Like flies to boys

The news that Barack Obama has killed a fly, raises a question for students studying the mass media. Sociologists and media studies specialists, say that the media select news items in accordance with news values. But in this case, what were the news values in operation?

Well this is up for grabs, but - unless I’m swatted down - I’d say in this case its to do with the fame of the perpetrator and the fact that the action shows him doing something very ordinary. Yet at the same time, the ordinary event - the swatting of the fly in this case - is something that high profile figures don’t usually go in for - especially when trying to present themselves to the public in the context of a TV interview.

In fact, its worth looking through some other news stories today,and trying to work out how news values would have guided editors to select those stories. Check these against textbook accounts of news values and agenda setting. What do you think - have the sociologists got it right?