The Effect of Shared Culture of Journalists on the Selection and Presentation of News

The Effect of Shared Culture of Journalists on the Selection and Presentation of News

News is formed through a selective process which is controlled by

media professionals such as journalists correspondents and editors.

Agenda setting, a theory created by Stephen Lukes, sees how

journalistrs select news that is projected through the media. Agenda

setting also sees bias in the media, which is most commenly dominated

in the political broadcasts. The Glasgowuniversity media group agree

with the use of agenda setting in the media and use it in their

research. When looking at a political strike story the GlasgowUnivercity

media group saw how the workers were presented in a negative view

point. The journalists and broadcasters emphasied the effects of the

strikes to the public as very negative and projected the workers as

being an annoyance.

The Glasgow University Media Group also argue that journalists and

broadcasters claim that certain items have "news value" and assume

that the audiences see and interpret the world in the same way. This

reflects the "neo-Marxism" view which is highly criticised by the

Pluralists. The "Pluralism" theory sees a variety of media being

provided to the public to ensure a wide coverage of all viewpoints.

The Pluralists criticise that as the BBC are impartial to both main

political parties, bias stories would not occur.

Gate keeping in the media sees how editors choose particular sorties

to enter public media. This theory of gate keeping was created by

David White. He sees gate keeping as an 'informal process of

censorship'.

Gate Keeping is a selection process of eligible news stories. Editors

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...ories. Journalists'

bias views on issues within the media can influence a viewpoint in a

story. This links to the Agenda Setting theory.

Gate Keeping is where the editors influence the content of the news.

They have to work to deadlines and limited space in news bulletins and

newspapers. The concept of Gate Keeping is that, editors, "open gates

for some stories while closing the gates for others."

News Values is also important. Editors must balance the news so that

it appeals to a wide variety of audiences. In news selection, the News

Values theory is very important as criteria's must be met to make up a

newspaper or news bulletin.

Overall, I believe that the editors and journalists influence the

selection, make-up and presentation of the news in a variety of media

forms such as, television, newspapers and radio.