News is information about current events that has been gathered and reported by journalists. It is delivered to the public through a variety of media such as word of mouth, books and newspapers, printing, postal systems, broadcasting and electronic communication. The purpose of the News is to keep the public informed about what is happening in their lives, around the world and in politics. The guiding principles of the News are objectivity and fairness. This means that the News must report on both sides of a story without bias, and that the people interviewed for the story are given a chance to voice their opinions.
The main aim of the News is to educate the audience – whether they are reading a newspaper, listening to the radio or watching television. This doesn’t mean that the News can’t entertain them as well, but this should come from other sources such as music and drama programmes on the radio or cartoons and crosswords in a newspaper.
It is also important that the News is presented clearly and concisely, so that it can be understood by the widest possible range of readers. This is especially important in the lead paragraph where it can be tempting to use flowery language and over-use adjectives, but the News writer must remember that a successful lead needs to be brief so that the reader will read it, clear so that they will understand it, picturesquely so that they will recall it and above all, accurate so that they will be guided by it.