News Values And Rhetorics

Formative Assessment 2- News Values and Rhetorics

Looking at the front page of a daily newspaper, provides with an interesting insight into how news values play a role in the selection of stories by the editors. News Values are the attributes that decide why particular stories are given prominence. Johan Galtung and Mari Homboe Ruge made the very first attempt of providing certain guidelines, which will make a news story potentially newsworthy (Briggs and Cobley, 2002, p. 428). They identified eleven such news values, which were later revised and added to by Tony Harcup and Deirdre O’Neill (Briggs and Cobley, 2002, p. 428).

According to Palmer, News Values are the criteria that journalists use when deciding what to report and what not

This article follows the news about the Charlie Hebdo attacks that shook Paris. The world, still surrounded by the darkness of the attacks, easily swallowed this follow up article. “…an event may be considered newsworthy because of its likely consequences, and may remain newsworthy overtime because of the way in which news attention can focus upon the unravelling of these consequences- Galtung and Ruge’s continuity” (Briggs and Cobley, 2002, p. 430). Paris attacks received a lot of coverage, it still being fresh in people’s mind and the fact that the rally was in process, offers strength to this

The headline itself starts off with a pun; was stated before. Even the first line taunts the president with a not so funny pun when it reads, Barack Obama n’est pas Charlie — or at least, he wasn’t this weekend. It also taunts the officials saying, “It’s a poster child for tone defenseless” (Politico, 2015).

The next rhetorical device used is, Allusion; which is reference to other ideas, places, people or texts. The article refers to the rally; “of don’t look for the president or vice president among the photos of 44 heads of state who locked arms and marched down Boulevard Voltaire in Paris” (Politico, 2015).

Alliterations, which is the repetition of the first letter of several words in a sentence like, “Oval Office”, “Demonstration in DC” is also a tool to make an article interesting and effective (Politico, 2015).

Lastly Metaphors are used for comparing US’s decision to a deaf poster child (Politico, 2015).

Though not many rhetorical devices are used, the article is captivating and so it manages to attract an audience. Thus the news story is deemed