ABSTRACT
The phrase ‘news values’ refers to two things. First, the normative use of the phrase, by which I mean accounts of what news journalists should do; and second, the descriptive use of the phrase, by which I mean accounts of the selection criteria for news used in the newsroom and by journalists in the field. Two points emerge: first an ideal-real relationship that helps clarify how the phrase ‘news values’ is used; and second, a clearer way of understanding what happens in practice and why that is the case – for what should be done and what is done may contradict each other.
