How to Write Newsworthy Stories

News is a collection of current events that have the potential to impact society. It can entertain, inspire or inform readers. In order to be successful, a news story needs to be fresh and interesting. The fact that a man woke up, ate breakfast and went to work on the bus does not make for exciting reading. However, if that same man was the only person to survive a plane crash in history or the first woman in space, now that would be something worth writing about!

In general, there are four factors that determine whether an event is worthy of news coverage: celebrity, excitement, surprise and relevance. Celebrity refers to people who are famous, whereas excitement is created by the unexpected or unusual. Surprise can be caused by a twist in a storyline or the use of an alternative viewpoint to the mainstream media. An element of controversy can also add an extra dimension to a story. A lot of the time, newspapers have to sift through information to find a suitable news story. The editorial team will decide which facts are relevant and what is important to their audience. This process is largely guided by market research.

Getting a variety of opinions on a subject is always good and can help to keep a news article interesting. Reading blogs, the opinion sections of magazines and using Google Alerts can be very helpful in finding new and different points of view on a topic.