News is information about current events, which is acquired constantly, in order to communicate it to the public in an objective and accurate way. This is one of the main functions of the press, allowing people to be informed about their local community, national and international happenings.
News items are generally considered to be of interest if they affect the lives of a significant number of people. They are also likely to be dramatic and contain clearly identifiable good and bad characters or situations. For example if a convenience store is robbed the news story will usually highlight who was robbed (the good guys) and who did the robbing (the bad guys).
A lot of people read or watch the news because they are interested in what happens in their local area, country and internationally. They also want to keep up with their favourite sports teams or celebrities, and be kept informed of any issues that might affect them in the future.
People are also interested in the weather as it can impact their daily activities and cause problems for farmers or businesses that rely on them. Food shortages and gluts, crop diseases and harvest sizes are of interest, as are new and exciting foods, drinks or technologies.
Opinionated news articles and opinion pieces are of interest to a lot of people too, and they can be found in blogs and the opinions section of newspapers or magazines. Setting up Google alerts on particular topics can be a great way of finding out about news as it breaks, and reading opinions from different sources can help you develop your own views on a subject.
