This document discusses the key elements that determine if something is newsworthy or not. It identifies timeliness, prominence, proximity, human interest, negativity, and consequence as the main news determinants. Timeliness refers to how recent an event is. Prominence means important people are newsworthy. Proximity means local news has more value than distant news. Human interest involves elements like conflict, emotion, and oddity. Negativity refers to bad news being more newsworthy than good news. Consequence relates to how an event directly impacts readers.

1. News Determinants
(Introduction To Journalism)
Submitted to Muhammad Ahmad Sheikh
(Emeritus Professor at UMT). Ex- Deputy
Controller Radio Pakistan)

3. News Determinants
Elements which play important role in
making a news worthy.

4. Timeliness
News is perishable. It loses value as it
ages.
Readers want to know now. What
happened yesterday, last night, or this
morning is more newsworthy than
what happened last week.

5. Prominence
Important people are newsworthy; others
aren’t.
Politicians, actors, singers--
anyone in the public arena or
public eye--are newsworthy.

6. Proximity
News closer to home has more news
value than that from far away.
A fire in Mexico is less
newsworthy than a fire in your
hometown. However, if something
happens far away but involves
local people, then the news value
increases because of proximity

7. Human Interest
1) Oddity:
Readers are intrigue by the unusual or
out-of-the-ordinary.
It is unusual for people to
know that a man shot
himself in the head.

8. 2) Conflict:
Readers want to know who will win in
elections, wars, sports, etc.

9. 3) Emotion
Readers become emotionally involved in
stories about children, animals, etc. Other
stories can evoke humor, sympathy, anger,
etc.

10. Negativity
Bad news is more newsworthy than good
news.
Shahid Afridi hits his
fan.

11. Consequence
News which directly affects readers has
more news value.
The greater the impact of
the information upon the
readers, or the more
readers affected by the
information, the greater
the news value of that
information.