The Nature of News

1
The Nature of News

• News Reporting and Writing
• Journalism and Media Studies Centre
• The University of Hong Kong
• Gene Mustain

2
What is News?

• News is information about a disruption in the
  normal flow of events, a departure from the
  expected and the routine.
• News is information people want or need to know
  in order to make sound decisions about life and
  their lives.

3
Views of News

• A wise editor Anything that interests a large
  part of the community and has never been brought
  to its attention before.
• The wise editors wise-aleck employee When a
  dog bites a man, that is not news When the man
  bites the dog, that is.

4
Hard, Soft and In-depth

• Hard news -- reports of happenings.
• Soft news -- reports of human interest and
  novelty.
• In-depth -- reports about issues and trends in
  the news.

5
The News Mix

• Many media try for a mix, many do not.
• News is elusive.
• News is selective.
• News is subjective.

6
Elements of News

• Importance. News has impact and consequence.
• Timeliness. News is fresh and recent.
• Proximity. News is events close to us.
• Conflict. News is dramatic.

7
Elements of News (2)

• Prominence. News is people we know.
• Unusualness. News is unique.
• Human Interest. News is life.