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 SESSION B. 2 (a) : TRAINER'S NOTES
 
SPINNING THE NEWS
 
OBJECTIVES:
·        To reflect on the main sources of news arriving in newsrooms.
·        To decide if a hegemonic influence exists, and what to do about it, if it does.
 
What is news? Most of us listen to, view and read news each day, and to some extent this leads us to treat it indifferently, assuming that we know what news is.

This is referred to as the 'Agenda' aspect of the media. An agenda is a list of items at a meeting, usually drawn up by the chair or secretary, which have the power to arrange them in order of importance. Terms such as 'hidden agenda' and 'agenda setting' in relation to news suggests those in control of news are exercising such powers covertly.

News contributes to this dynamic by continuously endorsing the 'common-sense', majority worldview, which is further consolidated by current affairs and documentary teams.

Most journalists would say that their main professional ideal is the achievement of Objectivity, an ideal which some would call an 'occupational ideology'.

To which Community broadcasters can observe, that the human mind is not programmed to be objective, journalists are human, and even a cursory review of any news bulletin would reveal its subjective nature. This is the situation as the emerging community media finds it.

What can we do to devise honestly subjective reporting that will benefit the citizens?
This is an immense subject, requiring significant study in order to disabuse journalist of this pompous notion of objectivity. In relation to the exercises in this workshop, we can concentrate on just one aspect of the topic: the reliance on press releases as a significant source of information for news programmes.
 
MATERIALS:
 
Press Releases from newsroom.
Writing paper, pens

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