News is a collection of information about events, happenings, people or places that are important, interesting or significant to an audience. It is written to be read quickly and accurately, to keep an audience informed about what is happening in their world, what is important to them and often includes opinions of the author. It is written to be readable by a wide range of readers from different social classes and cultures, and often contains pictures.
It can be written by the public or by professionals. Usually it starts with 25 words of a title that is interesting and draws the reader in. This is known as a lede. Then the story follows in chronological order starting with the most important fact first. This is called the inverted pyramid format. The first paragraph of a news article should contain all the who, what, where, when and why facts of an event. The following paragraphs should then add more and more detail as the article progresses.
A lot of news stories are about people. These can be famous people, politicians or ordinary citizens. It can be about their achievements, or their misfortunes. The news is also about things that affect people, such as weather, food shortages or surpluses, diseases or new treatments for illnesses. It is also about entertainment, such as concerts, films or theatre productions. Occasionally, news is about sports events or political elections. It can also be about art, such as painting or sculpture.