How to Make News: The Little Things Make Newsworthy
News is like a constant parade of new information, usually in the form of breaking news. Journalists each minute construct this drama, so the public gets it straightly sorted out and nicely packaged into fast-breaking stories, the very next day on television, radio or online and then the very next day in papers. It will always be being evaluated. The big news is given first in the morning report or in the lead article on the front page, in more detail; lesser news is given in less detailed detail later on in the daily paper or in an inside page.. Sometimes, it can even be re-printed as many times as needed, under the right headline and in quotation marks.. It may be repackaged and distributed within hours.. Sometimes it may just be mentioned in some way or other. But, how often do you really see any of this? Rarely even if it occurs in a newspaper or news portal.
Newspapers, radio and television present the world through a very narrow window of possible news. They may mention a candidate for President of the USA at the time of a campaign stop. They may discuss the latest developments in the Middle East with their international bureau. However, all these events are filtered through editors working at newspapers or channels controlled by newspaper companies. Their only lens to see through are the headlines and words they have chosen to present, in short, news media.
Now take away the power from newspapers and news desks and consider that same powerful instrument of mass communication. Take a look at the internet. There are now hundreds of thousands of websites on line reporting and commenting on current events. However, if you want to read a piece of news, you have to go to the site, read through the commentaries, read what others have written and make your own judgment. This is what news stories or information on the web is all about.
When we make news ourselves, we often try to share the details with as many people as possible. This makes sense because we want to reach as many people as possible and this is what news is all about. But how does it make news? How does one create a story that reaches so many people in such a short time? How does a newspaper or channel manage to pull off such a stunt, without their IT department? How does someone write an article about something that is so abnormal that it is covered by almost every news portal in the world?
News is about people and their unusual behaviors. News will tell us about a strange car that has hit a woman and how this event has affected the local news. But, it is also possible that this event may affect many other lives as well. It is possible that this car accident may affect the children who were on the street and were nearby at the time of the accident. This is because it is likely that they may witness the accident and because of this they may feel more compelled to tell their story to the police or the station authorities.
It is also possible that this news could make a person feel more inclined to take precautionary measures to avoid another similar occurrence. A good example of this would be putting stickers over telephone numbers or blocking a website that is known to be attracting cyber criminals or hackers. In addition, if a plane crashes in a remote area that has not been previously publicized, it may be newsworthy for residents to know and this could increase interest in finding out more about the crash. So, in a nutshell, it is important that you pay attention to all the little details that make newsworthy.
