News is a story about something significant that has recently happened. It can be about a person, place or event. It has to be interesting or unusual and should be time sensitive. It cannot be about an event that happened a week ago – the community will already be talking about it.
People want to know what is happening around them. They are interested in their environment, so they want to know about a new discovery in nature, a scientific finding or an unusual weather event. They are also interested in their own lives and the lives of others – they want to read about famous people, their successes and failures. They are interested in health, so they want to know about traditional remedies and medical research. They are interested in sex, even though societies do not talk about it openly.
Providing Analysis and Interpretation
News provides background information, expert opinions and different perspectives on events. This allows people to make informed decisions and understand complex issues. It also serves as a watchdog, uncovering corruption and wrongdoing by holding individuals and organizations accountable.
News should entertain as well as inform, but not at the expense of its primary function – to educate. Many forms of media serve as entertainment, such as music and drama on radio and television, and comics and crosswords in newspapers and magazines. People can get their news from a variety of sources, including online news aggregators that offer a smorgasbord of articles from different publications and websites without a single journalist’s bias.