News is information about events that affect the public. This might include information about war, government, politics, crime, education, health, the environment, business or sports. News articles are often written in first or second person and may include quotes from experts or ordinary people. The content of News articles can vary from very serious to light-hearted, depending on the target audience and the publication. The most important thing to remember when writing a news article is that it needs to be timely. People do not want to read about events that happened a week ago, they want to hear about something that is happening now.
If the information in a News article is not current, it will lose its impact. People also want to hear about interesting or exciting events. This is why it is so important to write a good headline, as this will attract the attention of readers.
Using facts and figures will also help to keep an article interesting and informative. The use of graphs and charts can help to illustrate the information. It is also helpful to use a short paragraph structure, with the most important points at the beginning. This will ensure that the reader gets the main points of the story without being overwhelmed with unnecessary details.
It is vitally important that a writer cites all of their sources in a News article. This will help to maintain the integrity of the article and also protect the journalist from accusations of plagiarism or unfair reporting. This can be done by including a works cited page at the end of the article or by including in-text citations when appropriate.
When writing a News article, it is helpful to know who your demographic is. This will usually be apparent based on the publication’s target audience, but can also be narrowed down further by location. For example, if the article is about a local event in Kansas City, the demographic might be residents of that city. If the article is about zoning laws, it might be readers of commercial real estate publications.
To make a story newsworthy, it must have impact, incorporate violence and scandal and be familiar and local. It must be of interest to the majority of the population and not just a specialist audience. For example, a scientific discovery that an insect has been found living on a plant it did not previously inhabit might be big news in a specialist publication but is unlikely to make the cut for general news broadcasts and newspapers. However, if this insect has been seen to be eating the crops of farmers who rely on these plants for their livelihoods then it could become a major news item. This is because it affects the lives of people directly and is a major issue of concern.