(WAGGLES TONGUE RAPIDLY)
Mah! Mah! Mah! Mah!
The tip of the tongue. The tip...
Susan, we talked about the bronzer.
One minute.
Have you ever wondered what makes news news?
Who is she talking to?
I mean, things are happening all around us all the time.
So why do we hear about some things and not others?
Final checks!
Five, four, three, two...
Coming up tonight,
Melbourne cyclist has a pleasant ride to work.
Sydney woman forgets to put her bins out
but she says they weren't full anyway.
(CHEERING)
And Walkerville Primary basketball team
wins a game against another team.
But first to our main story.
An Australian politician seems to be doing a pretty good job.
Three, two, one, cue...
Roll tape.
What's in the news will always depend on
who's reporting it and who's consuming it.
For example, is it science news, national news or kids news?
But you'll find news stories often have some things in common.
They're known as news values
and they include things like timeliness.
That's the whole 'new' bit in news.
It means we're much more likely to care about something
if it just happened.
Thanks for that, Tiffany.
In other news, a house in Olive Grove has been destroyed by fire.
Patricia Norman is live at the scene.
Thanks, Burt.
I'm standing outside the residence
that was completely destroyed by a fire
which began at 5am five years ago.
As you can see, the owners have completely rebuilt
and it's looking pretty good really.
I hear there's a pool out the back.
But at the time, let me tell you, it was...it was a real mess.
And...back to you in the studio.
While it's pretty obvious why we'd want news stories to be new,
if you think about it, that whole timeliness thing
can mean we miss out on important stories
just because they aren't new anymore,
or because they happen slowly.
So, I've got this story for you.
Temperatures are apparently going up all over the place.
They're calling it global warming.
Global warming? (SCOFFS) That's never going to be a news story.
Another common news value is oddity or unusualness.
There's an old saying about this one involving men and dogs.
(GROWLS)
It goes, if a dog bites a man, it's not news.
But if a man bites a dog,
well, that is news.
That's because, generally speaking,
a dog biting a person isn't that unusual
so it's not that newsworthy,
unless, of course, that person's being mauled to death
or they're famous.
Nah.
Whereas, a man biting a dog, well, people don't usually do that.
It's weird and it's probably illegal.
Ned, what are you doing?
The news is full of unusual things
and that can affect the way we see the world.
After a while,
it can feel like unusual things are happening all the time
when actually they are by definition unusual.
Come here.
Things are more likely to make the news if they're high impact.
That means they affect a lot of people.
Oh, you're kidding me!
For example, the power going out at Simmo's house, not much impact there.
But the power going out across an entire state,
well, that's definitely news.
G'day, g'day.
Proximity means were more likely to care about something
if it happens in our own backyard.
Are you alright, mate?
All good, mate. Come on over.
It means we're more likely to hear about something close to home
like, say, a factory fire in Melbourne
rather than one in Manila.
Yeah, I heard about that one. That was terrible.
It's also why something like a car crash in Australia
might get more coverage than a train crash in India,
even though the train crash affects more people.
So, what are you doing this weekend?
Well, my friend bought me a tandem bike for Christmas.
Oh, really. I'm Johnny from next door.
How are you doing? Nice to meet you.
Proximity can also mean cultural proximity.
That is, how close we feel to the people involved or affected.
So, I know in the UK you call these grills, mate.
We call them barbies.
And these aren't sausages, they're snags, right?
You might have noticed that here in Australia
we tend to hear a lot about what's happening in the US...
(AMERICAN ACCENT) Hey. How are ya?
..and the UK.
(BRITISH ACCENT) Oh, hello there.
That's partly because a lot of Australians feel like the US and UK
are culturally similar to us.
We love to barbecue corn in America.
We share a language
and we watch a lot of British and American movies and TV shows.
I knew we would find common ground.
So, people are more likely to want to know about
what's happening in these countries.
But focusing on news from places
we're culturally or geographically close to
isn't necessarily a good thing.
After all, Australia is a pretty multicultural place
and a lot of Aussies don't actually share a cultural history
with the US or UK.
Knowing what's happening in other countries
can be a really good thing.
It can give us a sense of perspective
and make us more informed about the world around us.
Plus, when we know more about other places and other people
we're much more likely to care about them.
Sausage?
Oh, my God! Is that Amelia Moseley from BTN?
Oh, my God. Is that Amelia? (GASPS)
Amelia? Amelia?
Can we get a photo with you, please? Just a quick one.
As you might have noticed, the news media loves famous people.
Famous movie stars, famous politicians, business people,
or even famous reporters.
Amelia, can I please get your autograph?
Sure.
This sort of thing is actually pretty ingrained in human nature.
Long before we had Kardashians,
people would follow the lives of monarchs, religious figures
or other well-known members of society.
That could be because we want to be like people in power
or just because we want to feel connected.
Oh, my God, you're even prettier in real life.
But that doesn't mean the news can end up reporting on things
that, well, shouldn't really be news.
(THUD!)
Oh. I'm OK. I'm OK.
I'm fine...
It's going to be the fight of the century,
two of boxing's greatest rivals!
Who will win?
Another thing the news media loves is a good fight.
Introducing on my left, Billy the Bone Crusher!
Bonecrusher. Yes!
Introducing on my right,
Simon the Rookie.
Hi, Mum.
News stories often feature some kind of conflict,
whether it's between unions and bosses,
rival politicians,
environmentalists and developers
or, you know, sports people.
You see that? He just flinched.
I'm gonna wipe the floor with his tiny shorts.
I'm the greatest athlete in the world.
Waste of my time. I'm the best.
It's easy to see why.
I mean, it's kind of fun to barrack for a side.
But sometimes these conflicts can be exaggerated.
So, look, I'm probably not going to win this fight.
I mean, I'm not even that good at this.
Look at me. Look at him.
You know how we went to the mall on Saturday?
Did you end up getting that gorgeous lace white jacket?
Mm-hm. The shoulder pads. Yeah, with the shoulder pads.
Yeah, the strong look, yes. I loved it.
G'day, ladies. How was your weekend?
Oh, hi. Yeah, mine was really good, actually. I went on a date.
Ooh, tell me about it. Uh, well, we went..
Let's face it, if the news were a person
he'd be kind of depressing to be around.
Three people were murdered yesterday.
My God, that's awful.
A study's found you won't live as long as your parents.
That's a bit of a downer.
Did I tell you about Tobias?
East Africa is in the grip of famine.
The world is inching ever closer to nuclear war.
(WHISTLES)
It's not just that journalists are a morbid bunch.
Studies show that we're actually more likely to pay attention
to bad news than to good news,
and that could have something to do with the way we respond to threats.
(THUD!)
Be careful.
That's dangerous.
It might be that we remember bad news
because it's a warning about possible dangers in the world,
although social media could be changing things.
So while he was sick in hospital,
all of his favourite movie stars came and visited him.
In the same way we tend to prefer happy friends,
we tend to share more good news stories on social media.
Then they find the cat after 10 years.
I reckon I saw that too.
In fact, studies have shown positive news stories
spread further and more quickly than negative ones.
While that could be a positive thing,
don't forget bad news is often really important news
while good news sometimes isn't.
I'm just so happy to have Fluffy back after 10 long years.
Although he has changed colour a bit.
Back to Burt in three...
..two...one...
Cue.
A riveting and emotional piece there.
And just to follow up...
Remember, there are no real rules about what's news and what isn't.
But it's good to think about why you're being told about something
and how it might be shaping your view of the world.
Well, that's the news for tonight.
I'm Burt Rockwell. See you next time.
Susan, this bronzer is awful.
You'll never work in this town again.
What?
What do you mean, my mike's still on?
Oh, sh...
Captions by Red Bee Media
Copyright Australian Broadcasting Corporation