##Types, Characteristics and Generic Structure of News##

Objectives
Analyzing social function, text structure and various types of news from printed media and news
broadcasting accordingly.

Let's think!
What do you read? What do you search in the internet? What do you watch on TV? What do you
listen to? If you are a kind of person who want to know what is going on in this world, your answer
will be: NEWS.
Yes, news informs us about events, disasters, festivals, celebrations, wars, parties, national exams,
general election, and many other things happening.

Learn about it!

In this lesson, we are learning the types, characteristics, and generic structure of news. Types of
news are basically divided into printed news and news broadcast.

1.NEWS

News is a text containing package of information about a new events happening in somewhere else.
News is spread out through mass media including newspaper, radio, online news, and even mouth-
to-mouth. Common topics for news are politics, war, business, entertainment, unusual event,
accident, and so on. Now read the following news.

###Car Accident at Setiabudhi Street Bandung###

Four people were killed and 5 people got injured in a collision between a minibus and a sedan at
2.30 A.M at Setiabudhi Street near UPI campus. The people killed on the accident were all
passengers in the sedan and all the people who got injured were the passengers in the minibus. The
accident happened due to the human error. The sedan’s driver did not give sign when he wanted to
turn left, at the same time a minibus coming from behind struck the sedan. A collision could not be
avoided. The driver of the minibus said that he did not see any sign from the sedan so he did not
know that the sedan would turn left. Based on the information from the police officer, it was clear that
the fault was with the sedan. It should have given sign if the sedan wanted to change its direction.
2.NEWS BROADCAST

News broadcast can be found on TV and radio as well as internet news streaming.

###NEWS BROADCAST: SOLO FLOODED###

Solo- Widespread flooding inundated Solo, Indonesia, Friday night through Sunday night, and more
storms this week threaten to worsen the situation.

Flooding quickly ensued Friday night through Sunday night in Solo as persistent rain and
thunderstorms unleashed 300 to 450 mm (12 to 18 inches) of rainfall. On Tuesday, nearly 6,000
people were evacuated from parts of Solo.
Runoff from the rain flooded dozens of roads and severely affected public transportation.

Some train services were were disrupted because the rail track was logged by the flood. Flood
waters reached up to 60 cm around Mojosongo sub-district and brought a rapid rise on the
Bengawan Solo River.

3.STRUCTURE OF NEWS

If we are used to reading newspapers and online news media, of course we will find the similarity of
the structure of how the news is written. The news writing structure is called generic structure. Keep
in mind that the structure of each type of text will be different from others. Here is the structure for
news item text.
Newsworthy Event: Newsworthy event contains an introductory paragraph (orientation) of who,
what, where and when is the event. Newsworthy Event will answer briefly Who, What, Where, and
When event happens.

Background Events: Paragraphs in a news Item text which contain background events explain
more about the event mentioned in the first paragraph (Newsworthy Event). This can be one
paragraph or more that contains the background to the events that is made to as supporting
information. Background Events usually consists of several events that become the background and
is written to clarify the chronology of the newsworthy event. In summary, the background events
explain the How and Why of the event.

Source: The last paragraph(s) a news item text contains news sources. Source is a statement from
the expert or the victim of events, news witnesses, and statements from authorities in such events.

4.CHARACTERISTICS AND LANGUAGE FEATURES OF NEWS

The first characteristics of news is using specific language features. Learn the following:

1. uses present perfect tense

Examples:
There has been bizarre twist to the story .…
At the time the medical examiner has speculated that his death was from natural causes, .…
2. uses past tense
Example:
The daughter, Geneva, held a press conference and made stunning allegations involving
drugs ....
3. uses passive voice
Example:
The Governor of this State was found dead .…

Keypoints
1.In news, there are some important points that need to be underlined:

What was it about?

Who involved?
Where did it happen?
When did it happen?
Why did it happen?
How did it happen?

2.Use effective and efficient choice of words in news.

3.The question HOW is important to keep in mind when making news script concept, since it gives
you a picture of how the news will be presented.