Local News Analysis and News Values - Education Story

I have decided to look at another education story, but this time for local news. This will further help me see if there are any significant differences between the way that national and local stories are presented.

Click on the link below to read the full story about the closure of a secondary school in Hull, which was included in the Humberside section of the regional news on the BBC News website.

Local Education Story

The news values contained in this story include:

The first news value is Immediacy, as it has just been announced that there will be consultation into closing the school in Hull. As with many local news stories Familiarity is important as the story will affect people in the local, regional area of Hull and Humberside, where the school is located.

It could be argued that Amplitude is a factor as the school's closure will affect a relatively large number of people (students and parents) in the local area. It could also be argued that Impact is a factor, as other parents of children at struggling schools may feel threatened that their schools could also be closed.

Predictability is definitely a news value contained in the story as the school has been failing 'year on year', and it is likely that the parents and students expected that the school may have to close - particularly after it was put into special measures and it received a damning Ofsted report. There is also Conflict between Hull City Council, Ofsted and parents regarding the possible decision to close the school. There is Negativity as the school's closure is bad news for the pupils, parents and teachers.

Both  the national and local education stories contain the news value Familiarity - though the audience the stories are likely to affect is different; one is relevant to the whole of the UK while the other only affects people in a smaller, more localised region. This seems to be the major difference that I have noticed between national and local news stories.