What Makes News?

News is information about events that have happened recently and are significant. It can also include opinion pieces and interviews with people. The main purpose of news is to inform people about things that are happening around them, and so they can make informed choices. News can be delivered by a variety of methods, including radio, television and the Internet.

Whether it is about war, politics, celebrities, business, education, health or the environment, news articles should be interesting and accurate. They should also be well written, as this will make them more readable and engaging for the audience. When writing a news article, it is important to use quotations from sources when possible to provide credibility and authenticity. It is also a good idea to have an extra pair of eyes take a look at the finished piece, to check for errors and to ensure that all of the facts are correct.

People are interested in all sorts of news stories, from the very serious to the quirky or unusual. It is not always easy to judge what will be of interest, however, as everyone has their own opinions and prejudices. It is therefore difficult to create completely unbiased news.

The most important thing to remember when deciding what makes news is timeliness. It is very likely that a story will be more interesting to readers if it happened recently. This is why large media sources tend to focus on current events, as they know that their audiences are most interested in this type of news.

Other factors that may make news include the importance of a subject to people, how well the event has been organised, how it compares with past events and how far reaching its effects are likely to be. For example, an insect infestation may not be of much importance to most people, but if it affects the crops of small peasant farmers then it could become newsworthy.

Some of the most common topics for news stories are about famous people – what they do, how they behave and what they look like. It is especially interesting when they do or say things that are controversial. People are also interested in news about money – how it is earned, spent and lost. It is often newsworthy if it involves a large sum of money or if it is a scandalous story such as bankruptcy or a robbery.

Other subjects that are frequently the focus of news stories include religion and belief, health and fitness, sports, fashion, entertainment, crime, business, the economy, agriculture, natural disasters and terrorism. In-depth news features are a special type of article that takes a smaller subject and researches it thoroughly. These types of articles can be quite long and in-depth, and are often written about politicians or other influential people. It is also important to keep up-to-date with world news, both international and domestic, on a daily basis. This can be done by signing up for various news bulletins, such as the Economist Espresso, Next Draft or The New York Times Morning Briefing.