What is News? Definition of News and the Importance of News in Our Daily Lives

The Importance of News in Our Daily Lives  What is the biggest addiction in today’s world?

The Hunger for Awareness Or The Awareness Instinct “Humans have exchanged a similar mix of news…..throughout history and across cultures.” “When the flow of news is obstructed a darkness falls and anxiety grows.” Historian Mitchell Stephens in his book “History of News” Historian Mitchell Stephens in his book “History of News” So why are we addicted to news?

Why We Need News Then? “We need news to live our lives, to protect ourselves, bond with each other, identify friends and enemies. Journalism is simply the system societies generate to supply this news. That is why we care about the character of news and journalism we get: they influence the quality of our lives, our thoughts and our culture.” “We need news to live our lives, to protect ourselves, bond with each other, identify friends and enemies. Journalism is simply the system societies generate to supply this news. That is why we care about the character of news and journalism we get: they influence the quality of our lives, our thoughts and our culture.” Bill Kovach & Tom Rosenstiel in their book “The Elements of Journalism” Bill Kovach & Tom Rosenstiel in their book “The Elements of Journalism”

Defining News  Can we produce a comprehensive definition of news?

Various Definitions of News  North, East, West and South: what comes from there is news.  News is something that is revealed.  News is anything that you didn’t know yesterday.  What is new is news.  News is what the newspapers print and radio stations broadcast.

Various Definitions of News  News is a compilation of facts and events of current interest or importance to the readers of the newspaper printing it.  Sex, money, crime that is news.  News is anything and everything interesting about life and materials in all their manifestations.  News is any event, idea or opinion that is timely, that interests or effects a large number of people in a community and that is capable of being understood by them.

Points to be Remembered While Defining News  News transcends the geographical boundaries.  News is always revealing.  News is what interests people.  News is new.

The Other Side of the Coin NO NEWS INTERESTS ALL PEOPLE NO NEWS INTERESTS ALL PEOPLE

The News Values (The Criteria for Selecting News)  Relevance or Proximity.  Timeliness.  Simplification.  Predictability.  Unexpectedness.  Novelty.  Continuity.

The News Values (The Criteria for Selecting News)  Composition.  Elite People or Celebrities.  Elite Nations or the Countries of First World.  Negativity.

Proximity or Relevance  What do you understand by ‘Proximity’ or ‘Relevance’?

Proximity or Relevance  Events, incidents or accidents which are closer to us interest us more than the events, incidents and accidents which occur at far off places.  Events, incidents or accidents that affect our lives directly or indirectly interest us most.

Timeliness  What does timeliness mean?

Timeliness  News is what is happening now rather than what has happened in the past.

Simplification  What do you understand by simplification?

Simplification  Stories that can be told in straightforward and unambiguous terms.  That are easy to understand.

Predictability  All stories that deal with events known about in advance.

Unexpectedness  What do you understand by ‘Unexpectedness’?

Unexpectedness  Something that is unusual or rare falls under the category of this news.  Example: When Mars became visible from earth by naked eye in the summer of 2003 for the first time in almost 700 years.

Novelty  When dog bites man, it is no news; when man bites dog it is news.  Anything which is unusual is news.  What is the difference then between ‘Unexpectedness and ‘Novelty’?

Continuity  How can we define ‘Continuity’?

Continuity  Stories which need a follow up or update come under this category.

Composition  What is composition?

Composition  Composition denotes variety in news coverage.  A balance between hard core news stories and human interest stories.

Elite People or Celebrities  People want to know about the lives of celebrities.  They are also interested in knowing how their role models conduct themselves in their day to day lives.

Elite Nations  Just like celebrities or elite, people also show interest in events taking place in the ‘first world’ countries.

Negativity  ‘Bad news’ is generally deemed more interesting than ‘good news’.  That is why stories about disasters, crime and scandal feature high.