News is information about important events, such as wars and disasters. It also includes things that affect people, such as health, the economy, and fashion. People like to share news to keep others informed. News is often reported on television, radio, or in newspapers. It can also be found on the Internet. People use news to make decisions.
News can be either hard or soft. Hard news is straight reporting of the facts. It answers the questions who, what, where, when and why. It is based on information that has been painstakingly gathered and verified. It is also subject to opinion and bias.
Soft news is less objective and often has more personal bias. It usually takes a small subject and researches it heavily to create an in-depth story. It might include interviews with individuals or offer a view of the subject from different perspectives.
People often want to read or hear news about subjects that are important to them. For example, some may find it interesting that a bug is damaging their crops while others are more interested in how the Roman Catholic Church will ordain women priests. Similarly, some events have greater interest in one society than in another. This is because the importance of a particular event depends on the relative values of that society. For this reason, the content of news varies from place to place. However, most people agree that the job of news is to inform and educate. Entertainment comes from other areas of the media – music and drama on television and radio; crosswords and cartoons in newspapers.