5 elements of newsworthiness

In order for something to be considered news, it must adhere to one or more of five qualities. These elements of newsworthiness are proximity, significance, timeliness, prominence, and human interest.

Proximity refers to location. The announcement of a new business or coffee shop opening in downtown Lynchburg would be more interesting to students reading the Champion than the announcement of the same thing happening in, say, Richmond.

Significance refers to the amount of people affected. Coverage of a hurricane that affected thousands is more interesting and relevant than coverage of one that affected few to none but rather went back out to sea.

Timeliness is about how long ago an event took place. The idea is to cover something as soon as it happens. People are more interested in something that happened within the past few days than something that occurred months or years ago.

Prominence connects to celebrities or the fame of those affected. For example, when the average person gets a cold, it doesn’t make the news. However, when Queen Elizabeth got a cold a while back, it made national news for days.

Human interest is for stories about a person or event that is so unique or interesting people can’t help wanting to read or hear about it. A feature about an athlete that overcame a career-ending injury and continued to play sports would be a human interest story.

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