News is any information about events, current or past, that is important to an audience. It can be reported in a variety of media, including print (newspapers and magazines), radio, television and the internet.
Traditionally, news was transmitted through oral communication. In modern times, it has often been transmitted through wire services or broadcasting networks, allowing for news to be published instantly to a wide audience. The internet has also allowed for information to be rapidly shared across a large number of people.
In the past, it took hours or days for news to reach consumers in other towns or nations. Today, live communications satellite technology allows for the instantaneous distribution of news to a global audience through the internet and mobile devices.
News can cover a wide range of topics, including but not limited to politics, crime, business, sports, weather and international affairs. It can be presented as hard news, which reports the facts of an event, or a feature story that examines the significance of an event and/or its impact on the reader.
When writing a news article, it is important to be impartial and not to inject your personal opinions. It is also critical to include a wide array of sources. If possible, interview the subjects of your article and get their direct quotes. This will give the reader a more thorough understanding of the situation and help them form their own opinion of it.
Hard news articles typically follow a format called the inverted pyramid, wherein the most important facts are provided in the first paragraph. This is followed by a summary of the main points of the story, then more detailed information is provided as the article progresses. In addition to providing readers with the important details of a story, a well-written news article will avoid using excessive adjectives, such as “brilliant”, “excellent” or “amazing”. Instead, active verbs are used, such as “Dr Jones used this equipment to study malaria.”
An in-depth news story is similar to straight reporting but takes a smaller subject and researches it heavily. In-depth pieces usually take longer to write, but provide readers with a more in-depth examination of an event or topic than hard news stories.
Celebrity news is the type of news that involves people who are already famous, whether they have been involved in a scandal or are in the spotlight for other reasons. Entertainment news concerns sex, showbusiness, sport, lighter human interest and animals. It may offer opportunities for humorous treatment or witty headlines. Magnitude news is news that is perceived as significant in terms of the numbers of people involved or in potential impact, or involves a degree of extreme behaviour or occurrence. Follow-up news is news that is a sequel to a previous story, or a continuation of a developing drama such as escapes, searches, sieges or rescues. And relevance news is a story that is deemed to be of importance to the audience, whether it is local, national or international.