Explore the key characteristics of news and discover what makes a story newsworthy. From timeliness and impact to prominence and conflict, uncover the elements that shape compelling storytelling.
Making news texts should not be done carelessly, especially since people still rely on news texts to update information. In the era of technological advancement like today, news texts can be easily obtained through various media, not only newspapers, television, or radio, but also news provider websites .
News is the objective description of an incident about which layman does not know anything and it serves as a source of interest, entertainment, education and guidance to him
If You Are Media Student.You Must Learn Qualities of News
The qualities of news is distinguished from all other forms of writing are as follows
- Accuracy
Factual accuracy means that every statement, name, date age, address and quotation is a verifiable tact.
- Balanced
A news is usually considered balanced and complete when- a reporter informs his readers, with details, a new event in its. proper relationship and perspective
3, Objectivity
A news is the factual report of an event.It is not a story as a prejudiced person might see or as a reporter or sponsor might wish it to be seen. A reporter should report news as imparliallv and honestly as possible as ‘objectivity is, an essential principle of news practice
- Concise and Clear
Timeliness is the utmost importance in this era of mass communication brought about by radio and television Therefore news must be concise, -clear and to the point.
In writing news text, you first need to know its characteristics. Usually, news texts always involve elements that become a characteristic of the news text. The characteristics of news text that must be considered include:
1. Factual
Contains events that are real and actually happened without engineering and are not bound by time, for example events in the past. However, the news text must be current events, currently happening, new, hottest, and have just happened.
2. Current
Contains events that are true and have actually happened and are currently hot topics of conversation among many people.
3. Unique and Interesting
In the news text must present news that can attract attention and the words used use unique words so that readers feel interested in reading it. Unique and interesting here means that it can arouse curiosity to listen to the news. Interesting events are usually entertaining, contain humanitarian values, crime, booming events, conflicts, and so on.
4. Influential for the Wider Community
News texts that can influence someone include good news because if the wider community is interested, it will be believed by many and will influence the community as listeners.
5. There is a Time and Chronology of Events
News texts are usually always equipped with a sequence of events and their chronology. When and where the event took place is always stated in the news text, its function is so that readers can understand the time and place of the incident.
6. Objective
The news delivered must be in accordance with the circumstances without involving personal views or opinions that could influence the reader.
7. Standard, Simple, and Communicative Language
News texts generally use standard, simple, and communicative language with the aim that if the words conveyed do not use standard language, the reader will not understand. Therefore, using standard language because it is in accordance with standard rules in the form of guidelines.
8. Spelling (EYD)
Its use is simple and communicative and can influence readers with what is happening.
News Text Structure
In the book by Kokasih and Endang Kurniawan entitled “Types of Texts: Functions, Structures, and Language Rules” it is explained that the news structure is presented in the form of an inverted pyramid. In it there are six elements of news. The initial part is the main part and the further down the news is the details that tend to be unimportant.
In this way, an event or incident contains a lot of information. There is important information to unimportant information. In such a presentation, the importance of information decreases the lower it goes.
If the reader does not have enough time to listen to all the information, just reading the beginning will give the reader enough basic information that summarizes the entire contents of the news.
The structure of a news text is a description of how a text is constructed. A news text has a clear structure. This news text is arranged based on the structure of the news event text, followed by the background of the event, and followed by the news source.
In general, the structure of news text consists of a title, head, news, body of news, and tail of news. Here is the explanation.
1. News Title
The title is very important in a news story because it acts as a lure for readers to read the contents of the news text. For that reason, the title must be made as interesting as possible so that it can arouse the reader’s curiosity.
2. News Headline (Lead or news terrace)
The headline has a larger scope of discussion. This means that there is a lot of information presented in this section. Important information in the news contains the ADiKSiMBa element. Generally, in the early part of this news, the writer will start the information by presenting 4 elements, namely “what, where, when, and who.”
3. News Body (Body)
The body of the news contains the explanation or information conveyed in the headline. This section is the answer to the questions “why and how”. Generally, it contains the background or reasons why an event can occur.
4. News Tail
This section contains additional information. If this section is removed, it will not affect the main news.
Types of News
News is divided into several types. In journalism, the division is done based on the content of the news that is made including seen from the process of compiling and presenting it. The types of news known in the world of journalism that are most popular are:
1. Live News
Straight news is a report of an event that is written briefly, concisely, directly, and as is. Written in a style that describes the event as it is, without additional explanation, let alone interpretation. Straight news is divided into two types, namely hard news and soft news.
2. Opinion News
Opinion news is news about someone’s opinion, statement or idea, usually the opinion of scholars, experts or officials, regarding an event.
3. Interpretative News
Interpretive news is news that is developed with comments or assessments from journalists or competent sources on previously published news so that it is a combination of facts and interpretations. Starting from information that is felt to be unclear or incomplete in meaning and intent.
4. In-depth News
In-depth news is news that is a development of news that has already appeared, with an in-depth look at things that are below the surface. Starting from news that has not yet been completed and can be continued (follow-up system). In-depth news is done by seeking additional information from sources or related news.
5. Explanatory News
Explanatory news is news that is explanatory in nature by describing an event completely, full of data. The facts obtained are explained in detail with several arguments or opinions of the author. This type of news is usually long so it must be presented in a continuous and serial manner.
6. Investigation News
Investigative news is news that is obtained and developed based on research or investigations from various sources. It is also called excavation because journalists dig up information from various parties, even conducting direct investigations in the field, starting from raw data or short news. Generally, investigative news is presented in a feature writing format.