News is current information about interesting or important events obtained from all over the world. The main suppliers and gatekeepers of this information are journalists but audience members can also be major contributors by writing letters to newspapers and calling radio and TV to share their opinions on news stories. Often, news is designed to be entertaining and dramatic in order to appeal to the public. This is because the media are commercial enterprises and must be appealing to advertisers if they want to continue to produce news. This is not always a bad thing, but it can lead to the dilution of the meaning of the word “news” as well as to a loss of critical thinking.
Typically, items that make the news are those that affect many people. When a natural disaster strikes and destroys or damages homes or businesses or causes large numbers of workers to lose their jobs, it makes the news. Similarly, if a crime is committed that results in great harm to the community or is unusual, it will make the news.
Other factors that contribute to the significance of a story are how it is presented and its timeliness. It is important to report only on events that are occurring right now. It doesn’t do a newspaper much good to write about something that happened a week ago, because by then the community has already moved on and is talking about different things.