Summary Partial Exam 2 ICS

Weeks 7-13
News values & Media Logic:
- Media Logic = the power to define who & what is (politically) relevant lies
firmly with the media
- CNN Effect = News  Public Opinion  Pressure on
government
- Pseudo-event = an event planned to receive media
publicity
1. Dramatic
2. Planned Mediatization
3. Clearly marked in time & space
4. It would not take place without media attention
E.g. Bush's speech to announce the end of the Mediation
war.
- Mediatization = a structural process where institutions
(especially political) become more dependent on media
- Mediation = communication and interaction through
media in concrete situations i.e. transferring infomation through media
- Mediatization is a four-dimensional concept
1. people in society are the media
2. media are independent of political institutions
3. media have their own logic
4. political actors are trying to influence media
- The four-dimensions together decide the degree to which politics or
society is mediated




1. The extent to which media becomes
the main source of infomation



2. The extent of in/dependency of
political institution


3. the extent that content is determined
by news values and driven by the need
to reach a large audience


4. the extent that political actors adjust
their behaviour/perceptions




- Media Logic = the power to define who & what is (politically) relevant lies
firmly with the media
1. Media & media attention are important
2. Producers of media have their own logic  intermedia agenda
setting & fast competition

, 3. Actors anticipate demands from the media
4. These media rules displace other considerations (i.e., entertaining
news over informative news)
Partisan Logic Media Logic
- media identify with the party - public are addressed as a
(channel for outsider consumer (their desires matter)
communications) - role of journalism is dominant,
- role of journalism is dependent entertaining, and cynical (Fluffy)
(mouthpiece for parties) - agenda is set by media
- public are addressed as subjects - media identify with the public
- reporting is coloured - reporting is interpretive, less
substantive (pop culture)

- News values = a conceptual framework to describe the gatekeeping
practices of mainstream news media  this means that events are more
likely to become news, or be reported if they fit a specific criterion
- Who decides what news is important?
1. The gatekeeper  individual journalists have little choice
(background characteristics have marginal influence), but the
personal norms & values of more powerful journalists do
2. the owner/editor-in-chief
3. the advertiser  indirect influence
4. other factors
- Routines makes a lot of news predictable:
1. Beat = certain journalists will focus on a specific area
2. News net = journalists stay at the happening location, and use a net
to 'catch' news
3. News calendar = times that lead to a lot of news E.g. election
period
4. Where do you find news?
 official events (government)
 organised events
 press releases
 press conferences
- What is a ""good"" source?
1. productive
2. reliable
3. authoritative
4. media genic
5. socially & geographically close
- A big influencer on the news is Commercialisation:
1. More news less journalists therefore less time & money for critical
journalism
2. Audience ask for specific news (i.e. infotainment, tabloidization,
personalization, sensation)  media respond to needs of audience
- News values have evolved (1965-2001), some values have been revised
but the three new ones are entertainment, good news and newspaper
agenda.
OLD News Values (Galtung & Ruge, NEW News Values (Harcup & O’Neil,
1965) 2001)
1. Frequency 1. The power elite
2. Threshold 2. Celebrity
3. Unambiguity 3. Entertainment