Newsworthy vs. Snoozeworthy
"Dog bites man" is snoozeworthy because it happens all the time, but "man bites dog" is less common, so it is more newsworthy.
A Newsworthy Story
- is uncommon (rather than common)
- affects many people (rather than few) people
- has significant impact (rather than trivial)
- happens nearby (rather than far away)
- involves prominent people (rather than ordinary people)
Most
stories don't meet all five of these criteria. One man's intense
grief or one woman's intense joy may be newsworthy, if it is unusual
and nearby. By definition,
celebrity news would not be news if it was happening to ordinary
people. In fact, some stories
make the news because they meet just one criteria.
A plane crash with no fatalities gets less coverage than a plane crash with fatalities. A crash in another country gets less news coverage than a plane crash in your own country. Does this mean that the grief of a far-away stranger is less important than the grief of someone nearby? Philosophically speaking, of course not; however, in terms of newsworthiness, the closer the event, the more newsworthy.
A plane crash with no fatalities gets less coverage than a plane crash with fatalities. A crash in another country gets less news coverage than a plane crash in your own country. Does this mean that the grief of a far-away stranger is less important than the grief of someone nearby? Philosophically speaking, of course not; however, in terms of newsworthiness, the closer the event, the more newsworthy.
I saw the article yesterday (8-27-09) in the Tribune Review about a planet on a "suicidal spiral towards the sun." Some might say it's newsworthy, but considering it is one million years away from colliding with its sun.... yawn.
http://news.aol.com/article/suicidal-planet-may-crash-into-its-star/640882