[MUSIC] There are so many events that happen in a community all day long by so many different people. So how is it that a journalist decides which ones, that he or she is going to report on and to cover, and let you know about? News judgement is selecting the stories amidst all the things that happen within a community. And it's being able to balance those stories that your audience wants to know with the stories that your audience needs to know. Stories, no matter what type they are should inform, educate, or entertain, and sometimes they do all three. There are two main different types of new stories. Those that are hard news. Hard news have timeliness and that may be, there was an accident that happened just this afternoon on 3rd Street and Vine street. Or it is that a press conference just happened and so hard news is timely news. A second set of news stories is soft news. Soft news doesn't have timeliness necessarily. These are called feature stories and also stories that deal with human interest. These are stories that people are just interested in the topic, or they want to know more about it, or it may be in depth such as a bill is going through legislature, and what is that bill about? Or it may be that there is someone who just has a new store that is very different in the community, what's that about? Hard news, soft news, those are the two different types of news stories. When a journalist thinks about all the different events that are happening in the community. He or she has to consider what is it that's going to interest my audience? And so, there are some news elements that are considered. And these news elements include timelines, magnitude or impact, prominence, proximity, unusualness or controversy and conflict. And now let's go through those one by one. Timeliness is what makes news new. Because if it happened last month, if it happened last year, everybody already knows about it and who cares? Sometimes a journalist has to think about, would my audience be more interested in election results from yesterday or two months ago. The answer's probably yesterday of course. But that shows you about timeliness. Another news element is magnitude or impact. And that means how many people will be interested in or how many people will be affected by this news story. So if you have just a small number of people who are going to be affected by this story, you might not want to do it. And instead you want to do this story that effects a whole lot of people. Would more people be interested in a new law that effects everyone in the country? Or what amount of people that would be interested in a primary school's revision to it's dress code? The law effects everyone. The primary school's dress code may effect only people with children and then do they have children in primary school. And then do they have children in that particular primary school. So see your audience got smaller and smaller that may not be the news story to do. A third news element is prominence and prominence means, you know what, it may not matter who said it and who did it as long as it was like a celebrity or a high profile individual, maybe a public official. Would your audience be more interested in a national politician or celebrity who appeared at an even in your home town? Or would they be more interested in maybe your neighbor who appeared at that even in your home town? So if the story's about your neighbor appearing It might not get as much attention as if it were a celebrity who appeared at that event. That's the one you would choose to write. Another news element has to do with proximity. Proximity can be geographic, it can also be psychological that happened in your city? Or, would they be more interested in one that happened in another country, in another continent some place away. So the answer's probably they'd be more interested in the event that happened in the geographic location that's right there, your hometown. Another example of proximity is psychological. Psychological has to do with the things that we are interested in even though we may live far apart. For example, would all parents in a country be more interested in child wage laws? Because they are interested in their children and they care about their children. Or would they be interested in the weather? We care about children and so we all have that proximity together. Another news element, unusualness. If it happens all the time and it's a standard event. Then probably it's not as fun to read or of interest to your audience as if it were odd or unusual. So for example, would your audience be more interested in a story about a dog who saved a drowning boy, or the new products in the grocery store? So when we think about the dog who saved a drowning boy that doesn't happen all the time. That's unusual, that's odd. Really, that happened? I mean, read about it. Whereas, the new products in the grocery store, this happens all the time, everyday, probably 40 times a day. So, it's not that unusual or that odd. The last news element has to do with conflict or controversy. And, usually that has to do with different points of view. So for example, in an election, would your audience be more interested in a candidates point of view, just one candidates point of view. Or would they be more interested in knowing different candidates point of view on the same subject? It can be thought of as controversy because different candidates have different ideas and different ways they want to do things. And we want to know all about those different ways so that we can make good decisions when we go vote. Another type of controversy doesn't have to be a person against a person, but it can be a person against him or herself. For instance, would your audience be more interested in a paraplegic who made the Olympic skiing team, or a person who bought a new car. A paraplegic who makes the Olympic skiing team, they have been fighting a battle probably against society but also within themselves that says, I can do this. That is unusual and odd, one news element, but it also has to do with a person. So conflict and controversy doesn't have to be about one person's view point pitted against another person's view point. It could be a person overcoming adversity within him or herself. Such as, maybe a paraplegic who made the Olympic skiing team. There is a lot that person had to do, and had to overcome to make that team. That's a lot more interesting than perhaps a person who bought a new car. There are a few things that journalists take care not to assume is news. And, that may be sensationalism, or offensive details. One does not need to be graphic. One does not need to exaggerate. That is not news, that is not being objective. You want to tell people accurate information within context, to be truthful. Another thing that does not make news is rumor. Just because one person said it or another person said it doesn't mean it's true. Journalists may take that rumor and they go find out using research, if this story is in fact true. And if so, then they will find out more information about it to tell the public. But just to repeat rumors and gossip is not journalism. So that is an overview about the news elements, and what are the values that make news interesting to audiences. If you would like to practice on news elements, then maybe think about the different issues and events that have occurred in your hometown and think about what made these stories newsworthy. Did they affect audiences and which audiences and how many. Then also think about the news elements that perhaps made these new stories worthy. [MUSIC]
