Having trouble getting your articles published? Make your pitches more successful with these News Values.
As a freelance writer starting out, it’s not always easy to get your stories out there. Polite (or not so polite) “no thank you”s from the editor, or even worse, getting no response at all can wear you down. But what if you knew what the editor was looking for?
Writers use their gut feeling
Experienced journalists often say they “just know” when an article is newsworthy. According to journalism experts, editors and writers operate on gut feelings to decide which of the hundreds of available stories each day will get published. Well, if editors make decisions based on vague intuition, how does that help us? Luckily, these journalistic instincts have a pattern.
In 1965, two Norweigan social scientists set out to understand the mostly unconscious and very much instinctual practice of journalistic gatekeeping. Their question: is there a guide for what events end up in the news? What they found, they called News Values - a set of rules that dictate the qualities of a newsworthy story.
Refined since the original study, the News Values are (in no particular order):
The power elite
Articles about influential people or organisations.
Celebrity
Stories about people already in the spotlight.
Entertainment
“Soft news” articles concerning people’s love lives, animals, or entertaining/lighthearted dramas.
Surprise
Stories with an unexpected twist.
Bad news
Articles featuring tragic events.
Good news
Stories featuring positive events.
Magnitude
Articles involving large numbers of people, or events with a large impact.
Relevance
Stories featuring events that are especially relevant/important to the audience, e.g. stories with a local impact.
Follow-up
Articles that add more information to events already in the news.
Newspaper agenda
Articles that reinforce or align with the newspaper’s agenda, e.g., publishing news articles with a bias towards a particular political party.
Modern news values for journalists
Updated studies of successful news stories have also added these values:
Exclusivity
If you’re the first or only one to get ahold of a news story, your article will have a better chance of being published.
Audio-visuals
Articles featuring dramatic or sensational images or recordings are considered very newsworthy.
Shareability
The potential to be widely shared on social media is a strong prerequisite for newsworthiness in modern journalism. In the words of former Guardian US editor Janine Gibson, “stuff that makes you laugh and stuff that makes you angry” performs best on social media.
How News Values can improve your writing success
To give your next story the best chance of getting published, think about how many News Values it could feature. Even on an unconscious level, editors skimming dozens of pitches a day will be looking for stories that show these aspects. A newsworthy piece should have at least one value, but a truly compelling story will feature at least three.
Ultimately, a successful pitch will be tailored to the style of the publication, and not be a repeat of other stories they have published.
Remember, if in doubt, make like the greatest journalists and go with your gut!