Elements of News

• News is an oral or written report of a past, present, or future event.
• Conflict- may involve physical or mental conflict- man vs man, man vs animals, man vs nature, man vs himself. stories of war athletic meets, and journalism contests are example of conflicts
• immediacy or timeliness - emphasizes the newest angle of the story. the more recent the events, the more interesting to the reader
• proximity or nearness - geographic nearness as well as the nearness of kinship or interest
• prominence - some people are more prominent than other by wealth, social position, or achievements. ex: assassination of former Senator Benigno Aquino hugged national and international headlines for many months. it may also refer to things or places.
• significance - whatever is significant to the life of an individual is interesting to him. this is why newspapers sell like the proverbial hotcakes when the news of the increase in the price of oil or of the imminence of war is published
• names - important names make important news. the more names, the better
• drama- adds color to the story. the more picturesque the background and the more dramatic the actions are, the more appealing the story is to the reader. anything that moves a reader to tears or to laughter is good news
• oddity or unusualness - refers to strange or unnatural events, objects, and places. an odd story is interesting not because of its news value but because of the human-interest side of it. ex: a dead man comes to life, finds himself ina coffin, sits up and dies of heart attack.
• romance and adventure - the romance of Elizabeth Taylor and Richard BUrton had hugged headlines for many years. romance may be experienced with other things: romances of Hemingway with the sea and the astronauts with space
• sex - since history, sex has always interested man. stories of sex are usually related to stories of romance, marriage, divorce, and the varied activities of men with women. THIS IS NOT ALWAYS THE CASE. the element of sex is involved when a woman like Cory Aquino is elected president of a country or when a bandit queen robs a bank in broad daylight.
• progress - the onward and forward march of civilization or the progress of a country is chronicled step by step in the newspaper.
• animals - stories of animals, especially those with talents are good reading mater because of their human-interest value
• number - sweepstakes numbers vital statistics, election results, scores in games, ages of women, etc. make good news
• emotion - all the other elements of news mentioned above appeal to the emotion. but the term emotion ere refers to human responses: innate desire for food, clothing, shelter, the universal interest in children, animals, and nature; love, sympathy, etc