D e p a rtm ent o f Co m m u n i catio n & Me d i a

S tu di es, U n i versity of L i beri a

L E CTURE 3
News Values
Elements and
Types
Other News Values Elements
 News Values refer to those qualities of the news that give meaning and integrity to the
sound journalistic practice.
 News Values

Objectivity
Accuracy
Balance
Currency and
Brevity, conciseness and clarity.
 Objectivity

Objectivity requires that a complete, unbiased, and comprehension account

of an event be given in a context that give meaning to the reader.
 Balance

It simply draws the journalists closer to the task of appropriating the focus of
any news event with fairness and equality.
 Currency

Currency calls for immediacy, freshness and recency in the report.

 Accuracy

Accuracy as a news value connotes exactness and truthfulness. Accuracy stresses that all
the facts about persons, their ages, address, their duties etc are correctly reported.
 Brevity, Conciseness and Clarity

Meaningful reports are those that are brief/concise (because people do not have all the
time to read/listen or watch news. Readers need direct and straight guidance) and clear
(devoid of ambiguity or double meanings).
Types of news
1.The straight forward news
2.Investigative news reports
3.Interpretative/Editorial news reports
 The straight forward news

In this kind of report, reporters are not expected to inject their opinions. Rather, they are
only expected to answer the basic questions of 5 Ws and H as objectively and
straightforward as possible.

Straightforward news story may be based on hard, soft / human-interest events.

Hard news are stories that deal with topical issues that are tied to
governmental affairs concerning economic, social and political issues.

Soft / Human interest news arouse emotional feeling all though mostly
generated from conflict, controversy, crime, disasters, accidents, adventure,
children etc.
 Investigative News

Its degree of thoroughness is greater than that of straight news report. Generally, it is
distinguishable from the straight news because:
• It involves a lot of interviewing
• It involves the digging of facts.
• It is time consuming
• It cost much money
• It demands more patience; persistence yet, may be frustrating.
• It is also risky
….Like the straightforward news type, an investigative reporter is not expected to
editorialize or inject or interpret fact in the story. These facts are not to be twisted or
fabricated but must be based on information dug from many sources.
 Interpretative News
It is a kind of news report that demands the reporter’s injection of his opinion, or some
form of editorialization or comments on the issue reported.
Like the investigative report, the interpretative reporter requires additional facts for easy
clarification, detailed explanation and logical analysis.
NEWS SCOPE
Very broadly, news can be divided into four categories:
➢News of, about or against the state (including government, the judiciary and
foreign affairs)
➢News for and about business;
➢News for consumers (health, fashion, sport, new products, reviews, etc.); and
➢News that is titillating or sensational which includes grisly murders as well as
celebrity gossip.

The first three are primarily referred to as ‘hard news’ (they are the stories that used to be on the
front pages of newspapers and leading news bulletins), while the second two categories are
often dismissed as ‘soft news’ or ‘infotainment’ (Thussu 2009, Franklin 1997).
News routines (i.e., structure of work, the pressure of deadlines, access to relevant
people, and financial constraints) have an impact on the kind of material which will
be covered most frequently and the sort of stories that achieve prominence.
END OF LECTURE!