AMERICAN JOURNALISM AND THE DECLINE IN EVENT-CENTERED REPORTING

The definition of news has changed in the 20th century. Content analys is of the traditional five Ws in three American newspapers found that stories grew longer, included more analysis, expanded from specific lo cations to broader regions, placed more emphasis on time frames other than the present, and named fewer individuals and more groups, officia ls, and outside sources. These trends affected each newspaper's covera ge of three topics: crimes, accidents, and employment. Thus the basic recipe for news-the report of events new to the bearer-has acquired a third ingredient: For a story to qualify as news, journalists now supp ly a context of social problems, interpretations, and themes. This tre nd springs from the workings of the news market and the culture of jou rnalism.