Newsworthiness -The Psychology of News

We often tout the phrase, "make sure it's newsworthy!". But what is newsworthiness?

Frankly, there's no one way to make a story newsworthy. But there are lots of different ways to consider.

Here's one example of someone who's done just that:

As you're aware, anti-war protests have erupted around the nation. There are so many, that some news organizations have decided that unless the protest is local or has 100,000 people or more, it won't be covered.

So, the biggest organized protests get the coverage while the small protests get nothing, right? Not always.

This past week a small protest took place in which several women went topless to protest the war. Their theme was something about baring their arms to prevent the US from bearing theirs (a fairly weak connection, I must add). But did it make the news? You better believe it! Here's why...

Shock value!

Believe it or not, part of what makes a news story "newsworthy is it's ability to entertain. After all, when it comes right down to the essence - ratings are what drive the media business, not the desire to communicate the news.

So one of the key learnings for most PR people, who probably don't represent organizations who consistently produce information that's newsworthy on its own, is to consciously step back and consider how to make a story more newsworthy. One key way to do that is through adding an element of entertainment value, or said another way, to add some element that will cause the media outlet's ratings to increase as a result of airing your particular story.

For example, consider many of the socialites like Paris Hilton, heiress of the Hilton Hotel fortune. She has steadily made herself famous, not for having done anything worthwhile, but because she keeps doing things that attract media attention.

She does things like dating Leonardo DiCaprio, showing up on every worthwhile red carpet in the world, and having regular vicious fights with high-profile people in public places.

In essence she's becoming famous because...well...because she's famous!

I'm not saying to make things up, I don't believe you start doing everything topless and throwing food, and I'm certainly not suggesting that you do anything illegal or unethical just to add a news element.

I'm also not suggesting that shock value is the only way to generate newsworthiness. In fact, it's a tool that you can only use ocassionally before it stops working. But I am suggesting that you do make this a conscious part of every PR decision. You'll get more attention as a result.

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Tags: Publicity