Consequence/Impact/Significance/Magnitude

How many people an event or idea affects and how seriously it affects them determine its importance as news, as well as the extent to which the information may be useful.  Again, an item or event may give rise to thought not because of itself but because of its probable consequences – its significance. Human Interest Interest in human beings and events because they concern men and women in situations that might confront anyone else, is called human interest.  In a general way, human-interest stories might be defined as those stories that arouse an emotion in the reader/ listener/ viewer and evoke emotional response. Novelty This sounds like human interest but shows some differences. The unusual makes news. The bizarre makes news too. Remember the-manbite-dog principle. The principle applies here. The first flight to the moon was big news, so was Sandra Day O’ Connor’s appointment as the first woman Justice of the United States Supreme Court. The day a female becomes the Vice President of the US it will be the biggest news around the globe. “Firsts,” “Lasts,” and “Only” have always been newsworthy. So also are stories of freak occurrences and scientific or pseudoscientific phenomena. Conflict Nearly every story on each of our front pages is a report of conflict.  Conflict is a central feature of most news. Sometimes it is physical, as in wars or sports.  Sometimes it is more subtle and sophisticated like political conflictsNecessity The seven earlier discussed news values involve people, events and situations that call out for coverage. The value of necessity is, however, the journalist’s making (Mencher, 2010). According to the Mencher (2010), the journalist has discovered something he or she feels it is necessary to disclose. The essential element here is that the journalist considers a situation to be something everyone should know about and usually it is a situation that needs to be exposed and remedied