News is information about important and interesting events that affect people, places and things. It is reported in newspapers, magazines and on television and radio. It can also be found on the Internet and in mobile phones and other devices. People read, watch and listen to news for a variety of reasons. Some people like to stay informed about what is happening in the world and their local community, while others like to be entertained by a good story.
Whether it is a major political event, a natural disaster, a war or a murder trial, if the information is new and not widely known it will be news. However, if the event has already been widely reported it may no longer be considered newsworthy.
In the past, it was easier to filter out the irrelevant and trivial from the news, but the development of a mass media has meant that people have become accustomed to a certain level of sensationalism in their daily dose of news. It is therefore necessary to seek out a mixture of sources, so that you can balance the hard hitting news with some lighthearted entertainment.
There are a number of ways to get your news, from the major international news agencies such as CNN and BBC through to state-owned TV and radio stations such as China Central Television and Russia Today (branded RT). Many newspapers have online versions where they publish their current news. You can also subscribe to news aggregators such as Google News and Yahoo News which pull together stories from a range of sources.
The quality of a news story is judged by how new, unusual, interesting and significant it is. A news story which is all of these will be very good and highly relevant. However, what is newsworthy in one society may not be newsworthy in another – for example, the collapse of a farm wall that kills a cow but not a pig will have different levels of interest in different societies, depending on how important cattle are to them.
The news is a very complex and varied subject. It can be very difficult to decide what is and isn’t newsworthy, and even if something is considered to be newsworthy it may not be given enough coverage by the mainstream media. However, it is very important that people try to keep up with the news as much as possible, so that they know what is happening in their own country and in the world around them. This will help them to make better decisions about their lives and the choices that they will make. It will also help them to be more engaged in their own community and be able to take action where appropriate.