What Makes Something News

News is information your readers need or want that they did not have yesterday. Everything else in this lesson is a way of testing that sentence against a real tip.

Beginners usually make one of two mistakes. Some think everything is news, so they write up every complaint, every post and every press release. Others think only scandals count, so they skip the dull road bond that will cost every property owner $140 a year. Both miss the point. A story earns space by what it does for the reader.

The news values

Editors have used roughly the same tests for a hundred years. Different textbooks name them slightly differently. Here is a working set.

• Impact. How many people does this affect, and how much? A 2 percent fee increase on 40,000 water customers beats a 50 percent fee increase on six businesses, unless you are one of the six.
• Timeliness. Did it just happen, or is it about to? A vote next Tuesday is news this week. The same vote reported a month later is history.
• Proximity. Is it close to your readers, on the map or in their lives? A county budget is closer than a national budget for most people, even though the dollars are smaller.
• Conflict. Are people or groups on opposite sides of something that matters? Conflict draws readers, which is why it gets abused.
• Novelty. Is it unusual? The first time a library board bans a book is news. The fortieth routine book order is not.
• Prominence. Is someone well known involved? A mayor's unpaid tax bill is news. Your neighbor's is not, and shouldn't be.
• Public money and public power. Is a government body spending money, making a rule, or using authority over people? Civic journalism lives here.

Most good stories hit two or three of these. A story that only hits conflict or prominence is usually gossip wearing a press badge.

What isn't news

Some things look like news and aren't. Learn to spot them early so you don't spend a week on one.

Press releases with nothing inside

Organizations send announcements constantly. A new logo. A "partnership." An award from an association that gives everyone an award. Read them, then ask what changed in the world. Often the answer is nothing. Sometimes a release buries something real in paragraph six: a plant closing, a price increase, a lawsuit settled. Lead with the buried item and treat the rest as wrapping paper.

Opinion dressed up as fact

"Residents are furious about the new parking rules" is a claim. How many residents? Who? Where did the fury show up, at a meeting, in petitions, in complaints to the city? Until you can count it or name it, all you have is someone's impression.

Online noise

A post with 2,000 shares is a post with 2,000 shares. It may point to something real. It may be wrong, or old, or from another state. A viral post becomes news when you confirm the thing it describes actually happened, or when the post itself causes something (a public body responds, a business closes, police get involved).

Your own grudge

If the main reason you want to write a story is that someone annoyed you, stop and check yourself. The story may still be right. Be twice as careful, and get someone else to read it before it runs.

Find the peg

A peg is the current event that makes a story timely. Long-running problems need one. The county jail has been overcrowded for six years. That's a condition. The commissioners scheduling a vote on a $22 million expansion bond is a peg. Readers pay attention when there's a decision coming or a change just happened.

If a story has no natural peg, you can sometimes create one honestly: new numbers you got through a records request, a deadline coming up, an anniversary that people will actually notice. Don't invent urgency. Readers can tell.

Who is your reader?

News value depends on audience. A new stoplight on Fourth Street is front-page news for a town of 3,000 and nothing at all for a statewide audience. Decide who you are writing for before you decide what is news. For most independent civic writers, the answer is the people who pay the taxes and drive the roads and send their kids to the schools in one county or one region.

Once you know that, the question gets simple. What does this reader need to know to live their life, vote, show up at a meeting, or keep their money? Give them that first.

News, analysis and opinion

These are three different jobs. Label which one you are doing.

Opinion writing is legitimate and useful. Mixing it into a news story without telling the reader is not. Readers who catch you doing it once will stop trusting your news.