News

===News organizations===
Viewed from a [[sociology of knowledge|sociological perspective]], news for mass consumption is produced in hierarchical organizations. Reporters, working near the bottom of the structure, are given significant autonomy in researching and preparing reports, subject to assignments and occasional intervention from higher decision-makers.<ref>James S. Ettema, D. Charles Whitney, & Daniel B. Wackman, in ''Handbook of Communications Science'' (1987), ed. C.H. Berger & S.H. Chaffee; reprinted in Berkowitz, ''Social Meanings of News'' (1997), p. 37.</ref> Owners at the top of the news hierarchy influence the content of news indirectly but substantially. The professional norms of journalism discourage overt censorship; however, news organizations have covert but firm norms about how to cover certain topics. These policies are conveyed to journalists through socialization on the job; without any written policy, they simply learn how things are done.<ref>Warren Breed, "Social Control in the Newsroom: A Functional Analysis" ([https://umdrive.memphis.edu/cbrown14/public/Mass%20Comm%20Theory/Week%208%20Journalism%20Studies/Breed%201955.pdf pdf]), from ''Social Forces'' 33 (1955); reprinted in Berkowitz, ''Social Meanings of News'' (1997), pp. 108–110.</ref><ref>John Soloski, "News Reporting and Professionalism: Some Constraints on Reporting the News", from ''Media, Culture & Society'' 11 (1989); reprinted in Berkowitz, ''Social Meanings of News'' (1997), pp. 139–140, 146–152. "One method management could use to control its journalists would be to establish rules and regulations. This bureaucratic form would not be very efficient […] A more efficient method for controlling behavior in nonbureaucratic organizations, such as news organizations, is through professionalism. Professionalism "''makes the use of discretion predictable.'' It relieves bureaucratic organizations of responsibility for devising their own mechanisms of control in the discretionary areas of work (Larson, 1977: 168) (emphasis in original)."</ref> Journalists comply with these rules for various reasons, including job security.<ref>Warren Breed, "Social Control in the Newsroom: A Functional Analysis" ([https://umdrive.memphis.edu/cbrown14/public/Mass%20Comm%20Theory/Week%208%20Journalism%20Studies/Breed%201955.pdf pdf]), from ''Social Forces'' 33 (1955); reprinted in Berkowitz, ''Social Meanings of News'' (1997), pp. 111–114.</ref> Journalists are also systematically influenced by their education, including [[journalism school]].<ref>John Soloski, "News Reporting and Professionalism: Some Constraints on Reporting the News", from ''Media, Culture & Society'' 11 (1989); reprinted in Berkowitz, ''Social Meanings of News'' (1997), pp. 141–142.</ref>

News production is routinized in several ways. News stories use familiar formats and subgenres which vary by topic. "Rituals of objectivity", such as pairing a quotation from one group with a quotation from a competing group, dictate the construction of most news narratives. Many news items revolve around periodic press conferences or other scheduled events. Further routine is established by assigning each journalist to a [[Beat reporting|beat]]: a domain of human affairs, usually involving government or commerce, in which certain types of events routinely occur.<ref>James S. Ettema, D. Charles Whitney, & Daniel B. Wackman, in ''Handbook of Communications Science'' (1987), ed. C.H. Berger & S.H. Chaffee; reprinted in Berkowitz, ''Social Meanings of News'' (1997), p. 38.</ref>

A common scholarly frame for understanding news production is to examine the role of information [[Gatekeeping (communication)|gatekeepers]]: to ask why and how certain narratives make their way from news producers to news consumers.<ref>Pamela J. Shoemaker, "A New Gatekeeping Model", from ''Gatekeeping'' (1991); reprinted in Berkowitz, ''Social Meanings of News'' (1997), p. 57. "Simply put, gatekeeping is the process by which the billions of messages that are available in the world get cut down and transformed into hundreds of messages that reach a given person on a given day."</ref> Obvious gatekeepers include journalists, news agency staff, and wire editors of newspapers.<ref>David Manning White, "The 'Gate Keeper': A Case Study in the Selection of News", from ''Journalism Quarterly'' 27 (1950); reprinted in Berkowitz, ''Social Meanings of News'' (1997), p. 63.</ref> Ideology, personal preferences, source of news, and length of a story are among the many considerations which influence gatekeepers.<ref>David Manning White, "The 'Gate Keeper': A Case Study in the Selection of News", from ''Journalism Quarterly'' 27 (1950); reprinted in Berkowitz, ''Social Meanings of News'' (1997), pp. 66–71.</ref> Although social media have changed the structure of news dissemination, gatekeeper effects may continue due to the role of a few central nodes in the social network.<ref>Thomas John Erneste, "Toward a Networked Gatekeeping Theory: Journalism, News Diffusion, and Democracy in a Networked Model"; Dissertation accepted at University of Minnesota, January 2014.</ref>

New factors have emerged in internet-era newsrooms. One issue is "click-thinking", the editorial selection of news stories—and of journalists—who can generate the most website hits and thus advertising revenue. Unlike a newspaper, a news website has detailed data collection about which stories are popular and who is reading them.<ref name=JohnstonForde /><ref>An Nguyen, "Online News Audiences: The challenges of web metrics", in Fowler-Watt & Allan (eds.), ''Journalism'' (2013).</ref> The drive for speedy online postings, some journalists have acknowledged, has altered norms of [[fact-checking]] so that verification takes place after publication.<ref name=JohnstonForde /><ref>Joanna Redden, "[http://research.gold.ac.uk/6540/ The Mediation of Poverty: The News, New Media and Politics]"; Dissertation accepted at Goldsmiths, University of London, 2011.</ref>

Journalists' sometimes unattributed echoing of other news sources can also increase the homogeneity of news feeds.<ref name=Matthews /> The digital age can accelerate the problem of [[circular reporting]]: propagation of the same error through increasingly reliable sources. In 2009, a number of journalists were embarrassed after all reproducing a fictional quotation, originating from Wikipedia.<ref name=Matthews /><ref>John Timmer, "[https://arstechnica.com/science/2009/05/wikipedia-hoax-reveals-limits-of-journalists-research/ Wikipedia hoax points to limits of journalists' research: A sociology student placed a fake quote on Wikipedia, only to see it show up …]"; ''Ars Technica'', 7 May 2009.</ref>

News organizations have historically been male-dominated, though women have acted as journalists since at least the 1880s. The number of female journalists has increased over time, but organizational hierarchies remain controlled mostly by men.<ref>Allan, ''News Culture'' (2004), pp. 119–121.</ref> Studies of British news organizations estimate that more than 80% of decision-makers are men.<ref>Allan, ''News Culture'' (2004), p. 124.</ref> Similar studies have found '[[Old boy network|old boys' networks]]' in control of news organizations in the United States and the Netherlands.<ref>Allan, ''News Culture'' (2004), pp. 127–129.</ref> Further, newsrooms tend to divide journalists by gender, assigning men to "hard" topics like military, crime, and economics, and women to "soft", "humanised" topics.<ref>Allan, ''News Culture'' (2004), pp. 129–130.</ref>