What is News?

Your company’s public image is a valuable asset that can attract or put off potential clients and opinion formers, which is why it is so important to communicate the right message about your organisation.

Keeping your business in the public eye reassures your clients or customers that they are right to use your service and can then have the add on effect of word-of-mouth recommendation.

“News is the first rough draft of history”
Philip L Graham

There are many things that make a good news story but the one thing they have in common is that they are of interest to readers of the publications you are targeting. If, for example, we’re looking to raise your profile in Cardiff and the South Wales Echo is a target publication, then we’ll need to consider if the story is of relevance to its readers. Equally, if looking to raise your profile in Newport or Swansea then different press would be chosen.

There are five main factors which are considered when deciding if a story is newsworthy. When an editor needs to decide whether to run with a particular story, s/he will ask how well the story meets each of these criteria.

Naturally, if there are a lot of newsworthy stories on a particular day then some stories will be dropped. While some stories can be delayed until a new slot becomes available, time-sensitive news will often be dropped permanently.

Timing
The word news means exactly that - things which are new. Topics which are current are good news. Old news is quickly discarded.