News is information about something that happens recently or is of concern to a community. It can be reported in print or on television, online or through other means. It can be local, national or international in scope. A news story is usually written to inform and educate, so it must be factually accurate, yet interesting enough to keep the reader’s attention. News articles should have a clearly defined audience in mind; for example, a news article about a new business initiative at a small local company will likely be read by other members of the local business community. Likewise, a news article about a major event such as the assassination of a world leader will be read by people all over the globe.
A successful news story must be brief and to the point, with a snappy headline that captures the attention of readers. It should also be logically organized so that the most important information is at the top of the article and less-important information is pushed lower down in the text. Finally, it should be well-written and written in a style that is both readable and appropriate for the intended audience.
It is not always easy to decide what is newsworthy, as different societies have differing views on what is important. For example, a farm disaster that kills both a cow and a pig will be of more interest to some than to others, depending on the relative importance of these animals to each society. Celebrities and public figures are of particular interest to the press, especially when they do things that are unusual or significant. Sex and other taboo topics are also of interest to the media, particularly when they go outside the accepted norms of a given society.
The best source of news is a news agency that has a reputation for being relatively unbiased and does not take the side of one particular political party or group of individuals. However, with the decline of traditional newspapers, many people now get their news from a wide variety of sources. News aggregator sites are helpful in this regard, as they can gather a number of different news reports from a variety of sources and present them in an easily digestible format.
Writing a news article requires a lot of research and knowledge about the topic on which you are writing. It is also helpful to know your audience, which can be tricky since some news articles are meant for a general audience while others are geared toward specific audiences. Narrowing down your audience may be as simple as determining your demographic based on the location of the publication or website where you are posting the news article. It might be easier, however, if you are preparing an article for a specialized publication or community, such as an online newspaper that covers Kansas City. This will help you focus your article more appropriately and avoid wasting time writing information that will not be of interest to your readers.