by P. Payne

Created on: October 05, 2010

The big headline above the newspaper fold may shout election results, or the television news announcer may tease the top story about the state of the economy or the latest devastation of a tropical storm. Whatever the lead story, determining newsworthiness is an editor’s daily task for newspapers, television, or the Internet. However, in recent years, the public’s thirst for information about subjects outside the mainstream definition of news has grown dramatically.

Although some would say the media lives for bad news, the fact is that when only good news is reported, the public demands to know why it was not told about the bad. It is the public, and not the media, who show an avid interest in stories that would once have never made it to the newspaper or onto the nightly news broadcast.

Traditionally, newsworthiness has been determined by several factors, including a story’s potential audience, its impact on the public, the proximity of the story to a local area, and timeliness of the story. Additional factors include prominence, novelty, and conflict.

Audience

Unless the story is one that affects every person in the country, the lead story in the newspaper or on your local television station is likely to be determined by where you live. The audience for a story will be different in a retirement community than in a college town, so a story about tax breaks for the elderly would be more newsworthy than the college’s new president. In an agricultural community, agriculture news would likely take precedence over politics in a border community. People are more concerned with stories that affect them directly.

Impact

The most important factor in determining newsworthiness is the impact a story makes on the audience. The bottom line is how many people will be affected and how seriously it will affect them. For instance, a story about hurricane damage in Louisiana would take precedence in that state over a story that would affect only those living in northern states.

Proximity

Those who live in California aren’t likely to be interested in a story about a new casino in Oklahoma, nor would they probably care about thunderstorms in the Midwestern states. However, national or stories about events happening nearby can have a local impact or connection, so the story may be newsworthy locally. The rule of thumb is if two stories appear to be of equal importance, the one taking place nearest to your community would be the most newsworthy. 

• 1
• 2
• Next Page >>