Media topics in descriptors of international press telecommunications council

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MEDIA TOPICS IN DESCRIPTORS OF INTERNATIONAL PRESS TELECOMMUNICATIONS COUNCIL

Olena Balalaieva

National University of Life and Environmental Sciences of Ukraine

The article deals with subject taxonomy Media Topics developed by IPTC. Qualitative and quantitative analysis of Media Topics are given.

Key words: media topic, subject taxonomy, news, code, standard.

МЕДІА-ТЕМИ В ДЕСКРИПТОРАХ МІЖНАРОДНОЇ РАДИ З ПИТАНЬ ПРЕСИ ТА ТЕЛЕКОМУНІКАЦІЙ

Олена Балалаєва

Національний університет біоресурсів і природокористування України

Стаття присвячена предметній таксономії медіа-теми, розробленій Міжнародною радою з питань преси та телекомунікацій. Наведено якісний та кількісний аналіз медіа- тем.

Перехід до нових стандартів професійної діяльності є надзвичайно актуальною проблемою для сучасної української журналістики. Журналісти нового покоління мають працювати з новими технічними стандартами, розробленими Міжнародною радою з питань преси та телекомунікацій (IPTC). У статті розглянуто один із відкритих стандар - тів IPTC для засобів масової інформації - медіа-теми (Media Topics), що є предметною таксономією, яка фокусується на категоризації тексту і належить до дескриптивних но- винних кодів, призначених для кодування метаданих новин. У контексті новинних кодів таксономія є ієрархічно організованою сукупністю понять із відповідними кодами. Мета статті - здійснити аналіз предметної таксономії медіа-тем. У дослідженні наведено результати якісного та кількісного аналізу тематики мас-медіа. Встановлено, що медіа-те- ми розрізняються за кількістю понять, ступенем розгалуження та глибиною розподілу за ієрархічними рівнями. Найбільш розгалуженими є медіа-теми «Економіка, бізнес і фінанси» (23,52%), «Спорт» (18,18%) і «Політика» (9,09%), які становлять понад половину (50,79%) від загальної кількості понять усіх медіа-тем. Медіа-темами із найменшою кількістю понять є «Людські інтереси» (1,12%) та «Погода» (0,47%). У середньому, медіа-теми («Наука і техніка», «Злочинність, право та правосуддя», «Мистецтво, культура і розваги», «Суспільство», «Релігія та віра», «Здоров'я», «Конфлікти, війна і мир», «Спосіб життя й дозвілля», «Праця», «Навколишнє середовище», «Аварії, катастрофи і надзвичайні ситуації», «Освіта») містять від 20 до 58 підпорядкованих понять, структурованих за п'ятьма ієрархічними рівнями. Отримані в результаті аналізу дані узагальнено, систематизовано та подано у вигляді таблиць і діаграм.

Ключові слова: медіа-тема, предметна таксономія, новини, код, стандарт.

Introduction and Problem Statement

Strengthening the position of Ukraine as an independent state in the world community requires its broad information presence in different regions of the world. Under conditions of Ukraine's integration into the world community a society needs for highly qualified journalists who have a high humanitarian culture and special knowledge, are motivated to sustainable professional development, able to correctly and objectively analyze, interpret and disseminate information about current events in Ukraine and abroad. Journalists of new generation have to work with the new journalistic technical standards, such as standards of the International Press Telecommunications Council. Thus, the transition to new standards of professional activity is very actual problem for modern Ukrainian journalism.

As V. Rizun notes, western journalism has become an example of news journalism for us, and it is now developing in Ukraine in accordance with these principles [1]. In another work, the scientist emphasizes: «while we will not teach the criteria for selection of topics, facts, depending on the genre, publication, format of filing, until then we will not have to talk about the training of journalists» [2, p. 16].

Researches and publications. The problem of development of technical standards and taxonomy for media is raised by J. Ash, E. Dennis, R. Heller, C. Martin [3], J. Pallas, L. Strannegard [5] and others. In Ukraine the issues of the implementation of European professional standards in the practice of journalistic activities were highlighted in the works of B. Potatinyk, T. Pristupenko, S. Quit, V. Rizun and many other researchers. However, attention in these works was focused mainly not on the technical, but ethical and social aspects of the problem.

The purpose of the article is to analyze the subject taxonomy Media Topics developed by the International Press Telecommunications Council.

Results

International Press Telecommunications Council (IPTC) - is an organization that brings together the world's leading news agencies, publishers and industry vendors. More than 50 companies and organizations from the news industry are members of the IPTC, including Associated Press, BBC, Thomson Reuters and The New York Times. IPTC mission is to simplify the distribution of information, develop and promote efficient technical standards to improve the management and exchange of information between content providers, intermediaries and consumers.

As stated at the official website of the International Press Telecommunications Council «IPTC 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 and over the course of time - that's the reason why we call them IPTC NewsCodes» [4].

The universe of NewsCodes is currently split into many different sets - taxonomies - for increased manageability as topics usually relate to a specific area. Taxonomy is also likely to be used exclusively in a specific metadata property of a news exchange format. So, NewsCodes is the branding of Controlled Vocabularies [ibid]. A set of them can be used to classify news content - regardless of the media type - and another set is used to support the functionality of IPTC's news exchange format standards.

There are 7 groups of NewsCodes: Descriptive, Administrative, NewsML-G2, EventsML-G2 specific, NewsML 1.x, Photo Metadata specific and Transmission.

Let's consider the first group in more detail. The purpose of Descriptive NewsCodes is to categorize news content (text, photos, video, audio). It includes:

• genre (indicates a nature, journalistic or intellectual characteristic of an item);

• Subject Code (the original IPTC subject taxonomy, consists of about 1400 terms organized into 3 levels, indicates a subject of an item);

• Media Topic (the new subject taxonomy, consists of about 1100 terms organized into

5 levels, indicates a subject of an item too);

• product genre (indicates product genres for media objects);

• scene (indicates a type of scene covered by an item);

• subject qualifier (indicates a narrower attribute-like context for subject code);

• world region (indicates a region of the world).

In the context of the NewsCodes, taxonomy is a collection of concepts with associated codes. Thus,Media Topiсs is the subject taxonomy with a focus on categorizing text. It provides for classification, content routing, content storage, search, digital asset management and controlled values (Fig. 1).

It is organized on a hierarchical basis. The development of Media Topics started with the Subject Codes vocabulary, extended the hierarchical taxonomy tree from 3 to 5 levels.

There are 17 top level terms in Media Topics arranged in alphabetical order: 1) arts, culture and entertainment; 2) crime, law and justice; 3) disaster, accident and emergency incident; 4) economy, business and finance; 5) education; 6) environment; 7) health; 8) human interest; 9) labor; 10) lifestyle and leisure; 11) politics; 12) religion and belief; 13) science and technology; 14) society; 15) sport; 16) conflicts, war and peace; 17) weather.

The most extensive and branched topic is «Economy, business and finance» that deals with «all matters concerning the planning, production and exchange of wealth» [4]. Top level term has 250 subordinated objects: 4 - at the second level (business information, economic sector, economy, market and exchange), 27 - at the third level (e.g. parent term business information branches into business finance, human resources, strategy and marketing); 202 - at the fourth level (e.g. parent term business finance includes accounting and audit, analysts comment, bankruptcy, buyback, credit rating, dividend announcement etc) and 17 - at the fifth level (such as proxy filing, earnings forecast etc).

The next largest topic is «Sport» that deals with «competitive exercise involving physical effort, organizations involved in these activities» [4]. Top level term has 193 subordinated objects: 8 - at the second level (competition discipline, disciplinary action in sport, drug use in sport, sport event, sport industry, sport organization, venue and transfer), 111 - at the third level (concepts, that denote different types of sport: basketball, biathlon etc. and types of sport event: world, continental, international, national championships, games and cups etc.) and 74 - at the fourth level (e.g. term athletics, track andfield branches into cross country run, decathlon, discus throw, hammer throw, heptathlon, long distance run etc).

Media topic «Politics» covers «local, regional, national and international exercise of power, or struggle for power, and the relationships between governing bodies and states» [4]. Concept politic has 98 subordinated terms: 9 - at the second level (election, fundamental rights, government, government policy, international relations, non-governmental organization, political crisis, political dissent and political process), 49 - at the third level (e.g. term government is split into civil and public service, constitution, defense, government budget etc); 36 - at the fourth level (e.g. term defense includes armedforces, military equipment, security measures etc) and 4 - at the fifth level (veterans affairs, military service etc).

The topic «Science and technology» encompasses «all aspects pertaining to the physical and mental welfare of human beings» [4]. It has 57 subordinated terms: 9 - at the second level (biomedical science, mathematics, mechanical engineering, natural science, research, scientific institutions, social sciences, scientific standards, technology and engineering), 37 - at the third level (concept social sciences includes anthropology, archaeology, economics, history, information science etc) and 11 - at the fourth level (such as nanotechnology, rocketry etc).

The topic «Crime, law and justice» covers «establishment and/or statement of the rules of behavior in society, the enforcement of these rules, breaches of the rules and the punishment of offenders; organizations and bodies involved in these activities» [4]. It has 56 subordinated terms: 5 - at the second level (crime, judiciary, justice and rights, law, law enforcement), 26 - at the third level (e.g. concept crime comprises arson, assault, computer crime, corporate crime, corruption, drug related crimes etc); 21 - at the fourth level (such as drug trafficking, gang activity etc) and 4 - at the fifth level (court preliminary, defendant, litigation, witness).

Two topics («Arts, culture and entertainment» and «Society») have 53 subordinate concepts each. The topic «Arts, culture and entertainment» deals with «matters pertaining to the advancement and refinement of the human mind, of interests, skills, tastes, emotions» [4]. It consists of 3 terms at the second level (arts and entertainment, culture and mass media), 23 terms - at the third level (e.g. concept arts and entertainment branches into animation, cartoon, cinema, dance, fashion, literature, music etc), 19 - at the fourth level (e.g. term music combines musical instrument, performance and style) and 8 - at the fifth level (e.g. term music style includes classical, country, folk, jazz, popular, rock and roll).

The topic «Society» encompasses «aspects of the life of humans affecting its rela- tionships» [4]. It includes 9 terms - at the second level (communities, demographics, discrimination, family, mankind, social condition, social problem, values, welfare), 38 - at the third level (e.g. term family branches into adoption, courtship, divorce, abortion, family planning, marriage, parent and child); 5 - at the fourth level (such as emigrants, illegal immigrants etc) and 1 at the fifth level.

The topic «Religion and belief» deals with «all aspects of human existence involving theology, philosophy, ethics, spirituality» [4]. It has 52 subordinate concepts: 8 - at the second level (religious belief, interreligious dialogue, religious conflict, religious event, religious facilities, religious institutions and state relations, religious leader, religious text), 26 - at the third level (concept religious belief comprises Buddhism, Christianity, Confucianism etc); 11 - at the fourth level (concept Christianity includes Orthodoxy, Protestant, Roman Catholic, Old Catholic etc) and 7- at the fifth level (such as Anglican, Baptist, Lutheran etc).

The topic «Health» covers «all aspects pertaining to the physical and mental welfare of human beings» [4]. It has 48 subordinated terms: 7 - at the second level (diseases and conditions, health facility, organizations and treatment, healthcare policy, medical profession, non-human diseases), 24 - at the third level (e.g. term diseases and conditions comprises communicable diseases, illness, injury etc); 14 - at the fourth level (e.g. communicable diseases involve epidemic and virus diseases) and 3 - at the fifth level (AIDS, plague, retrovirus).

Six topics include from 41 to 19 concepts. Topic «Conflicts, war and peace» deals with «acts of socially or politically motivated protest and/or violence and actions to end them» [4]. It has 41 subordinate terms: 8 - at the second level (act of terror, armed conflict, civil unrest, coup d'etat, massacre, peace process, post-war reconstruction, prisoners and detainees), 17 - at the third level (e.g. concept armed conflict split into international military, military occupation, war etc.); 11 - at the fourth level (e.g. concept war includes civil war, war crime action etc) and 5 - at the fifth level.

The topic «Lifestyle and leisure» covers «activities undertaken for pleasure, relaxation or recreation outside paid employment, including eating and travel» [4]. It has 37 subordinated terms: 2 - at the second level (leisure, lifestyle), 15 - at the third level (term leisure includes club and association, game, hobby, holiday, travel etc) and 20 - at the fourth level (term game split into board, card, children's, outdoor, video game etc).

The topic «Labor» encompasses «social aspects, organizations, rules and conditions affecting the employment of human effort for the generation of wealth or provision of services and the economic support of the unemployed» [4]. It has 29 subordinated terms: 7 - at the second level (employment, employment legislation, labor market, labor relations, retirement, unemployment, and unions), 14 - at the third level (e.g. concept employment includes commuting, employee, employer etc) and 8 - at the fourth level (such as employee benefits etc).

The topic «Environment» deals with «all aspects of protection, damage, and condition of the ecosystem of the planet earth and its surroundings» [4]. It has 27 subordinated terms: 6 - at the second level (climate change, conservation, environmental politics, environmental pollution, natural resources, nature), 16 - at the third level (e.g. term natural resources includes energy, lend resources, water etc.) and 5 - at the fourth level (such as oceans, rivers, forests etc.).

The topic «Disaster, accident and emergency incident» illuminates «man-made and natural events resulting in loss of life or injury to living creatures and/or damage to inanimate objects or property» [4]. It has 24 subordinated terms: 4 - at the second level (accident and emergency incident, disaster, emergency planning and response), 7 - at the third level (e.g. term disaster split into famine, fire, natural disaster etc); 11 - at the fourth level (e.g. term natural disaster includes drought, earthquake, landslide etc) and 2 - at the fifth level (avalanche and windstorms).

The topic «Education» encompasses «all aspects of furthering knowledge of human individuals from birth to death» [4]. It has 19 subordinated terms: 5 - at the second level (parent organization, religious education, school, social learning, teaching and learning), 10 - at the third level (term school comprises elementary, high, middle schools etc) and 4 - at the fourth level (college, university etc).

Topics with the smallest number of concepts are «Human interest» and «Weather». The topic «Human interest» contains «items about individuals, groups, animals, plants or other objects with a focus on emotional facets» [4]. It has 11 subordinated terms: 5 - at the second level (accomplishment, animal, ceremony, people and plant), 4 - at the third level (award and prize, records and achievements, human mishap and high-society) and 2 - at the fourth level (celebrity, imperial and royal matters). The topic «Weather» has only 4 terms at the second level (weather forecast, phenomena, statistic and warning).

General information on number of Media topics' concepts by levels is given in Table 1.

Number of Media topics' concepts

media topics information

Conclusion

Media Topics is the subject taxonomy with a focus on categorizing text developed by International Press Telecommunications Council. It is one of the descriptive NewsCodes for coding of news metadata. These topics differ in number of concepts and the depth of distribution over hierarchical levels. The most extensive and branched topics are «Economy, business and finance» (23.52%), «Sport» (18.18%) and «Politics» (9.09%) which make up more than half (50.79%) of the total number of concepts. Topics with the least number of concepts are «Human interest» (1.12%) and «Weather» (0.47%).

References

1. Журналіст має самовиховуватися [інтерв'ю з директором Інституту журналістики КНУ імені Тараса Шевченка В. В. Різуном: підготувала В. Качмар]. Доступно з: http://old.journ.lnu.edu.ua/press/rizun-2012-10-31.htm.

2. Різун В. В. Основи журналістики у відповідях та заувагах / В. В. Різун. - К.: КНУ імені Тараса Шевченка, 2004. - 80 с.

3. Heller R. S. A media taxonomy / R. S. Heller, C. D. Martin // IEEE Multimedia. - 1995. - Vol. 2, Issue 4. - P. 36-45.

4. IPTC Official Website: http://www.iptc.org.

5. Organizations and the Media: Organizing in a Mediatized World / Ed. by J. Pallas, L. Strannegard, S. Jonsson. - Routledge, 2014. - 280 p.

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