Hard News Is Personalized, about Individuals
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by: Linxiaohong
Hard news is the report of an event that happened or that was disclosed within the previous twenty-four hours and treats an issue of ongoing concern. The crime story is the model for hard news. A violent crime (murder, armed robbery, rape) is an event, a de-finable happening. It occurs between individuals (perpetrator and victim). It is dramatic, conflict-filled, and involves extreme physical Omega Replica Watches action and emotional intensity. It disrupts legitimate order and threatens the community. Ordinarily, what happened can be told in a short, simple story, and information about the event can be verified by official sources such as the police or the district attorney. The crime scene (or its effects) is usually visual, is easily reduced to tape or photograph, and is part of the regular beat of a reporter.
A typical crime has all the qualities of a newsworthy event: it is personalized¡ªit happened to specific individuals; dramatic, conflict-filled, controversial, violent; actual and concrete, not theoretical or abstract; novel or deviant; and linked to issues of ongoing concern to the news media. These characteristics reflect the qualities of mass media messages discussed in Chapter 1.
Mass media news must be accessible to, and interesting for, a diverse mass audience. Consequently, news stories must be clear, simple, and attention-getting. Hard news is personalized and individualized because such stories create wide audience identification. We care more about the reactions of a tornado victim than about statistics on the force of the wind, and we are eager to see the person who faced down the tank in Tiananmen Square. The human connection allows us to imagine ourselves in the situation or to create meaning out of what is puzzling and complex. Unlike stories about destruction of the ozone layer or the spread of nuclear weapons, stories about individuals have causes and consequences on a manageable scale. Individuals can act or speak in a time span that fits into a news story, and it is easier to visualize a person than an idea, a process, or a structure.
An interview can personify an abstract idea or clothe an idea in living flesh. So, for example, as former MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour anchor Robert MacNeil noted, "In Somalia, it was not merely the pictures that wrung the hearts of the public. The pictures were made more eloquent by the words of Audrey Replica Omega Hepburn of UNICEF and Mary Robinson of Northern Ireland."2 The personal and individual character of hard news reflects the use of interviews and human sources as the bases for the research underlying most news stories.
Interviews not only personalize but also allow reporters to draw on the expertise of others, an important advantage for reporters who are usually generalists, not specialists. The news is personalized and individualized by heavy coverage of the president; of congressional leaders; of the wealthy, powerful, and prestigious; and of sports, stage, screen, and fashion celebrities. These are the "stars" of the news that, like the star hired to lure us to a film, are intended to draw the mass audience to the news channel.
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