HW

News values are a set of guidelines to what news professionals decide on what is newsworthy. Some examples in my chosen newspaper front cover are negativity, predictability, proximity and “the other”.

In my chosen newspaper front cover, 'negativity' is highlighted by the word “invasion” which gives connotations of danger and has a negative sound to it. This is also the main headline, so if people walk past this paper, the headline would stick out the most, also it is black and bold in front of a white background, which further makes the headline stand out. Also, another subheading states that “Michael Jackson’s” daughter in hospital after failed suicide attempt” which is also a tragic headline.

Furthermore, 'threshold' is also taken into account, the migrant crisis is slowly increasing day by day but it is not an ‘invasion’, like the article describes it as. Also, the keyword “invasion” makes the story sound like there is going to be a violent end of some sorts which contradicts the whole purpose of migrating (in this case), which is to get away from violence.

This paper also has the news value of ‘predictability’, due to the fact that immigration is a growing issue, and the journalists from the UK can write stories like these before. But when put into the paper, the newspaper headline suggests that this ‘migrant invasion’ was unpredictable.

This news can also run for a long period of time, so it can be suggested that it has the value of ‘Continuity & Narrative’. This is because migration is going to be a long-lasting topic in the news so newspapers are more likely to push for headlines lie these. Furthermore, The Daily Express was described as by people doing a questionnaire Very right wing with the percentage being 29% and fairy right wing being 27%. So, headlines like these can be biased due to The Daily Express’s right-wing stance which is clearly indicated by the headlines their newspapers have.

This also has ‘proximity’ in it, due to the fact that this article is referring to Britain, which is where the newspaper is sold. Due to the right-wing nature of this newspaper, articles to do with proximity are always going to present non-British people in a negative way and this is pattern in most right-wing newspapers.

The Daily Express also uses the “other” (Paul Gilroy), which illustrates the “migrants” in a negative light. The ‘other’ generally presents non-white people in a negative light and it also is highlighted as a trend in far-right wing newspapers.

Kasim Mahmood