Thursday, September 12, 2013

September 12, 2013

News Overview

There are three kinds of news styles that we are going to focus on

Hard News

international, front page-y stuff
crime, war, misery, suffering, all that big stuff
these are stories that affect the wider audience
the most fact-based - have a lot of data - focusing on the specifics NOT the emotion

Soft News

human interest (including weird stuff)
celebrity and frills that don’t affect people very directly
interest-based
more about the feelings, the emotional response
the surface crap
more about the descriptive elements
sports, entertainment, lifestyle, food, travel
MUCH MORE OPINION-ENGAGED
tend to be completely irrelevant to your life - entertainment only

Tabloid Style (Sensationalism)

sensational means emotional and over-exaggerated
celebrity, shocking news, crazy news, being scandalous (salacious)
purely for entertainment in a kind of sick way
we like to see celebrities brought down
focuses on the most garish aspects of a story
cheap, cover selling, grocery store National Enquirer rags

Newsworthy

What does this mean?

something that deserves to be focused on in some news story
what are the elements that would make a story worth spending time, money and human energy on?
if it inspires fear, it’s probably good
if it sells covers, it’s good
if it has shock value, it’s good
if it has celebrity, it’s good
if it affects a wider population, it’s good
if it’s a specific, wide-scale danger, even better - no solution

Why do they include sports, entertainment, food, travel, etc in the paper?

to get a wide range of interests
people who like different things might buy the paper if that piece applies to them
ie young people, fashion lovers, etc
- widening the scope of the news widens the audience

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