39. What makes a story newsworthy?

·        Impact: This means how the story is going to affect the audience. What consequences will be suffered if the audience decides to ignore the issue? How can the audience improve their lives by buying or product or service?

·        Prominence: Prominent people or companies are always newsworthy. A well-known person, company, place or an event has a stronger news angle than something the audience isn’t familiar with.

·        Content relevance and timeliness: The news is called news for a reason, because it is a brand new information. The more recent the story is, the more powerful it is. In the age of technology, this is even more important.

·        Oddity: If a story is unusual, strange or bizarre, the unique characteristic could make it newsworthy. Many of these shocking stories 

·        Proximity: The audience is more likely to read about something down the street than across the world. As we say, the world is going ‘glocal’. 

·        Human Interest: Stories that can make the audience feel strong emotions are always newsworthy.

·        Conflict: This is not rocket science. 80% of the general newspapers today carry information about conflicts, between people, societies, countries and states.

Source: Meltwater