News is information about important or interesting events that are new, and which have recently happened or been discovered. It is a kind of current event report that is broadcast on television, printed in newspapers or posted online. Alternatively, it can be heard in person from the radio or over the telephone. It is the kind of information that influences your daily life, such as a natural disaster, political scandal, or the decisions made by local councils.
A lot of the time news is about people, but it can also be about non-human things. These include things like cyclones, floods, droughts, bush fires, earthquakes or volcanic eruptions. It can be about money, including fortunes made and lost, or about employment – wages, salaries, job losses and pay rises. Sometimes it is about a particular group of people, such as the elderly or the disabled, and often it is about specific places, such as towns or cities.
It is important to be well informed, but it can be difficult to keep up with the latest developments in a world of information overload. It can be helpful to sign up for a few good news websites, newsletters or apps that provide a regular overview of the latest developments. However, be aware that these sources may have their own biases. Taking in information from multiple sources can help you to avoid being sealed into the bubble of a single point of view and to counterbalance the sensational or partisan stories that might be presented by some media outlets.
To make an effective news article, you need to know your audience. It is important to grab and hold their attention right away, so start your story with the most interesting and important facts first. It is generally a good idea to use the inverted pyramid format, where the most important information is presented at the top of the article. This is because a lot of people don’t read all the way through an article, so you want to make sure that they see the key points.
It’s also a good idea to be clear about your source of information. You can do this by using quotation marks around quotes from people involved in the story, and by clearly identifying their names. Usually only the first name is used, although middle initials may be included if it helps to clarify the identity of the person being quoted. It is best to use the third person in the article, but if there are compelling reasons for switching to first or second person, then this should be done carefully to avoid upsetting the reader.
A great deal of news is about politics or international issues, but it can also be about events in your own community. It’s important to stay up to date with what is happening in your city, so that you can take a stand on the issues and be an active citizen. It’s also important to know what is happening in the wider world, so that you can form an opinion on international issues and understand how they might affect your day-to-day life.