Category: news values
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A Very Paternal Sun
I’ve been adding a copy of The Sun newspaper to my basket every time I do my lock down shop, primarily because it at around 50 pence it’s pretty cheap! The Sun is also Britain’s most widely circulated newspaper, so it’s worth doing a bit of casual content analysis on it during these unusual coronavirus…
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Political bias in the media 2019
Examples of right wing media bias from the filthy Daily Mail, from the 2019 general election.
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The ‘murder’ of Policeman Andrew Harper: the perfect news story?
The recent death of Policeman Andrew Harper is possibly the perfect example of a story which ticks nearly every single news value imaginable. P.C. Andrew Harper was tragically killed when he was dragged along by a car while he was investigating a burglary. Negativity The unexpected early death of anyone in the prime of their…
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Churnalism and the News
Churnalism refers to a process where journalists produce news based on pre-packaged press-releases from government spin doctors, public relations consultants or news agencies without doing independent research or even checking their facts. The journalist Waseem Zakir has been credited with first using the term in 2008 while working for the BBC when he noted that…
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The Social Construction of News
The news is a socially manufactured product, rather than an objective ‘window on the world’. Many events happen in reality which do not get reported in the news and those which do appear in the news are placed in a particular order of priority and ‘framed’ by the questions which are asked and who is…
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The Marxist Perspective on the News
Marxists suggest the news agenda is heavily interests by those with power in capitalist societies and that the content of the news reflects the worldview and interests of the elite and middle classes. Those working for mainstream news media may claim that the news they construct is objective and unbiased, but this is a myth…
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Organisational Routines and News Content
Organisational routines may affect what items are selected for presentation in the news. These include factors such as financial costs, time and space available, deadlines, immediacy and accuracy, the audience and journalistic ethics. Organisational routines are sometimes known as bureaucratic routines. This post has been written primarily for A-level sociology students studying the media option…
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Is alcohol really that bad for your health?
The new ‘safe’ level of alcohol consumption should be none, at least according to a recent study into the health risks of alcohol published by the The Lancet. This contradicts the current official government guidelines on the ‘safe’ level of drinking: currently around 14 units per week for women, and 21 for men. The findings…
