The news defence of the status quo

Abstract

News is "a highly unpredictable medium", decisions on news coverage  should be taken quickly, time pressure leaves little room for elaborate decision-making. Journalists have to master a space of considerable autonomy in the selection and construction of the news and realise that reactions can only be obtained by developing other and new feedback processes, interaction processes whose great advantage is to create bonds. Gans argues that journalists analyse the current political-economic system from a "natural state-of-affairs perspective", with the search for newsworthy sources focusing on the power structure and the news defence of the status quo.