NEWS

DEFINITION OF NEWS

News is a report of a current event in a newspaper or on radio, TV, internet, or even word of mouth to a third-party or mass audience. It is anything that is interesting, that relates to what’s happening around that would be of interest to the audience. For example, when a dog bites a man that is not news, but when a man bites a dog, it becomes news. 

Determinants of News

As a reporter, your news judgment or ability to determine newsworthy events is very essential. There are several factors that determine whether or not information is newsworthy. Using either of these determinants as a benchmark for ascertaining which information to use is relative, but there are general guidelines. An event may make news because of one or a combination of the following:

Impact: This concerns the question ‘what effect does it have?’ News generally has impact if it affects a lot of people, which means that in making a decision as to what to report, generally opt for information that has the potential to affect a lot of people. For instance, a proposed income tax increase has the potential to affect a lot of people, hence this has impact.

Timeliness or Immediacy: This concerns the question ‘Is it new?’  Information generally has timeliness if it happened recently, that is, an event that has just happened is new and probably news.  Timeless or immediacy refers to the currency of the news item. Nothing is as dead as yesterday’s newspaper.

Prominence: Information possesses the quality of prominence if it involves a well-known person or organisation. This refers to the degree of importance of the personality involved in the news.  A person may be prominent either because of his name or as a result of his achievements, contributions, or the position he/she occupies in the society (for instance, information about the President of Nigeria will generally be newsworthy). However, an unusual event involving the man-on-the street may make him prominent, e.g. the case of Clifford Orji accused of cannibalism.

Proximity: Information has proximity if it involves something that happened somewhere nearby. This refers to nearness to the news source.  It is important to localise your news.  Proximity can be geographic or psychological.  “10 people killed in Lagos” is more newsworthy than 15 killed in Ghana.  Also, report on the latest fashion in London will be of interest to a fashion designer despite its distance.

Conflict: Information has conflict if it involves some kind of disagreement between people. Whether they choose to admit it or not, everybody loves a confrontation. Therefore, if information generally reflects some form of confrontation, it is usually regarded as newsworthy. For instance, good democracy involves more civil conflicts over the nature of public policy, which is why political news is usually in newspapers because of its conflict-inherent nature

The Unusual: Events that deviate sharply from the expected; that departs considerably from the experience of everyday life news. Here, we are talking about the bizarre, the strange, and the wondrous.

Currency: Occasionally, a situation long simmering will suddenly emerge as the subject of discussion and attention. E.g. the matter of the Niger-Delta.

Necessity: The seven previous categories of newsworthiness involve people, events, and situations that call out for coverage – meetings, speeches, accidents, deaths, games, and the like. The final category is of the journalist’s making; that is the journalist has discovered something that is necessary to disclose. The situation or event, the person or the idea may or may not come under any of the previous seven categories of newsworthiness, or may meet one or more of those values. The essential element is that journalist, consider the situation to be something everyone should know about and usually it is a situation that needs to be revealed or remedied.

While the definition of news varies among media people, there are some elements that are common to all conceptions of news.  To be news, an event must be interesting to the public.  Secondly and equally important, it must be new (to the public). Also, it is important to note that it is the telling or the reporting that makes an event a piece of news.