news model”. This model is the ingredient that characterises Al Ja- zeera’s professional journey and the media industry it represents. We will focus on three fundamental inter-related dimensions in the study of this model: a) the new perspective of news standards, b) a different media culture and c) a unique news approach. We will highlight that the requirements and determining factors of said dimensions also establish the institutional identity of Al Jazeera and reflect its surpassing of and distance from the prevailing news models in the Arab and international media scene. First: A New Perspective of News Standards Media literature, along with various press outlets, looks at the pro- cess of collecting, selecting and editing the news and determining its importance to the audience according to the basic values and elements it incorporates (i.e. temporal, journalistic, technical, humanitarian, and moral). The number of standards that researchers and professionals ap- ply in the course of their work varies, but they can be calculated by ob- serving the news published by the media (1) . In addition to the variety of these elements and the different definitions attributed to them because of the varying foundations and principles on which the definitions of the news itself is based, they remain stereotyped and mummified values that media outlets would only put to use in order to serve their editorial policies. Thus, current news of an event may not find its way to TV screens or receive the coverage required by the context and dimensions of the event, although it is built on fundamental news values. Due to different reasons related to the policies of media outlets, the type of relationship they have with their financiers, and the political, economic and social system that outline their activity, any news can disappear or not be given the importance it deserves. However, with the launch of Al Jazeera and the accumulation of its professional experience, viewers began to notice a new understanding (1) Some researchers have limited the news standards to seven elements: “newness, influence, fame, proximity, conflict, currentness, and oddity”. See: Said Mohamed Al-Sayed, News Pro- duction for Radio and Television (Cairo: Alam Al Kotob, 1988), p. 16. Other researchers have limited them to 12 or even 14 elements.
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