What is News?

What is news, and how is information different from news? These two questions were implied in a recent interview on ABCs' Four Corners program when New York Times Bureau chief Dean Baquet suggested that Wikileaks was a provider of information, not news. However what Mr Baquet may or may not of realised is there are ethical issues such a distinction between news and information might raise? For example what about the role of journalists in providing sound information and the publics right to know this information, or conversely the importance of keeping certain facts hidden to protect a countries national security?

However it is not the intention of this analytical essay to provide the answers to any ethical dilemmas that arise from the above statement, but rather to analyse any issues that may occur by arguing that news and information are different. This will be achieved by attempting to answer the two overriding questions that develop from analysing the above statement made by Mr Baquet. They are: 1. How do you differentiate between news and information, and 2. what ethical considerations might develop in doing so?

Subsequently to accomplish this the essay will be divided into four parts. First it will analyse news and information separately by attempting to define them. This will be achieved by analysing news in more depth with the help of some scholarly interpretations. Secondly it will then attempt to define information by also looking at some scholarly definitions in detail. Thirdly it will look at what truly differentiates news from information by discussing Mastertons' key news values. Finally it will consider the ethical issues that arise when analysing news and information by using the MEAA code of ethics as a reference. Furthermore, these four points will be backed by scholarly evidence, quotes, and statistics which will help to give evidentiary support to this essay’s argument.

Firstly, news by definition is difficult to specify. The original meaning of 'newes' was first referenced in 1551 when it  meant 'novelties'. A more recent attempt at defining news was made by Philip Graham a former publisher of the Washington Post who said, “News is the first rough draft of history” (Lamble 2011, p.34). Another good definition of news was made by John Bogart, city editor of The New York Sun. He said “When a dog bites a man, that is not news because it happens so often. But if a man bites a dog, it's news” (Lamble 2011 p.35). Perhaps one of the best definitions has come from US journalism educator Melvin Mencher who said there are two general guidelines. They are: 1. news is information about a break from the normal flow of events, and 2. news is information people need to make sound decisions about their lives (Lamble 2011 p.35).  Therefore according to these definitions news could be summarised as a type of story about anything new or out of the ordinary that helps people to make informed decisions on their lives.

Secondly, information is also a word that is difficult to define. Just like news its meaning is very broad. However this has not stopped academics from attempting to define it. According to  Webster's dictionary information is: “The communication or reception of knowledge or intelligence”. Another common definition of information is: “One or more statements or facts that are received by a human and that have some form of worth to the recipient” (Losee 1997, p.255). Another more detailed and complex definition of information that was provided by the journal of the American society for information science states that “information is produced by all processes, and it is the values of characteristics in the processes output that are information” (Losee 1997, p.256) Therefore from these definitions of information it could be surmised that information is a type of factual commodity that can be bought, sold, given away, learned or taught by an individual or group of individuals, but generally only has value to those whom it was intended for.

Consequently while both definitions provided above help us to create a better understanding of what news and information are individually, they do not provide a definitive explanation as to what exactly separates the two from each other. One academic who attempted to differentiate between the two was J. Lule. He made an excellent observation when he stated, “News is not presented in the form of news as information, but rather as a story, a story with characters, a plot, and a theme” (Lule 2001 p.12). However it was  New Zealand journalist and journalist academic Murray Masterton who made a defining observation after surveying thousands of journalists in 67 countries around the globe. He came to the conclusion that there were three essential elements that differentiated news from information. They are: interest, timeliness and clarity. He said that news items must interest many people, they must contain new information, and that it must be presented in a easily understood form (Lamble 2011 p.37).

However Masterton did not stop at interest, timeliness, and clarity. He further went on to define six more news values that today’s journalists still use to help them decide if a story is news worthy or not. They are: significance, proximity, conflict, human interest, novelty, and prominence. It must be noted that the following six news value definitions have been condensed significantly as many paragraphs could be written on each one. However for the purpose of this essay it is only necessary to touch on them briefly. Consequently significance relates to the number of people who could be affected by the news story. Proximity relates to events that happen close to people geographically, as well as events that affect us historically, socially, and emotionally. Conflict can be anything related to political debates, wars, neighbourhood disputes, sporting issues, and court reports to name a few. Human Interest is basically anything of interest that other people may be doing, whether it be what our neighbours are up to or just the latest gossip on movie stars. Novelty is anything odd or bizarre that captures our attention, or something rare and unusual that stands out. Finally prominence relates to anything famous, well known, powerful or important people may say or do (Lamble 2011 p.37-41). Subsequently by creating these nine news values Masterton has helped to substantiate the argument that news and information are truly different commodities.

Fourthly and finally lets look at what ethical issues arise from making a distinction between news and information?  Clause number one in the Media Alliance (MEAA) code of ethics states that “journalists must report and interpret honestly, striving for accuracy, fairness, and disclosure of all essential facts”. So is Wikileaks being ethical by releasing controversial information online, or is it simply striving to disclose all essential facts to the public so they can make informed decisions on their lives?  It is plausible to suggest that when Mr Baquet suggested that Wikileaks was a provider of information not news he may have meant that Wikileaks is not a true news organisation. However if this is the case does that make Wikileaks exempt from sticking to a journalistic code of conduct? Should it be allowed to obtain information illegally and submit it online for the world to see simply because it is a provider of information, not news? And even if it could get past this dilemma does this still make it ethically correct for Wikileaks to be releasing information that could potentially harm a countries national security? Conversely what about the publics right to know? Should that not be taken into account as well?  Nonetheless regardless of what the critics and experts say these questions and many more are all questions that have yet to be properly answered and will be an ongoing problem for a long time into the foreseeable future.

In conclusion it has been well documented and proven in the body of this essay that news and information are both different commodities. News has been defined as a type of story about anything new or out of the ordinary that helps people to make informed decisions on their lives. It has three key values that differentiate it from information – interest, timeliness, and clarity. It also has another six news values that further separate it from information - significance, proximity, conflict, human interest, novelty, and prominence. Information has also been defined.  It is one or more statements or facts that are received by a human and that have some form of worth to the recipient.  It is also considered the communication or reception of knowledge or intelligence.

In conclusion this essay has proven in its argument that there are differences between news and information, and that these differences create ethical issues that have yet to be fully solved. It has  shown that Wikileaks is a provider of information, not news, and considered whether this would make it exempt from certain ethical issues. It has also analysed the implications of broadcasting controversial information, and whether or not a countries national security should be more important than the publics right to know. Lastly readers should consider the fact that there is a long way to go before any of these ethical issues will be solved to a satisfactory standard. 

By Reuben Franklin

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Tuchman, G 1976 'What is News?' PhD Thesis, Griffith University.

Retrieved 20 March 2011, via Google Scholar

Staab, J 1990, 'The Role of News Factors in News Selection' Downloaded from ejc.sagepub.com at Griffith University on March 23, 2011

Wilkins, L & Patterson, P 1987, 'Risk Analysis and the Construction of News'

viewed 22 March 2011 via Google Scholar

Losee, M 1997, 'A Discipline definition independent of Information'

Journal of the American Society for Information Science,

viewed 22 March 2011 Via Google Scholar

Lamble, S 2011, News as it Happens, Oxford University Press,

South Melbourne Victoria.

Media Alliance Code of Ethics @ www.alliance.org.au/code-of-ethics.html

Lule, J 2001 'Seven master myths in the news',

Eternal Stories: The mythological role of journalism, New York,

Guildford Press, Chapter 1, 11-26

The Three Sectors of the Sports Industry

This essay will describe and analyse the three sectors of the sports industry – the state or public sector, the non-profit or voluntary sector, and the professional or commercial sector. This will be achieved by selecting one organisation that represents each sporting sector and comparing each on its ability to contribute to the values of sport. Also discussed will be whether or not each organisation successfully represents the sector it has been placed in. Finally in conclusion, the sector I would like to gain industry experience in, how I will do this, and why I have chosen that sector will be discussed.

In order to comprehend how each organisation contributes to the value of sport, it is important to first understand what categories the values of sport will be analysed under for this essay. Although there are limitless examples of how sport can provide value to society, for the sake of simplicity I will break down these benefits into three broad categories – social, health, and economic. These will become the building blocks of this essay’s analysis, and the organisations ability to achieve these values will be analysed by looking at one or two of the services, resources, and programs they provide.

Consequently the three organisations to be analysed are: 1 Aus-Kick, which represents the voluntary sector, 2. The Australian Institute of Sport (AIS), which represents the state sector, and 3. National Rugby League (NRL), which represents the commercial sector. Furthermore, analysis on each organisation will be provided via the use of peer-reviewed journal articles, sport organisation web pages, and the content covered in sport management lectures and tutorials to help give evidentiary support to the essay.

First I will analyse the voluntary or non-profit sector. Non-profit organisations are defined as organisations that are institutionally separate from the state, do not return profits to owners, are self-governing, have a significant element of voluntary contribution, and are formally incorporated (Hoye, Smith, Westerbeek, Stewart, Nicholson 2006, P46).

The organisation I have chosen that represents this sector is Aus-kick. Managed by the community for the community, Aus-kick’s role is to give boys and girls the chance to play AFL football in a relaxed social environment, while making friends, improving fitness, ball handling skills, and confidence. It also provides a first step opportunity for budding AFL stars of the future.  It is a highly successful program which boasts 2491 Aus-kick centres, 147,361 participants, and 20,000 parent volunteers nationally. Aus-kick shows it represents the voluntary sector successfully by fitting all the aforementioned necessary criteria of a voluntary organisation, such as the large number of volunteers it recruits and the way it gives back to the community on such a large scale.

Aus-kick runs two different types of programs, the AFL ‘Rookie’ program and the AFL ‘Pro’ program. The rookie program is designed for children aged five to eight years old and helps them develop the fundamental skills they need to participate in AFL. The ‘Pro’ program however is designed with more of a game sense of focus and is for children aged nine to twelve years of age. It is these two programs that provide examples of how Aus-kick contributes to the social and health values of sport. 

Aus-kick shows it understands that there is a need to help children become physically fit, psychologically healthy, and socially apt by catering for these needs through the two programs it provides. By providing children with the fundamental motor skills required for physical activity, educating them on the basic principles of healthy eating and nutrition through specially arranged team activities, children learn important social skills, including cooperation and respect for others. By educating future generations, Aus-kick is helping to reduce self-destructive and delinquent behaviour while fostering a healthy attachment to the community through sport. This creates a stronger social fabric in the community, a higher economic potential in future generations of well-educated children, and also helps reduce crime. Consequently it can be said that Aus-kick successfully provides value to sport through the successful health, economic, and social pathways it creates.

The second sector we shall be discussing is the state or public sector, which includes national, state/provincial, regional, and local governments, and specialist agencies that develop sport policy, provide funding to other sectors, and support specialist roles such as elite athlete development or drug control (Hoye, Smith, Westerbeek, Stewart, Nicholson 2006, P6).

The organisation I have chosen that represents this sector is the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS). Since 1981 the AIS’s central role has been to provide Australians with the opportunity to develop their ultimate sporting potential. The AIS boasts having nurtured many successful athletes who have gone on to become Olympic and Paralympic medallists. These results are due to having skilled coaches, dieticians, nutritionists, world-class facilities and cutting-edge sports science and sport medicine services.

The Australian Institute of Sport represents the state sector successfully because it is operated and funded by the Australian Sports Commission (ASC) which is an organisation run by the Australian Government. The ASC seeks to develop strong grassroots involvement in sport, as well as provide opportunities for developing elite excellence. For more information on the roles and responsibilities of the ASC, check the Australian Sports Commission Act 1989 at, <www.ausport.gov.au>.

The AIS offers 38 sport programs to 29 different sports, as well as a varying number of scholarships, up to 700 per annum, to Australia’s finest sport men and women. Consequently it would take too long to analyse each one of the AIS programs individually. Thus it is necessary to concentrate on the bigger picture by analysing the main services and resources AIS provides to its athletes.

The AIS employs 75 coaches including assistant coaches, scholarship coaches, and head coaches. They are equipped with powerful resources to help them observe, fine tune, analyse, and perfect the techniques, and actions of the athletes. Their goal is to help athletes realise their potential. The AIS also provides as a service to the athletes an individual screening session with a team dietician, this also includes follow up sessions throughout the year to discuss any dietary concerns or issues they may be experiencing. Another service the AIS provides to the athletes is healthy, high quality food which is based on a seasonal menu developed by an experienced dietician.

Also worth mentioning is how the AIS helps prepare athletes for life outside of sport by proving them with the Athlete Career and Education program (ACE). This program gives them training in public speaking, media presentation, career planning, and time management. Consequently the AIS can be seen to be successfully adding to the economic, and health values of sport via the scholarships and programs it provides to the athletes such as the ACE program.

The third sector to be discussed is the commercial or professional sporting sector. This sector is comprised of professional leagues and their team members, as well as allied organizations such as sporting apparel and equipment manufacturers, media companies, major stadia operators, and event managers (Hoye, Smith, Westerbeek, Stewart, Nicholson 2006, P6).

The organisation I have chosen that represents this sector is National Rugby League (NRL). NRL first began in England in the late 1800’s, however it first started in Australia in 1908. The NRL’s main competition is known as the Telstra premiership. It consists of fifteen Australian teams and one New Zealand team. It is known as the world’s elite rugby league championship and is the most viewed and attended football competition in the world. The NRL successfully represents the commercial sector due to the high levels of sponsorship it receives as well as the million dollar salaries many of the footballers command.

In 2009 the NRL launched a program called ‘Eat Well, Play Well, Stay Well’ using the profiles of the game to reduce childhood obesity. The objectives of the program were to communicate positive health messages to children and their families, to provide rugby league development officers with another tool to assist them to build and develop a healthy relationship with local schools, and to increase the profile of rugby league, and promote the positive impact the sport and its players can have on children and parents .

Just like Aus-kick this program helps add value to sport through the economic, health, and social benefits it provides to school children in the community. By creating positive long term outcomes through helping children to grow up fit, healthy, and educated on the benefits of exercise, the NRL’s ‘Eat Well, Play Well, Stay Well’ program successfully adds to the value of sport.

In conclusion I would like to discuss the sector I would like to gain industry skills, knowledge, and experience in, how I will do this, and why? Consequently I believe that the best way to gain these aforementioned benefits initially is through the voluntary sector. This is due to sports management being such a hard industry to get paid work in. To be successful one must first volunteer their time and learn the skills needed to become a paid sports manager. One of the areas I would like to volunteer my time to is surf lifesaving due to the fact I live on the beach, love the water, and want to learn how to save people’s lives. One way I believe this could be achieved is by attending a volunteer expo day at Griffith University and signing up at the surf lifesaving booth. This would give me the opportunity to gain the necessary skills and experience to possibly become a paid surf lifesaver in the future, and maybe even further into the future a manager of a surf lifesaving club or organisation.

By Reuben Franklin

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

Hoye, Smith, Westerbeek, Stewart Nicholson, 2006, Sports Management: Principles and Applications.

www.nrl.com/kids

www.ausport.gov.au/ais

www.aflauskick.com.au

The Value of Sport and Recreation, www.dsr.wa.gov.au

Barbara A. Hedges, 2000  pp. 1-27 The value of sport in our Society

Kelinske, Mayer, & Chen, 2001, pp. 75-84, Perceived benefits from participation in sports.

The Internet and Journalism

Imagine a journalist at work forty years ago, tapping away on a typewriter into the wee hours of the morning, a flask of whisky by his side, scattered notes strewn all over the desk, a heavy rotary phone ringing constantly with scoops of the coming day. Now think of a journalist in 2010, typing away on his laptop, information saved in word documents, websites saved in bookmarks, answering video calls and sending text messages on his iphone, conducting interviews on Skype with unmet subjects thousands of kilometres away, and sending off his scoop of the day to his editor via e-mail, all without having to leave home. Yes technology has come a long way since the days of the humble typewriter, and one of the biggest technological advances of them all was the advent of the World Wide Web in 1990 by Tim Berners-Lee and Robert Cailliau which began a chain reaction that would forever change the way journalism and journalists operate.

Subsequently, it is the intention of this essay to argue that the internet has improved journalism for the better good of the industry and society, and that as journalism adapts to this relatively new technology, it will not only survive the internet age, but thrive. This essay intends to do this by arguing about four of the many areas in which the web has helped to improve journalism since its inception into the industry. The four areas to be argued are: 1. the globalisation of news and its associated online interactivity, 2. the quality and quantity of news gathering sources, 3. the speed of news flow between two parties via online connectivity, and 4. news production costs and the associated environmental impact. Furthermore, these points will be backed by scholarly evidence, quotes, and statistics which will help to give evidentiary support to this essay’s argument.

Firstly let’s look at the globalisation of news. Since the advent of the internet in the nineties, and the slightly more recent discovery of the World Wide Web as a possible media of mass communication by the press, consumers have never had it so good before. The internet has made possible the publication of more than 5000 news sites maintained by common news organisations including news magazines, broadcast/cable news providers, and newspapers (Pavlik 2000, p.233). These sites have provided global access to news from all parts of the world. Thus for the first time, anyone, anywhere in the world with an internet connection could access news, such as the contents of different newspapers, and interact/immerse themselves with multimedia content relating to those news articles, as well as links to other websites and much more from any country, at any time, at no cost. It is also worth noting that this interactive aspect of the web gives readers from across the world a presence at news events like never before, allowing visitors to these websites to discover and develop their own idea of the story and perhaps come closer to the truth by removing one level of filtering, which some would argue is a better form of journalism, as it creates a bigger audience appeal than simply reading about the story in a newspaper. As Feldman (1997, p.20), an online media guru puts it, “... interactivity is generating new forms of media products which rely fundamentally on interactivity as the basis of their appeal”.

The second reason the internet has helped to improve journalism to such an extent is by the way it allows journalists quick and easy access to a large quantity of quality news gathering sources. Now instead of perhaps travelling to distant cities, libraries, or other storehouses of data, and taking weeks or even months to collect material, the reporter can often report much of a complex story from his desk and computer (Parry 2003 p. 1). With increasing amounts of public records and corporate information published online, more and more reporters are now effectively using online tools to gather information to check their facts before releasing a news story to the public. Journalists have recently indicated that they liked the immediate delivery capabilities of the Web, and they were likely to visit a corporation’s Web site before telephoning a corporate media relations expert (Callison 2002, p.29). This was also proven in a survey done by professional Dan Middleberg and journalism professor Steve Ross which found that the percentage of journalists using the Internet for article research had increased from 66% in 1995 to 92% in 2001.  Therefore this indicates that journalists opting to use the internet for research are saving on time and effort, helping them to provide the public with well researched accurate facts and information from reliable sources at a much faster speed.

Thirdly, the internet provides another benefit that we shall refer to as connectivity (Heinonen 1999, p.47). This in essence is the ability of a reporter sent on an assignment to deliver material to the newsroom via the internet as well as receive information on the spot from editors in the newsroom and digital archives. This ease of access to quality news resources gives journalists a certain freedom, allowing them to escape from the confinements of the newsroom, letting them work at home on their PC’s, or in the field using their laptops and a wireless internet connection to access information. Connectivity allows journalists to become instant online reporters, giving them the ability to stream live webcam footage and provide constant newsfeeds to online publications. The result of all this is that reporting becomes much faster. This ability to stream live footage creates the opportunity for journalists to work increasingly close to news deadlines without risking a complete breakdown in the reporting process, which is especially significant in opening up possibilities for on-deadline operations in video journalism. Thus, this information suggests that internet connectivity has not only allowed journalists the opportunity to work almost exclusively in the field and at home, but also to provide the public with news and information at speeds un-parallel to a time before the internet existed.

Fourthly, the internet is helping to reduce newspaper production costs and the associated environmental issues with printing and distributing such papers. The cost of printing and delivery, roughly 60 per cent of the cost of producing the average newspaper, has been greatly reduced, virtually eliminated, in fact. Publisher Levor Oldham said common sense was behind this reasoning, “Clearly, the future of newspapers is on the Web” (Pavlik 2000, p.234). Furthermore as mentioned earlier, online publishing has another related benefit besides cost reduction; the environmental impact associated with printing newspapers is greatly reduced. A life cycle study shows that the CO₂ emissions caused by the production and distribution of one copy of an average sized 177 gram newspaper in Australia, totals about 0.95 kilograms of greenhouse gasses. This includes paper from trees, materials, production, shipping and customer use. The loss of natural habitat potential from the 177 gram newspaper is estimated to be 0.73 square meters. Therefore these statistics suggest that by publishing their news articles online, newspapers are saving not only themselves, but perhaps more importantly the environment.

Consequently by arguing in this essay that the internet has improved journalism it has become clear that the overall answer is much more complex than a simple, “yes it has”, as there are many aspects it has improved, as well as some it has perhaps not, but that is another argument. However it is important to note that the internet since its advent has become a significant part of the wider journalistic landscape, and it is here to stay.

Journalists who embrace the internet as a useful medium are finding a whole new world of information, creativity, freedom, and convenience at their fingertips, although those who don’t may well find they are left behind in an era that nobody may soon remember except for the historians and their history books. Nowadays the internet has almost become a pre-requisite for journalists who want to be successful, as it allows them to work closer to deadlines, report to the news room from the field, broadcast their news on a global scale, access and research quality information for their news stories, publish their stories online, and reduce their associated costs, as well as much more.

By conducting this research and writing this essay I believe that there is a strong supporting argument for the internet’s usefulness to journalism. Consequently it is safe to say that journalism has come a long way from its humble beginnings, nevertheless it will need to continue to adapt to this ever changing world if it is to survive in this online world of the future. However I believe if it can do this, there is no reason why it can’t survive, if not thrive. 

By Reuben Franklin

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Heinonen, 1999, Journalism in the age of the Net: Changing Society, Changing Profession

Pavlik, 2000, 'The Impact of Technology on Journalism', Journalism Studies, 1: 2, 229 — 237

Livingston, & Bennett, 2003, Gatekeeping, Indexing, and Live-Event News: Is Technology Altering the Construction of News?

Parry, 2003, Journalism and the Internet: Putting Things into Context

Knight, 2003, Globalised Journalism in the Internet age <ejournalist.com.au>

Callison, 2002, Media relations and the Internet: how Fortune 500 company web sites assist journalists in news gathering.

Cottle, & Ashton, 1999, From BBC Newsroom to BBC News centre: On Changing Technology and Journalist Practices http://con.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/5/3/22

Bromley, & O’ Malley, 1997, The End of Journalism? Changes in Workplace Practices in the Press and Broadcasting in the 1990s, A Journalism Reader, pp. 330-50.