Send us feedback. See more words from the same century. The term seems to have emerged around the end of the 19th century. Newry and Mourne. Accessed 12 Nov. Nglish: Translation of news for Spanish Speakers. Britannica English: Translation of news for Arabic Speakers. Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!
Log in Sign Up. The answer is that they do it in exactly the same way as everybody else. Everybody makes those same judgments whenever they decide to talk about one event rather than another.
For example, which do you think is more interesting:. Every one of these events might be news for the community in which it happens, but some are more newsworthy than others. You very likely answered that the most interesting things were a girl going to university, a man aged 55 marrying a girl aged 15, and a car killing a child. If your answer was different, though, it does not necessarily mean that you were wrong. The same event can have different levels of interest in different societies, and will be talked about in different ways.
If a farm wall has collapsed, killing a cow and a pig, which is more important? Clearly, the answer will vary from one society to another, depending upon the relative importance of cows and pigs. For this reason, the content of the news can be different in different societies. The way in which the news is judged, though, is the same everywhere.
These elements make up what we call the "news value" of information. The stronger the elements are, the higher the news value. If it is not new, it cannot be news. The assassination of Mrs Gandhi is unusual, interesting, significant and about people, but it cannot possibly be reported in tomorrow's papers, because it is not new.
If some facts about that assassination became known for the first time, however, that would be news. The assassination would not be new, but the information would be.
Events which happened days or even weeks earlier can still be news, as long as they have not been reported before. If you are telling a story for the first time, it is new to your readers or listeners and therefore it can be news. News of the death of Mao Tse-tung, for instance, was not released to the world by the Chinese government for several days; when they did release it, however, it was still very definitely news. Things are happening all the time, but not all of them are news, even when they are new.
A man wakes up, eats breakfast and goes to work on a bus; it has only just happened, but nobody wants to read about it because it is not unusual. Ordinary and everyday things do not make news. Of course, if that same man was 90 years old and was still catching the bus to work every day, it would be unusual!
The classic definition of news is this: "Dog bites man" is not news; "Man bites dog" is news. This definition, though, is not universal. If dogs are eaten in your society at feasts, for instance then it will not be news when a man bites a dog - so long as it has been cooked. What is usual in one society may be unusual in another. Again, we will expect the content of the news to vary from society to society. In every society, though, whatever is unusual is likely to be news.
Events which are new and unusual may still not be of general interest. Scientists may report that an insect has just been found living on a plant which it did not previously inhabit.
The discovery is new, and the event is unusual, but it is unlikely to interest anybody other than a specialist or enthusiast. In a specialist publication this could be big news, but in a general news broadcast or paper it would merit at most a few words.
However, if that same insect was one which had a huge appetite, and which had previously lived on and eaten bush grass and if the new plant on which it had been found was rice, then the story becomes news, because it is significant.
People may not be interested in bugs, but they are interested in food. If this insect is now threatening their crops, it becomes a matter of concern to them. It is news because it is significant. An example of news is a couple announcing their engagement at a family gathering.
An example of news is the New York Times announcing the winner of a presidential race. After a night's sleep the news is as indispensable as the breakfast. She prayed for her brother as living and was always awaiting news of his return.
All rights reserved. Filters 0. News is the flow of tides of human aspirations, the ignominy of mankind and the glory of human race. It is the best record of the incredible meanness and the magnificent coverage of man.
The news is current information made available to public about what is going on. It enables the people to make up their minds as what to think and how to act. News is a truly, concise and accurate report of the event. A news is the report of an event and what an event itself. News means the record of the event that has taken place in a particular era.
The significant element of news is that it is an event in which some kind of action takes place. It is a report in which the action is described narrated, highlighted or recorded. News is written in a comprehensive manner.
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