News Values

Gultang and Ruge

Immediacy has been affected by new and digital media as nowadays breaking news travels faster than it used to. This is because social media such as Twitter and Facebook uses user generated content which enables the audience to share and talk about news making it trend.

Amplitude involves a large number of people; this could be a news story such as Hurricane Katrina. New and digital technology has affected amplitude as social media could help victims get their message across by posting up real footage to show the world the disaster or by sending help messages. Many people could also help trend a news story if there are a number of people involved.

Frequency is affected by new and digital technology as user generated content such as commenting on newspaper articles or creating a discussion on social media e.g. Twitter has enabled news stories to be repetitive as people would then follow them and keep talking about them.

Unambiguity has been affected by individuals as they have their own opinions and share them on social media sites. An example would be the Oscar Pistorius case where most people knew he was guilty therefore they were clear and definite on it.

Predictability has been affected by new and digital technology as consumers of social media that express their views could predict certain things like if there would be a war, as political decisions may be obvious to them as on the news they could be hearing certain issues going on.

Surprise is affected by new and digital technology as if there is breaking news all of a sudden it will be talked about all over the TV news channels, newspapers, online news and on social media where discussions could be going on. So rare and unexpected news always becomes a big issue according to Gultung and Ruges theory and makes headlines but technology has made it an even bigger issue.

Familiarity has been affected as news is generated throughout new and digital media such as social media so often that news stories culturally close to Britain will keep being talked about.

Continuity has changed as new and digital media has enabled consumers to carry on conversations and voice opinions through user generated content and re-post news stories on social media which results in continuity on same news stories.

Balance is not really affected by new and digital media.

Elite nations and people, such as the U.S and President Obama have had many breaking news stories which have escalated through new and digital media as people can comment on news and the story can generate around globally.

Negativity in the news is a norm nowadays as most people expect at least 90 percent of the news to be negative. This negativity can be spread around through new and digital media being the online content.