News is any information about a current event which catches people’s attention. This could include weather forecasts, crime reports or political scandals. News stories should contain all of the basic facts about an event, including who, what, when, where and why. They should also be well-written and presented in an attractive way. This can help to ensure that the reader is engaged with the content and will continue to read further.
News articles should be unbiased and not contain too much subjective opinion from the author. However, it is important that readers are given enough information to form their own opinion about the news story. This is particularly important for news articles which present a controversial issue, such as a war or natural disaster. It is also important to give a good conclusion to the news article, which is often a restatement of the leading statement (thesis) or a statement indicating potential future developments relating to the topic of the news article.
What makes a story newsworthy? Generally, the more shocking or dramatic a story is, the more likely it is to be considered newsworthy. But there are other factors which may influence whether a story will be reported as news. One of the most important is timeliness, which means that a story must be new and relevant at the time of publication.
Other criteria for determining what is newsworthy includes the degree to which it will affect the general public, the number of people involved and the level of controversy surrounding the event. Some newsworthy events are purely local, such as a fire in a residential building. Other events are more global in scope, such as the death of a world leader.
In terms of people, prominent men and women make newsworthy stories, as do those who fall from grace or are involved in scandal. Stories about health are always of interest, as are those involving hospitals and clinics. Sex is also newsworthy, especially when it involves behaviour which goes outside of society’s generally accepted norms.
News is a complex phenomenon that changes constantly, and it can be difficult to determine what is important and what is not. Some argue that journalists only report what their audience wants to read, based on market research and other data. However, there is also evidence to suggest that a more subtle and sophisticated process of judgment is at play in news selection. This may involve a combination of factors such as impact, incorporating violence and scandal, familiarity and being local, and timeliness and exclusivity. It is likely that further research will be needed to understand this process better. It is also possible that a model like Galtung and Ruge’s might be useful in guiding further investigation into the nature of news values. This would enable the development of a more transparent and better-understood process of news selection. This might then allow for a more rational discussion about the influence of the media on its audience.