Week 9: News Values

News values are general guidelines or criteria that determine the worth of a news story and how much prominence it is given by newspapers or broadcast media.  They are fundamental to understanding news production and the choices that editors and other journalists face when deciding that one bit of information is news while another is not. (Owen Spencer-Thomas)

"If it bleeds, it leads!"
Well that is true. I would rather read about a some sort of violence that happened somewhere rather than read about an old lady that used to play bowls but she hurt her arm and can no longer play (that was off the top of my head. I seriously couldn't think of anything else).
I get news values, I do. I get that you have to prioritise all the crazy stuff that happens in this world and try to present it in an organised way that makes it easy for a reader or the audience. But what I don't understand is "if it's local, it leads." I don't get that one. I read one of the local newspapers, ages ago now, on the Sunshine Coast (when they still existed) and the front page was about someone local doing something-or-other either for someone or they did something worth mentioning and then on page 15 there was an article about 100 words long about the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Now that confused me a lot. How is that local person more important than the oil spill that was making international news? Different news values indeed.
Bring on the blood and guts and misery of the world. That is what I want to know about. That is what I think is important and that is what I think that people should be reading.
I think that only reading reading local things can limit you. I think that everybody should strive to be a global citizen. Think globally but act locally...