What Is News?
News is information about events that affect the public in a significant way. It may be about politics, war, crime, natural disasters, weather, social issues or cultural developments. It is usually written and published in the hope that it will be read by as many people as possible. It can also be broadcast via radio, television and the Internet.
It can be hard to write well-crafted news articles that are readable and informative for readers. One key to writing good news articles is to research the topic extensively. This includes not only researching the history of the event or subject you are writing about, but also understanding the current state of affairs and how it might affect your audience. Then, you can begin to shape your article using the inverted pyramid structure. This means beginning with the most important information and placing it at the top of your article. This will draw in readers and give them a hook to keep reading. After that, you can provide additional details that can be expanded on and explained in more detail.
The classic definition of news is “Dog bites man” and “Man bites dog”. This does not account for differences between societies though. In some societies dogs are eaten, so it is not necessarily news when one bites a man – but it could be if the dog was a pet or a wild dog. Similarly, what is considered to be interesting and significant can vary between societies. For example, in some places a person is deemed to be famous for their beauty or intelligence while in others it is for what they do, how much money they have or how they look. Likewise, what is considered to be an important issue in society (such as sex) can also differ from place to place.
In addition to the above, there are other factors that determine whether something is newsworthy. It is important for a story to be new. An event that happened several days ago can still be news if it has not previously been reported on. The event or issue must also be significant and relevant to your audience.
Other factors that may determine the importance of a particular event or issue include how big the event is, how far-reaching it is and how much impact it has on the world around us. For example, a coup d’etat in your own country is not likely to have as much of an impact as one in the neighbouring nation because it impacts local people directly. Likewise, a natural disaster or disease has greater significance and therefore is more likely to be newsworthy than a minor political incident. Finally, the speed at which the news happens is another factor that can have an effect on its importance. It is much easier to break a major news story quickly than it is to report on something trivial. This is because it can be much harder to shut down newspapers, radio and TV stations than to stop the flow of information over the internet.