Hard News

Hard news is often described as “traditional news.” A story has hard news value if it contains new information that is timely and relevant. Hard news is something the reader or viewer needs to know about right away. Stories about catastrophic events or neighborhood house fires are hard news. Crime and political stories are considered hard news. Hard news might be personally relevant to a viewer or listener; an example of this would be a story about a proposed sales tax increase. However, hard news stories, such as stories about war, terrorist acts, or natural disasters, can also be relevant to a viewer or reader even if he or she is not directly involved.

Content is one way to distinguish between hard and soft news. Hard news is usually of a more serious or negative nature. Generally, if something bad has happened, a report on the event is considered hard news. Stories involving government also fall into the hard news category, since government operations affect the general population in serious ways. Conversely, stories about arts, culture, entertainment, and lifestyle are usually considered soft news.

Presentation is another way to distinguish between hard and soft news. Hard news is more often presented in a straightforward manner with a fast pace, with quick cuts between shots. Soft news is more often presented in a feature format. Features may be [Page 297]longer than hard news stories and contain more production elements, such as graphics and soft transitions between shots.

Gender differences have been found in the content and presentation of hard news. The Global Media Monitoring Project (GMMP) has repeatedly found that women are less likely to be featured in hard news stories. Stories about economics and politics are dominated by men, but women are twice as likely as men to be portrayed as victims in hard news stories. As newsmakers, professional women are underrepresented in categories such as law, business, and politics. Women are also underrepresented as reporters, and there is a gender division in which kinds of stories they cover. Women are much less likely to be assigned hard news stories, instead being asked to cover arts and culture events.

Beyond concerns of gender differences, there is a concern about what appears to be a decrease in the over-all coverage of hard news. In 2005 former U.S. Vice President Al Gore accused large media conglomerates of ignoring serious political coverage and other hard news stories and instead covering scandal and entertainment. Gore warned that access to healthy political debate has faded in the current media environment.

However, recent studies suggest that media outlets are simply giving readers and viewers what they want. Many newspaper readers say they skip over hard news because they find it sad and depressing. Young readers in particular say they skip hard news to get to stories about entertainment.

Hard news is supposed to give citizens information they need to make informed decisions about their government. But, increasingly, hard news is being ignored or underreported in an era of declining interest in public life and a continuing disengagement of citizens from their government.

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