News is current information about events, people, things, places or ideas. It can be either an objective report or a piece of opinion, but it must remain understandable and interesting for a wide range of readers. Traditionally, news was delivered in print but it is now also available on the Internet and television.
It can be something as small as an insect affecting food production or as large as the death of a world leader. In a world where so many things are happening all the time, it is important for people to keep up with as much news as possible. However, too much news can be overwhelming. It is often better to choose a few times of the day when one will check the news, for example on social media at breakfast or watching a television news bulletin during lunch.
News has always been important but as the world becomes a more interconnected place, it is now possible to get news from all around the world within seconds, in a way that was unthinkable not long ago. It is now also common for individuals to produce and disseminate their own news, using blogs or social media sites like Twitter.
There is also a great deal of specialised news such as business, science, weather, sports and politics. These types of stories need to be expertly researched and written to be of interest to a wide audience.
The main criteria for deciding whether a particular event is newsworthy are its impact and significance. The more impact and significance an event has, the more likely it is to be newsworthy.
In addition, the effect and significance of an event can be determined by how it relates to other events that are occurring or have recently occurred. This can create a news story chain that links together events or issues.
People are interested in all kinds of news stories, but some topics are more attractive than others. For example, most people are not interested in an insect unless it has an impact on their daily lives; however, if the bug is causing crop failures or eating away at valuable trees, it will be more interesting to read about. Similarly, the views of religious leaders are important to many people so they are more likely to make news when a bishop or archbishop states their view on a controversial issue such as women priests.
People are also interested in the lives of famous people, so news stories about celebrities and other well-known figures can be very popular. There is also an increasing interest in health, so stories about hospitals, clinics, medicines and diseases are popular as are stories about traditional remedies and new medical advances. The desire to have a story widely shared on social media has also begun to influence journalistic selection decisions (Tien Vu 2014). Future research might usefully explore how this is changing the contemporary ecology of news.