Week 4: Chapter 4, "A 'know' for news".

Reading: Chapter 4 - A 'know' for news in The Daily Miracle: An introduction to Journalism / David Conley & Stephen Lamble. Melbourne, Victoria. Oxford University Press, 2006. 3rd ed.

• How did Australian news outlets gives proximity to the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami?

Proximity is the 'where' element of a story. It relates to whether something happened with a newspaper's circulation area or if it is of sufficiently wide interest to attract readers in the circulation area. The latter is how Australian news outlets gave proximity to the 2004 Tsunami.
Firstly, Australia's population is clustered around its often low-lying coastline and we are very close neighbours to the worst hit nation, Indonesia. This gives great proximity value to the Tsunami story.
Additionally, some of devastated areas like the waterfront tourist areas of Thailand, are very popular amongst Australian tourists. I think we can all say that someone we know has travelled to Thailand for a holiday.
That's how Australian news media gave proximity to the Tsunami, virtually everyone could relate to the disaster because we have all either been to the places most significantly affected, or we know someone who has been there.

• If you were a reporter covering a story about a mentally ill Australian woman who was found by Queensland police in Cairns talking what they thought was German, who was subsequently arrested and found herself locked up in an immigration detention centre in South Australia for 10 months, what main news value would you focus on when writing the story? In order of importance, what would be the next two subsidiary news values?

1. Currency, when the story was first reported, Asylum seekers and the rights of illegal immigrants was one of the most popular and controversial topics in the news. Even now, when the debate arises, it features very prominently in the news. It would definately be a prominent news story today due to the Rudd Government's changes to immigration laws. If this situation happened now, many would be asking how it happened and why. It would definately spark some editorial and public debate.
2. Timeliness, this is a companion to Currency. Timeliness gives a story an edge to outbid competing stories for publishing and readership. If this scenario came up, no matter when reported, it would still grab the attention of an editor or reader, it would be timeless. The story would definately stand up for the next days publishing.
3. Human Interest: Although Human Interest is commonly associated with 'soft', feature style articles, it does arise in news stories. Human interest stories can 'inspire empathy, spark curiosity, or arouse community concern' the scenario does all of those things. Like children in human interest stories, an elderly woman locked up for 10 months instead of getting the help she needed, will command the interest of any reader. Human Interest elements can also be tied to basic needs of people and to emerging social issues, both of which are in this scenario.
   

• As a reporter, which information would you feature more prominently:

1. a mayoral announcement about an urban renewal plan to resolve inner-city crime problems; or
2. a comment by Prince Charles, in Australia on a visit, who says after the mayor's speech that such problems can often be attributed to building regulations formulated by city councils?

By definition alone, 'Prominence' "generally relates to a person who is highly recognisable on a local, state, national, or international basis". Prince Charles ticks all of those boxes, a local mayor does not.

• Define 'news' in 20 words or less.

News is something that breaks the flow of normal events, it is something that interests the audience of the publication or program that it is written for.

• Should Kipling's Six Strong Serving Men be assigned equal value when writing a news article?

I don't think that in every piece, the who, what, when, where, how and why should take equal precedent. The majority of the time, they should at least all be mentioned to give context to the story. The time of an event may be the most important factor of a story, or who did something may be more important. It all depends on the individual story at hand. As the text states, each of the W's and H should be mentioned as close to the beginning of the story as possible and be naturally linked with associated news values.