News is information about current events and developments. It is reported in magazines, newspapers, radio and television. The aim is to inform and educate readers, listeners or viewers. It is not the job of the news to entertain – that is left to music and drama programmes on radio and to cartoons and crosswords in magazines and newspapers.

The key to writing successful news articles is to ensure that the story is new and interesting. Events that happen every day – like the weather – cannot be news, but stories about people who are doing something unusual, significant or strange may be.

How the story is presented is also important. A good headline should grab the reader and tell them what the article is about. It should also be based on fact. If a rumour is spreading, this should not be included as the story is unlikely to be true.

It is also important to consider the type of news you are reporting – for example, national publications tend to focus on political and world events, while local newspapers concentrate more on local issues which affect the community. In addition, a news story for a mass appeal newspaper will likely have a different demographic than a news article for a local publication or community website.

There are five main criteria which a story must fulfil to be considered newsworthy: timeliness, significance, human interest, contrast and magnitude. It is worth noting that one story might meet several of these criteria – a coup in the country next door, for instance, would be considered very newsworthy despite it being a repetition of an event which happened before.