ABSTRACT
The purpose of our project was to study newsworthiness around the world. Our theory posits that news is defined by two constructs, deviance and social significance, and that this is true of news in all countries. Following Shoemaker’s (1996) theory, our work is based on two main notions: (1) biological evolution has led people to instinctively survey the environment for deviance (generally “bad” news); and (2) cultural evolution has resulted in people paying attention to different topics among countries, but that these topics should be high in social significance, as well as in deviance. In other words, we believe that these two constructs can predict the newsworthiness of events, ideas, and people around the world.
