News is the information that relates to current events, developments and issues occurring in local communities, countries or internationally. It is essential to our lives, keeping us up to date with the happenings around us and allowing us to better understand and appreciate the world we live in. News articles can cover a wide range of topics, from politics to sports and everything in between. While writing a News article, it is important to consider the audience you are targeting, as this will greatly influence your content and how the story is presented. Asking yourself questions like what age group are you writing for, where are they reading the News, is it local or national and why are they interested in the topic will help inform your writing style and how the information is delivered.
Although the definition of what constitutes news differs depending on whether you work in the media or simply read the news, there are some basic characteristics that are understood by everyone involved in the news business. These include timeliness, drama, consequence, proximity and narrative.
Timeliness is one of the most important aspects of news and can be defined as how recent a particular event or development is. For example, a murder that occurred last week will be considered newsworthy much quicker than a murder that happened a century ago. Drama is another aspect that can be determined by how exciting or interesting the news item is. For example, a car crash that kills several people would be more exciting to report on than a robbery at a convenience store. Consequence is also a key element to news and can be judged by the impact that an event or development will have on individuals or society as a whole. For example, a war or a disease outbreak are both significant newsworthy events that will affect large numbers of people. Proximity is a factor that can be judged by how close or far away the news event occurs.
Narrative is a final aspect of news that can be determined by the way in which the information is presented. For example, a newspaper article will be written differently depending on if it is a hard news story or a feature piece. Hard news stories usually contain a lot of factual information that is unbiased while features typically incorporate more opinion and analysis into their writing.
It is important to have a strategy for staying informed in a world where breaking news happens rapidly and fake news can often be found online. Setting up Google alerts for a particular subject, reading blogs or opinion sections of newspapers and avoiding sensationalized news can all help you develop your own perspective on a topic and keep up to date with the latest developments in your field. Regardless of your preferred source, it is essential to make sure that you are evaluating and considering the news you read and see as there will always be biases in every news story.