Let’s take a dive into what constitutes news and how it’s aggregated. To help with this, the written works of Jack Flaharty are now finally available for public viewing – exclusively on this web page.
Observation of COVID Changes in Society
September 2020
Analysis of COVID-19’s Affect on Society
November 2020
“While many things can be considered news, they must be timely and will likely have a propensity to affect the viewer in some way….through placing focus on prominent figures and widely interesting topics, news becomes not only timely and accurate, but also relevant and interesting.”
At first glance, one would think that just about anything can be classified and reported as news. When watching news reports without paying attention to what fuels them, this feeling very commonly arises. However, upon closer inspection, it becomes clearly evident that in order to be considered legitimate news, stories must meet certain criteria. Last night, I took the opportunity to curl up on my living room couch and watch an airing of NBC Nightly News, hosted by Lester Holt. As I watched the report while keeping these criteria in mind, the drivers behind Holt’s stories became abundantly clear.
On NBC Nightly News, news is first and foremost required to meet the criteria of timeliness. Out of 14 stories reported on last night by Holt, not a single one failed to be timely. This makes perfect sense as without timeliness, news would fail to be relevant and thusly wouldn’t be worth reporting on.
Holt also spent significant time focusing on stories centered around prominent individuals and even led with a story about President Trump and how he has substantially downplayed the severity of COVID. In this same story, the value of proximity is also embodied as the coronavirus is something that is currently very proximal to the entire world.
Two other values that string a common thread throughout many news reports, particularly Holt’s, are interest and impact. This can be most clearly seen in Holt’s story centered around the mass closure of restaurants throughout our nation. Restaurants are a significant facet of both entertainment and nourishment for the public and it becomes clear, as a result, why this story is so interesting and impactful.
Overall, it becomes clear that while many things can be considered news, they must be timely and will likely have a propensity to affect the viewer in some way, either negative or positive. Further, through placing focus on prominent figures and widely interesting topics, news becomes not only timely and accurate, but also relevant and interesting.