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Ever wondered how and why TV, radio, online and print media, including this newspaper, get to decide what is news at any given time or day? 

What’s the criteria? What’s in an event or a person that they make it to “breaking news,” “nagbabagang balita,” or live coverage that hound us online or offline?

Yes, there’s a set of criteria. Depending on the news outlet or even their target audience, editors and reporters use these criteria to be able to find and report the news. 

That set of criteria is called “elements of news.”

The top criterion for what’s news is timeliness. What’s happening now in the Palace and in the streets?  What was happening in Celebrity Sports Plaza  while congressmen were gathering there? What’s happening that night in Cagayan Valley? What’s happening now could be news.

Then, there’s prominence. There’s no one more prominent than the President of the Philippines, so there’s no surprise that there’s a pack of reporters assigned to cover his each and every word, action, silence, or inaction. Whatever the President says or does is news.

In our case, we also look for news about our town, city, or country. The criterion of proximity zeroes in on happenings right in our own backyard, so to speak. What’s happening now in the country could be news. What’s happening thousands of kilometers away may not be news for us.

Prominence is also partly why the vice president, the speaker, the Senate president, the chief justice, the heads of the departments also land in the news.  Same is true with the top brass of the military and police, the wealthiest people around, the leaders of the biggest churches, and also the brightest stars of entertainment and sports.

Their prominence alone could land these persons in the news.

The wildly popular and powerful Pope Francis may be far away from us, but when he speaks about the Philippines or appoints bishops or cardinals, that’s news.

Another criterion is consequence. The country’s leaders land in the news not just because they are the leaders. What they say or do have a direct impact on people’s lives. For example, the monthly announcements on quarantine classifications impact everyone, and only the President could make such decision on a national scale. 

A new law may change how businesses operate. The education chief’s pronouncements on classes affect millions of students, parents, and teachers.  The silence or inaction of a national agency could spell doom and death for an entire region bearing the brunt of floods. 

Conflict is another criterion of what’s news. 

Infighting inside Congress, students denouncing the DepEd’s planned P4.2-million ham and cheese purchase, protests over laws or policies, management and labor disputes, the television ratings war, and even quarrels among celebrities — they could be big news. Election-related combat is news.

Also landing in the news are people, events, or places that are unusual, bizarre, or shocking. In short, oddity is also an element in what’s news.

The new cola commercial became news because of its strangeness and the public’s response to it.

Related to oddity is the criterion on superlatives and extremes. Thus, there’s always news about new world records, including those in sports.

Editors and reporters are also on the lookout for human interest stories. 

The child who studies under the lamp post, or while selling face shields. How teachers manage their families and tend to their own children while presiding over online classes. Christmas and New Year’s Eve stories of people who have essential work at night. 

There’s also stories of scandal and, often, sex in the news. It could be about prominent persons holding birthday or Halloween parties amid the pandemic. Or maybe cases of bigamy or adultery, a leaked video, a public official maltreating an employee, or a scam against taxpayers.

A person, event, or place that shows a combination of these elements or criteria would most probably land in the news. 

News outlets assign reporters to “news beats” in offices of the president and top government agencies, precisely because of these criteria.  

That the president and vice president are the country’s two highest officials already renders them newsmakers. But whatever disagreements, arguments, and rivalries they may have adds another element. Thus, whatever conflict there is between President Duterte and Vice President Robredo, be it real or imagined, could land in the news.

A presidential assistant-turned-senator would always land in the news, simply because he’s a senator. But there’s a bigger chance of him being in the news whenever he appears beside the President, speaks for him, or just shows up at the Palace. The elements of news are simply there. 

Often, discussions on the elements of news end here. But that is naïveté. There are other factors that make a person, an event, or a thing news. 

These include public relations practitioners whose clients employ them to be able to land in the news. Public officials, Big Businessmen, agencies, companies, and even cause-oriented groups churn out press releases and hold press events. Sometimes, business considerations color the news. 

Perhaps the biggest public relations player nowadays is the government. The presidential spokesman, the health department, and the presidential communications office have daily press briefings streamed live to the nation and reported by the media as news.

The media outlets too have their respective editorial policies. Some are pro-government, others conservative, a few are critical or independent. Media itself could become the news: when journalists are harassed or  killed in the line of duty, and when they face various unnecessary challenges such as criminal libel suits or the ire of the president.

It is still a matter for debate and discussion among media practitioners and the audience what to do with the fairly recent rise of disinformation, which has taken advantage of news elements to be able to land in the news. Should the media actively correct them, not just report them? What should journalists do when prominent persons commit disinformation? The debate continues. Hopefully the debate ends soon, lest disinformation overrun and replace the media.