Journalism 101

Sometimes we get questions from readers why a story is placed on front page, while others get buried on the inside pages, why one story is used as the banner (or main story), while others are relegated to a small corner. For the uninitiated, it may all seem random, whimsical, and probably dependent on the mood of the editors on that particular day. A perfect example of this occurred recently, when a ranking official asked my reporter why, with two stories of seemingly equal weight—the $216 million in projected loss for the CNMI if Japan Airlines pull out and the decision by Northwest Airlines to take up the slack for JAL—we chose to highlight the negative story, using it as the banner, while making the positive news the sidebar. We get accused of cheap sensationalism and having an agenda. That is, however, a misconception. All reputable news agencies select the placement of their stories based on news values—a set of characteristics with which the importance and rank of a story is determined. All stories that my reporters submit go through this process of selection, by which, at the end of the day, we have the banner story and the second lead story.

In his article “Understanding the news values,” Ken Blake, Ph.D. enumerated the different news values, or characteristics that makes information newsworthy: These are impact (if it affects a lot of people), timeliness, prominence, proximity, conflict, weirdness (or human interest), and currency. Blake said that the more of these characteristics a piece of information has, the more newsworthy the information is.

A study by media researchers Galtung & Ruge also includes on the list negativity (bad news), exclusivity, continuity, simplicity, personality, expectedness (predictability), elite nations or people, and size. In the example cited above, the pullout’s impact ranked higher due to impact, timeliness, prominence, currency, and negativity (Bad news is always rated above “positive” stories).

Let’s examine then the banner story that came out in the Saipan Tribune on Wednesday about the demands being made by the Korean Association of Saipan in relation to the upcoming visit of the Japanese imperial couple and see why it merited prime real estate on the paper. An impartial review of the story shows that it is timely, has proximity, has conflict, is prominent, is negative, and has currency. That’s six news values, as opposed to the three or four scores of the other stories that also came out on the front page of that same day.

On the issue of timeliness (information is timely if it happened recently), the Korean story was timely in that it happened only on Monday. There was a meeting between the group and the Japanese Consulate during which they pressed their demands. As for proximity (it involves something that happened nearby), the story happened here on Saipan. Conflict? Negativity? Need I elaborate on these? As for currency (if story is related to a topic a lot of people are already talking about), everybody is already talking about the imperial visit. There is heightened awareness of the event within the community, so this story carries a lot of weight.

The clincher, however, was prominence. Nothing is more prominent these days than the upcoming imperial visit. In terms of newsworthiness, nothing of this magnitude has happened to the islands in about a decade and the persona embodied by the emperor and empress is of such importance that the visit is attracting great international media attention. Therefore, anything related to that visit, however minute or inconsequential, assumes a much larger significance and prominence because of the personalities involved. Larger-than-life personas inevitably attract that kind of attention (John Doe falling down a stair is not a story; the same thing happening to President Bush and you have banner material). In the case of the Korean association’s demands, their story deserved front-page treatment, not because of the nature of their demands or for purposes of sensationalism, but because of the significance, the importance, of the imperial couple themselves. If the group was protesting against you or me, would you care? But against the imperial couple? That’s a whole different kind of enchilada.

In fact, the significance of the Korean story can be gleaned from the fact that ALL foreign journalists who have approached the Saipan Tribune for assistance always asked us if there will be protesters during the imperial visit. ALWAYS. That speaks of how significant and newsworthy any possible disruption to the visit will be. That is also the reason why, during last Wednesday’s meeting between Vietnamese Prime Minister Phan Van Khai and President Bush, CNN and Fox News gave scant seconds to a picture of the two shaking hands and minutes to footage of people protesting outside the White House.

As for the argument that the emperor is a largely symbolic figure, that his visit is supposed to be low key, and that the purpose of his visit is straightforward and has no political overtones, that is an argument that should be made with the Korean Association and not with me.

Even the suggestion that the Tribune should respect the wishes of the imperial couple to make the visit a somber and low-key affair is insulting, to say the least, as it implies that personal and emotional considerations come into play when choosing a story for the front page. As if, by putting out such a story, we are being disrespectful to the imperial couple and that we should have put it inside because it might offend them.

In the first place, it is not the newspaper’s role to toe the official government line, or to be meek because it might offend the imperial couple or anyone else for that matter. A story is a story, whether it will offend or not. Journalism great Finley Peter Dunne phrased it best when he said, “The job of the newspaper is to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable.” Secondly, can anyone please tell me, in the name of all that is holy, where among these different news values does it say that I have to respect the wishes of the emperor and empress? Because, as far as I can recall, we were never taught this in journalism class. Yes, we have to be courteous and polite but it was drilled into our heads that we must never be in awe of anyone lest we become fearful and hesitant in asking the hard questions.

Which I think is the reason some questions were raised over the front-page treatment of the Korean story. People here are so honored, so in awe of the imperial visit, that they couldn’t wait to fall down and weep at the honor being brought to the islands. They bought the CNMI and Japanese government’s hype hook, line, and sinker that they personally felt affronted that some group is trying to rock the boat. And, instead of directing their anger at the group who is making all the noise, lashed out at the messenger instead. Cliché as it may sound, I assure readers that the choice of the story for the front page is nothing personal. Based on the stories available on that particular day, the Korean story was the most significant, the one with the most impact, and the one with the highest currency.

There are still other aspects that influence the placement of a story (editorial policy; corporate interests of the newspaper; the time when a story breaks: if it happens too close to the deadline, then the front page may already be finished, so it gets pushed to the inside page, even if it is a significant story; nothing big happens on a specific day so you get so-so front page stories the next day, etc.) but, by and large, the most important factor that determines the placement of stories on the Saipan Tribune are the news values and we make it a point to evaluate stories as much as possible based on those values alone.

This is why, when some people call me up asking me or my publisher to place their stories on the front page, I always give a noncommittal reply, even if I already know that their story is actually significant and can be considered banner material. This is because, at the end of the day, something might come up that is actually bigger and more significant, which would result in their story getting pushed down. At the end of the day, I have to look at all the stories I have and evaluate them as impartially as possible—using the news values alone to guide me—to come up with the banner story.