Characteristics of News

Characteristics of News

Just as cotton can be Used in making heavy clothes, the raw material of human activity can be used for rendering poems writing, short stories or the news. The factual material from which news stories are made are extremely delicate. They find immediate response from the readers.‘News conforms to Set pattern and style which has been developed over a period of years. The major characteristics principles of news are:
1. Accuracy
2. Objectivity
3. Balanced
4. Concise
5. Current
1. Accuracy :
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 outcome 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 a news item, every name, 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.

2. Objectivity :
A 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 modem journalism. A news should be presented without a slant or a shade. A reporter should not look at events through glasses either rose coloured or smitten. A news is to be presented in full light of  unpartial 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 all manner.

3. Balanced :
A news is to be balanced though it is not an easy task to write a news which is balanced in every respect, 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, accurately and objectively. He has to put all the facts together in a manner that his report conveys the correct and factual impression. A news should be balanced in the matter of emphasis and complements. 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.

4. Concise :
A 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 above all, written so clearly that the meaning of the story is also absolutely plain.

5. Current :
News definition 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 the story, this is necessary because of the change which may occur in the transitory period. Most news are labelled “today” 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 reader is interested in current and new things. A newsman wins consumers and readers by rendering account of events promptly and expeditiously.