NEWS: CHARACTERISTICS, TYPES AND PARTS - CULTURE VOCABULARY - 2025

The news, from the Latin notitĭa, is a story that expresses a current, relevant or novel event that has happened in some part of the world, in space or on the internet. It seeks to inform, move or persuade through the presentation of information that is considered to have social importance or public interest.

The news has a simple structure where relatively recent events are reflected. It does not have the opinions of the editor so as not to compromise the objectivity of the communication; For this reason, the news is considered a predominantly truthful journalistic fact, without value judgments, clear, brief, of social and current interest.

It is estimated that the origins of the news come from the times of the formation of ancient civilizations. It is presumed that it arose in order to convey everything that was interesting and new, especially in socially crowded places that facilitated the easy dissemination of information.

From Ancient Rome and Greece, through the formation of the United Kingdom to the Muslim world, the news has been a primary element in the development of humanity.

History

It is considered that there is no clear starting point for the birth of the news. However, oral communication is considered the main tool for the transmission of important information in different civilizations.

In 2400 a. C. the pharaohs had a group of messengers who carried documents for the dissemination of proclamations throughout the empire. Similar practices were also carried out in other cultures.

Ancient Rome

In Ancient Rome, in the times of Julius Caesar, the so-called Day Acts were regularly posted in crowded places, which served to show content of interest, events that occurred recently or political decisions to be executed.

With the invention of paper, the spread of information was easier. For example, in the s. VII the Chinese propagated manuscripts considered of public interest.

Middle Ages

During the Middle Ages, oral and written methods were supplemented as follows:

- Posters were made for later placement in public places. They generally contained provisions and laws for citizens.

- Town criers were individuals in charge of reading important announcements when calling meetings in squares or markets. With the passage of time, these people began to gain importance, for which the governments recognized them a salary according to the functions they had to perform.

However, the world of communications would change completely with the invention of the modern printing press by Johannes Gutemberg, since it would allow the faster propagation of information and the possibility of being able to bring it to all types of public.

The arrival of the press

Paper and print served to restructure the way the news was captured, which was in line with the demands of readers: not only did they show accurate information, but also other types of content, such as stories, compilations and opinion pieces.

Despite the political changes during the s. XVII and s. XVIII -when there were questions about legality and censorship in the press-, the atmosphere changed again to encourage the establishment of more media that promoted freedom of expression.

With this, the following was achieved:

- The constitution of different styles of press according to the purposes of certain markets. Some had commercial purposes and others, for example, dealt with more specific issues. In fact, during the s. XIX the economic press was born, which was oriented to show graphs and stock market indices in order to guide investors.

- Inclusion of advertising in the press as the main source of income.

Although the expansion of the press in the West was important, the same did not happen in the Arab world because it grew much slower, especially because of the strong oral tradition that remained predominant in the culture.

At the end of the s. XIX the press was present, but not as a mass communication medium, since it was restricted to a certain number of copies.

Radio and television

In 1922 the first radio program was broadcast in the hands of the British Broadcasting Company (popularly known as the BBC). At this point, the radio would also be a platform for the transmission of news.

By the end of the 1920s, this medium had already established the information presentation formats, including the addition of advertising for its subsidy.

Radio played a key role during World War II. The Nazi party used it as a weapons tool to spread ideology and attack the Soviets.

In the rest of the countries of Europe, the radio was the main channel for the knowledge of the advances of the war. Thanks to this, the information transmitted on the radio could be heard in practically any language.

This panorama would continue with television, which allowed the formation of reporters and news channels, such as CNN, News Corporation, Fox News Channel, Sky News and Al Jazeera.

Internet

With the arrival of the technological age, the internet became an interesting platform for the development of news. The main reasons are as follows:

- The common citizen has the possibility of having a more active role in what was called citizen journalism.

- The presentation of the news is almost instantaneous.

- Social networks have become the main sources of information presentation.

- The new editorial offices are, in part, virtual.

- It is possible to write a news item from practically any device (mobile, laptop, tablets).

- The audience is not only local but also global.

Features of the news

- The facts or events are verifiable and, therefore, real.

- The information is consistent.

- It does not fall into repetitions or irrelevant data. It is brief.

- It does not respond to particular interests, but to the general sphere.

- The events are recent.

- It must contain new, atypical or unusual events.

- Generates an emotional response in the receivers.

- Causes impact if they are made close to the receiver.

- It will be of interest when it affects people.

- Information will be more valuable the faster it is released.

- News related to human endeavor is more relevant and interesting.

- It should not be creative, but rather objective.

- Shows important information for society.

- Keeps us attentive to world events.

News types

Chronological

They relate the events to the viewer from the temporal order.

Summary

They release summary information.

Human or complementary interest

This modality deals with specific events in a certain city or region.

Parts of a news

For the construction of a news item, it is important to take into account that it must be structured by means of the following basic questions:

Than?

What happened.

Who?

Who happened what happened. Person or persons involved.

How?

The way in which events unfolded.

Where?

The place of the scene.

When?

Time of the events.

Why?

Cause of events.

On some occasions, the inclusion of “what for?” Is also allowed, as a way of expanding the context of the information.

On the other hand, the news is made up of the following components (from the written point of view):

Epigraph

Writing that appears above the title.

Pretitle

Short text that precedes the headline.

Headline

Title of the news and the one that serves to attract readers. There are three types: informative, referring to action; expressive, that seek to impact the reader; and appellative, that attract attention.

Subtitle

It serves as an extension of the pretitle and the epigraph. Advance certain data.

Lead

First paragraph. Contains the most important data of the news.

Body

It is the explanation of the facts or events.

Photo

Image with which the information is accompanied.

Inverted pyramid

For some experts it is also important to take into account how the news should be written. The most widely used method is the so-called inverted pyramid.

This consists of showing the most important events in the first instance, and then placing the less relevant data.

This seeks to locate the most important facts to arouse the interest of the receiver, as well as to maintain the attention until the end.

News Models

Scholars have argued that newsmaking responds to a number of patterns. The main models are the following:

Professional model

A group of professionals gathers a certain amount of information for a specific audience.

Mirror model

It indicates that the news should be a reflection of what happens in reality. It focuses on specific events.

Organizational model

It refers to the influence of government processes on news organizations.

Political model

It is used to promote public opinion by showing the political differences of a place.

Civic-journalistic model

The press makes use of the conflicts of a community, at the same time that it gains participation in the elaboration of information.

References

1. Journalistic genre. (sf). On Wikipedia. Retrieved: March 6, 2018. In Wikipedia at es.wikipedia.org.
2. The news. Structure and characteristics. (sf). In Creacionliteraria.net. Retrieved: March 6, 2018. In Creacionliteraria.net from creacionliteraria.net.
3. News. (sf). On Wikipedia. Retrieved: February 6, 2018. In Wikepdia of en.wikipedia.org.
4. News. (sf). On Wikipedia. Retrieved: March 6, 2018. In Wikipedia at es.wikipedia.org.