News Basics
WHAT
is
news?
What is news?
News is difficult to define
because it has many variables
•News must be
factual, yet
not all facts
are news.
•News may be
opinion, especially
that of a prominent
person or an
authority on a
particular subject.
•News is
primarily about
people, what
they say and
do.
•News is not
necessarily a
report of a recent
event, as stated in
most dictionaries.
•What is news for
one school or
community may not
be news for
another.
•What is news
today may not
be news
tomorrow.
•What is news
for one person
may not be news
for another
person.
•Two factors
necessary to news,
interest and
importance, are not
always synonymous.
Hard News and
Soft News
Journalists today often
refer to “hard” news and
“soft” news.
Hard news:
•is important to
large numbers of
people
•is timely
•usually about events
in government, politics,
foreign affairs,
education, labor,
religion, courts, etc.
Soft news:
•usually less
important because it
entertains, although
it may also inform
•often less timely than
hard news
•includes human
interest and feature
stories which may
relate to hard news
•appeals more to
emotions than to
the intellect or the
desire to be
informed
Hard news, despite its
importance, usually
attracts fewer readers
because it may not be as
interesting as soft news
or may be more difficult
to understand.
Readers may not
understand its
significance. Reporters
must be careful to include
information to help the
reader understand what
the story means.
Many stories are a
combination of hard
and soft news, and may
present some of the
information in sidebars
and infographics.
Three factors:
•Facts
•Interest
•Readers
are essential to news.
The following triangle
shows the idea that the
basis of all news is FACT.
The job of the reporter is
to make facts interesting
to a particular group of
readers.
Fact
News must be
factual.
•News is based on actual
occurrences, situations,
thoughts and ideas.
•Yet not all facts are news.
News must be
interesting.
•But not all facts are
interesting.
•Different facts will be
interesting to different
readers.
News has qualities
that distinguish it
from nearly all other
forms of writing.
I.
It must be accurate.
Factual accuracy
•Every statement
•every name
•every date
•every age
•every address
•every quote
Accuracy of
General Impression
The general impression--the way
the details are put together and
what type of emphasis is put on
the details--should be accurate.
Reporters should not distort the
importance of a fact by giving it
too much attention.
Accuracy is
difficult to achieve
because
•there are so many facts
that go into a story
•reporters must work
fast to meet deadlines
•many people are involved
in producing the finished
story: the reporter, copy
reader, editors, typists,
etc.
Reporters must
work hard to
achieve accuracy.
They must check, doublecheck and re-check every fact.
Reporters must
question their
sources carefully.
•Informants sometimes
misinform, although rarely on
purpose.
•School reporters sometimes
don’t ask the right questions to
get the information they need
for a story.
•Reporters should “talk out”
stories with assignment editors
to make sure they understand
questions that need to be asked.
II.
It is balanced.
Balance in a news story is a
matter of emphasis and
completeness.
Reporters must give each fact its
proper emphasis, putting it into its
proper relationship to every other
fact and establishing its relative
importance to the main idea or focus
of the story.
News is considered balanced and
complete when all significant
details are included and have
proper relationship to each
other.
The purpose of balance is to give
the reader a fair understanding
of the event, not a detailed
account of every fact.
III.
It is objective.
•News is a factual
report, not a report of
how the reporter
thought something
should have been.
•A reporter must report
news as impartially and
honestly as possible.
•Objectivity is difficult
to achieve because a
reporter’s own opinions
and feelings can easily
interfere with factual
presentation in stories.
IV.
It is concise and
clear.
Hard news stories
almost always follow the
inverted pyramid and
are written concisely
and clearly so that the
meaning is clear to an
average reader.
Inverted Pyramid
Most important facts
Next most
important
Next most
important
Next
V.
It is recent.
Timeliness is of major
importance in this era of
fast communication.
Other factors being equal, a
news editor will choose one
story over another because of
its timeliness.
News elements
help to make
facts
interesting to
people.
Immediacy or
timeliness
•Most essential
element of news
•Reporters
emphasize most
recent or
newest angle of
story.
Proximity
Readers are more
interested in an event
geographically near
them than in one far
removed
Reporters
emphasize the
local angle
whenever
possible
Consequence
•A story that affects
every reader will have
more consequence than
one that affects only a
few.
Reporters
emphasize the
angle of the
story that will
impact most
readers
Prominence
•Names make news.
Include as many as
possible.
The more prominent
a particular name,
place, event or
situation, the more
interest the story
will have.
Conflict
•appears
frequently in
news stories.
•Inherent in sports
stories, war news,
crime news,
violence, domestic
disputes,
government bodies.
Conflict
•can be physical or
mental. (Ideas can
be in conflict).
•Can involve man
vs. man, man vs.
nature, man vs.
animal or animal
vs. animal.
Human
Interest
There are many elements that make
up human interest.
-Drama
•adds color and
vitality to a story.
•The more
dramatic a story,
the more
appealing it is to
the readers.
Mystery, suspense,
comedy, the unusual,
the bizarre are
chief elements of
drama.
-Oddity/
Unusualness
•The greater the degree
of unusualness in a story,
the greater its news
“Firsts”, “lasts”,
and “onlys” have
been staples of
newspapers since
the 19th century.
-Sex
•news element present
in stories of romance,
marriage, divorce and
other relationships.
The treatment
of sex varies
widely from
publication to
publication.
-Emotions &
Instincts
•Readers enjoy stories
that appeal to their
emotions.
Generally the most
widely read stories in
the newspaper, and
most widely discussed
of those heard on
radio or television.
•Stories about the homeless, babies needing transplants, a 4-year-old girl
abandoned in freezing weather who must have her
legs amputated, baby girls
rescued from wells, someone winning the lottery
-Progress
•Involves any
significant change
for the betterment
of mankind.
•May refer to
achievement in the
laboratory,
industrial plant,
legislative body,
etc.
May refer to
success in
treating AIDS
patients, etc.
A number of
factors modify
the importance
of news elements
in actual practice.
•The policy of a
news publication
may increase or
decrease the
importance of a
story.
•The class of
readers may
determine what is
news for a publication.
•The amount of
space available may
determine if a
particular story is
told briefly or in
detail.
Timing may alter the
value of a news
story. All news is in
competition with the
news available at the
moment.
•Previous
publication may
change a story’s
value.
•Censorship, particularly
in war time or times of
national crisis, may
change news value,
sometimes keeping stories
from being published for
long periods of time.