What is news : a study of the news judgement of journalists, readers and newsmakers of The Straits Times.

• Main Author: Tan, Jason Choon Chin.
• Other Authors: Hao Xiaoming
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: 2009
• Subjects: DRNTU::Social sciences::Journalism
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10356/14787
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

What is the function of news and what is the role of those who write for these public and commercial forums? Koch (1991) said news is the means by which a society chooses its own reflection and simultaneously, a culture's bulwark against the chaos of the world. As a socially constructed reality, news has a history of development that manifests a pattern of adjustment and change closely linked to the events in its community, he said. But there are many forms of news. This brings up further pressing questions. What qualifies as important or attention-grabbing news? Do media professionals always make the right decisions when they select news stories for publication? What happens if they make the wrong decisions? Who are the judges: readers and newsmakers? What happens if what people want to read or know is not what the newspaper editors deem newsworthy? This study will not attempt to answer all these questions, for that would be a futile effort. Rather, I will examine the difference in the news judgement of journalists, newsmakers and readers of a newspaper. In this case, it is Singapore's 153-year-old national newspaper of record, The Straits Times.