News Judgment

The idea that news judgment is something “you are born with” was dismissed. It can be developed. But how?

First, perhaps news judgment should be defined, which isn’t easy. Even professional journalists have difficulty explaining the term. ABC “Nightline Correspondent Jeff Greenfield says people have different news judgments, which he believes is desirable. He noted that “Nightline” anchor ‘led Koppel is a “foreign policy freak” and tends to “see more value in an international story,” while he himself is a “political freak.”

Greenfield said that if a relatively unknown politician announced that he or she was running for president, Greenfield might suggest that it was time to examine the whole field of candidates, while Koppel might still prefer a foreign story. Greenfield commented, “Does that mean that Koppel is without news judgment? I think not. Does it mean that I am without news judgment? I think not.”

Greenfield said news judgment can also be related to the audience you are trying to serve. “The editors of The New York Times and the [Washington] Post will see news differently,” he said. “They each will ask, ‘Is this a story my readers will care about and want to know about?’”

Greenfield cited as an example the story of Kimberly Bergalisa woman who died from AIDS after being infected during oral surgery performed by her HIV-positive dentist. “Why is that a news story?” asked Greenfield. “Because something terrible happened to her she never used drugs and never had sex of any kind. Yet, this beautiful young woman was dying of the disease. “

The ABC correspondent said it was a news story for two reasons. First, he said, “We resonate to the story . . . it’s a ‘there but for the grace of God’ story.” Second, he added, “It raises a public-policy debate. Should medical professionals have to be tested for HIV?” Greenfield said that while people react differently to that story, news judgment dictates, “We’ve got to cover it.”

NBC News Correspondent Bob Dotson says that when he thinks of news judgment, he thinks of fairness. He believes reporters must ask themselves if there is more than one side to a story and try to present all sides. Dotson says he views ethics as an important part of good news judgment.

CBS News Correspondent Richard Thrilled believes news judgment is “in the eye of the beholder. If you are going to put on a newscast and want people to watch it,” he says, “you have to give them stories that they ought to know-important developments overseas and how the mayor and governor are doing their jobs at home. They also want to know if there was a bad fire in the neighborhood. News judgment comes into play in giving the public the proper mix of things they should know and want to know.”

Dotson says one of the best ways to develop news judgment is to learn from one’s mistakes and try to avoid them in the future. He remembered working as a young newsman in Oklahoma City and being asked to do a story about the anniversary of Pearl Harbor. “I was only 22 at the time and didn’t know a heck of a lot about Pearl Harbor,” Dotson recalled, “but I had a handout film that had sprockets on both sides of the film. I had a master’s degree in cinematography,” Dotson said, “but I forgot to check which side was up. So during the newscast the planes attacking Pearl Harbor came in upside down.”

Dotson said that because he didn’t know any better, he thought maybe the Japanese had actually done it that way. “But when the flag came on upside down I knew I was dead meat,” said Dotson. “The news director always had a critique after the news, and he would tell you what you did wrong and often make you do it over again. Well,” Dotson continued, “you didn’t do that too often before you started thinking of ways to improve what you were doing.”

ABC News Correspondent Morton Dean says he developed news judgment “by just working in the field . . . by doing it and working with some good very people and learning from them. You have to pay attention to people around you, and if you are fortunate enough to have good, solid, professional people to work with when you start out, that’s a great help. It’s like being in a perpetual classroom.” Adds Dean, “It’s important in this business to keep your eyes and ears open all the time. . . . You can always learn new things, not only about the world but about yourself. It’s important to look at yourself and listen to yourself to pick up on whatever communication problems you have”.

NBC Correspondent Roger O’Neil notes that when he was a local reporter he “always paid attention to every network correspondent on the air. He “studied them, analyzed what they said and learned a lot.”

CBS’s Richard Threlkeld also says reporters always have to remember -regardless of their age-to be concerned about things that are of interest to people outside their age group. “Young reporters just starting out,” he notes, “must realize that there are people out there who are over 35 and have different interests and concerns.” Threlkeld adds that even he has to keep asking himself, “What are my daughters, who are in their 20s and 30s, interested in? What would they want to watch? The same goes for people who are my seniors. Is this a story that would interest them?” Threlkeld advises reporters to remember that broadcasting is “mass media, and that means everybody- little kids, and old people, and black and white and brown people. They are all watching, and they all deserve the best that you can give them.” Fairness. It is often argued that it is not possible to be completely objective. This may be true. Everyone has certain biases and prejudices, but reporters must learn to leave out their personal feelings when they start writing or delivering news. Objectivity for a journalist really means “fairness”. It means honestly giving both sides of an argument, controversy or debate. Reporters can tell when their report on a controversial issue has been successful: both sides of the issue accuse them of being partial to the other.

• Newsworthiness: Because there is generally little contextual information about scheduled news happening at the time a decision must be made, the assignment editor uses the relative importance of the personalities involved as an index of newsworthiness.
• Predictability: Since there is a daily demand for film stories from the news programs and only a limited number of network film crews are available to meet it, camera crews must be assigned to events that will almost certainly materialize on schedule. Other things being equal, in choosing among possible stories, assignment editors tend to give preference to happenings planned in advance for the press, since these are virtually sure to take place on schedule, rather than those happenings which are contingent on less controllable factors. News conferences, interviews and public statements are, far more likely to receive coverage than unplanned confrontations, unexpected policy changes and off- cuff remarks, even if there is good reason for expecting such moves. The more predictable the event, the more likely it will be covered.
• Holding audience interest: Since assignment editors generally assume that “good pictures” are indispensable for “holding audience interest”, priority is naturally given to the story in a given category that promises to yield the most dramatic or visual image, other considerations being equal. This means, in effect, that political institutions with rules that restrict television cameras from filming of their proceedings are not routinely assigned coverage.
• Geographic balance: To maintain the appearance of national coverage of news events and thus satisfy the requirement of aff1liatcd stations for a national news service, assignment editors are expected to distribute stories between different regions of the country. At the same time, they are supposed to stay within a budget which allows for only a limited number of f1lm crews in a few cities. This dilemma is routinely solved by allocating assignments, geographically, according to the whereabouts of the crews.
• Time considerations: Since the main demand for film stories comes from the evening news program, which originates at 6.30 p.m. and since it will be recalled, it normally takes about six hours to film an interview, process the film, and edit and integrate it ‘into a news program, assignment editors prefer; again all other things being equal, to select stories scheduled to take place, as one put it, “early in the day rather that late. This in turn tends to favor organizations and newsmakers who are more aware of the needs of network news and schedule their news conferences, speeches and hearings accordingly, over those whose proceedings are not primarily set to accommodate the media.
• Intelligence Operations in Network News: All that can be definitely stated is that there are two intelligence operations in network news: one that takes place at the assignment desk and follows relatively stable criteria in selecting stories to be covered by camera crews; and second, a less well defined system centered around the producers of individual news programs, which chooses the general trends and categories that are to be illustrated by examples chosen by the assignment desk. Almost by definition, news events are short-lived phenomena. Except for rare instances, what is seen on network news is not the event itself unfolding before the live camera or even a filmed record, but a story about the event reconstructed on film from selected fragments of it (or even from re-enactments of it). Despite the hackneyed maxim that television news “tells it like it is”, presenting events exactly as they occur does not fit in with the requisites of network news. For one thing, the camera is not always in a position to capture events live or on film as they happen. In some cases, news events are unexpected and occur before a camera crew can be dispatched to the scene. Others cannot be filmed direct because of unfavorable weather and lighting conditions (especially if artificial lighting is unavailable or restricted), or simply because decision-making bodies prohibit news crews from filming their proceedings. Even when such institutions as political conventions permit television to record their formal proceedings, the significant decisions still may take place outside the permitted purview of the media permissibility. But even when coverage presents no insurmountable problems, given the requirement that a network news story has a definite order, time and logic, it would be insufficient in most cases to record from beginning to end the natural sequence of events, with all the digressions, confusions and inconsistencies that more often than not constitute reality
• The Junior Reporter: The beginning news reporter may measure the news value of ideas, events, and conflicts more precisely. At present we depend very little on the psychology of communication. What we do have, according to Doctor Carl Hovland, Sterling professor and chairman of the department of psychology at Yale University, are “all the essential ingredients—the research techniques, the concepts and hypotheses, and the problems—to permit developing a genuine science of communications in the coming decade or two.” Meanwhile, those who report the news may consider the elements, factors, or determinants involved in sifting or selecting the news. Actually there are four questions to ask about any idea, event, or conflict. They are: when did happen? How near is it? How big is it? What does it mean? On this basis the newsman may determine to some extent at least what news to get and write for his news medium and its specific public.
• Timeliness of News: The newsman’s job it to inform the public, yet news and information are not synonymous. The latter may have been news at one time, but it may not be news now. Perhaps it was presented in an earlier newscast, earlier edition, or an earlier century. News is history only when it is piping hot; not when it is stone cold. But not all news is history. News is perishable. Within the smallest interval on the calendar or clock, it may cease to be timely. It may then become information, history, or even truth. Truth itself may or may not be news, for the truth as we report it today may not be the truth of yesterday or tomorrow. Moreover, truthful news may expose lies as well as report truth. Suppose a new ambassador to Russia is appointed. Once the news is released, it may be reported in two or three sentences in a radio dispatch. The daily newspaper may give it half a dozen or more paragraphs. The appointment still may be news when it is interpreted in national newspapers and news agencies, although the news alone will be of little interest to many news media published less often. No newsman dares to dally when he gathers the news. It is his job go get the news and to get it now. If he does not, his competitor will. If he does not, his news may cease to be news, for regency is transitory. What is news one moment all too soon may become only interesting information, no longer timely.
• News and Nearness: All news is local. News is local in the sense that it is ready by a specific person in a specific locality. He considers it in terms of his own interests and in relation to his immediate environment. Other factors being equal, his interest in the news decreases as the distance from the place of news increases.
• Proximity: Proximity is often important determinant in deciding what the news is. The typical news consumer is interested in familiar faces and familiar places, in what happens along Main Street or in the old swimming pool. The notions of octogenarians in his home town have more news appeal, because they are local in origin.

Despite the importance of nearness in judging the news, local ideas, events, and conflicts often are covered inadequately. The surface reporting, both in words and pictures leave much to be desired and sometimes even are careless. Routine coverage of local news may provide for an adequate presentation of facts, yet may fail to interpret to explain them effectively. At the same time local angles on non-local stories receive too little attention.

News and Size: News is not just a matter of time and geography; frequently it is a problem in arithmetic. The bigger the current idea, event or conflict, the better the news The magnitude of the news often is the most important factor in determining how much emphasis it will be given in print or on the air.

The size of the news may be measured in terms of figures. Consider a few in which figures are significant: accidents – numbers of person killed or injured; disasters—value of property destroyed; labour—number of men who may walk out; business-amount of profit or loss; progress—number of persons benefited; warfare—thousands or millions involved in bloodshed or affected by battles.

Size may be measured by the prominence of the persons involved. If the president goes fishing, it is news in all newspapers. If you go fishing, you may catch more fish but receive only a few lines, if any, in the local press.

The noted and the notorious get more space than the ordinary and obscure. Anyone who is a celebrity or an authority may get into the news if he breaks a leg, stages a brawl, makes a speech, refuses to talk, or falls in love. The typical news consumer may do the same thing and be ignored by news media.

Prominence and achievement, of course, are not synonymous. Those who are widely known may include statesmen, industrialists, gangsters, scientists, athletes, actresses, and even comic-strip characters.

News may be big or small, according to the size of the current idea, event, or conflict Its scope may be measured in terms of the numbers involved, the prominence of those involved, the unusuali1ess of the story, and perhaps, in other ways. For example, the consequences of the news may also be significant- so significant that the thorough reporter should examine the meaning of the news.

While it might make economic sense for a newspaper to invest resources in increased news coverage assuming that it would produce exclusive and sensational stories which in turn would 136 lead to a higher circulation, it does not make sense for a network to maintain anything more than the minimum number of camera crews necessary to fill the available news-programming time, if one accepts the prevailing theories about audience.