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News
News is any new information or information on current events which is
relayed by print, broadcast, Internet, or word of mouth to a third party or
mass audience. The reporting and investigation of news falls within the
profession of journalism. News is often reported by a variety of sources,
such as newspapers, television, and radio programs, wire services, and web
sites. News reporting is a type of journalism, typically written or
broadcast in news style. Most news is investigated and presented by
journalists and can be distributed to various outlets via news agencies.
There are many categories of news. The weather is typically presented by a
certified meteorologist or, on smaller stations, a less-trained "weatherman"
and is considered news. Other news categories are: sports, fashion, society,
entertainment, business, cartoon strips, features, lottery numbers, lives of
celebrities, advertising, and more. Until the 1970s, when women's lib issues
came to the forefront, most newspapers had a "Women's" section devoted
entirely to fashion and society news. Papers even printed "cheesecake"
feature photos of attractive young women in bikinis, often transmitted by
the AP or UPI wire services, illustrating various news events or feature
ideas.
In its infancy, news gathering was primitive by today's standards. Printed
news had to be phoned in to a newsroom or brought there by a reporter where
it was typed and either transmitted over wire services or edited and
manually set in type along with other news stories for a specific edition.
Today, the term "Breaking News" has become trite as broadcast and cable news
services use live satellite technology to bring current events into
consumers' homes live as it happens. Events that used to take hours or days
to become common knowledge in towns or in nations are fed instantaneously to
consumers via radio, television, cell phones, and the Internet.
Most large cities had morning and afternoon newspapers. As the media evolved
and news outlets increased to the point of near oversaturation, afternoon
newspapers were shut down except for relatively few. Morning newspapers have
been gradually losing circulation, according to reports advanced by the
papers themselves.
Commonly, news content should contain the who, what, when, where, why, and
how of an event. There should be no questions remaining. Newspapers normally
write hard news stories, such as those pertaining to murders, fires, wars,
etc. in inverted pyramid style so the most important information is at the
beginning. Busy readers can read as little or as much as they desire. Local
stations and networks with a set format must take news stories and break
them down into the most important aspects due to time constraints. Cable
news channels such as Fox News Channel, MSNBC, and CNN, are able to take
advantage of a story, sacrificing other, decidedly less important stories,
and giving as much detail about breaking news as possible.
Objectivity
In democracies, news organizations are often expected to aim for
objectivity: Reporters claim to try to cover all sides of an issue without
bias, as compared to commentators or analysts, who provide opinion or
personal point-of-view.
In the United Kingdom, limits are set by the government agency Ofcom, the
Office of Communications. Both newspapers and broadcast news programs in the
United States are generally expected to remain neutral and avoid bias except
for clearly indicated editorial articles or segments.
Many single-party countries have operated state-run news organizations,
which may present the government's views. Even in those situations where
objectivity is expected, it is difficult to achieve, and individual
journalist may fall foul of their own personal bias, or succumb to
commercial or political pressure. Individuals and organizations who are the
subject of news reports may use news management techniques to try to make a
favourable impression.
Etymology
"News" developed as a special use of the plural form of "new" in the 14th
century. In Middle English, the equivalent word was 'newes', based on the
French 'nouvelles'.
It is not, as is often claimed, an acronym for "north, east, west, south".
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Current News: a dictionary of current search terms and popular interest topics.