Week 2 Lecture — News, Framing, News Values & Media Analysis

Acknowledgement of Country

  • Lecturer began by recognising that the class meets on the lands of the Wurundjeri people.

    • Stated that sovereignty was never ceded.

    • Paid respects to Elders past, present, and emerging.

    • Extended respect to all Indigenous people attending the session.

Administrative Reminders

  • Recording of the lecture began immediately.

  • Academic Skills Workshops (Week 2 – final week):

    • Four workshops are offered at the start of semester.

    • This week’s focus: Researching, Referencing & AI.

    • Enrol via QR code → self-enrol to LMS resource (slides, recordings, extra material).

    • Final workshop this Thursday (online).

    • Content identical to Semester 1 workshops.

Lecture Road-Map (≈ 45 min)

  1. What is News?

  2. Framing & Agenda-Setting.

  3. News Values.

  4. Truth, Facts & Objectivity.

  5. Assignment 1 briefing.

1 – What Is News?

  • Literal core: “new information.”

  • Mass Communication context (link to Week 1):

    • Disseminated by professional institutions.

    • Addresses matters of public interest.

    • Intended for a large audience.

  • Key determinants:

    • Currency / Timeliness (it must be recent for the intended public).

    • Public Significance (importance beyond personal curiosity).

    • Audience Fit (large enough group finds it meaningful).

  • “News events” cover events + issues (politics, sport, business, etc.).

  • Formats: Print, Web, TV, Radio → each has specific visual & verbal conventions.

  • Critical question: “What is newsworthy?”

    • Selection + Persuasion: convince the audience why they should care.

2 – Framing & Agenda-Setting

Framing (Text-Level)

  • A frame = What is inside vs outside the story border.

    • Determines focus of attention.

    • Constrains by word count, visual choice, vocabulary.

  • Consequences: shapes reader perception of event meaning.

  • Mauritius oil-spill example:

    • Image 1: Aerial shot of island → emphasises environmental scale.

    • Image 2: Man scooping oil → emphasises human impact → human-interest.

  • Formal definition:

    • Selection of aspects + Salience (prominence given).

    • Operates through pictures, headlines, lexis.

Agenda-Setting (Publication-Level)

  • Concerns which stories enter the news agenda (not how they’re framed).

  • Decisions: placement (front page vs p. 5), airtime, word/time allocation.

  • Conveys relevance hierarchy to audiences.

  • Influenced by organisational political/commercial agendas, ownership, ideology.

    • Caution for analysts: provide textual evidence; avoid ungrounded assumptions.

3 – News Values (What Makes Something Newsworthy?)

  • Not journalistic ethics; rather selection criteria.

  • Intersect with commercial appeal, audience context, and ideology.

  • Nine widely cited values (can overlap):

    1. Impact – magnitude of consequences.

    • e.g., “Hundreds of essential NSW water jobs slashed.”

    1. Relevance – direct significance for the specific audience.

    • e.g., “Could NZ house-price crash happen in Australia?”

    1. Timeliness – recency / periodicity.

    • e.g., “Afternoon update: PM seeks …”.

    1. Proximity – geographical or cultural closeness.

    • e.g., “Aussie superstar wins world championship.”

    1. Conflict – tension, disagreement, drama.

    • e.g., protests, parliamentary feuds.

    1. Novelty – innovation, firsts, scientific discovery.

    • e.g., “Supersized stick insect discovered in high-altitude trees.”

    1. Unusualness – oddity/rarity.

    • e.g., “Residents find sausages in letterboxes.”

    1. Human Interest – emotional, personal stories of ‘people like us.’

    2. Prominence – involvement of well-known persons (celebrities, politicians).

  • Classroom quiz: Students challenged to name all nine (jelly-beans prize!).

4 – Hard vs Soft News

Soft News

  • Entertainment-oriented; often leans on prominence & human-interest.

  • Celebrity coverage typically soft but can be hard if story angle warrants (e.g., legal wrongdoing).

Hard News

  • Purpose: deliver information rapidly.

  • Dominant values: impact, conflict, relevance, timeliness.

  • Structure: Inverted Pyramid.

    • Top = Lead: \text{5 Ws + H} (Who, What, When, Where, Why, How).

    • Middle = Important but subordinate details (quotes, evidence).

    • Bottom = Background/ancillary info (first to be cut by editors).

  • Benefits:

    • Facilitates quick editing.

    • Matches audience reading habits (average online news time ≈ 2\text{ min}).

  • Reading behaviour research:

    • Users typically consume only \approx75\% of text.

    • Eye-tracking reveals “F-pattern” scanning.

Nucleus-and-Satellites Model

  • Nucleus = Headline + Image + Lead → central meaning package.

  • Satellites = Subsequent paragraphs expanding on nucleus; each references core.

    • Example shown with Senator McCarthy story (each ¶ returns to her).

5 – Truth, Facts & Objectivity

  • Debate intensified in “post-truth” era (alternative facts, misinformation).

  • Truth: absolute vs subjective experience; multiple perspectives necessitate multi-source verification.

  • Evolution of objectivity ideal:

    1. Early view: Simply quote all sides ⇒ ‘objective’. (Problem: source may lie.)

    2. Later: Add analysis & fact-checking ⇒ balance of truth + facts.

    3. Contemporary critiques:

    • False equivalence (“both-sides-ism”) may enable disinformation.

    • Question if true neutrality possible; journalists’ positionality & dominant ideology.

    • Proposal: focus on objective method (rigorous evidence gathering) even if humans imperfect.

  • Christiana Amanpour clip:

    • Balkan Wars experience: neutrality could make journalists accomplices to genocide.

    • Defines objectivity as giving all sides a hearing but not equal moral weight when facts diverge.

6 – Critical Thinking for News Analysis

  • Generic critical questions (Week 1 slide revisited) + news-specific probes:

    • Who authored the piece? Positionality/background?

    • Publication’s reputation & agenda?

    • Evidence provided? Sources quoted? Who is not quoted?

    • Representation of people/issues (language, imagery)?

    • Dominant news values & framing choices?

    • How does audience get guided to “see” the story a certain way?

7 – Assignment 1: Media Analysis

  • Due: 19\text{ Aug}, 9\text{ AM} (start of marking window).

  • Task: Two analytical paragraphs, 250 words each.

    • Each paragraph analyses three hard news stories on the same event.

    • Source set per paragraph:

    1. One Australian publication.

    2. One foreign publication.

    3. One publication of your choice (cannot duplicate publisher already used).

    • Across both paragraphs you will select six different articles from six different outlets.

    • At least one article must come from an Indigenous Australian publication.

    • Articles must be published within the assignment window (Week 1 → due date) and within ≈ 24 hours of each other.

  • Purpose: Compare how identical information is communicated differently (framing, news values, sourcing, rhetoric, visuals).

  • Method expectations:

    • Identify each article as hard news (justify).

    • Discuss news values, framing devices, sourcing patterns, language, images.

    • Provide evidence → reference headline wording, quotations, visuals.

  • Template:

    • Download on LMS (Assessment → Assignment 1 → Template).

    • Fill in: student details, article references, analyses.

  • Prohibited practices:

    • Using AI to draft analysis, plagiarism, collusion, re-using 2023 material, etc.

    • Any AI assistance must be declared per university rules.

  • Support:

    • FAQ page, Potential Publications List (optional starting point).

    • Academic Skills Module: writing guides + free individual consultations (upload draft sections in advance).

    • Library Guide: locating news databases.

  • Strategy Tip: Read news daily so you can capture comparable stories in real time instead of scrambling near deadline.

8 – Use of AI & Academic Integrity

  • AI use permitted only for comprehension aid, brainstorming, or language refinement ≠ substantive content creation.

  • Must include AI Declaration if used.

  • Academic Misconduct (plagiarism, contract cheating, collusion) carries serious penalties; when in doubt, ask staff.

9 – Revision / Key Take-Aways

  • Inverted Pyramid = essential hard-news structure.

  • Nine News Values: Impact, Relevance, Timeliness, Proximity, Conflict, Novelty, Unusualness, Human Interest, Prominence.

  • Framing vs Agenda-Setting: text-level vs publication-level selection.

  • Objectivity: strive for rigorous method; avoid false balance.

  • Assignment 1: two 250-word analyses; six total articles; one Indigenous source; due 19\,\text{Aug,}\ 9\,\text{AM}.

  • Next week: deeper dive into place, culture, and further genre analysis.

End of comprehensive lecture notes.