes false, potentially libelous, claims in a news article: the programmer, the publisher or the machine? — can a machine have morals? — can a machine make false claims? — can a machine lie? — can a machine be sued for libel?

Sociology of news

— how to make the unpredictable... predictable — there is a significant similarity across the routines of news organizations

Professionalization of journalism

— making journalism a repesctable, middle-class occupation — codes of ethics, university training — "The press moved to show the public that it was serious about improving practices by bolstering professional training and enacting codes of ethics", producing "reporters who were ethically sensitive as well as technically proficient" (Ferre, 2009) — Journalism as a set of standards, not just skills

News Organizations "original sin"

— not taking the internet seriously — online delivery seen as supplementing print delivery — logic: give content away for free online to entice people into print subscriptions

Summary

— objectivity emerged through - a desire among journalists to professionalize - technological innovations - switching from party funded to advertising - changes in politics and the voting process Will objectivity endure?

Market Failure

— occurs "when private enterprise withholds investments in critical social services because it cannot extract the returns that would justify expenditures, or when consumers fail to pay for such services' full societal potential" — major task for today's journalism - provide high quality journalism - and pay for it... somehow

Changes in politics

— partiality seen as unhealthy and immoral — politics ought to be about rational arguments competing in the marketplace of ideas — reform of the voting system - old system: partisan newspapers printed completed ballots, party workers distributed them to voters, who would simply drop them in the ballot box - new system: blank ballots printed by local government, all candidates listed impartially, voter to complete anonymously and privately — journalism came to be seen as key to the political process, helping voters to navigate options

How block his. Can work for journalism

— permanently store and track records of online transactions and digital communications — authenticate and trace information back to its source — verifiable author and source of publication — charge for premium content using micro transactions

Translating practices

— providing contrary, balancing, or alternative viewpoints — using supporting evidence — attribution — organizing the story in a familiar format

Concerns

— quality can vary — threats to journalist's autonomy — potential threat to the workforce

Impact

— reduction in the number of journalists — reduction in the number of newspapers — reduced output — reducing bureaus — newspapers caught in a "vicious cycle" Positive externality : high civic engagement

Native Advertising

— refers to "any paid promotional content that appears in a format that mimics adjacent non-sponsored content" — designed to blend into news content — controversial due to the norm of separation between news and advertising departments —Time CEO Joe Ripp: "We are excited about it because no longer are we violating church and state, whatever that was". — New York Times VP for advertising Meredith Levien: "rejects the notion that native advertising has to erode consumer trust or compromise the wall that exists between editorial and advertising. Good native advertising is not meant to be trickery" — remains controversial — seen as deceptive and exploitative of audience

Distribution

— sharing and promoting the story — journalists sharing their stories via social media

Legacy org's structural advantage

— simplicity of the two-sided model — three conditions ensured profitability - limited supply of news content by competing for attention - limited supply of advertising space competing for advertising expenditures - ability to bundle products — effectively, a monopoly over audience attention and advertising space

Arguments from the skeptics

— that the quality of the contribution matters as much, if not more, than the quantity — that trained and responsible journalists have a role to play in ensuring what reaches the public is accurate and responsibl e — that citizen journalism has been exploited as a source of free labor and an an excuse to cut back on paid positions — that powerful institutions need other powerful institutions (ie large news organizations) to keep an eye on them

Summary

— the 2008 recession brought to light - and accelerated- problems in the economics of news — since then, old models have eroded and new ones have emerged — lots of cause for optimism (eg non-profit sector) — the search for a stable revenue model continues

The digital black press

— the African American press "never intended to be objective because it didn't see the white press being objective. It often took a position. It had an attitude. This was a press of advocacy. There was news, but the news had an admitted and a deliberate slant"

Arguments from the advocates

— the breadth and diversity of participation — the ability of citizens to shape the news agenda rather than have it shaped for them — the ability of citizens to document things that would otherwise go undocumented — more people with the ability to do journalism means more eyes on the powerful and more watchdogs on government

Technological changes

— the rotary press > Mass production of newspapers — Telegraph > brief, fact-driven reporting (inverted pyramid) Most news worthy info (5 w's) > important details > other general and background info

Blogging as a new way of doing journalism

—"Blogging wa a fun, and it broke the rules. The basic concept of Gawker was two journalists in a bar telling each other a story that's much more interesting than whatever hits the the papers the next day" which is another way to saying gawker tried to harness the conversational informality of blogging, y way the medium bypassed the codified rules of print journalism"

Non-profits

—"The conclusions that the market adequately supported the production of journalism... is problematic at best. What we saw in that period was instead a happy coincidence that enabled the market, via advertising and subscription revenue, to support the existence of a robust journalistic sector. There is, however, no reason for which we should expect that economic model to support journalism adequately. Indeed, with advertising revenues plummeting and audiences reluctant to pay for content, we can see just how vulnerable that model was"

What is Objectivity?

—"at once a moral ideal, a set of reporting and editing practices, and an observable pattern of news writing" (Schudson, 2001) - a moral ideal - a set of reporting and editing practices - an observable pattern of news writing —"Inherently ambiguous" (Tumber and Prentoulis) —Often defined in relation to other, equally tricky concepts - accuracy,balance, even-handed es, fairness, honesty, impartiality, independence, neutrality, non-bias, non-partisanship, truthfulness —"The Objectivity norm guides journalists to separate facts from values and to report only facts. Objective reporting is supposed to be cool, rather than emotional, in tone. Objective reporting takes pains to represent fairly ea h leading side in a political controversy. According to the objectivity norm, the journalist's job consists of reporting something called 'news' without commenting on it, slanting it, or shaping its formulation in any way" (Schudson, 2001)

four major changes brought about by "convergence":

—Expanding the methods of reporting the news. As they say, "A newspaper could just as easily record and post video as a television studio could create text versions of stories and bullet lists of background information." — Reporters expanding their skillsets. As a natural consequence of the first change, this meant that reporters now had to be proficient in multiple methods of storytelling. This meant they had to be skilled as traditional reporting tools (e.g., interviewing, editing) plus proficient with a broader range of tools to capture content, including photography and video. This has had visible impacts on journalism education, which now emphasize converged production. —Digital first. The third major change was how convergence changed news organizations' approach to publishing. Breaking news? You don't need to wait until your next print run or the nightly broadcast news, you can share it online directly. The practice of posting content immediately regardless of deadlines for print or broadcast is known as being "digital first." —New distribution methods. Grant and Wilkinson note how news organizations used RSS feeds and newsletters to share content before social media became the most common way to distribute news. This also allowed for greater interactivity via audience comments.

News values: how journalists make decisions

—IMPACT: how many people are affected by what happened? When an event affects , or threatens to affect, a large number of people, journalists will decide to cover it. —WEIGHT: The relative number of people affected by an issue, and how seriously. More weight is given to coverage of a storm in which hundreds or thousands are in jeopardy rather than a few. —TIMELINESS: When did the event happen? Was it today? yesterday? Tomorrow? What's the likelihood people already know about it? —PROXIMITY: The closer an event or issue is to home, the more newsworthy it is. Viewers and readers pay more attention to something that happens in their community because they have more personal connections. —PROMINENCE: There is a natural curiosity about people who are well-known. Government and business leaders, athletes and celebrities are the subjects of news more than ordinary people. —CONFLICT: Wars, elections and sports events are newsworthy because they involve two or more parties who are in opposition. The clash creates dramatic tension, and the public wants to know the resolution. —NOVELTY: People are intrigued by original unusual or unexpected subjects. Something quirky or peculiar, or things that are humorous or slightly ridiculous fit into this category. —USEFULNESS: Information the public needs to navigate the world safely, efficiently, economically, tolerantly and humanely. Examples include investigations, water, healthcare and meeting agendas. Multiple members of a newsroom (or of journalism as a field) hold a common understanding. —Shorthand: A simplified method to make something easy to understand. —Operational: The ability to be operationalized (i.e., applied) in practice. —Produce to deadline: This shorthand helps streamline news production in order to meet deadlines.

Routines

—News routines: the "patterned, repeated practices and forms [journalists] use to do their jobs" (shoemaker and reese) —controlling the flow of work making it more efficient — "without some routine method of coping with unexpected events, news organizations would flounder and fail" -Routines address the problem of unlimited information and limited resources