Week 5: Sources of news

8/10/2019 Week 5: Sources of news

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COMM-125 Introduction to Journalism

Section 1- Language of instruction English

Wednesdays 15:00-18:00

Venue: NEWTON Amphitheatre

Lecture no. 5

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In the previous lecture we answered

two basic questions:

1. what is news? and

2. what are news values? i.e. those

factors influencing a journalist'sexercise of news judgment.

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In this lecture we will answer the

question: where does news come

from?

Do journalists smell news, like dogs

smell their food? In a way yes, hence

the journalistic adages "a nose fornews" and "seeing the news story

coming or the story to write".

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In order to prepare todays lecture, I

used different books as sources. In

academia sources are very important.

So are in journalism. Journalists are

surrounded by sources of potentialnews stories or features.

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A conversation with a friend, or a

conversation between two unknown

people at the bus stop,

a poster on a wall,

an unexpected juxtaposition,

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something observed on the way,

a conversation at a party,

or something read in other media that

triggers a memory or idea

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- all might result in a story if you keep

your eyes, ears and mind open,

i.e. if you observe, see and listen.

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Then you must decide, whether the

idea needs further investigation

(take notes, ask questions, check and

verify information).

This is the internal process ofprofessional decision making.

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Finally, you reach the point of deciding,

Is there a story worth telling here?

How this question is answered is a

reflection of the sum of the decisions

already made about the relative valuesassociated with the story.

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Throughout, you have been making

decisions based on your understanding

of the audience, and the public

interest.

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In the workplace you also consider the

news values given priority by your

news organization.

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News organizations usually have a

particular Media Agenda and Relative

News Values.

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This relativity is not just ideological, as

we already discussed. It is also

practical.

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For example, some splendidly events,

like a firework display, are considered

more important as 'TV stories',

because the visual medium displays

the spectacle of fireworks to besteffect.

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Color photographs can also record the

images,

but they lack the sound of the fireworks

exploding

or the gasps from the spectators.

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Relative news values on the other

hand are stronger for print than for

broadcast medium

when it comes to disseminatingcomplex information.

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Journalists have 3 types of sources:

1. Stored (information in books,

reports, libraries, and so on, in print or

electronic forms)

2. Personal (people) and

3. Observational (events, places andso on).

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Most of the information that a reporter

uses comes from personal sources,

that is, people whom the reporter talks

to.

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People have more recent information

than can usually be found in stored

sources, and journalists can rarely be

on every scene, when news events

actually occur.

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Thus sources are central to the

practice of journalism.

Sources are the people, places or

organizations from whom potential

news stories originate

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and the people, places or

organizations to whom journalists turn

when checking potential stories.

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Allan Bell argues that

the ideal news source is also a news

actor, someone whose own words

make news

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He lists the following figures: officials,

celebrities, sportspeople,

professionals, criminals, humaninterest figures, and participants, such

as victims or witnesses.

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Bell points to a series of research

studies suggesting that, to a very large

extent,

news is what an authoritative source

tells a journalists; alternative sources,including minorities and the socially

disadvantaged, tend to be ignored.

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When assessing sources, a journalist's

over-riding consideration is efficiency,

according to Hebert Gans.

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Gans says the following:

Reporters who have only a short time

to gather information must therefore

attempt to obtain the most suitable

news from the fewest number ofsources as quickly and easily as

possible.

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He has identified 6 interrelated source

considerations used by journalists to

evaluate sources of news.

They may be summarized as follows:

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Past suitability: sources whose

information has led to stories in the

past are likely to be chosen again

and to become regular sources

(although journalists could eventuallybecome bored of them, or the

opposite. or the people).

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Productivity:sources will be favored if

they are able to supply a lot of

information with minimum effort by the

journalist.

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Reliability: journalists want reliable

sources, whose information requires

the least amount of checking.

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Authoritativeness: everything else

being equal, a journalist will prefer a

source in an official position ofauthority.

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Articulateness: sources capable of

expressing themselves in articulate

(clear), concise

and dramatic soundbites or quotes, will

be favored when journalists needsomebody to be interviewed.

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News access

The question of who gets 'on' the news

is important to considerations of the

public sphere, and journalists'

tendency to rely on official sources is

frequently said to benefit the powerful,

according to Cottle and McQuail

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Some others sometimes get

represented - but always at the margin,

always responding to a questionwhose terms and conditions have been

defined elsewhere: never 'centred'.

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Still others are always 'represented'

only by their eloquent absence, their

silences: or refracted through theglance or the gaze of others.

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If you are white, male, a businessman

or politician or a professional or a

celebrity, your chances of getting

represented will be very high.

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If you are black, or a woman without

social status, or poor or working class

or gay, or powerless,

because you are marginal, you will

always have to fight to get heard orseen (you make bad news more often).

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This does not mean that no one from

the latter groups will ever find their wayinto the media.

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Such media representations do not

necessarily remain unchanged over

time, says Schudson.

With change, black and gay voices are

now heard more frequently than when

Hall wrote the above words, back in

1986.

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Tony Harcup points to the example of

the alternative press, via the web,

which may have prompted mainstream

media to use a wider range of non-

official and community-based sources.

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However, according to Manning,

notwithstanding that relationships

between journalists and sources may

be complex and subject to change overtime

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Access to information vs.

Access to news

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Primary definers

For some cultural critics, notably Stuart

Hall, the 'skewing' of access to themedia privileges the dominant forces in

society by allowing them to establish

the parameters of debate on social

issues.

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Politicians, employers, the police and

so-called experts become 'primary

definers' of events whose 'primarydefinition sets the limit for all

subsequent discussion by framing

what the problem is.

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According to this analysis, journalists

play the role of 'secondary definers',circulating the interpretations of the

powerful

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not because of any conspiracy, but

because 'the hierarchy of credibility'reflects the social power structure, Paul

Manning adds.

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However this concept of primary and

secondary definition has beencriticized

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B. By Schlesinger, Manning, and Khun

for downplaying some of the

complexities of relationships betweenjournalists and sources.

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Catalogue of news sources

The sources listed will form the

backbone of any journalists contactsbooks. Contacts books come in many

shapes and sizes, electronic or paper.

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In whatever form, contacts books have

one thing in common:

they can be the difference between

meeting the deadline or missing theboat.

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Although not exhaustive, the list covers

the major sources used by journalists

to originate or check stories.

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How journalists first obtain, then

evaluate and finally present information

is a matter of judgment, leading to adecision making procedure that is

affected by different variables

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For example possible pressures or

admonitions,

media agenda

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and of course the negotiating and

struggling with your inner self (nature

vs. nurture),

that define your understanding of the

truth.

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An understanding that in turn affects

subjectivity and objectivity, impartiality,

neutrality and balance, common sense,opinion and bias.

All these issues will be furtherdiscussed.

Documents

Week 5: Sources of news