Fundamentals of Journalism and Communication

Author: Beijing Broadcasting Institute Press
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2004-04-01
Features: Our research on "value" may raise doubts: "Is 'value' a subjective idealism detached from the objective subject?" Of course not. Value is neither a product of individual human consciousness nor a "Platonic" concept existing prior to the objective material world. Value originates from objective things, from the characteristics of objective things, but it is not the objective thing itself. Value is the product of social practice acting upon objective things. In value, the social relations existing in objective things are reflected and condensed. This social relation, in the words of Marx, is the "objectification of human essential forces" (also translated as "productivity").① Value is so deeply dependent on human practice that it reminds us of the profound words once spoken by Marx and Engels when they criticized Feuerbach's vulgar materialism: "This activity of people, this continuous sensory labor and creation, this production, is the very profound foundation of the entire existing sensory world. If they pause for even a year, Feuerbach would see that the world of nature would undergo tremendous changes, and the entire human world, as well as his (Feuerbach's) intuitive ability, and even his own existence, would cease to exist."② Based on the above analysis of "value," we can summarize the meaning of value as follows: Value is the function fulfilled by the object in social practice; it is the product of the objective seen in the subjective; value is a polysemic concept composed of three connotations: the value source (the characteristics of the object), the value judgment, and the realization of value (people's social practice).
III. The Debate on the Concept of News Value in China's Journalism Circle.
The reasons for the debate were analyzed above from a philosophical perspective, where we pointed out that news value is a polysemic concept composed of multiple meanings such as the value source, value judgment, and value realization. This concept not only includes the objective facts of news but also the standards by which journalists select and measure news facts, as well as the attitude of the audience toward accepting news based on their common needs formed through long-term social practice. If one recognizes only one aspect of the concept of news value while ignoring another, it can easily lead to one-sidedness. The reason why there have been differing views on the concept of news value in the past is mainly that people often emphasized only one connotation of news value, which is also the main reason why the debate on it in the field of journalism has been particularly intense. Second, since news value is a complex polysemic concept, people often struggle to summarize it concisely in a few words due to its overly complex connotations. Third, some definitions of news value neglect the general logical rules of definitions. Based on the above three reasons, many of the representative definitions of news value currently available largely have certain defects.
Evaluation of Different Definitions of News Value
Currently, the understanding of the concept of news value in China's journalism circle can be roughly divided into the following four types:
1. Quality Theory: It holds that news value refers to the special qualities contained in facts that are sufficient to constitute news. These "special qualities" determine the magnitude of news value. Therefore, news value is unrelated to the standards by which journalists judge news facts. Typical definitions include:
(1) "News value refers to the qualities contained in facts that can arouse the common interest of the public."①
(2) "News value refers to the sum of the special qualities and various qualities that constitute news."①
The Quality Theory emphasizes that news value originates from objective facts, thereby highlighting its objectivity, which has some correctness. However, it obviously overlooks the other two organic connotations of the concept of news value, namely, the value judgment and the realization of news value. The Quality Theory treats news value as an "in-itself" object, viewing it as a certain characteristic possessed by objective things, such as "qualities that can arouse the common interest of the public," excluding the social practice of journalists and the audience, i.e., the standards by which journalists select facts for news reporting and the attitude of the audience toward accepting and evaluating news. As a result, such news value can only be in its "natural, primitive form" and is difficult to realize. The Quality Theory obviously has the defect of mechanical materialism. As Marx said: "The main shortcoming of all previous materialism— including Feuerbach's materialism—is that it understands things, reality, and sensibility only from the objective or intuitive form, rather than understanding them as human sensory activity or practice, rather than understanding them from the subjective aspect. As a result, the objective is lost, while subjective idealism is completely preserved." This is one of the defects of the Quality Theory. Second, from the logical relationship of semantic expression, quality is not related to value, that is, quality is not a subclass of value. Third, from the definition "the qualities contained in facts that can arouse the common interest of the public," there is also the defect of imprecise and rigorous semantic boundaries. As everyone knows, news is the report of newly occurring facts, but in the above definition, there is no restriction on the "newness" of facts, which can easily raise doubts. Historical facts also contain qualities that can arouse the common interest of the public, so people enjoy listening to historical stories and reading historical books. Then, using such a conceptual definition to explain news value, can it be explained?
2. Standard Theory: It holds that news value is the standard by which journalists and editors measure news. In some journalism dictionaries, the Standard Theory is often used to define news value. Typical definitions include:
"News value is the objective standard by which journalists select and measure news facts." This definition avoids the defect of treating news value as an "in-itself" object, emphasizing the value judgment of journalists. However, the Standard Theory has a strong subjective color and has been questioned. First, as we said, the concept of "quality" is not a subclass of "value." Similarly, "standard" is not a subclass of "value." Second, if "standard" is taken as a subclass of "value," this not only violates the logical rules of semantic expression but also reflects the one-sidedness of the Standard Theory proponents in their understanding of the connotations of news value. Because the standards by which journalists measure and select news facts (regardless of whether these standards are objective or subjective) all refer to a kind of evaluation of the object by people, and such evaluation is the value judgment of people toward the characteristics of certain things. People's value judgments also need to be tested by practice. Without the test of social practice and value judgment, it is impossible to answer such a question: What forces people to adopt this attitude toward objective things rather than that attitude? Is it "subjective" preference and interest, or objective standards? If it is subjective preference and interest, it will lead to subjective idealism. If it is objective standards, then what determines these standards? Objective standards are also not explainable from individual consciousness. People's value judgments can only be explained from their long-term social practice, from the common needs formed through their long-term social practice. Therefore, the value judgment of journalists is not equal to news value. In fact, in journalistic practice, we often encounter situations where journalists choose news facts that they consider valuable, but after dissemination, the audience does not consider them valuable. Conversely, many facts with significant news value are often easily overlooked by journalists who consider them valueless. In summary, this "objective standard" for measuring news facts, which neglects the test of social practice, is in fact not objective.
3. Effect Theory and Function Theory: They hold that news value refers to the functions performed by news facts during the process of dissemination and the certain social impact and effects they cause. Due to the one-sidedness of the explanations of news value concept by the Standard Theory and Quality Theory mentioned above, many researchers began to explain "news value" with the "Effect Theory" or "Function Theory." The Function Theory recognized that news value is a product of the combination of subjective and objective factors, and thus, the Function Theory more comprehensively explained this complex and comprehensive concept of "news value."