Determinants Of News Selection: A Study Of The Daily Graphic

Abstract

The study was designed and carried out to find out the criteria that govern the selection of news at the Daily Graphic. The study focused particularly on the front page news. The study was also intended to assess what informs the choice of certain news items over others and why some news items are presented prominently on the front page over others. Three methods were used in this study: a survey, content analysis and in-depth interviews. Seventy-two editions of the Daily Graphic and in all, 202 news items were content analysed. The study found that although news values is vital in news selectivity, the Daily Graphic did not use news values as the sole criterion for news selection. What is important is whether a particular news story was in the interest of the general public and that it had a high range. That is to say, such a news story affected the majority of Ghanaians.