Common tropes in crime news
Crime news employs specific narrative frameworks to simplify complex issues, often resulting in biased and stigmatizing portrayals.
Crime news norms and practices
The creation of ‘crime news’ is “invariably the result of a long process of selection where the raw material is sifted, shaped, edited and recreated.” The choices made during this process often prioritize ease of production, drama and law enforcement narratives.
Impacts and consequences of crime coverage
The tropes and industry practices of crime news have profound societal impacts, ranging from distorting public opinion to influencing policy and causing tangible harm to individuals and communities.
Best practices for improving crime reporting
To counteract the structural biases and sensationalist tropes that currently dominate crime coverage, newsrooms must deliberately shift their practices toward accountability, context and the humanization of those affected. Improving crime reporting requires journalists to articulate a new journalistic purpose and prioritize structural analysis over episodic details.
Health and science news
As with other kinds of news, newsworthiness is the essential element of health and science coverage. Along with the factors that generally influence newsworthiness, Boyce Rensberger, in A Field Guide for Science Writers, identifies four factors specific to science stories:
Frequent tropes of health and science news
Like other genres and sub-genres, health and science news has standard tropes that are used by journalists and expected by audiences. These can have an impact on the accuracy and reliability of coverage.
Health and science journalism norms and practices
Health and science reporting is influenced both by economic norms (the conditions and constraints in which journalists do their jobs) and journalistic norms, such as objectivity and balance.[1] Both of these have an impact on how reporting on these topics is done.
Best practices in health and science journalism
The following best practices guide journalists in navigating the pitfalls of exaggeration, inadequate vetting and biased framing inherent in modern news production.
