Reflection 4 of 52: Where do credible news stories come from?
January 27, 2014
People always ask how the media choose stories and why one gets selected over another. Sometimes they ask out of frustration over their issue or cause not getting attention and other times they just want to understand what makes news. Some cannot fathom how oddball stories percolate up the news chain.
Stories come from many places.
One of the local papers asked their
columnists to share their favourite story of the year. Here are some excerpts
about their sources:
“I found my favourite story of the
year through Facebook. A friend of a friend liked a page…”
“Early in 2013, I got a phone call
from…”
“It was just after 9:30pm on a
Saturday in July. I was exhausted, and there were about four people left in the
newsroom when the email arrived…"
Other journalists I know tweet out
requests for information, search blogs and scour the Internet for background as
well as story ideas. YouTube videos are shown on TV with great regularity.
Anything trending with high volume online will eventually get attention in the
mainstream. Think Devil Baby. Seems like more and more moviemakers
look to get attention by creating a dramatic video trailer versus going the
paid advertising route.
Research based stories come from
well-regarded publications such as Nature or Science. TV stories can even come prepackaged in the
form of video news releases or “B” roll – extra bits of footage.
Some stories are still driven by the
“news release” or “news conference” but as our information sources increase, so
do those of the media. The stories still need to meet one or more of the
classic, time-resistant news values:
Humanity – how it impacts people – the number one news
value
Immediacy – is it happening now – timeliness is critical
Locality – local does not just describe your geographic
location, it is now much more about the psychographic. How does this connect to
me?
Peril – just about anything in peril generates news
Conflict – you say X and I say Y is way more interesting
than everyone agreeing
Novelty – off beat, unexpected, non-traditional items are
always good for the water cooler
Pix – the visual is everything, pictures, videos, graphs,
infographics, props, etc…
Celebrity – aside from high profile actors and
politicians, individuals end up with “celebrity” news value if they provide
great quotes and good information. However, there is the flip side where the
“celebrity” factor backfires on the media star when something bad happens
Add a couple more for today’s world:
Followers and Hits – how many hits and new followers will
this story generate – for some media this is becoming as important as the front
page or the top news items of the day
Opinion – in the past, the self-assigning journalists were
few and special. Now, it seems like adding an opinion is the norm
Our news world is changing fast. I love my news aggregates
sending me the information I want but I also value reading a wide range of
opinions on stories I might never consider. The credibility factor is getting
harder to discern. The names and sources I trust today are vastly different from five years ago. We (media included) regularly get fooled by “fake”
news such as the China sunset or a Jimmy Kimmel prank video. Check Gawker's occasional column Antiviral or Snopes to verify bizarre stories.
The photo below has been circulating on FB. To me, knowing
how to access the news you want is the key. No point lamenting what is not
being delivered in traditional vehicles. Isn’t that why bloggers and citizen
journalists are so popular?
I believe credibility and trust is becoming more important
again. Quality reporting and journalism comes with a price tag. Free is great but I am happy to pay
for sources I trust.
How do you determine what is credible?
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