1. By Jackie Scott

2.  Newspaper
 Magazine
 Online News
 Yahoo, MSN, hotmail, etc.
 Twitter
 Facebook
 YouTube
 More?

4.  What do you think?
 News is: events and catastrophes,
information on politics and national/ world
issues. It is police reports and birth
announcements. It is profiles of celebrities
and tips on travel and exercise. It is reviews
on movies and music. News can be
ANYTHING!

5.  If it can be anything… how do you define it?
 News is: any factual information that meets
one of the following criteria:
 Timeliness
 Proximity
 Prominence
 Consequence
 Human Interest
 Conflict

6.  Timeliness relates to the “newness” of the
facts. This includes elections, sporting events,
announcements, etc. Basically anything that
is happening now or has recently happened.
“Breaking News”

7.  The “nearness” of the event to your place of
publication. For example- If Dr. Williams wins
Principal of the year it is news to us and St.
Joseph- probably not to readers in Kansas
City/ St. Louis.

8.  How well known is the individual or
organization the information is about?
 For example: If my daughter scores the
winning goal in her soccer game, the majority
of the city, state, and country DOES NOT
CARE. If Alex Morgan scores the winning goal
for the Olympic gold people all over the world
care.

9.  This refers specifically to the importance of
an event. The bigger an impact the event has
on the audience, the bigger the
CONSEQUENCE thus it’s newsworthiness.
 For example: The bond issue passed last April
has a direct impact on our community
because it determined the future of our
schools. THUS, it is newsworthy.

10.  Human interest stories are directly related to
how human beings behave. They use stories
that play with our emotions by making us
laugh, cry, or get angry.
 For example, the Dominque Moceanu story.
 http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/06/11/d
ominique-mocea-secret-sister-jennifer-
bricker_n_1586987.html

11.  Stories that deal with two opposing elements
or conflict. Things such as elections, sporting
events and war are perfect examples of
stories with high conflict.

12.  1 ordinary person + 1 ordinary person= 0
 1 ordinary person + 1 extraordinary adventure =NEWS
 1 husband + 1 wife = 0
 1 husband + 3 wives = NEWS
 1 bank cashier + 1 wife + 7 children = 0
 1 bank cashier - $20,000 = NEWS
 1 person + 1 achievement = NEWS
 1 person + 1 ordinary life of 79 years = 0
 1 person + 1 ordinary life of 110 years = NEWS

13.  http://newseum.org/digital-
classroom/video/what-is-news/default.aspx
 As you watch the video write down what
stories they talk about and what types of
news elements they have. You will need the
information later this hour!

14.  Journalism is the first rough draft of history.
-Philip Graham

15.  Our freedom depends on freedom of the
press and that cannot be limited without
being lost.
-Thomas Jefferson

16.  “A free press is the unsleeping guardian of
every other right that free men prize; it is the
most dangerous foe of tyranny.”
-Winston Churchhill