What Is News?
News is information about current events, obtained quickly and accurately. It is conveyed to the audience through various mediums such as newspapers, magazines, radio and television. The primary purpose of news is to inform and educate the reader, listener or viewer. It is also meant to entertain but that can come from other areas such as music and drama on radio and TV or crossword puzzles and cartoons in newspapers and magazines.
News often comes from the world of politics, sports and business but can be about anything that is significant and interesting to a reader or viewer. It may be about the weather, wars and peace treaties, economic and financial issues or social policies. News can be serious or funny but it must be reported in an impartial way according to its own ethical rules.
In order to be newsworthy, a story must be important and unusual, and it should affect the lives of a large number of people. It must also be new, not something that happened a week ago or even last month. News stories need to be able to grab the attention of the readers, which means that they should start with some very compelling words at the beginning of the article. This is called a lede in journalism jargon.
A good lead is a short paragraph that provides just enough information to get the reader interested in the rest of the article. It should include the names and basic details of the event that is being reported. A lead should also contain a few quotes from witnesses who are available to comment on the situation.
If a reporter is covering an ongoing event, the story must be updated as soon as possible to provide the most current information. These types of stories are known as breaking news and are usually reported while the event is happening. Breaking news pieces are often changed as more information becomes available and are reworked or corrected as the result of further investigation.
In-depth news stories are typically based on a smaller area of interest, such as an investigation into a specific family or community or a particular historical topic. These stories are more detailed than straight news articles and require a great deal of research.
The term “news” is often used in a pejorative way to refer to unimportant or trivial stories. It is a word that can be abused by those who wish to manipulate the public’s opinion of the world and its events. For example, politicians will often make up stories about other politicians in order to undermine their opponents’ credibility and reputation. Some critics believe that the media is too reliant on this kind of reporting, which they call “mudslinging”.