What Is News?

Reporters are constantly looking for events and trends to write about. News has to do with what's new, unusual and important. It deals with matters of the heart, health and pocketbook. A potential news story has broad human interest. You, as a professional in the financial services industry, are in a key position to know about and communicate developments that affect the lives of consumers.

There is a lot going on in the world, and only so much time or column space to devote to telling busy people about it. The stories that get aired or published are those that the media consider to be more important and of greater interest than competing news. So while opening a new branch or launching a new loan program may be extremely important to you and your credit union, it is not as important to the media as a teacher's strike or even a police chase.

The reason for this is that news usually involves drama, conflict, human interest, mystery or humor. Remember, news is a business. The media decide what to print or air based in part on what they think will attract their readers, viewers or listeners, and in part on what they think the audience needs to know about.

So, keep both the media and the audience in mind when assessing the value of your news. Also, keep in mind that the larger the medium, or the larger the geographic area the medium serves, the harder it is to get coverage because there is more competition for limited time and space. It is much harder to get coverage in Atlanta than in smaller media markets.

Newsworthy topics