News is information about a recently changed situation or a recent event. News articles should be factual and adhere to journalistic principles. The first step in writing a good news article is research. It is important to find out what people are interested in, and what topics they already know about.
Once you have your research, you can start to develop the story. It is important that the article is not too long, and that it covers all of the important information about your topic.
Next, write a snappy headline that will capture your audience’s attention. The headline should be short and include a clear summary of the news article. If you have a byline, it is usually placed at the top of the article with your name. This will help the reader identify with the writer of the news article and will increase its credibility.
After composing the headline, you can begin to organize your story. You should put all the information into categories or “buckets” based on their importance. This will help you decide which information to include in your news article and which to leave out. It is also helpful to determine what kind of tone you want to set for the article. Finally, proofread for correct information and proper formatting.
A good news article should also contain a “listicle” or list format, which provides readers with a convenient and organized way to digest the information. This format is often used for trending stories or for lists of tips and recommendations.
News is determined by a complex mix of factors. It depends on the interests and anxieties of a society. If a wall collapses, killing a cow and a pig, this will have different news value in two societies. If the collapse happens in one of the world’s leading economies, it will be bigger news than a similar event happening in a less developed country.
Nevertheless, no theory of news values can explain everything. Arbitrary and convenience factors can influence news selection, as when a planned big story fails and a smaller one takes its place, or when a story formerly discarded is suddenly made newsworthy by an unforeseen development.
Moreover, in the digital age, audiences are increasingly selecting and disseminating news themselves (Tien Vu 2014; Welbers et al. 2015), impacting not only on their own consumption but also on the selection of stories by journalists. Future research could usefully explore how this process works in practice.