What Is News? Audiences May Have Their Own Ideas

Abstract

This study examines what young adults consider to be news, comparing that with traditional news values as espoused by journalists and taught in journalism schools. Employing an online survey, we compared those views with the participants' assessment of whether 42 headlines are “news.” Findings indicated that traditional values of prominence, impact, and controversy were important to participants but that timeliness and proximity were less so. Opinion also emerged as a value.