What Is News?
The term “news” is used in a wide variety of contexts. While most news is a purely subjective term, some forms of news have more than one definition. For example, some sources may be biased, while others may not be. The objective nature of news can be questioned, but there are a few good guidelines to consider when examining news.
Objectivity
Objectivity in news reporting is an important goal for journalists. The goal of objectivity is to provide unbiased reporting, avoiding biases and identifying facts for what they are. However, journalists also work within a system that has ideological and commercial goals. As a result, objectivity is often debated, even within the profession itself.
While objectivity is often touted as a positive virtue, it can also be counterproductive to the cause of journalism. In reality, there are some news organizations that have moved away from the goal of objectivity. These organizations include the Society of Professional Journalists.
Fairness
The concept of fairness in news reporting has two parts: impartiality and objectivity. Impartiality is the ability to report the facts without bias and objectivity means not placing personal opinions in news reports. Objectivity is a very important characteristic of good news reporting, which can make news reporting more effective.
The most common areas of disagreement about fairness in news coverage are politics and race. Many news organisations already struggle to balance the needs of their audience while staying true to their commitments to impartiality. Political coverage is perhaps the hardest area for news organisations to improve, since partisans often see the news as biased.
Relevance
Relevance of news is a complex construct that varies across users. News is deemed relevant based on its ability to influence readers based on multiple factors, such as violence, scandal, time, familiarity, and locality. Research on the topic has explored several different models of news relevance. Some theories focus on the content of news stories and others focus on how people construct the relevance of news.
The relevance of news is an important component of news curation. This principle is important because it can influence the quality of news. In addition, people tend to care more about the quality of news than the quantity. Thus, news curation is a critical function of a news organization.
Timeliness
Timeliness is important in the circulation of news. Journalists look for stories that are happening or about to happen at a specific moment. Stories with a high timeliness index relate to breaking news, critical events, or unexpected developments. Timeliness was especially important in the nineteenth century, when news was delivered by the telegraph. Newspapers would raise the date of mail correspondence in order to make news appear fresh.
The 19th century brought dramatic changes in the production, distribution, and reception of news. Timeliness became a critical value for newspapers, whose readers benefited from timely accounts. It became reified through organizational incentives and marketing strategies. Timeliness also helped journalists engage their audience by enhancing their prospects of taking part in distant affairs.