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. TimingThe 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. SignificanceThe 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. ProximityStories 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. ProminenceFamous 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 InterestHuman 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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