Practical constraints

• What practical constraints influence the news?

  Time, space and money
• How is the news presented to us?

  As factual and objective showing the reporting of what happening in the day
• What is the reality with how news is presented?

  There are strict deadlines and constraints, which influence what appears as news
• Practical Constraints - Time

  • Time constraints mean that the most easily available stories make it onto the TV/radio or into the newspaper
  • Editors and journalists have contacts they use again and again meaning a limited number of viewpoints are used
  • All news organisations have a ‘news diary’ of regular events. This means that they can plan coverage of regular events in advance
• Practical Constraints - Technical Constraints

  • They influence the news
  • Some places are easier to get cameras, microphones and journalists into and these are the places the top stories tend to come from
  • A story will rise and fall in significance partly on how easy it is to report
• Practical Constraints - Money

  • All news organisations run on a budget
  • Stories and reports from places where they already have reporters or established contacts are cheaper to produce
  • Many news organisations can’t afford to have many reporters of their own so they buy stories from news agencies
  • News agencies have a lot of influence over what becomes news
• Practical Constraints - Competition

  • Competition affects the selection of the news
  • Editors will pick the stories they believe will make their newspapers the most popular on that day
  • It is important that heir paper sells more than their rivals
  • News stories that can be sensationalised or celebrity gossip are often popular
• What is meant by press releases?

  They give the story’s straight to the newsroom which makes it much more likely to be used because it saves time and money - Its common for celebrities, politicians and groups to issue press releases
• What did Cohen and Young (1981) suggest about practical Constraints?

  That the news is manufactured not discovered And then reported upon

  Stories might have to shrink to fit the space available - the same story could be on page 2 one day and page 14 the next