kimmymoss

4.2 News Values I

“Jury Recommends Death for 69-Year-Old Grandmother”

1.  The most prominent news values present in this story is the bizarre/unusual and conflict, given the story talks about a trial.

2.   WHO, WHAT, WHEN, WHERE, WHY AND HOW…

WHO: Faye Copeland, 69-year-old grandmother

WHAT: Copeland has been recommended by a jury to be sentenced to death for the murder.

WHEN: The recommendation was made Tuesday night. No date is given for when the crime occured, but the bodies of those Copeland allegedly killed occured last year.

WHERE: The trial was held in the Lingston County Circuit Court in Chillicothe, Mo.

WHY: Copeland was sentenced to death for the murders of four transient farm workers whose bodies were found buried in northwestern Missouri last year.

HOW: She was sentenced by a jury of 12 people in the Lingston County Circuit Court.

3. Records are the most used type of sources of information used in this story.

4. The only directly quoted and attributed source in this article is Copeland’s attorney, public defender David Miller.  His quotes are mostly paraphrased, so it is not clear if the writer personally interviewed this source or not.  However, it is possible that the writer picked up this information at some sort of press conference or news release record, considering that the issue at stake relates to a trial.  As a result, it seems most likely that anyone who wrote a story on this issue may have had access to a press conference.  Not to mention, it is a bit unlikely that the writer may have had direct access to speaking with any any of the jury members or attorneys from the trial.

5. In terms of accuracy, this article does not appear to contain inaccurate information, but given there is only one directly attributed source, it’s certainly possible that some information was either a) presented from a biased perspective or b) left out… which inadvertently would also suggest a slanted angle.  If I were the editor, I would question the point about where Miller “argued that Faye Copeland was dominated by her 74-year-old husband” because it is not directly quoted by Miller and the writer could be jumping to conclusions.  I would want the writer to double-check the accuracy of all the allegations made by Miller.  I’d also ask the writer to try and get more information about the judge’s involvement in the whole matter.