Just as cotton can be used in making heavy clothes and high explosives to the raw material of human activity can be used for rendering poems, writing short stories or friends or the news. A journalist here to decide as to what use he is going to make of the raw material available. A newscaster, news reporter can use his material for sociological expositions, propaganda and highlight even the human activities. The factual materials from which news stories are made are extremely delicate. They find immediate response from the readers, audience and viewers. News conforms to set news style and pattern which has been developed over a period of years.
5 Characteristics of News
The major characteristics of news are:
- Accuracy
- Balance
- Objectivity
- Concise and clear
- Current
Accuracy of News
The accuracy of news is in fact taken for granted by the news consumers. Though it is very difficult to be accurate in news. Readers should have a feeling that whatever they are being presented is the overcome of an honest and dedicated effort of the writer. The readers should never be given an opportunity to say that they never believed what appeared in the papers. All facts given in the news item should be accepted by readers without questions. What factual accuracy really means is that every statement in news items every name and date and age, quotation every definite word or expression or sentence must be precise and presentation of the true facts. Accuracy means correctness not merely in general impression but also in details, hastily accuracy is to a newspaper what virtue is to a lady.
News should be Balanced
News is to be balanced though it is not an easy task to write news which is balanced in every respects, a severe effort must be made by a reporter to render the account of any event in the best possible manners. The reporter has to write all the specific facts correctly, fairly and accurately and objectively. He has to put all the facts together in a manner that his report conveys the correct and factual impression. He has to give a fair picture of the event as it takes place. In order to be fair both to the audience and about the gentleman about whom news is given it is necessary that the news is balanced in content and meaning. News should be balanced in the matter of emphasis and complements. As a reporter he must constantly strive to give each fact its proper emphasis and to put it in proper relation to every other fact and to give those facts the relative importance to the meaning of the story as a whole. A reporter has to narrate every last circumstance of the story in pause taking details. A reporter has to select and arrange facts in a manner so as to give a balanced view of the whole situation.
Objectives
News is a factual report of an event as it occurred. It is not the event as a prejudiced eye might see it or as the reporter might wish it to be or have thought it to be on those concerned in the event might like to present it. Facts must be reported impartially as they occurred. Objectivity in the news is one of the most important principles of modern journalism. It means that the news covers to the consumer intimated without any personal bias or any outside influence that would make it appear anything but what it is. News is unavoidable. News should be presented without a shade. A reporter should not look at events through glosses either raised colored or smote. News is to be presented in full light of impartial .and scrupulously honest observation. Objectivity is essential because only pure news can give the consumer confidence since people form their opinions on the basis of news items it is all the more necessary that it should be objective in all manners.
News should be Concise and Clear
News must follow the news form developed over a period of many years. It must be unite, concise, clear and simple. A story that is diffused, disorganized and ambiguous in meaning does not have the characteristic quality of news. It should be well-paced, unified and abuse all written so clearly that the meaning of the story is also absolutely plain.
Current (Elements of Time in News)
The definition of news remains incomplete if element of time is not given major consideration. Time is the essence of the news. Emphasis is on the time element of news story, this is necessary because of the changes which may occur in the transitory period. Things are always changing and the news consumers want the most recent information on subjects of concerns or interest to them. In the present circumstances the news development might undergo a rapid change. The events occurring in the morning may completely outdate or upset east might facts. Most news are labelled “todays” or at the most distant, last night. The news media are specific about time. They tell the readers that the news is not only recent but truly the last word on the subject. The news media has developed great speed in news media has developed great speed in news handling in order to able to report events while they are still new. The reader is interested in current and new things. A newsman wins consumers and readers by rendering.
