Lesson - 1 : P20421

News - Definition and Types

This Lesson is about journalism. It explains how news originates, takes shape and gets revealed. A classification of news is also presented.

    News, its background, nature and classification form the contents of the four central units.

    Seithi is explained as information gathered from the four directions. It is also said that anything new becomes news. Such interpretations are seen to be inadequate. However, it is possible to describe news from three angles. Anything brought out of occurrence, anything different from the ordinary and the tradition, and any idea or occurrence affecting the people can be considered as news. Today’s news is tomorrow’s history makes news important in recording social development.

    Every news seems to have a background. Novelty, crime, sex, conflict, and religion provide such a background. Disaster and tragedy becomes news. Entertainment contributes to news. Personal impact, humour, mystery, science, VIPs and the weather also constitute news.

    News is also classified as crime news, Government news, Court news, Legislative Assembly and Parliamentary news, Economics news and Sports news. Predictable and unpredictable news, straight and explanatory news, hard and softnews and science news are also further categories of news.

    Such an analysis and synthesis helps you to understand the nature of news items published in newspapers and news magazines. The impact of news on the daily life of even an ordinary man can be appreicated by learning this lesson. References to Tamil writers and poets highlight the importance of news in modern society.