WHAT MAKES A STORY NEWSWORHY?

News can be defined as "Newsworthy

information about recent events or

happenings, especially as reported by

news media". But what makes news

newsworthy?

There is a list of five factors, detailed

below, which are considered when

deciding if a story is newsworthy. When

an editor needs to decide whether to run

with a particular story, s/he will ask how

well the story meets each of these criteria.

Normally, a story should perform well in

at least two areas.

Naturally, competition plays a part. If

there are a lot of newsworthy stories on a

particular day then some stories will be

dropped. Although some stories can be

delayed until a new slot becomes

available, time-sensitive news will often be

dropped permanently.

1. Timing

The word news means exactly that - things

which are new. Topics which are current

are good news. Consumers are used to

receiving the latest updates, and there is

so much news about that old news is

quickly discarded.

A story with only average interest needs to

be told quickly if it is to be told at all. If it

happened today, it's news. If the same

thing happened last week, it's no longer

interesting.

2. Significance

The number of people affected by the

story is important. A plane crash in which

hundreds of people died is more

significant than a crash killing a dozen.

3. Proximity

Stories which happen near to us have

more significance. The closer the story to

home, the more newsworthy it is. For

someone living in France, a major plane

crash in the USA has a similar news value

to a small plane crash near Paris.

Note that proximity doesn't have to mean

geographical distance. Stories from

countries with which we have a particular

bond or similarity have the same effect.

For example, Australians would be

expected to relate more to a story from a

distant Western nation than a story from a

much closer Asian country.

4. Prominence

Famous people get more coverage just

because they are famous. If you break

your arm it won't make the news, but if

the Queen of England breaks her arm it's

big news.

5. Human Interest

Human interest stories are a bit of a

special case. They often disregard the

main rules of newsworthiness; for

example, they don't date as quickly, they

need not affect a large number of people,

and it may not matter where in the world

the story takes place.

Human interest stories appeal to emotion.

They aim to evoke responses such as

amusement or sadness. Television news

programs often place a humorous or

quirky story at the end of the show to

finish on a feel-good note. Newspapers

often have a dedicated area for offbeat or interesting items.

http://www.mediacollege.com/journalism/news/newsworthy.html

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