DISCLAIMER: The notes given below are the compilation of information from various sources based on the topics that were discussed in the ‘Introduction to Journalism’ class. These notes are being compiled to help the students of Journalism enhance their knowledge.
DEPARTMENT: B.A. (Hons) Journalism
SEMESTER: I
PAPER: INTRODUCTION TO JOURNALISM
UNIT:I
TOPIC: INGREDIENTS OF NEWS
Time Period: The mentioned topic was discussed in class in the first week of December, 2022.
News is an account of human activity, which seeks to interest, inform, or educate the readers but it is a pain-staking task to create, organize, write and re-create news material making it worthy of interest for the audience. A news item becomes worthy not just because of its formatting and exposure but also because of the elements which form its part. We may call them “ingredients of news”
1. Immediacy
Immediacy or timeliness is an important requisite of news. A reporter usually places emphasis on the latest angles of an event. The words ‘today’ and ‘tomorrow’ are related in most of the news stories. Occasionally a story may concern events that happened in the past. In this case, the reporter discusses some present aspects of a past event.
We are well acquainted with the term “breaking news”, which highlights the immediacy aspect of news.
2. Proximity
Proximity or nearness refers to geographic nearness. Normally a reader is more interested in an event geographically nearer than the one which has taken place in some remote part of the world.
3. Consequences
A reporter should emphasize the angle of a story that will interest most readers, listeners or viewers in terms of consequences.
4. Prominence
Prominence means persons, places, things and situations known to the public for their weather, social position, achievement or previous publicity. The reporter should always add as many prominent names and places in news stories as possible. The more renowned a particular name, place, event or situation, the more interest the news will create among its readers.
5. Drama
It also promotes the value of a news story. A reporter tries to find a picturesque background and dramatic action for his news.
(This particular aspect has been facing a lot of backlashes and criticisms in the present times as the quality has gone downhill with extremely loud subjects and unnecessary vulgarity. What our critics and audience believe is that some sprinkle of masala here and there is fine and even important, but extreme chaotic news, obscene ness and violation of people's privacy is where they draw the line)
6. Oddity
Oddity or queerness always helps to make facts interesting. The greater the degree of oddity in a story, the greater is its value as news.
7. Conflict
It is one of the most important news elements. It is inherent in nearly all news of sports, war, crime, violence and internal disputes and in all stories involving difference of opinion. Generally, the news of conflict also involves other news values such as drama and oddity and therefore, has an emotional impact, a factor that appeals to many people. Many types of stories have conflict as their underlying element: the struggle against odd. As a wise man once said, “Conflict is the adrenaline of news”
8. Suspense
People need a reason to keep reading. The news shall be able to keep their own edges all the time so that they are fully alarmed when they hear a new piece of info and eager to look into it.
9. Emotion
Anything that deals with people's experiences and conveys real emotion will help them to connect with your message, but this should be done appropriately and with authenticity. It doesn't have to be a tear-jerker of a story, nor does it need to be designed to keep your audience in stitches - sometimes it helps to just be a little bit more human in your communications.
10. Extremes/superlatives
Reporters and audiences might be interested in the first, the best, the longest, the smallest, the highest – if the media can legitimately claim one.
11. Scandal
Reporters want a scoop on the scandal – everyone wants to hear all the details whenever there is moral or legal misconduct.
12. The Bizarre
Anything with shock value seems like a click bait and we keep on clicking and clicking.
13. Celebrity
Whenever something happens to someone important or semi-famous, we tend to care more about it because we have been watching these people growing up and unknowingly a connection develops, and with that a deeper interest in their lives.
14. Impact
Impact poses a question: How will it affect the readers? A reporter emphasizes the angle of the story that interests more readers, listeners or viewers in terms of impact. The number of people affected by an event influences the story’s newsworthiness.
Example: A rise in income tax may, at first sight, seem the basis of a dull and depressing article but it has an impact because it would affect most people’s pockets.
‘The more people involved in an event, the stronger the story, the more impactful it is’.
History never actually repeats, but it does seem to repeat tendencies. Similarly, news stories never duplicate each other, but they do have a way of falling into definite categories. Analyzing them as we read them from day to day or listen to them as they come over through different sources of news like radio, TV or newspaper, we can easily distinguish elements of news interest which recur constantly. Given above are some of the most important elements, which make NEWS. However, there are always occasions when we find new situations arising and taking place as eminent news stories in media all over the world.
(This is compiled by a team of 3 students from the batch of 2026. This is published under the Media Research Cell, established by Dr. Vartika Nanda in the year 2020.)
23 comments:
News is something which gives information about something happened recently.Reporting of current events.
Timeliness: News is considered timely when it happens recently or is still developing and unfolding.
Relevance: News should be relevant to the audience, addressing topics and issues that are of interest and concern to them.
Accuracy: News must be accurate, presenting facts and information that have been verified and corroborated.
Objectivity: News should be impartial and neutral, presenting multiple perspectives and avoiding bias.
Clarity: News should be written in a clear and concise manner, using language that is easy to understand.
Context: News should provide context and background information that helps the audience understand the events and issues being reported.
Proximity: News about events and developments close to the audience is often considered more important than those far away.
The basic ingredients of news are primarily important news values. It is nothing other than the news values.
A news article can be described as a piece of written or broadcast journalism that provides information and updates on current events, trending topics, and happenings of local, national, or global significance.
The ingredients of news are crucial as they help to determine what is considered newsworthy and what information is communicated to the public. The selection of news stories can impact public perception, shape opinions, and influence decision-making. By understanding the elements that make up news, journalists, editors, and news organizations can make informed choices about the content they produce and the way they present it.
Some of the ingredients of news are:
Timelines: Timeliness is the essence of news, as the relevance and significance of an event diminish with the passage of time.
Oddity: The unusual and the unexpected often capture the attention of audiences, as the oddity of a news story can make it stand out in a sea of routine and ordinary events.
Proximity: he closer an event is to the audience, the more likely it is to be considered newsworthy, as local events often have a direct and immediate impact on people's lives
Prominence: Prominence brings the spotlight to bear on a news story, making it more newsworthy and notable, as the actions of those in the public eye have the potential to shape the course of events and affect many people.
Conflicts: News about conflict and discord often receives widespread coverage, as it highlights the stark differences in perspectives and opinions that exist in society.
Human Interest: Human interest adds a personal and emotional dimension to a news story, making it more relatable and engaging, as stories that evoke empathy and connect with people's experiences and perspectives have the power to resonate with audiences.
In summary, the ingredients of news are critical to ensuring that the news is relevant, informative, and meaningful to the audience, and that it serves its intended purpose of informing the public.
Ingredients of news tells us about the primarily important news values.There are many ingredients of news such as timeliness/immediacy, oddity, bizarreness, prominence, conflicts, suspense. Hard news are very timeliness. Whenever any event happened, it should be reported at the moment (if it's something serious). Pakistan started firing on India.When something unusual happens , it becomes a news for example - when a dog bites a man , it's not a news but when a man bites a dog ,it's becomes a news. Whenever there is news about any prominent person, place, or any prominent thing , it becomes a news . For example - death of the Sushant singh Rajput. Since he was a celebrity, his death becomes a news.
When there is a conflict between two parties, communities , it becomes a news. They are very useful for mass media communication , if we are going to deliver a message to the masses, we must know about ingredients of news.
Ma'am your blog helped me understand that there could be different types of indegredients of news which makes its a useful news to public
I get a lot of ideas about Ingredients of News from this blog. News items have some particular features. A good news story is about something the audience decides is interesting or important. This article gives me idea about the main ingredients of news.
Reporting on and informing the public of significant events and happenings is the goal of news. Therefore, the qualities of news are a group of ingredients that serve this goal. Accuracy, interest, relevance, and accessibility are required.
Accuracy: News that is inaccurate ceases to be news and ceases to be informative. Accuracy entails correcting errors, attempting to lessen bias, and doing away with logical fallacies. Making quality news requires more time than simply writing it. It needs to be verified, peer-reviewed, and drawn from a variety of sources.
PR updates, spreadsheets, stockholder slide shows, and 2,000-page Senate bills can all be categorized as news. Additionally, they are true, accurate, and perhaps even pertinent. However, if it is presented in a way that makes it difficult for users to pay attention, it will be of little use to the general public as news.
Relevance -The content has to serve a purpose for you, the reader, otherwise it won’t have value. Timelines is also an important factor, the reason why Breaking News is so important to news readers. Sometimes being just 30 minutes late to a story means the news is comparatively low quality because it is less useful, less valuable.
Accessibility -While a publisher can produce quality news, the Wall Street Journal for example, if it is not accessibly by people then it can’t serve the public purpose of informing people. Therefore it has a mark against them. Paywalls and walled garden publications fail at this.
The news that is presented and published today lacks many essential components, such as accuracy, and is filled of sensationalized and exaggerated information that tricks readers and causes confusion.
•A basic definition of “Ingredients of News” prepares the readers for what’s coming next, they are able to understand the different components as they now know its basic need
•This is a holistic report as it covers all ingredients from negative to positive
•We find 5-6 ingredients in every article on the internet. But it is satisfactory in the sense that it covers sidelined topics such as superlatives, scandal, proximity as well which are also very crucial
• Every ingredient has been specified in such a way that it specifies a human attribute and readers like us are able to relate to it. To give an example- “suspense” “emotion” and “oddity” are ingredients which resonate with the student and help them learn effectively.
Mahi Adlakha
(22/0959)
A news article can be described as a piece of written or broadcast journalism that provides information and updates on current events, trending topics, and happenings of local, national, or global significance.
The ingredients of news are crucial as they help to determine what is considered newsworthy and what information is communicated to the public. The selection of news stories can impact public perception, shape opinions, and influence decision-making. By understanding the elements that make up news, journalists, editors, and news organizations can make informed choices about the content they produce and the way they present it.
Some of the ingredients of news are:
Timelines: Timeliness is the essence of news, as the relevance and significance of an event diminish with the passage of time.
Oddity: The unusual and the unexpected often capture the attention of audiences, as the oddity of a news story can make it stand out in a sea of routine and ordinary events.
Proximity: he closer an event is to the audience, the more likely it is to be considered newsworthy, as local events often have a direct and immediate impact on people's lives
Prominence: Prominence brings the spotlight to bear on a news story, making it more newsworthy and notable, as the actions of those in the public eye have the potential to shape the course of events and affect many people.
Conflicts: News about conflict and discord often receives widespread coverage, as it highlights the stark differences in perspectives and opinions that exist in society.
Human Interest: Human interest adds a personal and emotional dimension to a news story, making it more relatable and engaging, as stories that evoke empathy and connect with people's experiences and perspectives have the power to resonate with audiences.
In summary, the ingredients of news are critical to ensuring that the news is relevant, informative, and meaningful to the audience, and that it serves its intended purpose of informing the public.
The above article is a well researched and comprehensive module on the various ingredients of news.It is imperative to undertsand the importance and relevance of these components of news stories in order to effectively write news reports that are impactful and effective.It was an enriching experience to learn more about these components that make up a news story and were a helpful resource for us students as budding journalists.
This article really helped me understand the ingredients of news and moreover the importance of those ingredients of news such as Timeliness, proximity, prominence, dimension, consequence, conflict, empathy, adventure and weather, among others.
As students of journalism, it is imperative for us to learn about NEWS and the basic ingredients of news as it is the basic of the discipline that we are dealing with. This article provides us the basics of how to start or in other words lay a foundation for our answers. Highly insightful post!
News is a factual report about a current event. A number of factors modify the importance of news elements such as timeliness, impact, proximity, controversy, prominence, oddity, emotion, usefulness and educational value. The blog helped me gain deeper understanding about the ingredients of news.
From this article I got to know about the basic ingredients of news such as timelines, proximity or nearness, proximity, prominence, emotions or human interest, oddity, etc which are the basic features of a news item.
The ingredients of news are the components of a news story that determine its newsworthiness. There are various ingredients of news such as timeliness, consequences, celebrity, oddity etc.
Sometimes it is the oddity in a new story that makes it newsworthy. Sometimes, information about celebrities and famous people garners a big audience. If a new story has one or a couple of these ingredients, it becomes of great interest to the readers.
This blog article has helped me revise all these ingredients of news and learn them better. Since I have a viva tomorrow, this article has been of great help in order for me to revise my concepts.
Knowing the ingredients of news creates a strong backbone to any form of journalistic writing and reporting, this blog post has elaborately explained and given sufficient examples to understand each ingredient of news. Ingredients like timeliness, oddity, impact and emotion are great tools to enhance your writing and reporting which I would very much be using after this.
The blog explained the whole concept so effectively. Ingredients or what makes news a piece of news is important. The ingredients include:
Timeliness: A story that breaks quickly and is the first to report on a current event is often considered more important than a story that is reported later. Timeliness is particularly important in breaking news situations, where information is changing rapidly.
Impact: Stories that have a significant impact on people's lives, the wider society, or the world as a whole are typically considered more important. This can include stories about natural disasters, major political events, economic trends, and scientific breakthroughs.
Proximity: Stories that affect people in their local communities are often considered more important than those that affect people in other parts of the world. This is because people have a greater personal connection to events that are closer to home.
Relevance: Stories that are relevant to the interests and concerns of the audience are considered more important. For example, a story about a new medical breakthrough might be more important to a health-conscious audience than to a group of people who are primarily interested in sports.
Uniqueness: Stories that are unique, unusual, or have never been reported before are often considered more important. These types of stories can captivate the audience and generate interest and discussion.
The ingredients of a news story are the elements that make up the story and determine its quality and impact. A well-written news story should be timely, relevant, accurate, balanced, fair, clear, and engaging. It should also provide context and be accompanied by appropriate visuals, where applicable. A news story that meets these criteria is more likely to have a lasting impact on its audience and contribute to the informed and informed public debate.
These notes helped me understand a lot about the various ingredients of news and i am sure will come handy to my peers too not just with respect to exams but also professionally. The different elements of news that form the basis of news are covered at length. It was a good and well researched attempt to understand the basic structures of a news story. I am thankful to Dr. Nanda's blog for being such an encyclopaedia of knowledge
I have understood the concept of ingredients of news very well and now I am able to clearly identify the ingredients of news while reading any piece of news article .Like proximity which means nearness . people are usually more interested in listening to the news which has an immediate impact on them . for example petrol prices hike in delhi will not have an impact on people of tamil nadu . Timeliness is another ingredient of news which is very important. News has a very short life and must be reported on time . It should be reported immediately . Third ingredient in Human interest or Emotion which should also be kept in mind that what interests the audience Stories that bring out human emotions will interest the audience like how people are living in slums . Prominence is also very important ingredient . It refers to a story that involves well known person , place or event . Conflict is also an important ingredient as people enjoy watching disagreements and arguments also they like to take sides and form an opinion on that.
If we search on internet there comes a lot of ingredients of news and we get ready confused as to what are the most important news ingredients.in this article as supervised by ma'am gives us only those ingredients which is necessary at all cost to make a news interesting for readers.
Ofcourse not everything can be called as a news. There are a few parameters a writing should stand by to be called a news. Proximity, impact, conflict, consequences, prominence, oddity being some of them. The blog helped me understand all these terms which together constitute ingredients of news. The way it has managed to give a clear understanding regarding all these is commendable
Recognition of the elements that make news or identifying the pattern underlying news is an important ingredient of journalism. The article gives a comprehensive view of all the components of news. Knowledge of these components will certainly help me identify the recurring patterns that underlie news. The concept " Ingredients of News" was well explained in this article.
-Athira
Post a Comment