Elements of News: Ryan Mccallum Buffalo High School Buffalo, Minnesota

Elements of News
Ryan McCallum
Buffalo High School
Buffalo, Minnesota
Some information provided by the Journalism
Department of the Richardson Independent
School District of Richardson, Texas.
What is News?
• News is timely information of interest to
many people.
Note: If it interests many people, it’s

news, even if it doesn’t interest you.
Elements of News
• 1. Timeliness
• News has a shelf life. It spoils if kept too
long.
• Ask yourself: Did this story happen
recently enough that people will still be
interested in it?
Example
Vikings 28, Broncos 20
Elements of News
• 2. Consequence
• News affects people. It impacts their
lives.
• Ask yourself: To what degree will
people’s lives change when they read
this story?
Example
Student raped in dorm at Concordia University in St. Paul
Elements of News
• 3. Proximity
• News value increases when the event
takes place nearer to the reader.
Proximity can be geographical or
emotional.
• Ask yourself: Is this story near or dear
to my readers?
Example
Student raped in dorm at Concordia University in St. Paul
Zero-tolerance gun policy runs
counter to gun-safety classes at
•
school
WINONA, MINN. -- When Nick Ziegeweid signed up for
a firearms safety course at Winona Middle School earlier
this fall, he was told to bring his shotgun. Better to learn
how to handle the equipment he'd use when hunting than to
have an instructor show him how to handle a gun he'd
never seen.
• But when the 12-year-old boy attended his first class Oct.
11, school administrators and instructors met him and
about 40 other students outside the school to remind them
they couldn't bring their guns inside.
Elements of News
• 4. Conflict
• Good news stories involve drama of
some sort. Typical conflict schemes
include people against people, people
against nature, and people against
themselves.
• Ask yourself: Does this story have a
sense of drama produced by some sort
of conflict?
Blaine stunt has taken its toll
• LONDON, England (CNN) -- With less
than a day remaining in his starvation
stunt, illusionist David Blaine is said to be
suffering from palpitations and breathing
difficulties.
Elements of News
• 5. Names
• People like to read about people they
know or know of, especially if those
people are themselves.
• Ask yourself: Is this story about
someone many people know, or could it
include quotes from people that are well
known?
Pop-star Prince has become a
Jehovah's Witness
• POP star Prince is banging on people’s front
doors — after becoming a Jehovah’s
Witness.
• The pint-sized singer tries to recruit people
to the religion by calling on homes in his
spare time.
Elements of News
• 6. Variety
• News often involves a deviation from
the norm. People would rather read
about the unexpected than about
routine events.
• Ask yourself: Is the subject of this story
extraordinary or unexpected?
White Knoll HS student says he
was forced to leave stadium in
underpants after quitting
• (Lexington-AP) Oct. 16, 2003 - The lawyer for a
White Knoll High School football player in
Lexington says an assistant coach and school
resource officer forced the 16-year-old boy to
leave Friday's game without his pants and shoes.
• The Lexington County Sheriff's Department and
Lexington School District One officials are
investigating what happened after junior Steven
Deangelis quit the team during a dispute with
coaches in the fourth quarter.
Elements of News
• 7. Human Interest
• People identify with stories that involve
them emotionally. They like to read
stories that make them sentimental,
nostalgic, sympathetic, etc.
• Ask yourself: Will this story involve my
reader on an emotional level?
A year later, Senate is a different
place without Wellstone
• WASHINGTON, D.C. -- On Capitol Hill, the
letters keep coming for the late Sen. Paul
Wellstone.
• Jeffrey Levensaler, Wellstone's former office
manager and deputy chief of staff, opens them at
his condo after he leaves work. Unpaid bills.
Correspondence from the Department of Defense.
Cards for the senator's sons, David and Mark.
Letters trying to influence votes, including a
recent inquiry asking why Wellstone still wants to
tax estates.
Elements of News
• 8. Humor
• People like to laugh. A story that finds
humor in an otherwise gloomy,
mundane world will attract their interest.
• Ask yourself: Is there appropriate humor
to be found in this story?
80-year-old Belgian woman knocks
rat unconscious
• BRUSSELS, Oct. 16 — A supermarket rat
who had dodged a host of poison traps got
its come-uppance when an 80-year-old
shopper knocked it unconscious after it tried
to steal her cheese, a Belgian daily said on
Thursday.
The rat had been hiding in the
supermarket for a month, but staff attempts
to trap the rodent had repeatedly failed.
• 9. Progress
• People like to read stories about new or
changing technology or other
developments and how they affect their
lives.
• Ask yourself: Does/could this
information affect the lives of my
readers?
The Car/Home MP3 80 GB Music
System
• Music lovers listen up! The Holy Grail of
all music systems has arrived. Store all your
music on this device, then listen to it
wherever you go! The Car/Home MP3 80
GB Music System allows you to store up to
20,000 songs and transfer them between
your home and car effortlessly.
• 10. Drama
• People like to read stories about
dramatic and situations.
• Ask yourself: Does this story contain
details that would excite or energize the
audience?
Jail Escapee Spotted on Side of
Road, Captured
• LIVINGSTON, La. — One of two men
who escaped from jail by slipping under
the chain-link fence and then scaling a
ladder over razor wire was captured
Sunday after a motorist spotting him
walking along a highway. The second
escaped inmate remained at large.
Elements of News
• 1. Timeliness • 6. Variety
• 2. Consequence • 7. Human Interest
• 3. Proximity • 8. Humor
• 4. Conflict • 9. Progress
• 5. Names • 10. Drama
Elements of News
• Notes:
• Not all stories will contain all elements, but the more
elements they contain, the more newsworthy they
are.
• Elements 1-4 are hard news elements. If your story
contains these elements primarily, it is a hard news
story.
• Elements 5-10 are soft news elements. If your story
contains only these elements primarily, it is a soft
news (feature) story.

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