Before a news story is printed, a journalist checks it for credibility, objectivity, and fairness. “Objectivity” means the news is free from bias, and “fairness” implies that the news is balanced, allowing both sides to have their say. A journalist should always reach both sides of the story to form an informed opinion.
Values
When interpreting news reports, it is important to distinguish between different types of values. For example, news stories may be more valuable to certain audiences if they address an important issue. Yet, for others, news stories may have no value at all. In this case, a reader’s reading experience may not be as critical.
The values of a news story are determined by how much the news story fits with the surrounding context. Newsworthy stories should be carefully selected to avoid duplication and imbalance. There are various aspects that make a story newsworthy, such as the mix of story elements and the availability of reporters and photographers. Even a news story’s relevance to the event itself may be important in shaping its value.
Common topics
Common topics in news are the subjects of stories and articles that are published in newspapers, magazines, and websites. Some of these news sources include commentary and scholarly analysis while others are focused on providing a quick snapshot of current events. Blogs, for example, are an interesting and unique way to learn about current events. While government proclamations have always been considered news, technological advances have increased the speed and scope of news dissemination.
Timeliness
As telegraphy became more widespread, the importance of timing for news increased. Newspapers began to send editions by telegraph to readers, and they often fixed publication dates. In addition, powerful sources fixed publication dates for stories that they deemed newsworthy. This practice helped make timely information more valuable to the public, as the information was deemed fresh and new.
Timeliness was an important feature of the nineteenth-century news industry, which transformed the production of news and its engagement with audiences. The press reified timeliness both internally through rewards and externally through marketing, which increased the potential for readers to participate in distant affairs. In addition, the desire to be seen as a reliable, timely source of information led to the creation of legal protection for news.
Relevance
Relevance of news is an important question in journalism. In order to provide relevant news, media organizations need to understand the processes and expectations of their audiences. This can be achieved through ethnographic research. We study the ways in which news users construct relevance across scales. We find that news users who identify with a larger social collectivity view news as more relevant than news users who do not.
The relevance of news to a person’s life is a key determinant of the news’ affective value. However, there are a variety of factors that influence the affective quality of news. Moreover, the format of news may also have an effect on its impact on the viewer.
Impact
One of the biggest questions in media consumption is how much news affects people’s mental health. One study found that news consumption was related to daily stress, while a second looked at how news affects people’s long-term mental health. The current study found that exposure to news about COVID-19 affected people’s mental health, but the effects were not immediate. More research is needed to investigate the broader effects of news exposure on mental health.
Research has shown that negative news content can affect people’s mood, and that these effects persist across multiple media. While primary sources of news are still essential, young adults have become increasingly dependent on secondary sources, such as social media, to get the latest news. Whether a person experiences an immediate negative emotion from news, or suffers an increase in their mood after watching a 15-minute news video clip, the impact of news content is still significant.