Hard news

1. A hard news story is one that is based on factual research and covers
significant events with practical, real-world impacts.
2. This is the term journalists use to refer to “news of the day.”
3. Hard news is a chronicle of current events/incidents and is the most
common news style on the front page of your typical newspaper.
4. Hard news gives readers the information they need.
5. If the federal government announces a new youth initiative, it’s hard
news the next day.
6. Examples of hard news stories include reports on crime, court cases,
government
7. announcements, house fires, awards ceremonies, plane crashes,
international events, etc.
8. Hard news reporting uses clean and uncluttered writing. It may start
with a summary lead that describes what happened, where, when,
to/by whom, and why (the journalist's 5 W's).
9. The lead must be brief and simple, and the purpose of the rest of the
story is to elaborate on it.
10. Hard news is mostly event-centred. It is a narration of an event or
happening.
11. A broadsheet daily covers mainly the hard news i.e., all important
happenings of the day.
12. Hard news has a date value. No newspaper can afford to miss it
or hold it.
13. Ex: - reporter of an accident, natural calamity, disaster, public
meeting, govt. Formation, session of parliament, introduction of
ministers.

Soft News
1. This is a term for news that is not necessarily time-sensitive.
2. Soft news includes profiles of people, programs, or organizations.
3. Feature stories take a step back from the headlines to explore an
issue in depth.
4. Written in the soft news style, they are an effective way to write about
complex issues too large for the terse style of a hard news item.
5. A good feature might be about the people in your community and
their struggles, victories and defeats, or maybe about a trip someone
took to Africa as a part of a school project.
6. A feature usually focuses on a certain angle, explores it through
background research and interviews with the people involved, and
then draws conclusions from that information.
7. For an example, look at street kids. A hard news story must clinically
report the relevant statistics: how many there are, where they are,
and what they’re doing.
8. It usually relies on a time-sensitive hook – for example, the release of
a new study, a demonstration by street youth or the untimely death of
a young person on the streets. A feature on street youth is not limited
in such a manner.
9. It might be written over a longer period of time, and allows the unique
and detailed stories of street kids’ individual lives to be expressed.
10. Soft story doesn’t have the date value in most of the cases.
NEWSWORTHINESS
1. Timelessness- is it a recent development or just a old story?
- Freshness strengthens the news story. The time of occurrence
of an event is the most important element of a news story.
- People want to know about the event as quickly as possible.
Report of an event that happened yesterday or the day before
yesterday is generally deemed stale and often not considered fit
for publication, unless it is of extra ordinary nature, or extremely
significant in some manner.
- So, time of the event’s occurrence is immensely crucial for it to
be considered news. News may cease to be news after 24 or
even after 12 hours in today’s race against time and the age of
Internet and smartphone
2. Proximity: is the story relevant to local readers?
- Closeness or nearness of an event or an incident to the
audience has tremendous importance for reporters as well as
for a newspaper.
- Proximity could be geographical or relevance to the audience.
The more ‘local’ or closer the site where the event took place,
the greater will be its importance to be termed as news.
- To take an example, Kolkata, June 4 - The Kolkatans were
taken aback by a series of blasts that took place in the local
Park Street claiming 15 lives on Monday evening.
- This story would naturally be on front page in all the local
newspapers, but may be relegated to a remote corner of the
inside pages by the papers in Jammu, Bhopal, Guwahati, Surat,
Madurai or Chandigarh. A local angle to the news has greater
appeal and greater relevance due to the fact that the victims
may be known to the newspaper staff and could be its readers,
buyers, and advertisers or people living close to the newspaper
office
3. Conflict- is the issue developing, has it been resolved or does
anybody care?
- Whether it involves people, governmental bodies or sports
teams, such a news story is considered newsworthy.
 - Conflict of any type – political, social, cultural, communal,
among some sections of society, difference of opinion among
two or more political parties, conflict among some warring
groups, or more of such conflicts always make news.
- As you would have seen that differences between the Bhartiya
Janata Party and the Communist Party (Marxist) and the Indian
National Congress on the Indo-US nuclear deal made news in
India for several months. You will find that many more such
issues figure in newspapers as news very often
4. Eminence and Prominence- are noteworthy people involved? If so,
that makes the story more important.
- If a well-known personality happens to be involved in the event,
it will invariably make news.
- Some happenings are newsworthy simply because well known
people are involved. For example, if the prime minister strains
his ankle while walking to the car, or a celebrity has a bathroom
fall, it makes news
- The important fact is that the famous, the infamous and even
the eccentric command a special appeal for audiences. This is
also due to the fact that high profile families enjoy privacy and
often make news for any pleasant or unpleasant event.
5. Consequence and Impact- what effect will the story have on readers?
- The impact of the story quickly establishes the importance of
the piece to the reader. It also inherently explains the
consequences of the news itself.
- If the impact of an event may directly affect readers, they'll want
to know about it.
- For instance, a rise in income tax may, at first sight, seem the
basis of a dull, depressing article. But it has impact because it
will affect most people’s pockets.
6. Human Interest- even though it might not be an earth shattering
event, does it contain unique, interesting elements?
- Quite often, newspaper reporters come across situations, which
induce emotions of mercy or sentiments or sympathy.
- While many of the above news values are interwoven, human
interest stories often stand apart. These stories speak to our
shared experience, emphasizing uniquely human elements
such as personal growth or an unexpected act of kindness.
Human interest elements can add news value to other stories
that might appear to be lacking in the other values.
- For ex- a visually- challenged person performs some daring act,
such as scaling Mount Everest, or a hearing-challenged boy
scores a meritorious position in a competitive examination,
these are human interest stories.
Meaning and definition of Journalism

Meaning of Journalism Journalism is a profession of writing for newspaper

and magazines. Two important works are done:
● collection of news
● dissemination of information

1. JOURNALISM means writing for newspapers or magazines. It is the

communication of information through writing in periodicals and
newspapers. The people have an inborn desire to know what’s novel or
new.
2. This curiosity is satisfied by the journalists through their writing in the
newspapers and journals on current affairs and news. Journalism is the
occupation of reporting, writing, editing, photographing or broadcasting
news or of conducting any news organization as a business.
3. The word “Journalism” is derived from the word “Journal” which means
a daily register or a diary – a book containing each day’s business or
transactions. This includes newspapers no matter whether they are
published daily or weekly.
4. It also means a magazine to whatever section of the audience it caters
to. When a person writes for a newspaper, magazine or a journal
(journalist), such writing is called journalism which means
communication of information about daily events condensed into a few
words, sounds or pictures. We know that man by his nature is curious to
know what is going on in the world around him.
5. Journalism satisfies this vital human need by providing him and other
members of the public with the relevant and requisite information. While
a historian records what happened in the past, a journalist reports on
current events and the latest news.
6. Journalism draws its inspiration from the present. It depicts the situation
as it develops. It is the day to day operation of gathering and
transmitting news. It affects everyone. It concerns you; me and the
society at large.
7. If a journalist delays reporting of news even by a day, nay, even by a
few hours it becomes state. It is not like writing a book at your leisure.
Journalism, to be effective, has got to be always kept on the move. The
role of a journalist is not confined to merely reporting the news and
events. He is also responsible for interpreting and commenting on the
news and events.
8. Thus a journalist’s main function is to give out “News and Views”. The
views to be expressed need not be those of his own. He can elicit and
report the views of the knowledgeable cross-sections of people.

Definition of journalism
1. According to Leslie Stephens, “Journalism consists of writing for pay
on matters of which you are ignorant.”
2. According to Webster third international dictionary journalism define
as “The collection and editing of material of current interest for
presentation, publication or broadcast”.
3. The word journalism is derived from Journal which means a daily
register or a diary. Today the word journal also connotes a
newspaper, published every day or even less often or a magazine
4. Thus Journalism means .the communication of information regarding
the events of a day through written words, sounds or pictures. And a
journalist is a person who writes for or conducts a newspaper or a
magazine. He is also called a press man.
Concept of journalism
1. Journalism is the publication of news and views on various aspects of
human activities in news papers and periodicals. In a broader sense,
the functions of journalism are to convey national policies to the
public, and to keep the Government, at Local, State and Central
levels, informed of public needs.
2. It also brings to the notice of the Government public reaction to
Government policies and decisions. In addition. it keeps the public
and the Government informed of events and happenings at home and
abroad.
3. Journalism is the craft of conveying news, descriptive material and
comment via a widening spectrum of media. These include
newspapers, magazines, radio and television, the internet and even,
more recently, the cell phone
The Definition of News
1. The word “news,” presumably, results from the combination of N
(North), E (East), W (West) and S (South) in which each individual
direction indicates the four comers of the world.
2. More concretely, news is a report of a series of facts, changes or
events happening in a certain area that is presented journalistically
and immediately to inform or interest the wider reader. However, not
every event that takes place each day is news.
3. Only the incident that grasps the public’s attention and criticism can
be news. In addition, the situation that is meaningful to a certain
audience is also considered as news because the definition of news
is elusive.
4. News is “man bites dog” stuff, news is something people have not
known or a continuation of stories they have heard before, and news
is what editors and their staff say it is.’
CONCEPT AND DEFINITION OF NEWS
1. It is said that news is difficult to define. However, news remains
something that surprises the reader, listener and viewer, and will
always remain so. Let us look at some of its definitions:
2. According to the Random House Dictionary of English Language, the
meaning of ‘news’ is: “a report of a recent event; intelligence,
information.
3. The Oxford Dictionary says: News is the report of recent events, or
occurrences brought or coming to one as new information; new
occurrences as a subject of report or talk.”
4. Any important information coming from North, East, West and South,
which deserve to be taken as ‘news’.
5. News is what people want to read about themselves.
6. News is essentially about people, events, surrounding people, and
places.
Ingredients of News
1. Timeliness: The time of occurrence of an event is the most important
element of a news story. People want to know about the event as
quickly as possible. Report of an event that happened yesterday or
the day before yesterday is generally deemed stale and often not
considered fit for publication, unless it is of extra ordinary nature, or
extremely significant in some manner
2. Proximity: Closeness or nearness of an event or an incident to the
audience has tremendous importance for reporters as well as for a
newspaper. Proximity could be geographical or relevance to the
audience.
- Example- Kolkata, June 4 - The Kolkatans were taken aback by
a series of blasts that took place in the local Park Street
claiming 15 lives on Monday evening. This story would naturally
be on front page in all the local newspapers, but may be
relegated to a remote corner of the inside pages by the papers
in Jammu, Bhopal, Guwahati, Surat, Madurai or Chandigarh. A
local angle to the news has greater appeal and greater
relevance due to the fact that the victims may be known to the
newspaper staff and could be its readers, buyers, and
advertisers or people living close to the newspaper office.
3. Prominence: If a well-known personality happens to be involved in
the event, it will invariably make news.
- For example, if the prime minister strains his ankle while
walking to the car, or a celebrity has a bathroom fall, it makes
news. The important fact is that the famous, the infamous and
even the eccentric command a special appeal for audiences.
4. Dimension: The number of people involved or affected or losses that
occur in terms of huge money by an event makes news.
- For example, if 500 or more people die in an earthquake in
Manila, the Philippines, it makes news even in India as human
lives are precious wherever these are lost. But if heavy rains
flood low-lying areas in Mumbai or Patna, and 23 people are
killed, and four high-rise buildings collapse, it makes much
 bigger news in India, and automatically gets front page
treatment, possibly with tell-tales photographs from the scene.
5. Human Interest: Quite often, newspaper reporters come across
situations, which induce emotions of mercy or sentiments or
sympathy.
- For example, if 11 a visually- challenged person performs some
daring act, such as scaling Mount Everest, or a
hearing-challenged boy scores a meritorious position in a
competitive examination, these are human interest stories.
6. Conflict: Conflict of any type – political, social, cultural, communal,
among some sections of society, difference of opinion among two or
more political parties, conflict among some warring groups, or more
of such conflicts always make news.
- As you would have seen that differences between the Bhartiya
Janata Party and the Communist Party (Marxist) and the Indian
National Congress on the Indo-US nuclear deal made news in
India for several months.
5Ws and 1H

1. The news stories are written using 5Ws and 1 H in the first paragraph
itself. This is probably the first and the most important, and traditional
principle of writing a news item.
2. The first paragraph of news, called the Intro or Lead should contain
answers to five Ws, and one H, namely, Who, What, When, Where,
Why and How. This is the most cardinal principle of writing news and
followed all over the world.
3. The first paragraph of the news item must clearly state as to who is
the main actor, character, object, subject or concern of the event,
which needs to be told or written about.
4. The other four Ws and one H are:
- What happened?
- When did it happen?
- Where did happen?
- Why did it happen?
- How did it happen?
5. What- The what element should clearly describe the situation, the
specific problem, or basically explain the purpose of the method
usage.
6. Who- Who refers to the specific people or group relevant to the issue
or the situation. It should include the person who discovered the
problem, who can possibly solve it, and who will be responsible for
implementing the possible solution.
7. Where- The where element should contain the exact location or
position of the recognized issue. It can be a place, facility, or even a
certain process where the solution is to be implemented.
8. When- When should include all the components of the situation
pertaining to anything related to dates. It should state the timeline,
deadline, duration, or any other details that could help in the
resolution of the problem.
9. Why- AIt explains in detail the reason and objectives behind the need
for action or why there’s a need to do the 5W1H method in the first
place.
10. How- How, as the last element of the method, specifies the steps
on how the identified plan/s should be carried out. It should also
include all the resources, tools, methods, means, and even the
expenditure needed for the endeavor to be effective.
11. Given below are some examples to tell you as to how intros and
leads can be drafted, based on the formula 5Ws and 1H:
- WHEN: On coming Monday, August 15, at 8 a.m., the Prime
Minister will address the nation on its seventieth Independence
Day from the ramparts of Delhi’s historic Red Fort.
- WHERE: From the ramparts of Delhi’s historic Red Fort, the
Prime Minister will address the nation on August 15 this year,
the seventieth Independence Day of the country, at 8 a.m.
- WHO: Prime Minister will address the Independence Day
function on Monday, August 15, at 8 a.m. from the rampart of
Delhi’s historic Red Fort.
- WHAT: On the Independence Day, on August 15 at 8 a.m.,
Prime Minister will address the nation from the rampart of
Delhi’s historic Red Fort.
- WHY: As August 15 marks the nation’s seventieth
Independence Day, the Prime Minister will address the nation
from Delhi’s historic Red Fort at 8 a.m.
- HOW: From the ramparts of Delhi’s historic Red Fort, Prime
Minister will address the nation on August 15, which marks the
seventieth Independence Day, at 8 a.m.
The Inverted Pyramid
1. Another traditional technique of writing the news is in the form of an
Inverted Pyramid. The first paragraph, i.e., the Intro or the Lead,
contains the most important and main thrust of the news item.
2. The body of the news item further expands, elaborates and explains
rest of the story. Therefore, the main points stated in the Lead or the
Intro have to be supported by the facts in the paragraphs that follow
the Lead or the Intro.
The lead / intro of a news story which should usually be based on inverted
pyramid technique is illustrated as under:

Origins
1. The inverted pyramid structure is the product of an old media
technology—the telegraph. When news outlets would telegraph
information over the wires, it made sense to use the inverted pyramid
because the most vital information in the story was transmitted first.
In the event of a lost connection, whoever received the story could
still print the essential facts.
2. The inverted pyramid structure also benefits editors. If an editor
needs to cut an article, they can simply cut from the bottom. If their
reporter was writing in the reliable inverted pyramid structure, the
most essential information would remain at the top.
 3. It was during the U.S. civil war that the news writing style went
through drastic changes. This was necessitated due to the fact that
the most recent development in the progress of the civil war had to be
communicated, through the Morse telegraphic mode, in the first
paragraph itself.

Criticisms
1. Some in the media critique the inverted pyramid for being artless, and
certainly, it is not right for every news story, as it removes a great deal
of autonomy from the reporter.
2. Others link inverted pyramid style to the decline in newspaper
readership, arguing that, by giving away the ending first, the structure
goes against the very fundamentals of narrative.
3. Some scholars have theorized that the inverted pyramid structure
might actually be more difficult for readers to understand. With the
emergence of online news writing, the inverted pyramid structure is
not as prominent as it once was.
4. In the online format, where editors are no longer bound by column
inches, an article’s length is more flexible. Similarly, online journalism
is increasingly influenced by the presence of bloggers, who typically
eschew traditional news writing structure.