News is a type of media that informs the public about current events and issues occurring around the world. It can be delivered through many different platforms, including print, television, radio and the Internet. News often covers topics of high interest to the audience, such as politics, crime, science, sports and culture. It can also be used to educate and explain complex topics.
When deciding what makes the news, gatekeepers often take into consideration several factors. These include timeliness, drama, consequence and proximity. Timeliness is important because the news must be new to the audience in order to be considered newsworthy. If a bug is attacking crops, for example, that is newsworthy even though it may have happened previously, but if an archbishop states that the Roman Catholic Church should ordain women priests, that would be newsworthy because it is something that has never been said before.
As a result, the news is usually about things that happen in the present or the near future, rather than from the past or distant history. This is one of the reasons why the news often attracts such a wide audience.
It is also important to understand the demographics of your audience when creating news. This is especially true if you are writing for a newspaper or website. For example, if you are writing about the zoning laws in Kansas City, your target demographic will be people who live in or work in that area. If you are writing a story about an event that took place in the past, however, your audience might be larger since that topic is of more general interest.