Entertainment: a fundamental news value

Abstract

This article discusses “infotainment”, a neologism that combines the terms information and entertainment. “Infotainment” is a hybrid word, a result of combining modern journalistic ideal – to inform citizens – with the ability to entertain, one of the main mass culture characteristics. It shows how an event’s entertainment potential becomes a primary news value to be shaped into journalistic discourse. It points out that sensationalism is a communication strategy devoted to the production of journalistic narrative, capable of attracting the interest of the public and expanding readership. Sensationalism is seen here as a knowledge focused on the sensations’ logic.