Abstract
This chapter examines in detail a number of specific news stories, to identify some of the alternative journalistic choices that have been made in practice within both mainstream and alternative forms of news media. It considers the implications of such choices not just for the news industry but for wider society and the citizens thereof. Stories analysed in this chapter include coverage of climate change, migrants, and the #MeToo movement as well as some examples of what might be thought of as soft news. The role of visuals, including the aesthetic appeal of certain photographs, is seen as integral to an understanding of contemporary news values. The chapter also considers what is said to be the difference between news values and human values, and points towards the potential of an alternative set of more citizen-focused news values.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Avieson, Bunty & Willa McDonald (2017) Dangerous liaisons: Journalism, standpoint theory and social revelation. Media International Australia 163(1), 137–150.
Bakare, Lanre (2019) Thai cave divers to star in film depicting real-life rescue, Guardian, 11 July, https://www.theguardian.com/news/2019/jul/11/thai-cave-divers-to-star-in-film-depicting-real-life-rescue
BBC (2017) Grenfell Tower: The 21st Floor. BBC 2 Newsnight, 23 October, https://learningonscreen.ac.uk/ondemand/index.php/prog/0FF763F4?bcast=125384912
Boyce, Tammy & Justin Lewis (eds) (2009) Climate Change and the Media. New York: Peter Lang.
Carrington, Damian (2019) Why the Guardian is changing the language it uses about the environment, Guardian, 17 May, https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/may/17/why-the-guardian-is-changing-the-language-it-uses-about-the-environment
Channel 4 (2013) Dispatches: the Paedophile MP, directed by Richard Denton, broadcast 12 September.
Channel 4 News (2017) Voice of anger amongst those who live around Grenfell Tower, Channel 4 News, 15 June, https://www.channel4.com/news/voice-of-anger-amongst-those-who-live-around-grenfell-tower
Chaudhuri, Soma & Sarah Fitzgerald (2015) Rape protests in India and the birth of a new repertoire. Social Movement Studies 14(5), 622–628.
CNN (2019) Global climate strike: Students around the world protest climate inaction, CNN, 15 March, https://edition.cnn.com/world/live-news/global-climate-strike-students-protest-climate-inaction-intl/h_b7648667d63d2ad287845a9b7fc6850e
Cocking, Ben (2018) News values go on holiday: The ideological values of travel journalism. Journalism Studies 19(9), 1349–1365.
Cook, Victoria (2017) Huge hostility to media at #Grenfelltower, tweet by @victoriacook, 15 June, https://twitter.com/victoriacook/status/875357510580015104
Daily Mirror (2019) The climate issue is everybody’s issue, Daily Mirror, 14 November.
Deegan, Gordon (2018) Fear turns to friendship as Lisdoonvarna welcomes asylum seekers, Irish Times, 7 August, https://www.irishtimes.com/news/social-affairs/fear-turns-to-friendship-as-lisdoonvarna-welcomes-asylum-seekers-1.3587878
Durham, Meenakshi Gigi (2015) Scene of the crime: News discourse of rape in India and the geopolitics of sexual assault. Feminist Media Studies 15(2), 175–191.
Durham, Meenakshi Gigi (2018) Resignifying Alan Kurdi: News photographs, memes, and the ethics of embodied vulnerability. Critical Studies in Media Communication 35(3), 240–258.
Einashe, Ismail & Thomas Roueche (eds) (2019) Lost in Media: Migrant Perspectives and the Public Sphere. Amsterdam: Valiz.
Eve, Carl (2014) Plymouth councillor Chaz Singh’s ‘Turban Outfitters’ gag is an internet hit, Plymouth Herald, 3 February.
Farhoud, Nada (2019) Mirror shock report: Our world is in meltdown, Daily Mirror, 28 August, 1–5.
Farrow, Ronan (2017) From aggressive overtures to sexual assault: Harvey Weinstein’s accusers tell their stories. New Yorker, 10 October, https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/from-aggressive-overtures-to-sexual-assault-harvey-weinsteins-accusers-tell-their-stories
Feller, Grant (2017) Why I know the Grenfell Tower disaster could have been prevented, Huffington Post, 23 June, https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/grant-feller/grenfell-tower-prevented_b_17243118.html
From, Unni & Nete Norgaard Kristensen (2018) Rethinking constructive journalism by means of service journalism. Journalism Practice,https://doi.org/10.1080/17512786.2018.1470475, 12, 714.
GAG (2014) Is Grenfell Tower a firetrap?, Grenfell Action Group blog, 26 August, https://grenfellactiongroup.wordpress.com/2014/08/26/is-grenfell-tower-a-firetrap/
GAG (2016) KCTMO—Playing with fire!, Grenfell Action Group blog, 20 November, https://grenfellactiongroup.wordpress.com/2016/11/20/kctmo-playing-with-fire/
Galtung, Johan & Mari Ruge (1965) The structure of foreign news: The presentation of the Congo, Cuba and Cyprus crises in four Norwegian newspapers. Journal of Peace Research 2(1), 64–91.
Gentleman, Amelia (2019) Chased into ‘self-deportation’: the most disturbing Windrush case so far, Guardian, 14 September, https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2019/sep/14/scale-misery-devastating-inside-story-reporting-windrush-scandal
Gess, Harold (2012) Climate change and the possibility of ‘slow journalism’. Ecquid Novi: African Journalism Studies 33(1), 54–65.
Goodman, Amy, with David Goodman & Denis Moynihan (2017) Democracy Now! Twenty Years of Covering the Movements Changing America. New York: Simon & Schuster.
Haagerup, Ulrik (2019) Academic who defined news principles says journalists are too negative. Guardian, 18 January, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/jan/18/johan-galtung-news-principles-journalists-too-negative
Harcup, Tony (2015) Listening to the voiceless: The practices and ethics of alternative journalism. In Chris Atton (ed), The Routledge Companion to Alternative and Community Media. Abingdon: Routledge, 313–323.
Harcup, Tony & Deirdre O’Neill (2017) What is news? News values revisited (again). Journalism Studies 18(12), 1470–1488.
Inside Housing (2019) Grenfell: Two years on. Inside Housing, 14 June, https://www.insidehousing.co.uk/insight/grenfell-two-years-on-61901
Kantor, Jodi & Meghan Twohey (2017) Harvey Weinstein paid off sexual harassment accusers for decades. New York Times, 5 October, https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/05/us/harvey-weinstein-harassment-allegations.html
Keller, Jessalynn (2017) #MeToo campaign brings conversation of rape to the mainstream. The Conversation, 24 October, https://theconversation.com/metoo-campaign-brings-conversation-of-rape-to-the-mainstream-85875
Kirkland, Allegra (2015) Daily News cover skewers ‘He said-She said’ Cosby defense’, Talking Points Memo, 31 December, https://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/daily-news-cosby-cover
Kroeger, Brooke (1994) Nellie Bly: Daredevil, Reporter, Feminist. New York: Random House.
LBC (2017) Jon Snow responds after being confronted by angry Grenfell Tower residents, LBC, 16 June, https://www.lbc.co.uk/news/london/west/kensington-chelsea/grenfell-tower-fire/jon-snow-responds-after-being-confronted-by-angry/
Lynch, Jake & Annabel McGoldrick (2005) Peace Journalism. Stroud: Hawthorn Press.
Machin, David & Sarah Niblock (2006) News Production: Theory and Practice. Abingdon: Routledge.
Marriage, Madison (2018a) Men only: Inside the charity fundraiser where hostesses are put on show. Financial Times, 23 January, https://www.ft.com/content/075d679e-0033-11e8-9650-9c0ad2d7c5b5
Marriage, Madison (2018b) The Presidents Club dinner was grotesque. Marie Claire, 9 March, https://www.marieclaire.co.uk/life/work/madison-marriage-presidents-club-583371
Marriage, Madison (2018c) My time undercover at a men-only event, Financial Times, 23 January, https://www.ft.com/video/5e65b937-ae31-4879-a00b-285e630c0524
McBride, Kelly (2019) Good editors must be thoughtful when showing readers hard truths, like photos of dead bodies, Poynter, 26 June, https://www.poynter.org/ethics-trust/2019/good-editors-must-be-thoughtful-when-showing-readers-hard-truths-like-photos-of-dead-bodies/
Metro (2014) Councillor wins internet with Turban Outfitters picture, Metro, 4 February.
Miller, Jonathan (2018a) Thailand cave rescue: First pictures of boys recovering in hospital, Channel 4 News, 11 July, https://www.channel4.com/news/thailand-cave-rescue-first-pictures-of-boys-recovering-in-hospital
Miller, Jonathan (2018b) Thai cave rescue: All boys saved—how they did it, Channel 4 News, 10 July, https://www.channel4.com/news/thai-cave-rescue-all-boys-saved-how-they-did-it
Murphy, Paul (2018) Just a couple of questions. British Journalism Review 29(2), 23–26.
Mussilhy, Karim (2019). Two years on and there is still so much to do. It’s time to stop asking and start demanding change. Daily Mirror, 14 June.
Newton, April & Linda Steiner (2019) Pretty in pink: The ongoing importance of appearance in broadcast news. In Cynthia Carter, Linda Steiner & Stuart Allan (eds) Journalism, Gender and Power, Abingdon: Routledge, 62–78.
Ogura, Junko & Joshua Berlinger (2018) Japan floods: Death toll rises to 200 as UN offers assistance, CNN, 12 July, https://edition.cnn.com/2018/07/10/asia/japan-floods-intl/index.html
Palmer, Jerry (2000) Spinning into Control: News Values and Source Strategies. London: Leicester University Press.
Pekel, Misja & Maud van de Reijt (2017) Refugee images: Ethics in the picture, Ethical Journalism Network, https://ethicaljournalismnetwork.org/resources/publications/ethics-in-the-news/refugee-images
Phillips, Angela (2015) Journalism in Context. Abingdon: Routledge.
Philo, Gregg, Emma Briant & Pauline Donald (2013) Bad News for Refugees. London: Pluto.
RAP (1979) Strange case of Smith the man. Rochdale Alternative Paper No 78, May, 1.
Rosling, Hans (2018) Factfulness: Ten Reasons We’re Wrong About the World and Why Things Are Better Than you Think. London: Sceptre.
Ruddick, Graham (2017) Jon Snow: Reporting on Grenfell made me feel on wrong side of social divide. Guardian, 23 August, https://www.theguardian.com/media/2017/aug/23/jon-snow-grenfell-mactaggart-media-diversity
Rusbridger, Alan (2018) Breaking News: The Remaking of Journalism and Why It Matters Now. Edinburgh: Canongate.
Ryan, Owen (2018) ‘I’m here but my heart is not here’—Lisdoonvarna asylum seekers agony, Clare Champion, 22 June, https://clarechampion.ie/lisdoonvarna-asylum-seekers/
Santiago, Cassandra & Doug Criss (2017) An activist, a little girl and the heartbreaking origin of ‘Me too’, CNN Wire, 17 October.
Saunders, Clare, Maria Grasso & Craig Hedges (2018) Attention to climate change in British newspapers in three attention cycles (1997–2017). Geoforum 94, 94–102.
Schafer, Mike & Inga Schlichting (2014) Media representations of climate change: A meta-analysis of the research field. Environmental Communication 8(2), 142–160.
Smith-Spark, Laura & Hilary McGann (2018) Charity to close after revelations of sexual harassment at men-only dinner, CNN, 25 January, https://edition.cnn.com/2018/01/24/europe/presidents-club-disbands-after-sexual-harassment-report-intl/index.html
Steiner, Linda (2018) Solving journalism’s post-truth crisis with feminist standpoint epistemology. Journalism Studies 19(13), 1854–1865.
Stone-Mediatore, Shari (2018) Storytelling/narrative. In: Lisa Disch & Mary Hawkesworth (eds) The Oxford Handbook of Feminist Theory, Oxford University Press, 934–954.
Swick, David & Richard Keeble (eds) (2016) The Funniest Pages: International Perspectives on Humour in Journalism. New York: Peter Lang.
Tobitt, Charlotte (2019) Mirror first tabloid to back project boosting ‘climate crisis’ reportage, Press Gazette, 16 September, https://www.pressgazette.co.uk/mirror-first-tabloid-to-back-project-boosting-climate-crisis-reportage/
Trilling, Daniel (2019) How the media contributed to the migrant crisis, Guardian, 1 August, https://www.theguardian.com/news/2019/aug/01/media-framed-migrant-crisis-disaster-reporting
Udupa, Sahana (2019) Page 3 journalism: Gender and news cultures in post-reforms India. In Cynthia Carter, Linda Steiner & Stuart Allan (eds) Journalism, Gender and Power, Abingdon: Routledge, 189–202.
University of Manchester (2019) Gary Younge becomes a professor at the University of Manchester, 5 November, https://www.manchester.ac.uk/discover/news/gary-younge-becomes-a-professor
Wozniak, Antal, Hartmut Wessler & Julia Luck (2017) Who prevails in the visual framing contest about the United Nations climate change conferences? Journalism Studies 18(11), 1433–1452.
Wyss, Robert (2019) Reporting climate change. In: Ethical Reporting of Sensitive Issues, edited by Ann Luce, Abingdon: Routledge, 199–213.
Younge, Gary (2016) Sometimes dog bites man really is the story—And we keep missing it. James Cameron Memorial Lecture, 22 February, http://www.garyyounge.com/?p=2052
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2020 The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Harcup, T. (2020). Six Stories and a Headline. In: What’s the Point of News?. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-39947-4_6
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-39947-4_6
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-39946-7
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-39947-4
eBook Packages: Literature, Cultural and Media StudiesLiterature, Cultural and Media Studies (R0)