News is any event that catches the interest and attention of the public. It can be anything from a major disaster to the death of an esteemed celebrity or the launch of a new product. News articles are a great way to keep your audience updated on the latest happenings in your industry or community. But they must be factual and not too skewed towards opinion or the reader will lose interest. A good news article should outline facts in a clear and concise manner while also capturing readers’ emotions.
A classic definition of news is: “Dog bites man — not news; man bites dog – news.” However, this is a rather simplistic view of how journalists decide what is and is not news. The same events occur in every society, but the degree to which they are interesting and significant varies considerably from one place to another. The killing of a cow and a pig may be equally newsworthy in one society but much less so in another (where they are both eaten). The same is true of whether something is ordinary or unusual. If a girl leaves school to go to university, this is not news but if the same girl is killed by a car this is definitely newsworthy.
The most important factor in deciding what is newsworthy is how a particular event affects the people involved. This is the reason why news is usually arranged by importance; the most important event appears first in the bulletin, on page one of the newspaper or at the top of the television screen. Other criteria for judging what is newsworthy include the following:
Keeping these elements in mind when writing a news article will ensure that you produce an accurate and well-rounded piece of information. A news article should follow the inverted pyramid style by placing the most important information at the beginning of the story, then supplying additional details as the article progresses. This will allow the reader to make an informed decision about how they want to react to the news and will prevent them from being misled. It is also important to avoid using jargon in the article. If jargon is used, it should be explained to the reader or not included at all. Similarly, acronyms should be spelled out the first time they are used in the article to prevent confusion.