The education and professional training of Danish journalists are characterised by strong homogenisation and conservation of professional values – including those related to news selection and news processing (Willig, 2016). The five so-called news criteria – timeliness, importance, identification, conflict, and sensation – are core professional values of all Danish journalists and used explicitly in newsrooms when selecting and processing news (Schultz, 2007; Willig, 2012). In addition, most news media houses have their own written policies stating different criteria for news selection and processing, alongside more implicit professional values such as “exclusivity” (Willig, 2012). In daily practice, news is selected and discussed in the many daily meetings among both the chief editors as well as section editors and staff. If common ground cannot be found on a story, it is either the editor or the editor-in-chief who makes the final decision, according to interviewees.
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