News analysis

News Values Analysis



Remember, the news values are: Timeliness, proximity, consequence, disaster, progress, prominence, novelty, conflict, magnitude and human interest. NOT ALL STORIES HAVE HUMAN INTEREST. It must be developed.

Decide which of the assigned stories listed below should be in the news lineup "budget" for the day. The budget includes the news stories selected by the editors for the daily newspaper or radio or television newscasts. You may select the stories based on a general demographic profile of the San Antonio news consuming public, which is:

High Hispanic, military, military retirees, other retirees, middle class/lower middle class, farm and ranch workers, tourist-oriented businesses, people concerned about water issues and Roman Catholic

Look here for news values in broadcast

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Other factors which would create interest are the city's proximity to Mexico; news for college students (about 70,000 at all the institutions of higher education), such as tuition increases or loss of financial aid; and downtown development. Information that has an impact on the receivers' pocketbooks (economic issues such as new jobs, lower or higher taxes and Social Security information) also will attract attention.

Stories should be ranked from 1 to 5. Which would be more likely for newspaper (depth, background), radio news (immediacy) or television news (visual impact)? Which would be more likely to be used on a slow news day.

Story possibilities:

STORY ONE: Police are investigating a drive-by shooting last night in the 300 block of Hot Wells Boulevard (on the city's Southeast Side) which killed an 89-year-old grandmother sitting in her living room watching the 6 p.m. news. No suspects have been arrested.This happened in an area that has been plagued with gang activity for months.
STORY TWO Six chimpanzees from New York University's research laboratories are being retired to the National Sanctuary for Retired Research Primates on a 50-acre piece of property near Bexar County's western line near the Edwards Aquifer recharge one. These chimps have been injected with doses of the virus that causes AIDS at rates 1,000 times the infectious level in humans. Thick black bars divide the chimps into two groups of three across a room roughly 40 feet in length.
STORY THREE A fiery explosion near Galveston near the mouth of the Houston Ship Channel yesterday has closed off ship traffic. An oil tanker developed a leak which has spread into the channel. Ships from Central and South America use the channel. This story has eye-witness video taken by an amateur photographer.
STORY FOUR Parents are upset over a strip search of 20 female students Friday at Royal High School in Brookshire, a small suburban community near Houston. A school administrator ordered the search after another student said she was missing her lunch money. This story came across the Associated Press wire.
STORY FIVE A former United Way executive pleaded guilty yesterday to stealing nearly $1.9 million to buy expensive show horses in what is believed to be the biggest embezzlement case in the agency's history. This event happened during the Bexar County United Way fund drive.

STORY SIX The Texas Attorney General warned yesterday of possible phone and e-mail scams seeking donations purportedly to aid the families of Hurricane Katrina victims. Attorney General Greg Abbott said the solicitors are suspect and officials are monitoring their activity. Senior citizens are particularly vulnerable.

STORY SEVENSan Antonio City Council is prepared to vote Thursday on an ordinance which would ban homeless people from congregating near downtown. A protest is planned outside City Hall by advocates for the homeless, including such disparate groups as the American Civil Liberties Union and the Veterans of Foreign Wars.

STORY EIGHT Two pit bulls attacked a jogger at 5 p.m. today in the 400 block of Pike Road on the city's northeast side. Ernestine Farr, 58, was taken to Northeast Methodist Hospital in undetermined condition. This event happened during the local television news time.


Click here for more on newsworthiness.

The New York Times on the Web

USA Today Online

Boston Globe Online

The Christian Science Monitor

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© Chester F. "Chet" Hunt and San Antonio College 2002.
San Antonio College is a college of the Alamo Community College District.