News is essentially information on current affairs. This can be given through several media: printed media, television, radio, postal systems, wire services, or by the oral testimony of witnesses and observers to major events. It also covers controversial issues, such as the wars, natural disasters, crime, and political intrigue. News provides the general public with information that it needs in order for them to make informed decisions.
The purpose of news is to inform, but it can also be used to manipulate the masses. For example, if you are involved in politics, the news can be used to influence your followers, either consciously or subliminally. If a politician is doing something controversial and the public opinion begins to turn against it, the politician will use the news to rally his followers to his side. Similarly, if there has been an earthquake or flood, the media coverage can be blamed on Mother Nature, which will cause the public to rally even more behind the politicians who are trying to save the planet.
A news report can be written by a freelance writer, a news bureau, a news anchor, or a news anchor himself/herself. In fact, many people work as news reporters because they like to report the news, and do not have time to write their own. However, news reporting is a very serious profession. If a person is engaged in it, they need to know how to research and write news that will be accepted and/or printed by newspapers and other media. There are some specific skills that must be learned if one is to succeed in this demanding field of writing.
In the old days, journalists had to rely on newspapers and pamphlets that were published in the local newspapers for them to get the information they needed. This method has been replaced by online news, which can be far more informative. Online news websites usually gather information from several sources, including official sources, non-governmental organizations, celebrities, and even the news outlets themselves. This information is then aggregated into concise reports that are easily downloadable and read.
There are two types of news: general and breaking. General news includes stories that are important to the public; breaking news features stories that are very critical in nature. While there are a number of websites that offer breaking news, such as the wire services, most news agencies prefer to publish the news themselves to ensure accuracy.
A news story can either be factual, as is the case with news reports that are submitted to the wire, or completely fictional. Factual news reports usually contain factual information about current events while fictional news stories usually contain exaggerated claims. The best news agencies strive to provide up-to-date and accurate news reports. Breaking news, however, is not always necessary for a website to be popularly popular. A popular website that receives large amounts of traffic is likely to publish breaking news stories, regardless of whether they are true or not.