1. What Makes
It News?
News Writing

2. Timeliness/ Immediacy
News is what is happening NOW. If it happened last month or last year, it’s not news anymore; it’s history.
Often, the most newsworthy element in the story is the most recent happening, the latest occurrence that relates to the news event.
Timeliness/ Immediacy

3. How close to your readers did something happen
How close to your readers did something happen? Will they feel connected?
All other things being equal, something that is happening in a person’s school, neighborhood, town or city is more meaningful to them than something taking place across the state or across the world.
Proximity

4. Impact / Consequence How will this event affect your readers?
Something that will change your readers’ lives, even in a small way, is more important than something that won’t have any consequences for them.
Impact / Consequence

5. Is there a disagreement between people in the story. Rivalry
Is there a disagreement between people in the story? Rivalry? Misunderstanding?
People are naturally drawn to arguments, fights, disagreements and discord. We find conflict fascinating. Stories related to war and politics, in addition to having impact, also are often interesting because they contain conflict.
If you showed the student video suggested in the lesson plan that goes with this presentation, this is an element of news that video did not discuss. Thus, this presentation uses the RULE of EIGHT, rather than Seven Pillars.
Conflict
Some journalists also include “continuation” in this category, as many conflict stories are ongoing and reported continually for some time.

6. Prominence / Celebrity
Is a well-known person part of the story?
Readers like to read about people they know. If a person is well-known, more readers will be interested than if they have never heard of the person. This includes prominent people in your school or city, not just famous celebrities.
Teachers might introduce the idea of “household name.” If it’s someone that everyone in your household has heard of, then it’s definitely someone prominent.
Prominence / Celebrity

7. Oddity / Rarity / Novelty
If something is out of the ordinary, it may be newsworthy just because it is unusual or weird.
The strange or unusual is fascinating to many readers. Events that happen only rarely are more newsworthy than something that happens frequently.
The student video suggested in the lesson plan had this as two different news elements. There is a difference between oddity and novelty: Novelty might also be used to describe something that happens for the first time, such as “first black president.” There’s nothing odd about that, but it is rare. Regardless, the odd, the rare and the novel all pass the “gee whiz” test suggested by the student video.
Oddity / Rarity / Novelty

8. Human Interest / Emotion
Does it make you laugh or want to cry?
Anything that appeals to readers’ emotions is interesting. Stories that make people laugh, cry, get angry, feel sympathy or pity, or be amazed are often the most-read stories in the paper or website.
Does it pass the “Hey Mabel” test? That is, does it make Henry say to his wife Mabel at the breakfast table: “Hey Mabel, did you hear this?”
Human Interest / Emotion

9. Some stories are news simply because a lot of people are talking about them.
Often, these are stories that some people think are overblown or non-news, such as the birth of the royal baby or Miley Cyrus twerking on national TV.
What are some “current” storied people are talking about now? Would they fit any other definition of news? Sometimes they do, sometimes they don’t. A lot of celebrity news is also “currency.” If you watch the Today Show, they often feature stories that people are talking about in social media that really fit only the barest definitions of news.
Currency

10. The term “news value” is used to describe whether a particular story is news. When a story has one or more of the elements of news, it has news value, but some stories have more value to readers than others.
The more elements that are present for a particular audience, the more value a story has for them as news.
News Value

11. Rule of 8 1. Is it timely or immediate? (timeliness)
2. Is it happening nearby? (proximity)
3. Does it affect the readers or viewers, or have some consequence for their lives? (impact/consequence)
4. Is it about someone who is well known? (prominence/celebrity)
5. Is it odd, rare, weird, a “first” or otherwise outside the ordinary? (oddity/rarity/novelty)
6. Is it about a conflict or disagreement, or the continuation of one? (conflict)
7. Does it tug at the heart strings? (human interest)
8. Is it something everyone is talking about in social media or other news media? (currency)
Rule of 8

12. Four other considerations of newsworthiness

13. Audience Always remember who your readers are.
Some stories appeal more to teens. Some are interesting mostly to parents, or to teachers or to retirees. Keep your readers’ inherent interests in mind when deciding if it’s news to them.
Who is reading this (or viewing this)?
Audience

14. Sometimes, publications may choose not to report something that would otherwise be newsworthy because of their policies.
For example, most publications do not publish the names of rape victims or children who are involved in crimes. Most do not publish profanity. When in doubt, consult your school’s student media policy.
Policy

15. With the 24/7 news cycle, what one publication reports on often becomes news for many or all of the others.
Your competition is whatever other media your audience consumes.
Also think of nearby schools’ publications as your competition, since yours should always be better than theirs!
In student media, it’s always good to watch and read what other schools are covering.
Note the similarity to CURRENCY. It explains a lot about why something is news in the 24/7 news world.
Competition

16. Sometimes, something gets a good position on a news page or website because of how it looks.
If it has a great photo, a really catchy headline or a cool chart with some startling statistic, it’s going to attract more readers.
So … if you want people to read your story, then take good photos, create a cool infographic (with accurate info, of course) or write a great headline.
The page design in print, presence or absence of video for web or audio clip for radio/podcast also are considerations for how much interest there is in the story.
Presentation