There are many theories on how and why people consume news, and there are various models of journalism. The Mirror Model, for example, claims that news should reflect reality. The Organizational Model, also called the Bargaining Model, argues that news represents the ideological biases of people, and various political pressures. It can be difficult to know which model is right for a given circumstance, but there are a few general principles that should guide news-making.
First, news must be important and interesting. It should have a significant impact on readers’ lives. Otherwise, it is not news. This process is called journalistic selection. It is similar to how you choose what you’ll see on TV or in the paper. Ultimately, if something doesn’t have a large impact on the readership, it’s not news.
Second, the news story must be new and unusual. It also needs to be a significant event. People are most interested in news stories that concern people or something that affects them. For instance, a coup in your own country is likely to be big news. However, a coup in a neighboring country might have little impact on your own country.
In addition to the theory of news selection, there are other models of news selection and value. A functional model of news selection argues that news selection and treatment are dependent on the outcomes of the news. These models argue that news values are biased in favor of powerful elites. They also argue that the values of news vary according to the medium.