What makes narratives appealing and disappealing?

The appeal and the dis-appeal of narratives depend on various factors. Herman and Varvaeck state in “Narrative Interest and Cultural Negotiation”, that William Labov, (whom is known to have developed the notion of tellability), said narratives worth telling require that “the events involved [are] truly dangerous and unusual... Evaluative devices say to us: this was terrifying, dangerous, weird, wild, crazy; or amusing, hilarious, wonderful; more generally, that it was strange, uncommon, or unusual–– that is, worth reporting.” [1] This means that as long as something that happens is out of the ordinary reality in which the audience lives in and has a clear problem/s and potential solution/s, that narrative will be of interest. That idea applies to many news worthy stories or events (i.e major athletic tournaments such as the FIFA World Cup and Olympics, local budget issues, natural disasters like the Hatian earthquake and most recent tsunami in Japan, and also events like Michael Jackson’s very public child molestation trial and death); the events that have the most impact, either by appeal or dis-appeal, are those that hit closer to home.

Because of personal perception, as Galtung and Ruge state, “the more the event can be seen in personal terms, as due to the action of specific individuals, the more probable that it will become a news item.”[2] That isn’t to say that other news or events become irrelevant, but the more culturally involved that a person is, and depending on the news factors in play, the more likely that a narrative will be one that an audience can resonate with.

Furthermore, Harcup and O’neil revisit Galtung and Ruge’s list of relevant news factors, which are thought to make narratives more news worthy. Those factors are: frequency, threshold, unambiguity, meaningfulness, consonance, unexpectedness, continuity, compositions, reference to elite nations, reference to elite peoples, reference to persons and reference to something negative. [3] Noticing all of the components that can make a narrative both important or irrelevant, overall “the more “cultural materials” a (narrative) text circulates and the more a text itself circulates, the more “empowered” it is.”[4] That means that, yes the effectiveness of the text is crucial, but so is the state of mind of the audience or reader in order for a narrative to be found appealing or dis-appealing.


Herman, Luc, and Bart Vervaeck. "Narrative Interest as Cultural Negotiation." Narrative 17.1 (2008): 111-29. Print. [1], [4]

Galtung, J., and M. H. Ruge. "The Structure of Foreign News: The Presentation of the Congo, Cuba and Cyprus Crises in Four Norwegian Newspapers." Journal of Peace Research 2.1 (1965): 64-90. Print. pg 68. [2]

O'Neill, Tony Harcup, Deirdre. "What Is News? Galtung and Ruge Revisited." Journalism Studies 2.2 (2001): 261-80. Print. pg 20. [3]