What is News?
News is the information that makes people aware of events that have affected, are affecting or will affect them. It is the job of journalists to select and present this information in a way that is interesting, significant and useful to their audiences. This is often done through the use of statistics, facts and figures which lend credibility to a story. It is also the job of a journalist to avoid presenting information which is untrue, biased or offensive. This is not always easy, as everyone has conscious and unconscious biases which can affect their judgement.
The most important criterion for deciding whether something is newsworthy is its impact on people. The more widespread the impact, the more important it is. A story that involves conflict, tension or public debate is also of interest.
A further consideration is whether the story is unusual. A dog biting a man is not usually newsworthy, but a man biting a dog that is famous or a member of the royal family could be. What is unusual can differ from society to society. For example, while most societies are interested in sex, it may be considered newsworthy only when the subject is outside of socially accepted norms.
A good source of news is a newspaper, magazine or radio station that is known to be reasonably impartial. Using a news aggregator site can also be helpful, as they can allow you to see different angles on the same event from a variety of sources.