News

Dr. Neyshell V. Araňo

 What is News?
•North
•East
•West
•South
What is NEWS?
• “new things”
• Report of recent events
• Previously unknown information
• Material reported in a newspaper or
news periodical, or on a newscast
What is NEWS?
News is an accurate
and timely account of
an idea, issue, or
event that affects a
significant number of
 An idea becomes
newsworthy when it is
the opinion of a
prominent person, when
it transforms into
policy, or when it is a
good idea that could
 An issue becomes
newsworthy when it
affects a great number
of people, especially
among the target
audience of the paper.
 An event becomes
newsworthy for the
school paper when it
involves the school, its
administration, faculty,
students, and alumni.
 News is an account
because it is the first
historical record of that
idea, issue, or event that
maybe used as a source of
information by chroniclers
of history of your campus,
your town, your
 Types of News
2 Main NEWS Classifications:
Hard (straight news)
Soft
 HARD News
• Written by reporters covering a particular
government agency
• Straight news-because it sticks to the bare facts of
a story.
• Usually possesses three to five news values, esp.
significance and prominence
 SOFT News
• Human interest
• Does not always possess all the news attributes
• An unusual, dramatic, or inspiring event took place
 Other Types of
News
News features
In-depth story
Follow-up story
Sidebar
Polls
 News Features
• Need not be about a recent event but
continues to be timely because of the
season or an anniversary of the event
• Written from the personal perspective
of the writer.
 In-Depth Story
• goes beyond the day’s facts and seeks to analyze,
interpret, and uncover facts related to an issue or
event
• Investigative (seeks to uncover unknown truths
that sources would rather hide) or
• Explanatory ( seeks to expound on an issue or
event by giving it greater context)
Follow-up Story
takes off from previous news reports
andlooks at the story from another
angle, from another source, or
simply updates reader with the
development of the story
 Sidebar
• a more focused story that
accompanies the bigger story.
• adds color to a news event
 Polls
Technically this cannot be called
news, it does make for easy and light
reading
 News Values
• Help journalist and editors determine which ideas,
issues, and event ought to be published and which
ones should be set aside
• Help determine the placement of the item in the
newspaper.
• Stories with greater impact usually possess more
than one value.
• A front-page story usually contains all five values.
 News Values
• Timeliness
• Significance
• Proximity
• Prominence
• Oddity
 TIMELINESS
• Data that has been updated with new information
becomes old information.
SIGNIFICANCE
• Relative to the target audience of a publication
• Significance increases as the number of people
affected by the news increases.
 PROXIMITY
• One’s nearness to a thing
• Geographical Proximity means that any event that
takes place within the school ground is
automatically newsworthy.
• Psychological Proximity means an incident in an
outside institution may have “psychological
nearness” to other institutions having the same
nature.
 PROMINENCE
• Focuses on the fame or infamy of persons, places,
things, or events
• For a school paper it could apply to:
• Officials of the school
• Famous alumni
• Prominent events: sports fest/intramurals
• Can also be applied to dates:
• Foundation day
• In daily newspapers, it could be:
• 1986 EDSA Revolution (February 25)
• Ninoy Aquino (August 21)
• Labor day (May 1)
 ODDITY
• “If a dog bites a man that is not a news; but if a
man bites a dog, then that is news.”
Charles Anderson Dana (Editor of New York Sun,1882)

• Ludicrous events
• Drama (emotional, involve conflict, or inspire)
• Funny events
 Task 1: Determine which of the following
events/issues/ideas are newsworthy. Defend
your answer by citing their news values or
lack of the same.
Mr. Soc Gallos, the English teacher, submitted the
grades of the graduating students.
Fernando Zobel de Ayala donates a dozen
computers to school
Vincent Cruz, a high school freshman, loses his
wallet on the way to school.
Apolonio Santos, a high school sophomore, wins
the mayor’s Most Outstanding Student of the City
award.
• The principal announces that she is retiring
next year.
• The principal announces that he will go to
the United States for a vacation.
• Ms. De la Rosa, a math teacher, was
awarded a scholarship by the Japan
Foundation.
• The security guard had a heart attack and is
now in the hospital.
• The security guard did not allow the beggar
to enter the school grounds.
• The library covered all the books with
plastic to protect them from decay.
• The library set up a video section and
acquired the latest DVDs of Filipino films.
• The canteen is now selling ice cream.
• The canteen now has air-conditioning.
• Mrs. Valenzuela, the school nurse, was
guilty of bringing home school medicinal
supplies.
• Classrooms will be painted pink during the
summer break.
 Task 2:
• Form three groups and get copies of three different
newspapers per group. Identify and cut out
examples of different types of news stories.