Commentary

What Happened to Valuing News Values?
by Anthony Della Calce
October 9, 2006

More and more, it seems news values are on life support, desperately clinging to every breath. Unfortunately, it seems no one has an interest in resuscitating them. And that is disconcerting news.

No one seems to care about where they get their news anymore. Is it from a respectable and reliable source? Is it important, quality information? Is it objective? Those are questions everyone should be asking when they seek out their news, regardless of the media outlet it comes from.
But why aren’t people being more diligent in their news selections?

The problem is twofold. First of all, people lack the necessary concern about this issue. They’ll get their news from John Doe’s daily blog and never stop to consider the legitimacy of the source.

John Doe most likely doesn’t have journalistic credentials or access to sources and information that a standard news organization would. And, most importantly, he most likely isn’t worried about being objective. Those missing qualities are pertinent for good journalism.

The other problem is the news organizations. Some of them are very credible and try their best to exemplify good news values. But others do not.

Cable news networks are especially guilty. Often, cable news networks present biased views and try to pass them off as objective news.

News programming like the O’Reilly Factor, Hardball with Chris Matthews and Anderson Cooper 360 aren’t really news at all. They’re news commentary shows in which the hosts have a certain agenda based on their views. As obvious as that may be for many viewers, many others are deceived by the veil of “news” network, which these shows operate under.

Even regular cable newscasts can be blatantly biased. Ever watch Fox News? The reports are so unabashedly conservative that they suggest the network is making no attempt to be objective.

News is a vital part of our society. The public relies on it to keep itself informed of what is happening in the world.

People need to be more educated about the potential agendas and biases of news organizations so they can process the information they receive in a more discernable fashion. In order to form their own opinions on issues, people need to rely on objective news rather than opinionated news.

Everybody must demand the closest thing to objective reporting from their news journalists. After all, a prejudicially informed public is even worse than an ignorant one.