| What is news? |
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| Know your audience! |
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| Criteria: |
| 1. Timeliness |
currency
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happening now or about to happen (even just recently happened)
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the "why" of an event (analysis) often comes
later
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| 2. Proximity |
the closer the event, the more likely it is to be news
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scale is important
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often local ties to a story can make a distant story close
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ability to identify with the story
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| 3. Significance |
who is affected?
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who is interested?
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what is the impact?
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| 4. Conflict |
visual dramatics
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emotion
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movement
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person v. person - physical, economic, mental, political,
social
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person v. self - internal conflict manifested
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person v. circumstance - response to situations outside
the norm
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person v. nature - weather, environment etc.
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more than one conflict can be present in a story
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| 5. Prominence |
people are more interested in the famous than the not so
famous
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famous places, events, things as well
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| 6. Human Interest |
a catch all category for anything else
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a need to know your audience
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often positive
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| Identifying why a story is newsworthy often gives you the
focus for the lead. |
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