News is current information about events, which is broadcast over radio or television, printed in a newspaper, etc. It is usually reported in an objective manner. The purpose of news is to inform the public of important happenings in their immediate environment, country, or internationally. It also serves to educate the public by introducing them to various topics such as politics, economics, science, and culture.
The most obvious purpose of news is to entertain, but this can be done in a variety of ways. For example, sports news is not only about the scores of a game; it also discusses the tactics used by players and coaches and includes quotes from the coach and some of the players. It is also possible to entertain with news about art – stories about music, dance and theatre keep us informed about new developments and who is doing what in these areas. Similarly, we are interested in stories about films and carvings.
The quality of news is based on a number of factors, including how new, unusual, interesting and significant the event or development is. The stronger these elements, the better the newsworthiness of a story. It is worth noting, however, that the same event can have different levels of newsworthiness in different societies. For example, if an insect has been found living on a plant which it did not previously inhabit, this may be of interest to scientists, but it would not be big news in a general newspaper or TV news broadcast.
