Definition of News

Dictionary of Canadian English
• Something told as having just happened: information about something that has just happened or will soon happen.
• A report of a current happening or happenings in a newspaper, on television, radio, etc.

 
Random House Dictionary
• A report of a current event.
• A report on current events in a newspaper or on radio or television.
• Such reports taken collectively.
American Heritage Dictionary
• Recent events and happenings.
• A report about recent events.
• New information.
Globe Modern Dictionary
• A report of events as given each day by newspaper, radio, etc.
• Information which was not known before.
Oxford Shorter Dictionary
• New things, novelties (1565).
• Tidings, new information of recent events; new occurrences as a subject of report or talk.
• A newspaper.


Comments About the News
 

• Sophocles: Nobody likes the man who brings bad news.
• Milton (1671): Suspense in news is torture.
• Churchill (1898): It is better to be making the news than taking it; to be an actor than a critic.
• Motto of the New York Times: All the news that's fit to print
• John Bogart (1918): When a dog bites a man, that is not news, because it happens so often. But if a man bites a dog, that is news.

Anon: It is a newspaper's duty to print the news and raise hell.

We are, however, mainly interested in the news media in this course, and news is difficult to define. What is news today is not news tomorrow. What makes news in a major mining town may not get a second glance from an editor of a rural fishing community.

The following activities will help you understand what makes a good journalist, as well as help you understand the media and its influence.

Good journalists have the following QUALITIES   Intelligence: to be able to understand complex issues. Knowledge: broad general knowledge and experience in order to understand a number of different areas and have the ability to go from one area to another easily. Effective: the ability to get things done; work under pressure; work well with others under pressure; be well organized. Curiosity: the need to be curious enough to go beyond the surface; look at things in a questioning manner; to seek information to find out about people, events, activities and to understand them; to be skeptical at times. Comprehension: the ability to analyze information, sort the important from the unimportant; understand what you're writing about. Judgment: gather information and learn to sort the important from the unimportant effectively; be able to weed out information, determining what readers need to know, what will make a complete, accurate article. Persistent: knowing when to continue to seek or push for information, when to give up; the need to be energetic; not stopping just because someone says "no" (remember Woodward and Bernstein and the obstacles they encountered unraveling Watergate). Literacy: grammatical skills; reading ability coupled with comprehension; acceptable writing skills. Motivation: the drive to work beyond the normal 8-hour day; journalists must cover the story when it occurs; news is a perishable commodity. Personal Stability: keeping your head when the world around seems to be falling apart; ability to remain professional and do the job even though you may be witnessing unpleasantness. (The radio reporter who was broadcasting when the famous dirigible, the Hindenburg, exploded just before landing in 1937 in New Jersey, was extremely emotional, but kept reporting.) Also, the more stable you are, the more apt you are to treat people fairly and write objectively.

Journalistic writing differs from literary and other forms of writing in purpose, content and structure.

The purpose of newswriting is:

 

	to present factual information quickly
	to eliminate fiction of any kind
	to write for the fast reader
	to interest a mass audience of all ages and socio-economic levels

 

	be factual
	be timely
	deal with actual events, facts and happenings
	be limited by deadlines in gathering facts, interviewing and writing

 

	follows the inverted pyramid style, which:
	begins with the climax, or most significant part of the story, and
	presents information in decreasing order of importance, with the least important information last

Although you might say that knowing the difference between fact and opinion is easy, when it comes to newswriting, beginning journalism students invariably include reporter opinion in their articles. Of course, articles legitimately include opinions expressed by news sources, but even a hint of reporter opinion or bias needs to be eliminated. You can't write, for example:

The prom was the best ever.
The students had fun dressing up for '50s Day during Spirit Week.

Anything that actually happens is fact. If someone makes a statement, it is a fact that the person spoke to the reporter, but what he or she says is considered opinion. What someone thinks, believes or wishes is opinion, so it is important for the reporter to name the source and include the person's title. In other words, the reporter must attribute the information to the source, whether that source is a person or a written document. Citing the source is called attribution.

Beginning journalists have a tendency to comment on someone's performance, whether it is in sports, winning an award or chairing an event. These comments are unacceptable because they show reporter opinion:

Good job Wolverines.

Senior Judy Parks and her committee did a great job putting on the Homecoming dance.

Congratulations to the Concert Choir for winning first in state competition last week.

• Students should be allowed to get condoms from student health clinics at school.
• The new policy on disclosing student information is necessary to ensure that individual student records are protected. Parents fear their students' privacy is at stake.
• Students are not allowed to eat in classrooms.
• The new cop on campus, Jason Donovan, is assigned to Hometown High School and two middle schools.
• Larger classes and fewer teacher will ultimately affect the quality of education.
• Daily doubles are necessary to the success of the girls' soccer season.
• Teenage violence has increased steadily over the last decade. Each year nearly a million young people between 12 and 19 are raped, robbed or assaulted, often by their peers.
• Violence is devastating this generation, as surely as polio cut down young people in the '40s and '50s.
• More than 2,200 murder victims were under 18 -- an average of more than six young people killed every day.
• Penalties for breaking some school rules are unclear, making them less effective.

Once the story is written editors must determine how newsworthy a story is, and, like a gatekeeper, decide which stories will be published or broadcast and which will not. One way to determine newsworthiness is by evaluating the elements of the news a story contains. The more elements a story contains, the more newsworthy it is, and the more interested readers and listeners will be.

Timeliness relates to the newness of facts. The more recent the event or situation, the more likely it is to be newsworthy. Editors deciding between two stories that are fairly equal, will select the most recent or timely. Without timeliness, a publication will lose readership. We receive up-to-the-minute news from radio and television, and now can get breaking news from on-line newspapers such as USA Today, which are updated regularly.

Proximity simply refers to the nearness of the event. If it happens nearby it is usually of more interest (more newsworthy) than if it happens elsewhere.

Conflict involves tension, surprise, suspense and opposing forces. Why do strikes make news? Wars? Natural distasters? Even sports events? They all have the element of conflict.

Consequence. This element refers to the importance of the event. If what has happened or will happen will have an effect on a large number of people, then it has more consequence than something that will affect fewer people. In considering consequence, ask yourself how many people will be affected. Proximity also affects consequence and the fact that our world a small, global community of sorts, and, therefore, what happens in other countries is of consequence to us all.

Progress makes news, and whether it is local, national or international determines where and how it is reported. A cure for cancer, the completion of a new mall, a species being taken off the endangered list are all progress, and therefore newsworthy.

Prominence. When it comes to news, people are not created equal.  The famous, infamous and the eccentric have a special appeal for the public. This element explains why the press follows movie stars, interviews governors, and ran story after story on President Bill Clinton's infidelities and Monica Lewinsky, who became a household word in 1998.

Human interest stories cause the reader to laugh or cry, to feel emotion. They tickle the funny bone, cause feelings of sorrow or pity or amazement. Human interest stories deal with the qualities of love, hate, compassion, sympathy, curiosity, anger and grief. They are stories about people and events with which the reader can identify.

Variety. If the occurrence is unusual, strange, or has never happened before, it is likely to be newsworthy.

Humour. People like to laugh, so some incident that is humorous is likely to be reported. Journalists must make sure, however, that such reports do not become hurtful or inappropriate in content.

Learning journalistic style is much like learning a foreign language. For the most part, you must memorize the appropriate style as outlined in the Canadian Press Style Guide. A simplified online Style Guide is displayed on the puknews website as an alternate reference. The Style Guide is written to address style questions specific to scholastic journalism, as well as general writing questions. You will find that once you begin to write articles, the most common style rules become second nature, so don't be panicked by information overload when you first begin studying style.

Once you have learned correct journalistic style you will be able to edit your own articles. You may also become a true editor and edit stories written by other reporters before publication, which is referred to as copy editing.

Just to show you how important journalistic style is refer to the Style Guide Pre-test below. Make corrections for everything, from typos and spelling to usage and capitalization. This exercise will point out to you the importance of digging in and really studying the Style Guide.

 Although style isn't the most fun part of journalism, it is important you remain diligent (you can't write good articles without this knowledge) and this will be an ongoing study for you in the years to come.