NEWS WOLRD

NEWS DEFINITIONS FROM SCHOLARLY

POINT OF VIEWS

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INTRODUCTION

Over the years, the definition of News is one of the major issue and challenge in the field of Mass Communication. Different scholars and practitioners in the field of Mass Communication came up with different definitions which tried to explain the concept of News, yet there is still no universal accepted definition of news.

In the words of Iredia (2013) in one of his lectures, he pointed out in his lecture describing the nature of news as "slippery, elusive and unfixed". Because, what someone perceived or considered as news might not be news to another person base on individual differences. And that make news not to have a universal standard definition. And at such, even a layman on the street can come up with a definition of the term and still have it right. In the same vein, Rabiu (2014) said that "what is news today might not be news tomorrow. And what is news in one geographical area might not be also news in another geographical area." He later gave an example by saying that news of hazard in the solid minerals industry will be on the front page of Newsday Newspaper in Lafia, Nasarawa State (Home of Solid Minerals) but might not even make the paper in Bayelsa State. Reverse is case or vice versa.

To Itule and Anderson (2007) "One important thing about news is that it is always changing." The changes occurs base on what the reporter report as news. He or she report about event the he or she feels it will interest his or her audience and the media house. He or she judges the event base on the news elements or determinants such as proximity (the degree of one’s nearness to the story), prominence, unusualness, timelines, currency etc.

Shrivastava (2003) portrayed that "Today there is no agreed definition of news ". Wholesely and Cambell (1957) also buttress the assertion by saying "All books have been written in an effort to explain news but there is still no concept for description of it that satisfies the world of Mass Communication.

To the words of Muhammad Sani Rabiu (2014:294), he said and I quote:

"For the serious newspapers, called broadsheets, which report soberly and in a matter-of-fact (objectives) way e.g. Thisday, Daily Trust, The Nation and the Guardian, news is information that helps people solves their problems intelligently, e.g. routine weather reports, news about accidents, business etc. But for the tabloids also called the fun press, which inform entertainingly (through the language of reporting, headlines, casting, themes selected and lavish photographs) e.g. The Daily Sun (and its sisters; The Saturday Sun and The Sunday Sun), news is material that is entertaining, that is amusing and relaxing to read. Tabloid Newspapers believe in the saying "People do not live by bread alone (ordinary stories), they need an occasion delicacy (excitement stories) on the success and scandals of film/music/football stars and other outstanding people in politics, business etc."

To the author, even in a diversified medium each still has its own point of view on the definition and the nature of news.

WHAT IS NEWS?

Since news means different thing to different people base on their different geographical area, the government, the media house, the nature of the audience, individual point of view and personal differences. For that, let’s look at the following definitions of news put forth by different scholars and mass media practitioners and also access their individual point of view.

According to Prof. Charles Coates, news is what interests the reader, the viewer, the reporter, the editor, the producer, their spouses, and their neighbors. News is what affects their diet and their lives. In this definition news is something that has human interest. No matter how beautiful a story is written, if it does not have human interest it is not news. So news must be something that has the societal appeal from within the reporter, the media house, his immediate environment, it audiences and the society at large.

To Harcup (2012:55) cited in Rabiu (2013) news is a selected version of world events with a focus on what is new and unusual. Rabiu (2013) in one of his lectures says, from the process of news gathering to reporting, you will find out that a lot of choices are made. The reporter in the field after seen a lot of stories, select which one should be  covered, after which the media houses choose which stories should be published and which should not base on their policies before the society gets the product of their decisions and which are also new and unusual happenings in the society.

William S. Maulsbyl said, news is unbiased account of significant facts of a timely happening that is of interest to the readers of the newspaper that printed the account. In the definition of mass communication, it is the mass information from the mass media to the mass audience. So, the definition is saying that whatever that is put across must be significant and factual which interest not only the target audiences but as well as the media that produced the information.

Sam Zelman (1980) of CNN in his own part says, news is what is important because of its impact on the society it is what the people want to know and what they want to know. Naturally, a man is born with curiosity (eagerness of knowing this new) around him. For that, the definition is saying that for any story to be gathered by any reporter, he must be conscious that his story should have impact on the people as well as the media house. Also, for any reader, viewer or listener of any message must felt the impact of the story on him or her before he or she reads the story. Also as the says goes,” You do not take panadol for another man’s headache." So any story that has no impacts whether positive or negative on the audiences is not news.

Charles Dana, who ran the New York Sun from 1869-1899, saw news as anything new. He said news is anything that interest a large part of the community and has never been brought to its attention before. That is to say any story which has been brought to the notice and knowledge of the audience is no more news but what the audience have never heard or seen before is news and it must interests large part of that community.

To Kareem (1991) observers that news is what sales on paper to the public. In every production processes the target is the consumer of that very product. At such, the media house that produced the stories select stories which they think will be of interest and benefits to them and the readers. And so it does not matter if the story is new or has impact on the audience or not cannot be news but what suit their taste and policies. This is enough to tell us that, whatever that are presented on newspapers, magazines, radio or television are not the only significant and interesting stories or events that happens around the world but what the media present to us as news.

In the word of Akinteleye (1987), “news is an account of events which is more or less compel into reporting.” That is to say if any account or an event that is not reported is not news.  For instance, if a reporter covers a story and did not bring it to be broadcast on radio or television or been published in a newspapers or magazines that is not news. So, news is what is reported or broadcast on radio, television or published in a newspaper or magazines.

To Iredia (2013) in one of his lecture said, "Whatever the media report or transmit to the public is news." This is so as only the media house that decide whether a story is news or not. For instance, reporters went to the field and covered some lovely stories and take the stories to the editor. When the editor saw them, he might decide to kill the stories just because it does not  conforms to the house style or is against the government or the media owner or base on any other judgments.

According to Mencher (1984) as cited Sambe (2008) "News is information about a break from the normal flow of events, an interruption in the expected. To the definition, news is when those things that used to happen refused to happen or what has never happen before just happen. For instance the case of ebola, a disease that kills it patient within a short period of time will be the biggest news.

Richard Roth, a New York correspondent for Cable Network News (CNN) said, news can be many things but news is something we (journalist) think that the general public would find important. The definition is centered on the importance and significant values attached to an event that they (journalist) decide to cover because he feel it impact on the society. Now, the question that arises now is what if the journalist did not cover the event? Does that mean that the event is not newsworthy?

Okoye (2006) saw news as "the timely and factual account of an interesting event which the public must know, because it is important. Like in the words of Roth, anything the journalist feels like the public should know before they will know. In the field, the journalist heavily decide on which story they will cover and those stories that they covered are not the only significant events that occurred around the world but those ones that they have interest on.

As for Folarin (1998) cited in Wakeel (2008), news is an account of any real happening that have an interest or effects on people such as accident, fire, crime, celebration and so on. In a real sense, news is all about people, what they do, what they eat, what happen to them, where they go and so on. News must be an account of those things that they need to know in order to shape their lives.

Hudgson cited in Wakeel (2010) says that "News is the first disclosure (in the mass media) of any story, fact about an incident or event no matter the circumstances. Ordinarily, news stories are supposed to be firstly heard, read or viewed from the mass media because it is known for its objectivity, factual and accurate representation of incidents to the public. That is why, when people get big story especially the one that has national issues, they will say "let’s wait to hear it from the radio or watch the evening news" or "Let’s look for the newspaper or magazine and read the story."

Defluer and Evereth (1988) take their position and said "News is a report that presents a contemporary view of reality with regards to a specific issue, event or process." What every media house try to avoid is misleading its audience. To the authors, news must be realistic and factual presented and reported.

Iredia (2013) in one of his lecture said "News is an account of an event that has happened, yet to happen, will happen, did not happen, failed to happened, fixed, unfixed, current, not current, accurate, inaccurate, timely, untimely, realistic, unrealistic etc that the reporters gathered from the fields and transmit it through the channels of mass media of communication to the public. He also added that anything can become news if the reporter covers it and summit it to the media house to be published or broadcast to the general public.

To Auwal (2014), "News is an unusual and unexpected happening that shocks, amazes, arrests and affects a large number of people." This is true because when people are presented with stories like a fire outbreak, accident, flood etc, which affects a large number of people or showing an unexpected, amazing and shocking scenario, it attracts audience attention because they will like to know how it happened, when it happened and why it happened.

Rabiu (2014) said "News is that report which is timely, truthful and of public interest."  He also said "News is the presentation of information that is up-to-date important, interesting and pleasurable to its audience." As a saying goes, "All work without play makes Jack a dull boy." The society does not need to be served with serious stories all the time. They also need something that will sometimes cheer them up from the boringness and stress of their laborious day. For that, news must not only be about serious issues but also less serious issues such as sports, movies, music, art etc. Moreover, the function of the media includes to inform, educate and to entertain.

Padhye (1991) points out the broad public nature of "News". He said news is indicated by the spelling of the word "NEWS". It is an acronym of North, East, West and South. In general, it means news is the reports gathered from the four cardinal angles of the world and presented or transmitted through the mass media to the general public. All the media houses (newspapers, magazines, radio, television), do not gather information from only one place or one geographical area but all the areas around the globe within their reach because their target audience is scattered around the world. So, the media must take everyone along.

Curtis D. MacDougall cited in Rabiu (2014) said, "News is an account of event which a newspaper prints in the belief that by so doing it will profit." Although, some of the media owners (usually private stations) are after making money, but the profit in this case means the expectations that the reporter or the media house that prints or transmit the account wants from its target audience. It could be to educate, inform or entertain or for attitudinal change.

Wolseley and Campbell (1957) also said that "News is the report of current ideas, events or conflicts which interest the consumers." Like in the other definitions "interest" is always the main idea when it comes to news determinants. Interest is what always prompts every reader, listener or viewer to read, listen or view any story being published on newspapers or magazines or broadcast on radio or television. To the author, interest is derived through the conflicts of an events or ideas e.g. Jim Ike fighting Van Vicker in a night club because of a girl, President Jonathan sack ministers etc. The above stories will be of great interest to the readers, listeners or viewers because of the conflict involved. 

THE BEST AMONG THE REST

To me, the best definition of news is the one put forth by Iredia (2013) in one of his lectures which is taken from an oxymoronic perspective saying "News is an account of an event that has happened, yet to happen, will happen, did not happen, failed to happened, fixed, unfixed, current, not current, accurate, inaccurate, timely, untimely, realistic, unrealistic etc that the reporters gathered from the fields and transmit it through the channels of mass media of communication to the public." To the author, news is anything that the media reports.

Some authors based their argument on some criterias; like news must be something that is interesting but what interests someone might not interest another. Some said it must be factual and accurate but not all stories either on print or broadcast are factual and accurate. Some, in their own view said news must be something timely and current but sometimes, events which happened a week, months or year ago are also gathered and presented as news because of its significance and interest that the reporter thinks it will have on the audience. Some authors believe that a news item must be new and unusual but what we read in the newspapers and magazines or listen in the radio or watch on the television are not new or unusual things.

From the definition, whatever people presumed and assumed as news are stated, because the definition is not taken for only one side but both, which is enough to tell us that news have no prescribed form. It is anything to anybody who finds interest in whatever is presented. So, any reporter who goes out to cover events or search for events which are newsworthy should not restrict his idea base on one definition of news but take into cognisant of all other definitions and apply the knowledge of news elements or determinants if he or she wishes to have a report for his or her media house.

REFERENCES

·        Auwal M.A. (2014). News Writing and Reporting. Abuja: M&S Concept Printing and Publishing.

·        http://jakedesk.wapka.mobi/site_12.xhtml

·        Iredia T. (2013): Journalistic Concept on News. NSUK:Lectures note.

·        Nation Open University (2010). News Writing and Reporting (manual).

·        Rabi M.S. (2013): News World, Career Prospect In Journalism and Mass Communication. Ibadan: Stirling Hoaden Publishers Ltd.

·        Rabiu M.S (2014). Journalistic Skills: For Professional Excellence. Ibadan: Stirling Horden Publishers Ltd.

         

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