News is information about important events that occur in a society. It may be reported on television, printed in a newspaper or even yelled across a classroom. It can also be shared by word of mouth or posted online. News is generally thought to be a useful and interesting source of information. Some of the most common topics for news include war, government, education, business, health and the environment.
A good news story should be new, unusual, interesting and significant. It should be about people, because it is the things that people do which change the world around them. The more of these elements a news story has, the more likely it is to be successful. If something happens and it meets all of these criteria, it is almost guaranteed to make the front page of a newspaper or be read on the radio.
Writing a news article is not that different to writing any other kind of report, but it is important to keep the inverted pyramid structure in mind. This means that the most important information should be placed at the top of the report, above the fold. This term comes from newspapers, where the crease is the area that readers see before they have to start scrolling down to find the rest of the report. This is also an excellent rule to follow when writing on the internet, since many readers don’t make it all the way to the end of a long online article.
It is also essential to get all of the facts and details straight from a reliable source. This is a key part of ensuring that a news article has strong credibility, which is essential for gaining reader trust. A good source will be able to give quotes from someone directly involved in the event, or at least a close relative of them. This will help to create an article that feels like a true account of what happened, rather than a biased opinion piece.
Once you’ve established your lead statement and done some research, you need to decide which information will be most important for your readers. This will depend on the type of audience you’re writing for, but some key points to cover include where and when the event took place, who was involved, what made it newsworthy and why it matters.
It’s worth noting that the same news item can have a very different news value in different societies. For example, a woman getting married might be big news in one country, but not in another, where women don’t usually marry until their thirties. The same is true for what makes a crime newsworthy – the most shocking or unusual crimes tend to be more interesting than regular or ordinary ones.