Journalism Tips: 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 recent (rather than stale)
  • is rare (rather than common)
  • affects many (rather than few) people
  • has weighty (rather than trivial) impact
  • happens nearby (rather than far away)
  • involves prominent (rather than ordinary) people

Most stories don’t meet all 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. 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. 

Listen to this 9-minute podcast, “What is Newsworthy?

 

Post was last modified on 3 Aug 2018 10:54 am

View Comments

Share
Published by
Dennis G. Jerz

Recent Posts

Another corner building. Designed and textured. Needs an interior. #blender3d #design #aesthetics #medievalyork #mysteryplay

Another corner building. Designed and textured. Needs an interior. #blender3d #design #aesthetics #medievalyork #mysteryplay

12 hours ago

There’s No Longer Any Doubt That Hollywood Writing Is Powering AI

Two years after the release of ChatGPT, it may not be surprising that creative work…

2 days ago

The complex geometry on this wedge building took me all weekend.  #blender3d #medievalyork #mysteryplay #cgi #aesthetics #design

The complex geometry on this wedge building took me all weekend. The interior walls still…

4 days ago

Sesame Street had a big plot twist in November 1986

My older siblings say they remember our mother sitting them down to watch a new…

5 days ago