Selection of news | AQA A-Level Sociology
Updated: Aug 31
For Specification 7192
AQA A-Level Sociology | Free Revision Notes
Estimated study time: 75 minutes
News does not simply reproduce everything that happens in society. Decisions are made about which events become news, which are ignored and which receive the greatest attention. This Selection of news A-Level Sociology revision page examines news values, gatekeeping, agenda setting, ownership, commercial pressures, new media and globalisation as influences on news selection. It builds directly on media ownership and control [Media ownership and control], the new media [The new media] and global media [The media and globalisation], before moving on to how selected stories are shaped through news presentation [Presentation of news]. AQA requires students to understand the processes of selection and presentation of news content.
Learning Objectives 🎯
By the end of this revision page, you should be able to:
Define news selection and explain why news can be regarded as socially constructed.
Explain the role of news values, gatekeeping and agenda setting in determining which stories become news.
Analyse how ownership, professional decision-making, organisational pressures and commercial considerations may affect news selection.
Explain how new media and globalisation may change traditional processes of selecting news.
Compare sociological explanations of who has the greatest influence over news content.
Evaluate the extent to which news selection is controlled by powerful media organisations rather than journalists, audiences and new media users.
Revision Notes 📚
Selection of news A-Level Sociology revision: what you need to know
The AQA specification requires students to understand sociological explanations of the processes of selection and presentation of the content of the news.
The two processes are closely connected but should not be confused.
Selection of news concerns which events and issues are chosen for inclusion.
Presentation of news concerns how those selected events and issues are represented to audiences.
This lesson concentrates on selection. The next lesson, presentation of news [Presentation of news], develops what happens after a story has been selected.
News as a social construction
AQA's specimen assessment begins with the important sociological claim that what counts as news is a social construction. It states that media professionals select which stories appear and that a range of factors influence those decisions.
This means that events do not automatically become news simply because they happen.
A selection process takes place:
Events and issues occur.
Potential stories become available to media organisations.
Journalists, editors and other media professionals make choices.
Some stories are selected.
Other possible stories receive less attention or are excluded.
Selected stories become part of the news available to audiences.
News therefore represents a selected version of events, rather than a complete record of everything happening in society.
Why this matters sociologically
Selection involves power.
If some people or organisations have greater influence over which issues receive attention, they may also influence what audiences see as socially important.
Questions about news selection therefore connect directly to:
ownership and control;
ideology;
audience demand;
professional media practices;
new media;
globalisation.
This is why media ownership and control [Media ownership and control] is an important prerequisite for this lesson.
News values
News values are the criteria or judgements used by media professionals when deciding whether an event is suitable for inclusion in the news.
AQA's specimen mark scheme explicitly identifies the role of news values in determining the content of the news as a factor influencing story selection.
News values matter because journalists and editors cannot include every possible story.
Instead, potential stories are judged and prioritised.
The result is that:
event → professional judgement about newsworthiness → selection or rejection
News values therefore help explain why some events receive extensive coverage while others receive little or none.
News values are not necessarily identical everywhere
AQA's specimen mark scheme recognises that news values may vary between different kinds of media organisation.
Different organisations may serve different audiences and operate in different ways.
This means there is no requirement for every media organisation to select exactly the same stories.
Evaluation
News values explain professional decisions, but they do not tell us where those values come from.
Sociologists can therefore ask whether news values reflect:
professional routines;
audience expectations;
commercial pressures;
assumptions held by media professionals;
the interests of media owners.
This opens the debate between pluralist and Marxist explanations of news selection.
Gatekeeping
Gatekeeping describes the process through which individuals or organisations decide which potential information is allowed into media content.
AQA's specimen mark scheme explicitly recognises owners and journalists acting as gatekeepers as an influence on news selection.
A gatekeeper effectively decides whether a possible story passes through the "gate" into the news.
Gatekeeping can be carried out by:
journalists;
editors;
owners and controllers;
media organisations.
The process can be represented as:
many potential stories → gatekeeping decisions → smaller number of selected stories → audience
Why gatekeeping is powerful
Audiences cannot respond to a story through a particular news source if that organisation never selects it in the first place.
Gatekeeping therefore affects the range of information available.
This means media power may operate before audiences even encounter the finished news.
Gatekeeping and ownership
Gatekeeping also links selection to ownership.
AQA's 2022 mark scheme identifies the possibility that:
owners act as agenda setters;
owners influence content;
owners may instruct editors;
ownership concentration may narrow the range of news sources;
news may be selected to suit owners' business or class interests.
From this perspective, gatekeeping is not simply a neutral professional process.
It may reflect wider inequalities of power.
Evaluation
However, owners do not necessarily personally select every story.
Editors and journalists can have an important role in everyday news production.
This means ownership and control are connected but not identical.
Agenda setting
Agenda setting refers to the ability to influence which issues receive attention and therefore become prominent within news coverage.
AQA repeatedly identifies agenda setting as relevant to media power and news production. Its specimen mark scheme specifically recognises agenda setting by editors and journalists, while the 2022 mark scheme identifies owners as possible agenda setters.Agenda setting does not require the media to tell audiences exactly what opinion to hold.
Instead, the selection process may affect which subjects audiences are repeatedly encouraged to consider.
For example, if one issue receives sustained news attention while another rarely appears, the first has much greater visibility.
Agenda setting as a process
A useful chain is:
potential issue → selected repeatedly by gatekeepers → receives high visibility → becomes part of the media agenda
This is why selection has potential social and political significance.
Gatekeeping and agenda setting compared
Concept | Main focus | Key question |
Gatekeeping | Whether material enters news content | Which stories are allowed through? |
Agenda setting | Which issues receive attention and prominence | Which issues are audiences encouraged to regard as important? |
News values | Criteria influencing judgements about newsworthiness | Why is one potential story considered more suitable than another? |
These processes can operate together.
A journalist may apply news values when acting as a gatekeeper, and the cumulative result of many selection decisions may help establish the news agenda.
The role of journalists and editors
AQA's specimen material describes media professionals as central to the selection process.
Journalists and editors may:
identify possible stories;
assess their suitability;
decide which receive attention;
exclude others.
This means professional workers themselves possess some control over news content.
AQA's 2022 examiner report confirms the importance of this idea. Students were generally successful when explaining that controllers may hold particular views and that news values shape selection and presentation.
Professional autonomy
The role of media professionals creates an important criticism of explanations that attribute all media content directly to owners.
An editor may make day-to-day decisions without the owner personally selecting every story.
Pluralist approaches can therefore argue that media power is distributed among a number of actors rather than being controlled completely by owners.
Evaluation
A Marxist response is that journalists and editors still work within organisations that are owned, financed and controlled by others.
Professional autonomy may therefore exist, but within organisational limits.
Ownership and news selection
Ownership is one of the strongest links between this topic and media ownership and control [Media ownership and control].
AQA's 2022 examination directly asked how ownership may affect the content of the news.
The mark scheme recognised:
agenda setting;
selection according to owners' business and class interests;
owners instructing editors;
concentration of ownership;
ideology and bias;
propaganda;
censorship.
This provides several different mechanisms through which ownership might affect selection.
Owners' interests
One sociological argument is that owners may prefer the media they control to select stories that do not conflict with their interests.
The relationship can be developed as:
ownership → economic and organisational power → influence over news priorities → some stories receive greater or lesser attention
AQA specifically recognises selection according to owners' business and class interests as relevant.
This is important for Marxist explanations.
Concentration of ownership
Concentration of ownership occurs when a comparatively small number of owners control a large amount of media.
AQA's 2022 mark scheme identifies concentration as a possible reason why the range of sources and news may become narrower.
The reasoning is:
Fewer independent organisations control more media.
There may therefore be fewer independently controlled sources.
Owners potentially exercise influence across a greater share of news production.
This may affect the diversity of stories selected.
Evaluation
Concentrated ownership does not prove that every news organisation selects identical stories.
Professional journalists, market competition, differences between media organisations and new media can all create variation.
Ideology and bias
AQA identifies ideology and bias as relevant to the relationship between ownership and news content.
Ideology refers to a system of ideas and beliefs about society.
A Marxist approach may argue that the selection of news is not socially neutral.
If powerful groups have greater control of media organisations, news selection may give greater attention to some viewpoints while marginalising others.
AQA's 2025 mark scheme, in the context of social-class representations, also recognises that news values held by producers and editors may marginalise coverage of issues such as poverty and inequality.
This illustrates an important point:
what is absent from the news may be sociologically significant as well as what is present.
Propaganda and censorship
AQA's 2022 mark scheme recognises both propaganda and forms of owner control as relevant when considering ownership and news content. The examiner report states that strong responses drew on owners' power to shape content as well as censorship and propaganda.
Censorship involves restricting information from appearing.
In terms of selection, censorship represents an especially direct form of gatekeeping because potential material is prevented from entering the news.
Propaganda involves media content being used to promote particular views or interests.
Both concepts support the argument that news selection can involve power rather than simply neutral professional judgement.
Commercial and financial factors
AQA's specimen mark scheme identifies the importance of profit to media organisations and also recognises financial factors as influences on selection.
Commercial media organisations need to consider their economic position.
This may influence news selection because organisations make decisions within financial constraints and may need to attract audiences.
A simple relationship is:
commercial pressures → decisions about which stories are likely to attract an audience → influence on news selection
This can be interpreted in different ways.
Pluralist interpretation
Commercial dependence on audiences may give consumers power.
If organisations need audiences, they have incentives to select material people want to consume.
Critical interpretation
The importance of profit may mean that commercially attractive material receives greater attention than issues considered less attractive to audiences.
The same commercial process can therefore be interpreted either as audience influence or as a constraint on the range of news.
Organisational factors
AQA's specimen mark scheme also recognises organisational factors as influences on story selection.
News does not emerge from individual journalists working entirely independently.
Selection takes place within organisations with:
professional roles;
routines;
resources;
decision-making structures.
Editors and other media professionals therefore make judgements within an organisational context.
This helps explain why news selection cannot be reduced either to the personal choices of an individual journalist or to owner influence alone.
Technical factors
AQA also recognises technical factors as relevant to news selection.
The production of news depends on the practical ability of organisations to obtain and distribute material.
Technical conditions can therefore affect which possible stories can become usable media content.
This factor has become particularly important as technology has changed the news-production process.
The growth of digital technology connects directly with the new media [The new media].
New media and news selection
AQA has explicitly tested how new media may affect the selection and presentation of news.
Its 2020 mark scheme identifies several relevant changes:
citizen journalism;
changes to the traditional news cycle;
a wider range of sources and opinions;
greater immediacy;
participatory culture;
increased accountability;
changes in news values.
New media therefore challenge a traditional model in which a relatively limited group of professional gatekeepers decide which stories reach mass audiences.
Citizen journalism
Citizen journalism occurs when members of the public contribute to producing or circulating news rather than news production being restricted to professional journalists.
AQA recognises citizen journalism as an important influence on news selection.
People can potentially:
record events;
upload material;
distribute information;
draw attention to stories.
This may allow material to become visible even if established media organisations would not initially have selected it.
The process changes from:
event → professional gatekeeper → audience
towards something more complex:
event → citizen produces material → material circulates → professional media and audiences may respond
Does citizen journalism weaken gatekeepers?
Potentially, yes.
If ordinary users can circulate information directly, professional news organisations lose some of their exclusive control over which events become publicly visible.
AQA's specimen mark scheme explicitly identifies the question of how far new social media have democratised news selection processes as a valid area for analysis.
Evaluation
Professional gatekeeping has not disappeared.
Major media organisations still select which stories they themselves report, and powerful corporations continue to own important forms of media.
New media therefore alter gatekeeping rather than necessarily eliminating it.
Participatory culture and news
Participatory culture means that producers and consumers no longer always occupy completely separate roles.
AQA's 2020 mark scheme identifies this as relevant to changes in news.
An audience member may:
consume a news story;
comment on it;
share it;
produce additional material;
become a source of news themselves.
This makes the selection process more interactive.
It also creates a link to media content and audiences [Media content and audiences].
A wider range of news sources
New media can increase the range of sources and opinions available to audiences.
AQA explicitly recognises this in its 2020 mark scheme.
This may weaken the ability of traditional news organisations to act as the only gatekeepers.
Pluralists can interpret this as evidence of:
increased competition;
greater diversity;
increased audience choice.
Marxist or other critical approaches can respond that a wider range of sources does not necessarily mean equal power between those sources.
Large media organisations may still possess much greater resources and visibility.
Immediacy and changing news values
New media can increase the importance of immediacy, meaning rapid or near-instant reporting.
AQA's 2020 mark scheme identifies greater emphasis on immediacy as one way in which new media may change news values.
A story's ability to be reported quickly may therefore become more important in decisions about news.
This links selection to the changing news cycle.
Content can be produced and circulated continuously rather than only through older fixed patterns of publication or broadcasting.
New media and reliability
Rapid news production can create tensions between speed and checking information.
The 2023 AQA examination connected global communication, smartphones and citizen journalism to news content. Its mark scheme recognises that pressure to report news as it happens may reduce opportunities for fact-checking.
The examiner report found that successful responses developed this by explaining how immediacy could contribute to less checking and misleading information.
This gives an important evaluation of claims that wider participation automatically improves news.
More sources and faster selection do not necessarily mean more reliable news.
Globalisation and news selection
Globalisation also changes the context in which news is selected.
AQA's 2023 examination directly assessed how globalisation affects news content.
The mark scheme recognises:
global news companies tailoring news to audiences expecting breaking news and live images;
citizen journalists uploading material that established media might otherwise ignore;
pressure for rapid reporting.
This connects this lesson to the media and globalisation [The media and globalisation].
Global audiences
News organisations may operate for audiences across different societies.
The existence of global audiences can influence what organisations regard as suitable or valuable news.
Stories may be selected within a global media environment rather than only a national one.
This can broaden the range of possible news, but it can also increase competition for audience attention.
Global citizen journalism
Digital technology enables individuals to provide material that can circulate beyond their immediate location.
AQA's 2023 mark scheme recognises that citizen journalists can influence news by uploading material that might otherwise be ignored by mainstream media.
This has two important consequences:
established media organisations have less exclusive control over possible news sources;
audiences can encounter material produced outside traditional professional structures.
Again, the traditional gatekeeping process becomes less straightforward.
Marxist explanations of news selection
Marxist approaches focus on inequality, ownership and the relationship between media power and dominant economic interests.
Applied to news selection, Marxists may argue that powerful owners and controllers are able to influence which issues receive attention.
AQA's assessment materials support Marxist analysis through concepts including:
ownership and control;
dominant ideology;
agenda setting;
gatekeeping;
concentration of ownership;
bias;
censorship;
propaganda.
The central Marxist argument
The argument can be summarised as:
Media ownership is unequal and may be concentrated.
Owners possess considerable economic power.
Ownership can influence organisations and controllers.
News selection may reflect business or class interests.
The resulting news agenda may reinforce dominant ideas.
This treats selection as a process connected to wider structures of social power.
Direct owner influence
One version of a Marxist explanation emphasises direct owner power.
AQA's 2022 mark scheme recognises that owners may require staff such as editors to follow instructions about news content.
In this model:
owner preference → instruction or organisational control → story selection → news content
This provides a clear link between ownership and gatekeeping.
Evaluation
It may exaggerate the degree to which owners personally intervene in everyday journalism.
Professional workers can possess some autonomy.
Hegemonic explanations
AQA's wider Media mark schemes distinguish hegemonic or neo-Marxist explanations from more direct manipulative approaches.
A hegemonic interpretation does not require an owner personally to order every selection decision.
News selection may instead reflect wider dominant assumptions embedded in media organisations and professional practices.
News values themselves can therefore become part of the debate.
Journalists may sincerely believe that they are making professional judgements while critics argue that these judgements still favour particular interpretations of society.
Strength
This approach helps explain why biased patterns might continue even without evidence of constant direct intervention by owners.
Evaluation
It can be difficult to separate the effects of ideology from ordinary professional judgement, audience expectations and organisational demands.
Pluralist explanations of news selection
Pluralists see media power as more widely distributed.
They are less likely to view owners as having complete control over selection.
Instead, news may be shaped by:
journalists and editors;
competition between media organisations;
audience preferences;
professional news values;
a growing variety of sources;
new media.
From this perspective, news selection involves competing influences rather than one dominant group imposing an agenda.
Audience demand
Commercial media organisations need audiences.
Pluralists can therefore argue that selection is influenced by what audiences are interested in consuming.
If one organisation fails to respond to consumer preferences, audiences may choose another.
The relationship becomes:
audience preferences → competition for audiences → selection decisions → news content
This contrasts with the Marxist model:
owner interests → organisational control → selection decisions → news content
Evaluation
Audience influence may be real without being complete.
Consumers can choose between available news, but media organisations still make decisions about which possible stories are offered to them in the first place.
Competition and diversity
Pluralists may see competition as encouraging a range of news.
Different organisations can:
select different stories;
appeal to different audiences;
offer different interpretations.
New media may strengthen this argument by allowing a wider range of sources and citizen journalists.
Evaluation
Marxists question whether apparent diversity represents genuine equality of media power.
Concentration of ownership may mean that many news products are still produced within structures controlled by powerful organisations.
New media as a challenge to traditional explanations
AQA's wider Media assessment recognises a debate about whether early theories such as Marxism and pluralism can still explain contemporary media.
New media complicate news-selection theories because:
audiences can become producers;
citizen journalists can bypass some traditional gatekeepers;
information circulates more quickly;
audiences have access to more sources;
established organisations face greater competition.
However, older questions about power remain.
Large media corporations still operate, while the vast amount of available content means selection has not disappeared.
Instead, the identity of the gatekeepers and the processes through which selection occurs may have changed.
Is news selection becoming more democratic?
There are arguments on both sides.
Arguments that selection has become more democratic
Citizen journalists can provide news.
Audiences can distribute information.
New media provide more sources.
Traditional news organisations face greater competition.
Material ignored by mainstream organisations may still circulate.
Arguments that selection remains unequal
Major media organisations retain substantial resources.
Ownership can remain concentrated.
Editors and professional producers still make powerful decisions.
Commercial pressures influence selection.
Not every source or story receives equal visibility.
AQA's specimen mark scheme specifically identifies the extent to which social media have democratised news selection as an appropriate area for analysis.
Comparing sociological explanations of news selection
Explanation | Who has greatest influence? | How news is selected | Main evaluation |
Marxist | Owners and powerful economic groups | Ownership, gatekeeping and agenda setting may favour dominant interests | May underestimate professional autonomy, competition and audience choice |
Hegemonic / neo-Marxist | Wider dominant structures and assumptions | Professional news values may reproduce dominant ideas without constant direct owner intervention | Difficult to separate ideology from professional judgement |
Pluralist | Power is distributed among owners, professionals and audiences | Competition, consumer demand and professional judgement produce diverse selection | May underestimate concentrated ownership and structural inequalities |
New-media / participatory interpretation | Traditional gatekeeping is increasingly challenged by users | Citizen journalism and wider sources allow audiences to participate in selection | Major organisations still possess substantial resources and influence |
Is news selection objective?
The AQA specimen begins from the position that what counts as news is socially constructed.
This does not mean that every selected news story is necessarily false.
It means that deciding which events deserve inclusion involves social judgement.
Different factors may contribute:
news values;
gatekeeping;
agenda setting;
professional decisions;
ownership;
financial considerations;
organisational and technical factors;
new media;
globalisation.
The question of objectivity is therefore partly a question about whether these processes operate neutrally or reflect unequal social interests.
Selection and presentation must be distinguished
This distinction is worth mastering for examinations.
Selection asks:
Why was this event included?
Why was another excluded?
Who acted as gatekeeper?
Which news value affected the decision?
Did ownership, profit or audience demand influence inclusion?
Presentation asks:
How is the selected story described?
How is meaning created?
How are people or events represented?
You will develop the second set of questions in presentation of news [Presentation of news].
A response about selection that spends most of its time describing the way a selected story is portrayed risks drifting away from the precise question.
A useful overall judgement
News selection is best understood as a multi-stage social process rather than the result of one factor.
Media professionals clearly matter because they apply news values and act as gatekeepers.
Owners may possess considerable structural power and can influence organisational priorities.
Commercial organisations also have to consider audiences and financial pressures.
New media and citizen journalism have reduced the exclusive control once associated with professional gatekeepers, but they have not removed selection or inequalities in media power.
A strong sociological conclusion is therefore:
News is socially constructed through competing professional, organisational, economic and technological influences. Ownership remains important, but neither owners nor journalists exercise complete control over what becomes news.
Key Words 🔑
Key word | Student-friendly definition | How it may be used in an exam |
News selection | The process through which some possible stories are chosen for inclusion in news while others are excluded. | Use to establish the focus of a question before explaining factors affecting inclusion. |
Social construction of news | The idea that what counts as news results from social decisions rather than events automatically becoming news. | Use as an opening concept in questions about news production. |
News values | Professional criteria or judgements used to decide which potential stories are newsworthy. | Use when explaining why journalists and editors select some stories rather than others. |
Gatekeeping | The process of controlling which information enters news content. | Apply to owners, editors, journalists and changing new-media processes. |
Agenda setting | Influencing which issues receive significant media attention. | Use when explaining the power of owners, editors or repeated selection decisions. |
Citizen journalism | News production or circulation by members of the public rather than only professional journalists. | Use when analysing how new media challenge traditional gatekeeping. |
Immediacy | The pressure or ability to provide news very quickly. | Use when explaining how new media and globalisation change news values and selection. |
Concentration of ownership | A situation in which relatively few owners control a large share of media organisations. | Use in Marxist explanations of restricted diversity and owner influence. |
Ideology | A system of ideas and beliefs about society. | Use when analysing critical explanations of news selection and bias. |
Pluralism | The view that media power is dispersed among competing organisations, professionals and audiences. | Use to evaluate Marxist explanations of owner control over news. |
Hints from the Examiner Reports 💡
Examiner hint: Keep the answer focused on the precise relationship in the question. AQA repeatedly warns that writing everything you know about one word in a question produces unfocused responses. Successful answers make the required connection and develop it.
Examiner hint: News values need to be applied, not merely named. In 2022, successful responses explained how news values shaped selection and presentation. Answers were weaker where students failed to connect the factor clearly to the particular issue being asked about.
Examiner hint: New media questions must remain specifically about the way new media change the process. In 2023, weaker Media answers sometimes discussed the media generally rather than applying their knowledge to the particular form of media in the question.
Examiner hint: The 2023 report highlights an excellent analytical chain for globalised news: greater immediacy can mean less time for checking information, which can increase misleading content. Do not stop after writing "news is faster". Explain the consequence.
Examiner hint: In a 10-mark analyse question, use the two prompts or "hooks" in the item. AQA states that these are necessary for application marks. The final sentence normally restates the question rather than providing a hook.
Examiner hint: Two developed points are stronger than several brief ones. AQA advises students to make the two parts of a 10-mark answer clear and does not recommend introductions or conclusions for these questions.
Examiner hint: Evaluation should weigh competing explanations and lead to a reasoned judgement. Simply writing one criticism of Marxism and then moving on is less effective than deciding whether ownership, professional news values or audience demand provides the stronger explanation.
Common Mistakes ⚠️
Mistake: Treating news as a complete record of events
Why this is incorrect: AQA's specimen material explicitly treats news as socially constructed. Media professionals select from possible stories.
How to improve: Begin with the selection process: many possible events exist, but only some become news.
Mistake: Confusing selection with presentation
Why this is incorrect: Selection concerns whether a story becomes news. Presentation concerns what happens to the story once it has been selected.
How to improve: Ask yourself: "Am I explaining why this story was chosen, or am I describing how it was portrayed?"
For this lesson, concentrate on the first question.
Mistake: Listing news values without explaining selection
Why this is incorrect: A concept only becomes useful when it is linked to the question.
How to improve: Use the chain:
news value → professional judgement that an event is newsworthy → story selected → news content changes
Mistake: Assuming owners personally select every news story
Why this is incorrect: Journalists and editors also act as gatekeepers and apply professional news values.
How to improve: Distinguish between owner influence and day-to-day professional control.
Mistake: Ignoring ownership completely
Why this is incorrect: AQA repeatedly recognises ownership, concentration, business interests, agenda setting and owner instructions as potential influences on news.
How to improve: Include ownership as one explanation, then evaluate how far professionals, markets and new media restrict owner power.
Mistake: Assuming profit proves that audiences control the news
Why this is incorrect: Commercial organisations may respond to audience preferences, but they still select the range of stories offered.
How to improve: Distinguish between audiences influencing demand and organisations retaining gatekeeping power.
Mistake: Saying citizen journalism has removed gatekeeping
Why this is incorrect: Citizen journalism can bypass some traditional gatekeepers, but professional media organisations continue to select their own news.
How to improve: Write that new media have changed or weakened some traditional gatekeeping, rather than claiming selection no longer exists.
Mistake: Assuming faster news must be better news
Why this is incorrect: AQA's 2023 examiner report notes that immediacy can reduce opportunities to check facts.
How to improve: Evaluate speed by considering both rapid access to information and possible problems with reliability.
Exam-Style Questions ✍️
Question 1
Define the term gatekeeping in relation to news.[2 marks]
Answer:
Gatekeeping is the process through which individuals or organisations decide which information or potential stories are selected for inclusion in news content.
Question 2
Explain one difference between news values and agenda setting.[4 marks]
Indicative answer:
News values are criteria or judgements used by media professionals to assess whether potential stories are newsworthy.
Agenda setting concerns the influence created when particular issues are selected for attention and become prominent within news coverage.
A developed answer should make clear that news values help explain individual selection decisions, while agenda setting concerns which issues become part of the wider media agenda.
Question 3
Outline and explain two ways in which media professionals may influence the selection of news.[10 marks]
Indicative mark scheme:
Answers may include:
applying news values;
journalists acting as gatekeepers;
editors acting as gatekeepers;
agenda setting;
professional judgements about which stories are suitable;
organisational factors influencing professional decisions.
For higher marks, students should develop two distinct ways, explicitly showing how each changes which stories are included.
Evaluation is not required.
Question 4
Outline and explain two ways in which ownership may affect the selection of news.[10 marks]
Indicative mark scheme:
One way could be through agenda setting:
owners possess organisational power;
particular issues may be encouraged or prioritised;
other issues may receive less attention;
ownership therefore affects the range of stories audiences encounter.
A second way could involve concentration of ownership:
fewer independent owners control more news sources;
the range of independently selected stories may become narrower;
this may increase the influence of particular owner interests.
Other relevant material may include:
business or class interests;
instructions to editors;
censorship;
propaganda;
ideology and bias.
Question 5
Read Item A and answer the question that follows.
Item A
Editors have to choose from many possible stories each day. They use professional judgements when deciding which events deserve attention. However, news organisations also need to attract audiences and operate within financial constraints.
Applying material from Item A, analyse two factors that may influence which stories are selected for the news.[10 marks]
Indicative mark scheme:
One developed route could use "professional judgements":
news values;
editors as gatekeepers;
some events are judged more newsworthy than others;
these judgements influence which stories enter news content.
A second route could use "attract audiences" or "financial constraints":
commercial or financial pressures;
organisations depend on audiences;
selection may favour stories considered more likely to attract consumers;
alternatively practical financial constraints may affect which possible stories can be produced.
For the highest marks, both item hooks should be explicitly applied and analysed.
Question 6
Read Item B and answer the question that follows.
Item B
Digital media allow members of the public to upload material about events immediately. Audiences can now obtain news from a wider range of sources rather than depending only on established news organisations.
Applying material from Item B, analyse two ways in which new media may have changed the selection of news.[10 marks]
Indicative mark scheme:
One route could use "members of the public upload material":
citizen journalism;
ordinary users become potential news producers;
events ignored by professional gatekeepers may still become visible;
traditional organisations lose some exclusive control over selection.
A second route could use "wider range of sources":
audiences can access competing news;
increased diversity;
traditional organisations face greater competition;
the selection process becomes less concentrated in the hands of a limited number of professional organisations.
Relevant evaluation within the analysis may recognise that large media organisations continue to exercise gatekeeping over their own content.
Question 7
Read Item C and answer the question that follows.
Item C
Global communication makes it possible for news to reach audiences very quickly. News organisations increasingly compete to provide immediate coverage, while individuals can distribute material from events directly through digital media.
Applying material from Item C, analyse two ways in which globalisation may affect news selection.[10 marks]
Indicative mark scheme:
One route could use "immediate coverage":
immediacy becomes an increasingly important news value;
organisations may prioritise stories that can be reported rapidly;
pressure for speed may reduce time available for checking information.
A second route could use "individuals can distribute material":
citizen journalism;
global sources of potential news expand;
material outside established professional selection processes becomes available;
traditional gatekeeping may be weakened.
Strong answers should explain the effect on selection, rather than giving a general description of globalisation.
Question 8
Read Item D and answer the question that follows.
Item D
Some sociologists argue that powerful media owners shape the news agenda. Concentrated ownership may allow a limited number of organisations to influence which issues receive attention.
Other sociologists argue that journalists have professional autonomy and use news values when selecting stories. Media organisations also compete for audiences, while new media provide a wider range of news sources.
Applying material from Item D and your knowledge, evaluate the view that media owners are the most important influence on the selection of news.[20 marks]
Indicative mark scheme:
Arguments supporting the view may include:
Marxist explanations;
ownership and control;
concentration of ownership;
agenda setting;
gatekeeping;
owners' business or class interests;
instructions to editors;
ideology and bias;
censorship;
propaganda;
narrowing of independently controlled sources.
Evaluation may include:
professional autonomy of journalists and editors;
news values;
organisational factors;
financial and commercial pressures;
pluralism;
audience demand;
competition;
new media;
citizen journalism;
wider sources;
participatory culture;
changing gatekeeping;
globalisation.
Higher-level answers should compare explanations of selection, not drift into general discussion of media ownership.
A reasoned judgement might argue that ownership provides significant structural influence because owners control organisations and resources, but news selection is too complex to be explained by ownership alone. Professional news values, commercial pressures, audience demand and new media all affect which potential stories become news.
Question 9
Read Item E and answer the question that follows.
Item E
Sociologists describe news as socially constructed because only a small proportion of possible events become news. Professional gatekeepers make selection decisions, but the growth of citizen journalism means that audiences can increasingly participate in producing and circulating news.
Applying material from Item E and your knowledge, evaluate sociological explanations of the processes through which news is selected.[20 marks]
Indicative mark scheme:
Relevant material may include:
social construction of news;
news values;
gatekeeping;
agenda setting;
journalists and editors;
ownership and control;
Marxism;
hegemonic or neo-Marxist explanations;
concentration of ownership;
ideology;
pluralism;
audience demand;
competition;
commercial and financial considerations;
organisational factors;
new media;
citizen journalism;
participatory culture;
globalisation;
immediacy;
changing news cycles.
A strong essay should evaluate whether selection is best explained through structural power, professional practices, market pressures or technological change.
A balanced conclusion could argue that the social construction approach is convincing because all news requires selection, but there is no single gatekeeper. Contemporary news is selected through an interaction between owners, media professionals, commercial organisations and increasingly active users of new media.
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