Abstract
This article discusses the criteria that govern the selection of news in the print media (in Ghana). The article focused particularly on the front page news of the Daily Graphic. The study also assesses what informs the choice of certain news items over others and why some news items are presented prominently on the front page over others. Three methods were used in this study: a survey, content analysis and in-depth interviews. Seventy-two editions of the Daily Graphic and in all, 202 news items were content analysed. The study found that although news values are vital in news selectivity, the Daily Graphic does not use news values as the sole criterion for news selection. What is important is whether a particular news story is in the interest of the public and that it has a high range. Thus, the consequence of such a news story affects the majority of Ghanaians. The finding also suggest that news values as criteria for news selection by the media in the West and replicated by African media should be given a second look.
Highlights
News selection has always been an integral part of communication research
It is necessary to note that the study intended to examine what determines news selection at the Daily Graphic especially in the face of so many news stories that come up each day
Even the editors’ disclosure that the lead news need not have the highest number of news values but rather it should be of public interest and contributes to national development is a clear indication that news stories about politics will be selected as lead news since they usually affect the generality of the Ghanaian populace
Summary
News selection has always been an integral part of communication research. While it seems to be beyond dispute that selection has to take place in order to reduce the complexity of the process of collecting and assembling of news for distribution, ‘the criteria for the process are subject of a continuing debate’ (Eilders, 1996: 1). Media and communication scholars and practitioners concede that the news stories which are eventually broadcast or published go through a gatekeeping process during which journalists; copy readers and editors assess their newsworthiness using news values. During this process, Shoemaker (1991: 2) says that the news gates which are different decision-making points in a communication channel open, close or are left ajar for certain news items. Kunczik (1988) traces the history of gatekeeping in terms of news values or criteria by which news is selected. Kunczik concludes that in 1676 Christian Weise advocated news values selection based on strict differentiation between truth and falsehood
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