According to Barak (1994), Gans said news is "what this society tells about itself" (p. 9) and "information which is transmitted from sources to audiences, with journalists-who are both employees of bureaucratic commercial organizations and members of a profession-summarizing, refining, and altering what becomes available to them from sources in order to make the information suitable for their audiences" (p.9). Two types of stories are "disorder news" or those that "reports threats to various kinds of order" and the steps taken against this, and two, routine activities and selection of new officials; both "reproduce the dominant social order" (p.9). There are four types of disorder news: 1)natural, 2) technological; 3) social and 4) moral. Social disorder stories usually include violence or threat of violence against life or property, and moral stories are about crossing laws or mores (i.e., gay marriage) (p.9).
References:
Barak, G. (1994). “Media, society, and criminology.” In G. Barak (Ed.), Media, process, and the social construction of crime: Studies in newsmaking criminology. 3-45. Garland Publishing: New York.