2
News Events, News Values and Editors’ Judgments: A Comparative Study of Three
Asian News Agencies
Introduction
At the start of the new millennium we are experiencing tremendous transformations in
the communication infrastructure worldwide. Never before has the flood (or overflood, if
you will) of information been able to travel to so many in such vast proportions at such a
great speed. The dazzling technological improvements notwithstanding, many of the
basic problems with the collection, presentation and dissemination of a particular kind of
information called ‘news’ essentially remain unsolved.
As part of the tradition of mass communication research, what news and how this
news is presented – or not presented – to the local and global audience is of special
significance in understanding the dynamics of the reality-construction process by the
mass media. This issue is no less serious today than it was yesterday in spite of the
changed environment. Faster speed, greater quantity and easier access should not blind us
to the mediated nature of the newsmaking process.
On the one hand, the improved means to deliver news has created the need for
ever more information both for the media to fill in an increasing array of news holes
around the clock and for the audience to understand a world growing in complexity; on
the other hand, the rising expenses involved in the production of news and the business
model of mass media operations have led to sustained cuts among major news
organizations in the number of staff reporters stationed in localities where news events
may occur. The result is the heavy reliance by most mass media on a few influential news
Convention