COMM12016(HT2, 2017)MEDIA INDUSTRIES
Hard news is news that informs the public about events so that citizens can be fully informed and participate in the democratic process, while soft news does not have a high priority in the news value scale and is sometimes referred to as infotainment (Bainbridge, et al., 2011, p. 252).
With the world in its current turmoil many journalists and readers are drawn to hard news stories. According to Bainbridge, Goc and Tynan (2015), it is evident the lines between hard and soft news stories are becoming blurred as journalists attempt to attract reader attention placing political, international, business, economical news, ‘hard’ news stories alongside celebrity, entertainment, arts and culture and sports, ’soft’ news stories.
An interesting report ‘Distinctions between Hard and Soft News’, posted by Nic Newman Research Associate, of Journalism Reuters Institute (2016). The detailed report looks at the data of interest that people have when it comes to hard news verses soft news showing differences in demographics and gender.
According to Newman (2016), women in Japan and Italy were more interested in soft news and twice as likely than men to be more interested in soft news stories compared to hard news. The report also stated that younger people in general are more likely to use social media for news.
Hard news stories contain important information of the day, such as political news, crime, business and economic, health, education news or reports of conflict in war zones. Soft news stories include stories featuring celebrities, human interest, entertainment or sports news. Soft news can be of benefit by balancing out the hard news stories that can often cause distress amongst its readers.
Today’s hard news story: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-09-13/moreland-city-council-votes-to-scrap-australia-day-celebrations/8942172
Today’s soft news story: http://www.news.com.au/entertainment/celebrity-life/angelina-jolie-i-dont-need-to-be-liked/news-story/a70e095fce93b78f51816141ce5d3d93
References
Bainbridge, J., Goc, N., & Tynan, L. (2011). Media and Journalism 2nd edition, New Approaches to Theory and Practice. Sydney: Oxford University Press.
Bainbridge, J., Goc, N., & Tynan, L. (2015). Media and Journalism 3rd edition, New Approaches to Theory and Practice. Sydney: Oxford University Press.
Distinctions between Hard and Soft News. (n.d.). Retrieved September 13, 2017, from http://www.digitalnewsreport.org/survey/2016/hard-soft-news-2016/2013, October).
Hard news vs soft news. News & Politics. Retrieved from https://www.slideshare.net/asiyasiddika28/hard-news-vs-soft-news
Kim Vuga 