The Universal News Drivers
Lesson 4:3
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There are 10 Universal News Drivers
The “news value” of a given piece of information is not governed by precise calculations. But if it falls into these categories, it has a higher likelihood of going viral or becoming a big story.
Really big stories tend to fall in several categories.
We call these News Drivers. These are more nuanced expressions of our primal need for information that Alerts, Diverts, and Connects us.
Here is how we define each driver. You can assume that surrounding all of these is the human demand for information about what is happening NOW. That’s why it’s called “NEWs.”
Importance
Importance
Stories such as those on long standing wars or international outbreaks of disease are deemed important for the public to know as it could have direct implications on their lives right at that point in time.
Prominence
Prominence
A public figure of some sort is involved. That public figure could be a politician, or an entertainer. The fact that many know who this person is makes news about them something that draws the audience in.
Human Interest
Human Interest
A unique or universal experience explores the human condition.These are usually stories of the everyday man/woman who is caught up in a situation that most of the audience can relate or empathize with.
Conflict
Conflict
Clashes of people, institutions or ideas. Just like we mentioned with wars in the "importance" driver, conflicts between political parties are constantly in the news.
Change
Change
For good or ill, the world has changed. This is denoted by the fact that a belief, a law, or scientific discovery has changed the "face" of the nation.
Proximity
Proximity
A major driver in local news broadcasts and publications, this refers to news that happens in an area near the audience.
Timeliness
Timeliness
Anniversaries or holidays or deadlines, the calendar is the crucial context of these stories. Remember the time you saw that story about Santa Claus delivering gifts to kids in the hospital? You saw that in December, not July (usually...).
Magnitude
Magnitude
Numbers are the essence of this story. We've heard that this was the coldest winter on record -- or was it? How did it compare to previous winters? These kinds of stories deal in numbers.
Relevance
Relevance
A story with wide impact. In this case, we think about the audience. If you're talking to college students, word that interest rates on new college loans are going up may be on the front page, since it will impact many of them.
Unusualness
Unusualness
Peculiarity– news that alerts and diverts. We use the example that "dog bites man" is usual, but man bites dog is unusual, and it becomes the story.
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