News is current information about people, places and things that have recently occurred. It is not necessarily true that only major events are newsworthy; minor and mundane events can be newsworthy as well if they are unique or interesting. However, the more unusual and significant an event is, the more likely it will be to be reported.
The main function of News is to inform the public about what is happening in their local area, country or world. It also plays a key role in holding people in authority accountable by reporting corruption, scandal and unethical behaviour.
It is important for journalists to be able to identify what is newsworthy and decide how to present it. They must consider their audience, what kind of information they are interested in and what effect the news will have on them.
News articles should be concise and focussed. They should be short enough that readers can read them in one sitting. News stories which include long tangents and winding sentences are likely to bore their readers, who will simply tune them out.
Generally speaking, national newspapers will focus on issues that affect the wider population, but they will also report on more local events such as sporting events and celebrity news. They are also more likely to publish political scandal and human interest stories. However, what is considered a scandal or a human interest story may differ between societies. For example, a man dying in his own oven might be newsworthy in Australia, but not in Japan, where the risk of such an occurrence is relatively low.