The narratives that are picked and spread through social networks and the media industry are a small selection taken from the near infinite number of narratives that are created and told every day. The selection process divides narratives into a spectrum between narratable and unnaratable. In Dictionary of Narratology Gerald Prince defines narratable as something that is worth telling [1] so unnarratable using the prefix un- can be described as something not worth telling. All news sources, including the media as well as facebook statuses tell a story, and the probability and degree to which it is retold, whether it just be via local news stations or between a college network verse across the globe, is determined by how narratable it is.
In an effort to find a way to predict how narratable a narrative is scholars have used statistics to create detailed systems of analysis. One such method created by Galtung, Ruge, and Holmboe in The Structure of Foreign News [2] and then further evaluated by Harcup and O’Neill in What is News? Galtung and Ruge revisited [3] develop a numerical system where each narrative is measured based on specific characteristics such as relevance, unambiguity, unpredictability, positivity, scarcity, reference to elite people and many more. There are in total over 12 of these characteristics with some having more weight than others. These factors although discovered and analyzed through statistics are facets of human nature.
The difference between what is narratable and what is unnarratable is often quite interesting. For instance an anonymous discussion site called reddit(www.reddit.com) ranks links and articles submitted by users based on voting. Those links as well comments that the public like and vote up reach the top of the first page while those that are down voted or not voted on at all are buried in a sea of links or comments where they will rarely if ever be read. Thus those narratives which are narratable reach the front page while those which do not never get close. This creates an interesting example of hegemony described by scholar Herman in The Cambridge Companion to Narrative [4]. There it is described as “The dominance of a particular view or group over other views or groups, often through a process of manufactured consent, whereby those in a subordinate role are induced to participate in their own domination” [4]. On reddit unlike media services who dominate the public with their chosen narratives, the mob rules, which could be considered the lesser of two evils. Although, this hegemony has its problems, as often true but dissenting opinions are rarely viewed or discussed, it tends to benefit the public more than industrial news sources because the public controls it using its voting system creating a site more perfectly catered to the public. On sites like reddit articles discussing the fallacy of the political or corporate elite, which may not be shown in industrial media sources if an elite who controls the media source doesn’t want it to ruin their own or an allies reputation, are often placed on the front page because of their high relevance to the public. As seen by this thread here which links and discusses an article about the gulf oil spill but from a controversial website Al-Jazeera, that most likely wouldn’t be shown in a positive light on American television as it is here [5]. However, the most commonly found articles on reddit are of the humorous kind. This is interesting as most popular news stations on TV do not place nearly as much emphasis on the humorous, showing how in these hegemonies what is narrated may not be what is most highly narratable, but instead what the company thinks is most narratable or what is most aligned with there the ideas they wish to discuss. Additionally it may simply be the case that industrial media sources, with their limited staff, simply may not be able to compete with the billions of authors on the internet thus causing their lack of humorous and other highly narratable narratives compared to internet sites such as reddit.
Narratives are categorized in a range of narratable where those most narratable are most circulated. Narratable stories have characteristics that are desired by the listeners and are based on that communities’ nature and for global narratives the nature of mankind. However, in hegemonies not controlled by the public using voting or similar systems, what is shown may not be what is most narratable but what the dominating characters want to be discussed, which is often determined and limited by monetary gain. This monetary gain can be controlled by the viewers who control advertisement revenue, or by corporate or political sponsors, the latter which may cause highly narratable news not to be shown.
[1] Prince, Gerald: Narratable. In: Dictionary of Narratology, p. 56f
[2] Gultung, Johan/Ruge, Mari Holmboe: The structure of Foreign News. The presentation of the
[3] Harcup, Ton/O’Neill, Deirdre: What Is News? Galtune and Ruge revisited. Journalism Studies 2001, vol.2, no. 2, pp. 261-280.
[4] Herman, David (ed.): The
[5] Mepper. "This Is Everything That Is Wrong with Corporate America: The Owner of the BP Oil Rig That Caused the Biggest Oil Spill Ever, Transocean Ltd, Has Just Awarded Its Top Executives with Bonuses for "the Best Year in Safety Performance in Company's History : WTF." :Reddit: the Voice of the Internet -- News before It Happens.
