News and Treatment Values

The theory of Treatment Values was made by Burton (1990). He said there was 6 values of a good news story.

1. Visuals - Stories that offer interesting, visual images. Stories with an image make for a more intense and gripping read.
2. Drama - Sterotypes and binary oppositions in news stories add to the interest and circulating gossip.
3. Saga - Ongoing stories that onfold into sagas make for long running infomation pieces that keep coming back, each time more revealing.
4. Conflict - This is valued as oppositions create drama.
5. Human Interest - The stories are read by humans, therefore in most stories human interest is the main line of information.
6. Actuality - When a reporter is at the scene it creates realism and atmosphere.