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News is any new information or information on current events which is presented by print, broadcast, Internet, or word of mouth to a third party or mass audience. The reporting and investigation of news falls within the profession of journalism. News is often reported by a variety of sources, such as newspapers, television, and radio programs, wire services, and web sites. News reporting is a type of journalism, typically written or broadcast in news style. Most news is investigated and presented by journalists and can be distributed to various outlets via news agencies.

There are many categories of news. The weather is typically presented by a certified meteorologist or, on smaller stations, a less-trained "weatherman" and is considered news. Other news categories are: sports, fashion, society, entertainment, business, cartoon strips, features, lottery numbers, lives of celebrities, advertising, and more. Until the 1970s, when women's lib issues came to the forefront, most newspapers had a "Women's" section devoted entirely to fashion and society news. Papers even printed "cheesecake" feature photos of attractive young women in bikinis, often transmitted by the AP or UPI wire services, illustrating various news events or feature ideas.

In its infancy, news gathering was primitive by today's standards. Printed news had to be phoned in to a newsroom or brought there by a reporter where it was typed and either transmitted over wire services or edited and manually set in type along with other news stories for a specific edition. Today, the term "Breaking News" has become trite as broadcast and cable news services use live satellite technology to bring current events into consumers' homes live as it happens. Events that used to take hours or days to become common knowledge in towns or in nations are fed instantaneously to consumers via radio, television, cell phones, and the Internet.

Most large cities had^{[citation needed]} morning and afternoon newspapers. As the media evolved and news outlets increased to the point of near oversaturation, afternoon newspapers were shut down except for relatively few. Morning newspapers have been gradually losing circulation, according to reports advanced by the papers themselves.^{[citation needed]}

Commonly, news content should contain the "Five Ws" (who, what, when, where, why, and also how) of an event. There should be no questions remaining. Newspapers normally write hard news stories, such as those pertaining to murders, fires, wars, etc. in inverted pyramid style so the most important information is at the beginning. Busy readers can read as little or as much as they desire. Local stations and networks with a set format must take news stories and break them down into the most important aspects due to time constraints. Cable news channels such as Fox News Channel, MSNBC, and CNN, are able to take advantage of a story, sacrificing other, decidedly less important stories, and giving as much detail about breaking news as possible.

News organizations are often expected to aim for objectivity; reporters claim to try to cover all sides of an issue without bias, as compared to commentators or analysts, who provide opinion or personal point-of-view. However, several governments impose certain constraints or police news organizations for bias. In the United Kingdom, for example, limits are set by the government agency Ofcom, the Office of Communications. Both newspapers and broadcast news programs in the United States are generally expected to remain neutral and avoid bias except for clearly indicated editorial articles or segments. Many single-party governments have operated state-run news organizations, which may present the government's views.

Even in those situations where objectivity is expected, it is difficult to achieve, and individual journalist may fall foul of their own personal bias, or succumb to commercial or political pressure. Individuals and organizations who are the subject of news reports may use news management techniques to try to make a favourable impression.

"News" developed as a special use of the plural form of "new" in the 14th century. In Middle English, the equivalent word was 'newes', based on the French 'nouvelles'.

The importance of news transcends the stories themselves. All cultures whether literate or not have a thirst for news. Illiterate tribes are observed to spend much of their time and their practices swapping and receiving news on the state of other tribes, the success of a hunt or the death of a member. Societies seem to revolve around news and the happenings of others daily lives as a form of both entertainment and education. The news is more than a category of information or a form of entertainment; it is an awareness of the happening of our society creating security. A study in 1945 conducted by Berelson during a journalist strike found that we use the news as a sort of pragmatic information, for escapism, as a conversation starter and a sense of security. We are now able to receive news instantly at a click of a button with the new technology of the Internet. As a result, our Western society has become more globally aware and educated creating the opportunity and yearning for improvement.

Newsworthiness is defined as a subject having sufficient interest to the public or a special audience to warrant press attention or coverage.

Normal people are not newsworthy unless they meet an unusual circumstance or tragedy. The news divides the population into two groups; those few whose lives are newsworthy, and the multitude who are born, live out their lives and die without the news media paying them any mind. The news has always covered subjects that catch people’s attention and differ from their 'ordinary lives'. The news is often used for escapism and thus normal events are not newsworthy. Whether the subject is love, birth, weather or crime, journalists' tastes inevitably run toward the unnatural, the extraordinary.

The subject and newsworthiness of a story depends on the audience as they decide what they do and don't have interest in. The denser the population, the more global the news becomes, as there is a broader range of interests involved in its selection.

• ABC (USA and Europe)
• BBC (worldwide)
• CBS news (USA only)
• CNN (worldwide)
• Fox news (USA only)
• MSNBC (USA only)
• Pathé news (cancelled, was only available in Europe)
• Sky News (UK and worldwide)

• Hard news & soft news
• Current events
• All-news radio
• Weather report

This article does not cite any references or sources. (June 2007) Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unverifiable material may be challenged and removed.

Stephens, Mitchell. "The History of News - 3rd Ed" Oxford University Press, New York, 2007.