What is Newsworthy?

Just recently, I was acquainted with Noam Chomsky’s Manufacturing Consent for the first time, and I have to admit that I was very intrigued by his theories and musings. In his first chapter, Chomsky introduces the idea of a Propaganda Model, describing in detail the five filters our news articles must go through until they are ready for print. These filters include:

1. The size, concentrated ownership, owner wealth, and profit orientation of the dominant mass media firms

2. Advertising as the primary income source of the mass-media

3. The reliance of the media on info provided by government business, and “experts” funded by these primary sources and agents of power

4. Flak as means of disciplining the media

5. Antiterrorism as a national religion and control mechanism. 

Once a story successively advances past all of the filters described above, the cleansed residue that is considered newsworthy is finally ready for print.

                                                                       http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/20/world/asia/20dinner.html?hp

With that idea in mind, I took a routine look at both the New York Times and MSNBC online, and noticed the headlines to be almost exactly the same. One of the three main articles at both tops of the pages included the story on Obama’s “Jazzy” State Dinner held for President Hu Jintao of China. While one article focused on the importance of and reasoning for President Hu’s attendance as well as the esteemed guest list, which included a vast number of business leaders in America, the other was centered primarily on the glamour and grandeur of the event itself. Clearly, the two different sources have conflicting views on what they consider “newsworthy” pieces and stories. However, I can see how the two articles can be equally as important as the other.

In the Times article, the focus is centered around the premier guest list of business, political, and world leaders, influencing the reader to focus more intently on the importance and commercial value of President Hu’s attendance. This sort of scope tells us, the readers, that the business aspect mentioned above is what is most important right now. However, the MSNBC article saw things quite differently as the news source seemed mostly concerned by the “American” venue itself, expanding on the décor, seating arrangements, entertainment, and even the menu. Unlike the content of the afore-mentioned article, the MSNBC source seemed to be deemed “newsworthy” in order to enhance publicity around the event by drawing on something close to home for most readers: the idea of a dinner party.