Contemporary Organizational & HRM Studies - Example

Heading: Contemporary Organizational & HRM Studies Report Your name: Course name: Professors’ name: Date Introduction Media is one of the most influential tools in the world. This implies that whatever content it has should be newsworthy. With time, reporters, editors, and journalists have tried to invent several ways of determining the newsworthiness of events and stories. These ways are categorized in terms of factors determining whether the news items’ newsworthiness. Some of these factors include prominence, consequences, proximity, timeliness, novelty, and loss of property or life. This essay intends to analyze critically two selected media reports from the internet, which depict crime. It also aims at assessing the newsworthiness of these news items by applying the aforementioned classes of newsworthiness. Therefore, the essay will assume a structure of an introduction; identification of the selected stories; factors, or categories of newsworthiness; critical analysis, and assessment of the selected stories’ newsworthiness, as well as a conclusion. Identification of the selected media stories The essay will analyze the following stories that depict crime: ‘According to Celebrity sex scandals: John Travolta Hollywood's latest victim’ (Vancouver Sun 2012), and ‘China city party chief 'fled with money' (BBC 2012). The first story concerns a sex scandal involving one of the celebrated Hollywood actors, John Travolta. The star is termed as the latest sex scandal victim among the numerous cases facing the Hollywood stars in history. According to the Vancouver Sun (2012), the 58-year old celebrity reportedly defiled a masseur, who sought $2 million for damages in relation to the unfortunate incident that took place on January 16, 2012 in California’s Beverly Hills Hotel. According to the celebrity’s spokesperson, the claim was a baseless lie, and he dismissed it. The report also indicates that Travolta is not the first Hollywood start to face charges of sexual assault. It mentioned some other stars charged with notorious sex cases including Paulina Gretzky, and Ashton Kutcher among others (Vancouver Sun 2012). The second crime story on the internet concerns a chief of a China party who is involved in the theft of lots of money. According to BBC (2012), the report indicates that the victim is a former senior official of a northeast city in China, who is reported to run away from the country with many dollars. The senior official, Wang Guoqiang, formerly a party secretary of Liaoning province’s Fengcheng city fled the US last April in company of his wife. The reports also indicated that the official had been sacked because of the corruption case. In other numerous reports, the amount of money alleged to be stolen was $31.5 million or 200 Yuan. Nevertheless, there was no elaboration on the allegations regarding the embezzlement and transfer of money to United States by the official (BBC 2012). Additionally, the report demonstrates that the a new official, Mayor Ma Yanchuan has taken over the post, while Premier Wen Jiabao termed the scandal as the greatest threat to the rule of Chinese Communist Party. Moreover, the report says that it is unrealistic conceal such an incident, as there are several corruption cases involving senior officials in the country. In fact, it reported that a China’s central bank claimed that corrupt leaders who fled to other countries, especially the United States, had embezzled over $120 billion (BBC 2012). Categories/factors of newsworthiness In order for a story to become newsworthy, there are certain conditions that it should meet in relation to other stories. These factors are discussed as follows: Consequence or impact Normally, a story has a greater newsworthiness if it has a big effect on the intended audience. Incidences that tend to have actual effects on the audiences’ lives are considered as newsworthy. For instance, a story about a terrorist attack on an embassy in a specific country has direct effects on the readers’ lives; hence has great newsworthiness. This, in turn, enables the story to attract a lot of attention from the public, and thus, it will succeed in achieving it objective (Ruigrok 2005). Property destruction and loss of life Rogers (2012) maintains that business news has an ancient saying that anything that bleeds must lead. This implies that any event covered in news that involves human loss, through fire, road accident, plane crush, shooting, or terrorist attack, automatically becomes newsworthy. Similarly, almost every story that entails destruction of personal or public property has a potential of becoming a newsworthy item. For instance, a fire outbreak that largely destroys a learning institution or a commercial building effortlessly qualifies as newsworthy. Several stories involve both the destruction of property, or loss of life occurring simultaneously. For example, a residential building that catches fire leads to deaths and property destruction. Evidently, human death is more vital than destruction of property, as life lost is irreplaceable. Conflict Most of the stories making headlines everyday consist of an element of conflict, in form of social, legal, economic, religious, gender, racial, ethnic, or political conflicts. Since human beings have a natural interest in conflict, conflict apparently becomes newsworthy. In fact, conflict is inevitable in human life, as it acts as a propeller, just like in drama or literature. Members of a society are constantly in various forms of conflicts that help in the advancement of the societal issues. Likewise, in the news industry, successful and attractive news are those containing some element of conflict (Shoemaker 2009). Novelty As Cote, (2003) says, anything that deviates from the normal way of doing things is termed as a novel. This implies something extra ordinary that occurs in the society. People tend to get excited over a novel occurrence in the society. This knowledge has been highly influential in the news industry, as news editors pay attention to such occurrences, and ensure that they feature in every broadcast to meet the needs of the consumers. For instance, an incident involving a man biting a snake in retaliation of its attack consists of novelty. Prominence As Applegate (2011) says, a news story that revolves around famous people like politicians, actors, athletes, footballers, or religious leaders tends to more newsworthy as compared to other stories about ordinary personalities. for instance, is a an ordinary persons gets involved in a accident, there are high chances that the story will not be covered in national news, as it would in the case of a celebrity. Fame may be restricted to a particular region, so that a certain personality could be famous in a particular town, while infamous in another one. Therefore, prominence is applicable on local, global, national levels. Proximity McLaughlin (2010) maintains that this entails the geographical closeness of a particular incident covered in the news to the target viewers or readers. For instance, a terrorist explosion could hit the headlines on a particular hometown, but may not feature in the next town. Similarly, a terrorist attack in Melbourne may be a huge news item in Sydney, but a greatest item for the individuals directly influenced by the attack. Therefore, proximity of an event to the audience is one of the determining factors of newsworthiness. Timeliness According to Wu (2008), effective news business focuses on what takes places on a particular month, week, day, hour, or minute. In terms of newsworthiness, incidences occurring now are usually more newsworthy than those that happened in the past hours, days, or weeks. Additionally, Trepte and Reinecke (2011) assert that timeliness also greatly affects currency, as they constantly fluctuate. This entails news that can have just occurred, but rather have continuing interest on the target audience. For instance, a story about fluctuating oil or gas prices is a news item that has been ongoing for many years, but remains relevant to the audience, just like currency. Exceptional quality This entails the way an incident is uncommon, as compared to other events. For instance, if hundreds of people die because of road accident, it remains a common incident, but if they die because of floods or tsunami, the event is uncommon; hence, of an exceptional quality. Therefore, an incident that has an exceptional quality tends to be more newsworthy as compared to an ordinary event (Rogers 2012). The number of individuals affected or involved As Rogers (2012) asserts, a number of individuals affected or involved in a particular incident determines a newsworthy story. A road accident becomes more newsworthy if it affects 50 people, as compared to an accident involving one person. Likewise, a demonstration involves numerous people; hence, it has a great newsworthiness. Probable future effect An occurrence in a given place becomes newsworthy if it has clear future implications on the reader. For instance, news regarding impeding civil war in the region qualifies as news because it posses future threats on the people. People seem to be attracted to news that has potential effects on their lives, as compared to those that have no future impact on them (Rogers 2012). Human interest Aggarwal (2006) maintains that stories involving human interest are considered as soft news items. Usually, human-interest perspectives may be found in majority of the hard news items. For instance, a kidnap incident can have several human-interest perspectives like parents reuniting with their kidnapped child, or a child meeting her panic-stricken parents and siblings. Thus, most of the newsworthy stories have human-interest that seem to attract huge readership or viewership. Shock value According to Rogers (2012), this involves the cause of a certain news incident, and has a shocking effect on the viewers or readers. For example, a plane crash caused technical problems has little shock value compared to a crash caused by a terrorist attack. Pathos Naturally, people are interested in others’ misfortunes, as they elicit feelings of sorrow, compassion, pity, and sympathy. For instance, a story involving a man who is left alone because the wife and children perished in a road accident qualifies as a news item, or a sexually defiled 11-year old girl sexually defiled by a doctor in hospital. Thus, a story is more newsworthy if it addresses other people’s misfortunes (Rogers 2012). Titillation component A story that concerns sex, and usually featured in news is regarded to have titillation component. Some of the things in the category include latest lawful prostitution in certain countries, or latest fashion in men or women’s swimsuit, and they attract large audiences (Rogers 2012). Critical analysis and assessment of the selected stories’ newsworthiness The newsworthiness of the aforementioned stories can be analyzed and evaluated by use of the above-described categories of newsworthiness. To begin with, the story about the Hollywood star is newsworthy because it meets the prominence element of newsworthiness. A star is a famous person in the film industry, and thus, the featuring of his story in the news. If the sex crime mentioned involved an ordinary person, the story would not have featured in the news. Besides, the crime became news because Hollywood is well known in the world. Similarly, the second story about the China’s party chief is newsworthy because of the element of prominence. As a political leader, he is a famous person in the country; hence, making a big story. Apart from the senior official’s incident of stealing money, there are numerous cases, which are not mentioned in the news because they involve ordinary personalities (Rogers 2012). Secondly, the newsworthiness of the selected stories is determined by the element of timeliness. The story involving the Hollywood actor qualifies as a news item because it is alleged to have occurred early this year. Although the incident did not take place today or last week, it is still ongoing has the case is still in court. This implies that any progress of the case will keep featuring in the news because of the timeliness; hence, qualifying the news item as newsworthy. Likewise, the second story about a Chinese party official’s embezzlement of funds, there is an element of timeliness. The incident happened in April, but it is consistent because of the nature of the case. The event also occurs when the world is experiencing tough economic times; hence, making the story highly attractive. Therefore, the news item is newsworthy on grounds that it meets an element of timeliness (Aggarwal 2006). Thirdly, Trepte and Reinecke (2011) say that newsworthiness of the selected stories can be analyzed and assessed by the element of consequence of the events they present. The story about the Hollywood star is newsworthy because it has serious effects on the industry, company, fans, and his acting career. Such an incident in the industry seriously affects the reputation of Hollywood film industry, as its clients and fans will greatly reduce. Besides, the actor’s reputation will be tainted; hence, a possibility of losing his job, as well as the confidence among the fans and public. Additionally, the incident is likely to have negative effects on the victim of the sexual crime; hence, making it news (Shoemaker 2009). Regarding the second story about the Chinese party official, it fits in the category of consequence. The story is newsworthy because of the grave consequences it has on the official, family, party, and country. Clearly, the official’s criminal offence is newsworthy since it will potentially damage the reputation and image of his career, his party, his family, as well as the country. Moreover, the fact that the incident affects the country’s economy since public money was stolen makes it newsworthy. Besides, the country to which the official is alleged to have fled also stands to suffer a poor reputation of harboring criminals. Fourthly, the aforementioned stories’ newsworthiness can be established by use of an element of the number of individuals involved in the incident. The story about the Hollywood star, John Travolta is worthy to be a news item because it involves several careers of many actors are at stake. This is because such an event has a capacity of ruining the reputation of the whole industry; hence, poor performance. Film fans tend to lose confidence and interest in companies and individuals who are always involved in criminal scandals. In terms of the story relating to Chinese party chief, its newsworthiness is determined by the fact that it involves a several people and entities. For instance, it involves the public, as they lose money; his family because there no job; and the political party because of the damaged reputation. Therefore, the stories are newsworthy because it involves many people (Rogers 2012). Fifthly, Wu (2008) asserts that it is possible to analyze and evaluate a story’s newsworthiness by applying the category of conflict. As mentioned earlier, life is full of conflicting situations. The news about the Hollywood star is has an element of conflict because he denies the charges, while the alleged victim says otherwise. The event became news because of the conflict between the Hollywood star and the masseur (victim). Since, people enjoy reading or hearing about conflicts, the story is termed as newsworthy. With respect to the second story of the China’s party secretary, there is a conflict between the official and the state, regarding fund’s embezzlement. This is influential in capturing the attention of the audiences’ attention (Aggarwal 2006). Sixthly, Ruigrok (2005) argues that the newsworthiness of the above stories can be determined by a factor of proximity. This implies the geographical closeness of the event to the target audience. In the first story concerning the Hollywood celebrity, John Travolta, the event made a huge story in California’s Beverly Hills Hotel because it happened there, as compared to other states in the United States. Moreover, the story is more newsworthy in the United States, as compared to Africa or United Kingdom because of proximity. Similarly, the story of the Chinese party official is newsworthy because of the closeness of the event to the audience. It made a huge story in china because the politician was in country, and because the event took place in China. Therefore, proximity is indispensable in determining the story’s newsworthiness (Wu 2008). The seventh way of assessing and examining the newsworthiness of the stories above is by category of novelty (Rogers 2012). This entails a deviation from a normal course of events, or way of life. For instance, the first story is about a Hollywood actor, who is alleged to have defiled a masseur in one of the hotels in California. Sexual assault is against the norms of any society, especially the United States, and highly condemned by the laws. This event, thus, became news because it is unexpected for anybody, particularly, a Hollywood celebrity to be involved. This is because such celebrities are highly regarded, and considered as role models in the society. On the other hand, the second story involves fund embezzlement by a Chinese party secretary. This incident is against the expectations of the society, and thus becomes a huge news item. Politicians are public figures who are highly respected, and expected to serve as good role models in every society. By embezzling public funds and fleeing to US, the official strays from the societal norms, and thus, making a great news item. The eighth way of analyzing and evaluating the above stories is the possible future influence of the events addressed on the people affected. This implies that a story becomes a great news item if it has a probable future influence on the public or people involved (Wu 2008). For example, the first story about the Hollywood celebrity qualifies as a news item, as it has a potential future effect on various stakeholders. The criminal offence by the celebrity is newsworthy, as it contains a potential future effect on his career life due to tainted reputation. Besides his career life, the event is likely to affect the star’s family and social relationships, as well as other celebrities’ careers. The event is also probable to affect Hollywood negatively because of the damaged image. Correspondingly, the party chief’s story on fund embezzlement is newsworthy because of the potential future effects on his career, life, family party, United States, and the country’s economy. The crime is likely to affect his life, career, and family because of the lost job. He might not get another leadership position via the party. Besides, if the official is found guilty, he will convicted; hence causing distress in the family, and that he might not undertake his other life plans and responsibilities. Moreover, the incident is likely to have negative impact on the country’s economy because of the lost money, which can paralyze other development projects. What is more, it is reported that the official fled to the US, and thus, there is a possibility of that the incident will damage the US reputation in the world for harboring criminals, and this might affect its international relations and economy. Conclusion Without doubt, media is powerful influence on the public. With time, media professionals like journalists and editors have invented ways of determining newsworthiness of any story or event. Some of these factors include timeliness, proximity, prominence, consequence, novelty, pathos, potential future effect, exceptional quality, human interest, and number of individuals involved among others. This essay has used the aforementioned factors to analyze and evaluate the newsworthiness of the two selected stories on crime. Consequently, it is explicit that the stories are newsworthy as they fit in most of the aforementioned categories of newsworthiness described above. Nevertheless, the stories lack the elements that include destruction of property and loss of life, pathos, and shock value, exceptional quality, and titillation component. References Aggarwal, V 2006, Essentials of practical journalism, Concept, New Delhi. Pp. 1-20. Applegate, E 2011, Journalism in the United States: concepts and issues, Lanham, Md: Scarecrow Press. Pp. 48-55. BBC 2012, China city party chief 'fled with money', News China, retrieved on September 6, 2012 from http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-19406886 Cote, AE 2003, Organizing for fire and rescue services: a special edition of the Fire protection handbook, National Fire Protection Association, Quincy, Mass. Pp. 550-555. McLaughlin, M 2010, Communication yearbook, Routledge, London. Pp. 348-355. Ruigrok, N 2005, Journalism of attachment: Dutch newspapers during the Bosnian war, Het Spinhuis, Amsterdam. Pp. 20-30. Rogers, T 2012, What Makes Something Newsworthy? 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