View this article in RussianThe organization International Press Telecommunications Council creates and maintains sets of concepts to be assigned as metadata values to news objects like text, photographs, graphics, audio and video files and streams. This allows for a consistent coding of news metadata across news providers. According to the developers, some of the News Codes CVs are very simple lists containing only a few terms. Others are larger and are arranged in a hierarchical form. An example of large and branched topic is a «Politics» deals with local, regional, national and international exercise of power, or struggle for power, and the relationships between governing bodies and states [3].
Top level term has 97 subordinated objects: 9 – at the second level, 61– at the third level, 27– at the fourth level.
There are 9 topics at the second level: «Election», «Fundamental rights», «Government», «Government policy», «Іnternational relations», «Non-governmental organization», «Political crisis», «Political dissent», «Political process».
The topic «Election» contains information on the selection of representatives by the casting of votes and has 14 subordinated objects: church elections (elections to choose leaders to run church organizations at various levels), citizens’ initiative and recall (political suggestions by non-government officials for corrective action, or for changes in existing rules and regulations), electoral system (voting systems), intergovernmental elections (choosing individuals for the government of an international organization), local elections (choosing individuals for government at the basic level, whether city, village or country), national elections (choosing individuals for government at a national level), political campaigns (campaigns for public office) including campaign finance, political candidates (individuals who are chosen to stand for office), political debates (organized debates between political candidates, live in front of an audience or broadcast in some manner), primary elections (preliminary elections on a local or regional basis leading up to a regional or national election), referenda (political proposals, laws and actions suggested by non-government officials to be voted on by the entire voting body), regional elections (choosing individuals for government at a regional level), voting (the act of selecting an individual you would like to represent your interests in government).
The topic «Fundamental rights» means the political, social and economic rights to which all creatures are entitled, usually upheld by law including censorship and freedom of speech (attempts by any group to control freedoms of speech, religion, and ideas distributed in print, graphics, cyberspace and other ways. Does not include official standards such as cinema ratings, advertising and broadcast standards), civil rights (rights of individuals under civil law), freedom of religion (religious rights and freedoms, pressure and intimidation of believers, censorship in mass media), freedom of the press (mass media rights and freedoms, pressure and intimidation of the journalists, censorship in mass media, activities of government bodies, journalistic associations in regards to press freedom), human rights (rights entitled to be enjoyed by all citizens universally), privacy (the right of an individual or group to keep information about themselves private), women’s rights (feminism, restrictions on the rights of women and the fight for equality with men).
The topic «Government» deals with is a system for ruling a country, and therefore is very extensive. It indicates 19 items, such as: civil and public service (the paid service by civilians for the government, and the often non-paid service of individuals for the benefit of others, constitution (law), defense (anything involving the protection of one’s own country), espionage and intelligence (covert collection of information), executive (government) (that portion of a ruling body involving the overall operation of government), government budget (the expenses and revenues approved by the legislature), government department (divisions of a government that concentrate on specific areas such as health, welfare, economy or war), heads of government (the highest official in the executive branch of a sovereign state, a federated state, or a self-governing colony), heads of state (symbolic or actual chief representative of a nation, such as royalty, or president), impeachment (the process of bringing a public official before a tribunal to answer charges of wrongdoing), legislative body (a legislature of elected officials representing the people that has the authority to make laws), local government and authority (authorities at borough, city or county level), minister and secretary (senior government official, either elected or appointed, who heads a government department), national government (the ruling body of a nation), political committees (a legislative sub-group that focuses on a specific area or action), political convention (meeting of political party to nominate a candidate, choose a party leader or set policy), public inquiry (an official review of events or actions ordered by a government body, including royal commissions), regional government and authority (authorities at a level above the local and below the national one), regulatory authority (authority responsible for the regulation or supervision of a business sector).
In turn, the item civil and public service combines civilian service (unpaid service for the community as civilian), public employees (people employed by a government at all levels), public officials (individuals, usually elected, who are in public service or commonly in the public eye); the item defense – armed forces (those employed by a government to conduct war, or to enforce the security of a nation), military equipment (equipment issued to members of the armed forces) and security measures (means of making a nation, a state, a building or a person secure from harm and outside interference).
The next topic «Government policy» concerns an overall plan or course of action set out by a government intended to influence and guide decisions and actions towards a desired outcome and deals with different kinds of policies: cultural policies (government policies affecting cultural affairs), economic policy (government directed policy on production, taxes, tariffs and things that affect the direction and health of the economy), environmental policy (government programs and policies related to the environment and proposals to change or protests against those positions), healthcare policy (health-related policy decisions including what different countries are doing regarding prescription drug policies, AIDS, psychiatric care, health care funding and related topics), interior policy (government policies affecting internal affairs), local government policy (policies for the development and maintenance of a local government area), migration policy (movement of one body of persons from one place to another), nuclear policy (government policies as regards to use of nuclear fuels for power production or weapons), regulation of industry (the rules and bodies, both national and international, that govern conflict of interest and good practice regulations), safety of citizens (government policies to protect the well-being of its citizens), sports policies (government policies affecting sports), taxation (a levy to fund government expenditure).
And two items have subordinated objects. The economic policy includes economic development incentive (funding, financial incentive programs and subsidies to stimulate businesses and parts of the economy), nationalization (state takeover of private companies or properties), privatization (the transfer of state-owned companies or properties to private owners) and state-owned enterprise (the government as owner of companies, either complete or partial). And the interior policy contains information on data protection policy (efforts to protect personal information in either written, oral or electronic form), housing and urban planning policy (systematic planning of urban and suburban areas and the housing within those areas), infrastructure policy (policies regarding the development and maintenance of the fundamental facilities of a country, city or other area that make business activity possible, such as communication, transportation and distribution networks), integration policy (improving the co-existence of groups of the society), pension and welfare policy (government policies affecting the well-being of its citizens through unemployment benefits, state pensions and other similar payments), personal data collection policy (the collection, by government or other entities of information on individuals), personal weapon control policy (government control of personal ownership of firearms and other offensive weapons, including control of weapons used for sports through licenses and other means), planning inquiries (public hearings or planning inquiries on proposed constructions), policy towards indigenous people (government policies toward indigenous peoples) and regional development policy (public or private actions carried out to develop a region).
The topic «Іnternational relations» is devoted to non-violent relations between nations through negotiation, treaty, or personal meetings and indicates border disputes (diplomatic issues between two countries surrounding the border, sometimes involving military conflict), diplomacy (with summit meetings (includes meetings of leaders, foreign and finance ministers from the Group of Eight major nations and Group of Seven industrialized nations) and treaty (agreement between international entities that is binding under international law), economic sanction (punitive actions taken by one country against another including trade restrictions, embargoes etc.), foreign aid (help provided by one nation to another), international organizations (organizations with members and functions that cross international borders, and may include intergovernmental organizations of sovereign nations), refugees and internally displaced people (a person seeking shelter in another country because of some fear of persecution in his own country).
Three topics haven’t subordinated objects:
1) «Non-governmental organization» describing groups officially outside of government that lobby, demonstrate or campaign on a wide range of issues such as economics, environment healthcare etc.;
2) «Political crisis» deals with conflict that rises to a level where, depending on events, governments can fall etc.;
3) «Political dissent» on disagreement between political groups, usually organised and sometimes resulting in imprisonment of the dissenters.
And the last topic «Political process» concerns the art or science of participating in the affairs of government, a state of political party and includes lobbying (the attempt by non-government bodies and individuals to affect the outcome of legislation through verbal, or other, persuasion), political development (the creation and rise of political systems and the history of the people and nations that are associated with those systems), political parties and movements (covers both formally recognised and informal political associations) and political system (system designed to provide order to government) including democracy and dictatorship.
Studying the experience of using international standards for covering and coding various media topics is promising for domestic journalism [4].
References
- IPTC Official Website. Available at: http://www.iptc.org.
- Balalaieva O. Media topics in descriptors of International Press Telecommunications Council // Вісник Львівського університету. Серія Журналістика. 2017. № 42. С. 151-158
- Балалаєва О. Ю. Аналіз новинних кодів за стандартами Міжнародної ради з питань преси та телекомунікацій // Науковий вісник Національного університету біоресурсів і природокористування України. Серія: Філологічні науки. 2017. Вип. 272. С. 103-110.
- Шинкарук В. Д., Балалаєва О. Ю. Пiдготовка аграрних журналiстiв: перспективи та завдання // Науковий вiсник Нацiонального унiверситету бiоресурсiв i природокористування України. Серiя Фiлологiчнi науки. 2017. Вип. 263. С. 117-125.