News is a report on recent events of interest to the public. News stories often include information about government, business, education, health and the environment. They may be about a new development, a political crisis, war or natural disaster. A good news story has a strong headline which is either eye catching, emotive or provocative. It also has a clear lead paragraph which answers the questions who, what, where and when. The rest of the article should be concise, not cluttered with unnecessary details. It should also contain images-always at least one (this is best practice for writing for the web).

Most people agree that news is supposed to inform, but not necessarily entertain. Entertainment comes from other sources – music and drama on radio, crosswords in newspapers, comedy shows and so on. News is not the place for humour, but some news stories do have an element of fun and can still be interesting to read or listen to.

Knowing your audience is vital to any kind of journalism, and this is particularly true of news. Most news articles are geared toward a specific demographic, whether they be in a newspaper, magazine or online. If you know your audience you can tailor your information to their interests and keep them interested. This will ensure that your story gets read and listened to, rather than discarded.