Study Guide for Test 1

Michael Greenberg

Lecture: What is News and Who Decides?

 The ten universal news drivers are

importance, prominence, conflict,
change, proximity, timeliness,
magnitude, relevance, unusualness,
and human interest.

Importance
Of great interest to the public, the
public needs to know. For example,
news of a major hurricane
approaching the east coast would be
very important to many people.

Prominence
Celebrity news. For example, Lindsay
Lohans mother being arrested for
DWI.

Conflict
Disagreements between two parties,
such as the government shutdown or
wars.

Change
Something that will alter our day to
day lives, for example, Obamas new
healthcare plan

Proximity
Closeness to where you live. For
example, the recent Stony Brook
robberies would be events that are in
great proximity to all of us.

Timeliness
stories that just happened or are
relatively new are of great interest to
the public. For example, seeing a
breaking news headline on the
television about a shooting that just
took place is news that is very timely.

Magnitude
News that will greatly affect a large
quantity of people. For example, the
government shutdown will affect
almost every American citizen.

Relevance
News that is of importance or
significance to a group of people. For
instance, news about a new faculty
member at Stony Brook would not be
particularly relevant to people living
in Arizona.

Unusualness
Stories that do not appear in the
news every day are unusual. For
example, the government shutdown
was unusual, as the government
went 17 years without a shutdown.

Human Interest
Stories that will be of particular
interest to people, thus grabbing
their attention. Most news stories fit
under this category. On a test, it is
better to select one of the other 9
news drivers to use when describing
an event.

Lecture: Know Your

Neighborhood

Main Idea
The major concept of this lecture was
the VIA method of identifying
whether or not something is news.

Verification
In order for something to be news, it
must be verified or verifiable. For
example, news stories must provide
detail on how they obtained their
information and how they can prove
to the public that it is correct.

Independence
The source of a news story must be
independent from the actual story.
For example, Steve Jobs reporting on
the benefits of owning an iPad would
not be news because he invented the
iPad. Rather, this would be
advertisement.

Accountability
Stories are much more likely to be news if
they come from a highly regarded and
accountable source. Likewise, the source
must provide a way for people to contact
them and hold them responsible for incorrect
reporting. For example, the New York Times
is a highly respected and regarded news
source. It provides contact information for all
of its authors and its headquarters. They are
accountable for all of their news.

Summary
By applying the VIA method to determine
whether or not something is news, we are
able to distinguish news from other forms of
information. Likewise, journalists who follow
the VIA method when creating their stories
help to ensure that the truth is reported to the
public.
When the truth is reported to the public, the
public has the power to absorb the
information and determine for themselves
what they want to believe.