News is the report of current events that interest or affect a wide audience. It may incorporate both local and international incidents, but should have a clear impact on readers and include the five W’s: who, what, where, when and why. Often it will also include an opinion or analysis on the topic.
One of the key things about news is that it needs to be unusual. The classic example is ‘dog bites man’, but what happens in reality varies from society to society. In the case of an animal attack on humans, this is very unusual and will therefore be newsworthy. Similarly, a coup in another country will be far more interesting than the man next door catching the bus to work.
Besides being interesting and unusual a news article should be timely, involve violence and scandal, be familiar and local, and be well known and well established. This will give it a more significant impact than other news items and make it stand out in the mind of the reader.
It is important to read different sources of news, as they will have differing levels of bias. For instance, some publications are owned by companies with political views, which can influence how a story is reported. A good way to balance this is to read a mix of local newspapers and online news sites such as Reuters. These will have a reputation for being trustworthy. In addition, they are free from commercial sponsorship and government funding, making them a reliable source of information.
