NEWS WRITING:JST 05105 20 OCT 2020.

Presentation 1

CONCEPTUALIZATION OF NEWS
TOPIC 1
Definition of news
 Definition of news

• Refers to any new information that is news worthy.

• Is information published about recent event
• New information that has happened recently
• Is any information that is not known to audience before its
presentation
• Is a report of a current event that happened or will happen soon
• Lester Markel (1977) defines news as “what you see is news,
what you know is background and what you feel is opinion.
• Is any event, idea or opinion that is timely, that interest or affect
large number of people in a community and that is capable of
being understood by them.
 Principles of new

• Accuracy – Information published must be accurate,

free from factual errors as well as truthful one.
•  
• Balance – A journalist must cover all sides of the
story without favoring either side
•  
• Objectivity – a journalist must be independent from
political affiliations, cultural affiliations, religious
affiliations as well as other social differences
 Principles of new cont…
• Concise and clear – news must be short and
understandable to both journalist and audience
•  
• Current – anything the audiences listen for the first
time is news, but if they knew it before you publish it is
something else.
•  
• Truthfulness – the news must be factual, a journalist
will be required to publish truthful information and not
mislead the audience.
  
News values
TOPIC 2

• Are general value and guidelines which determine if a certain

information is news or not, News value explain why story
interest the audience and how a journalist decide that one
piece of information is news.
• Timeliness – has the story just happened?, Is it about to
happen? Timeliness is crucial, especially for hard news.
•  
• Proximity – how close is this story? Did it happen in your
locality? (Nearby events matters more to audience than
events from other localities).
•  
  
News values cont….

• Prominence – does this involve a well-known public figure? (if so

reads will likely be interested)
•  
• Impact – Does the story matter to readers? May it have an effect on
their lives? (the bigger the story’s consequences, the bigger the story)
•  
• Human Interest – Is there something surprising? Is there something
unusual? (audience enjoy unexpected events than expected one)
•  
• Conflict – Is there a battle, a class or rivalry between two parties? Is it
a battle of power?, is it a political battle?, Is it a class of power?, or is
it a Sport rivalry? (Audience enjoy this king of stories)
Most questions to be answered by journalist
in a story(5w+1H)
1. What- which talks about the event which
makes news
2. Where-shows the area where an event has
taken place
3. When-Indicates the time
4. Why-reasons for the occurrence of such event
5. Who- the participant in the story
6. How-The way on how an event has happened