News is information about current events, primarily those that are important or unusual. It is delivered to people through a variety of media, including newspapers, magazines, radio and television. Throughout history, news has been an important vehicle for social change and the dissemination of knowledge.
Traditionally, the main purpose of news is to inform, though it can also entertain and educate its audience. In the case of broadcasting, this has traditionally been done through music and drama programs on radio and in newspapers through cartoons and crosswords. However, the internet and social media has expanded the audience reach of news beyond the traditional broadcast and print audiences.
The content of news varies according to the values and interests of different societies. For example, what is considered newsworthy in one society may not be so in another; a man catching the bus to work, while interesting and unusual in some societies, will not be considered newsworthy in others where dogs are eaten at feasts.
To be newsworthy an event must be both interesting and significant, and it must be new. It is not enough for an event to simply be unusual, as this can happen all the time and therefore does not make for newsworthy stories. Instead, it must be unusual to the audience of the news source – this can be determined by what is considered interesting or significant by that audience and what has previously not been reported in the media.
Generally, news articles are written in third person, and first names or initials are used for personalisation, rather than surnames. This is to avoid the reader becoming confused about who the article is about and to give an air of objectivity to the piece. It is also standard practice to use the full name of a public figure when they are quoted in a news story, rather than their middle initial. This is to prevent the impression that an article has been biased, or the writer has an ulterior motive in sharing the news.
When writing an article to be published in the news, it is a good idea to place the most interesting and important events at the top of the piece. This is known as “putting above the fold” in newspaper terms, whereby the most newsworthy information appears on the front page of a paper and is visible before you have to turn it over or scroll down to get to the rest of the article. This is also true of web-based journalism.
With the advent of social media and instant news, it has become easier for incorrect or unfounded information to be spread quickly and widely. This has the effect of clogging up people’s feeds with ill-informed or sensationalist content, so when it comes to news, think twice before sharing a piece on social media without checking its sources. Try to find outlets that provide context, accuracy and balanced reporting – the VOX, Refinery29 and Flare’s Explainer series are examples of well-resourced, well-written and objective news sites that help readers understand the issues.