News values on social media: News organizations' Facebook use

Journalism (Lond). 2017 Aug;18(7):871-889. doi: 10.1177/1464884916636142. Epub 2016 Mar 9.

Abstract

This study examines the news selection practices followed by news organizations through investigating the news posted on social networking sites and, in particular, the Facebook pages of four foreign Arabic language TV stations: The Iranian Al-Alam TV, Russia Today, Deutsche Welle, and BBC. A total of 15,589 news stories are analyzed in order to examine the prominence of references to countries and political actors. The study reveals that social significance and proximity as well as the news organizations' ideological agenda are the most important elements that dictate the news selection process.

Keywords: Facebook; news organizations; news production; online news; social media; social networking sites.

Publication types

  • News