Assess the processes of the selection and presentation of the modern news:

The news and media has become more modern in the 21st century. People are now able to discuss and dictate over social media, about the type of news that is shown. Sociologist argue that the news has a process of selecting relevant news stories, stories that will develop interest and stories that will create a moral panic. As modernity rapidly increases, the amount of different news stories we see is quite vast. There are many news channels which influence many different people. News values, power relationships, social construction and agenda setting are some of the main topics I will discuss throughout my essay.

The news has many factors influencing it's style and presentation. It could also be argued that the news reader is often portrayed as ‘friendly’ and ‘reassuring’ towards the news stories. However, this may be seen as fake by some of the audience. The truth of the news is being covered up by the persona of the news reader. As McQuail suggests, the news is often selective and they could contribute different people and personalities for different stories; i.e. a news reader of a black ethnicity, to talk about a black ethnic-related news story. The impact of costs, technology and competition are key factors in which news channels have to put up with to broadcast the best news stories. Investigative journalism is very expensive, a journalist located in every corner of the world is not possible, and this could be why we see news broadcasts from similar places, the channels cannot afford to place journalists in certain areas that may have no news content. This may then lead onto 'churnalism'; when news stories are produced by most popular news stations, I.e.- the BBC, SKY or ITV news. This could be following a common news article, such as a celebrity wedding, or a tragic death. We could gather from this that the news is a social construction – it picks what is popular and will gain money from audiences. Profit is a motive for news broadcasters, they want to choose stories that will generate interest by being viewed – Whale – the editors respond to the needs of the consumers. On the other hand, the new media is giving people more choice on what they choose to view. The audiences choose stories and channels they think will benefit themselves; Pluralists focus on the needs of the audience for selecting news items. I.e. if people wanted to hear news items about celebrities, they would find stories about celebrities. Feminists argue that the news programmes we select reflect our materialistic values, and shape how we portray our identities to society. I believe that the new media has increased the amount of availability for news stories, and people can choose what suits them the most. The underlying factors that shape the news are all relevant, cost and profit being the two that the stations will watch constantly, these topics can be affected by media trends, news anchors and especially the new media and developing technology.

Technology has inevitably changed the way we view and discuss the news. The modernisation and digitalisation of our society has meant that news is constantly at our fingertips. Through social media such as Twitter, Facebook and YouTube, we can see how many people now choose to discuss the news in groups and societies online. This could become a target for news broadcasts, the attraction and interest of news through social