News is information about events that affect people in a large or small way, local, national or international. The news can be positive or negative, happy or sad, interesting or boring. News is important because it keeps the public informed and up-to-date with current events, developments and issues occurring throughout their communities and the world. It also educates and helps the public understand complex subjects like politics, science, culture and economics by breaking down and explaining them in easy to understand terms.
Whether it’s written for a newspaper, broadcasted on the TV news or posted on a website, the news that is published or distributed is the result of the decisions made by people who work for a particular news organization. These people are called gatekeepers because they decide what goes into the news and how it’s presented. They sift through the daily events and issues that occur and make recommendations to others within their organizations.
If you are interested in understanding more about the process of what makes news, it’s a good idea to look at several different sources of information. It’s also a good idea to vary the media you consume, for example reading a newspaper and watching a cable television news program.
Generally speaking, it’s difficult to get something into the news unless there is an element of drama involved. This can be caused by either the action of an event itself or by a person’s reaction to that event. Another factor that can influence the news is proximity and how familiar a subject is.