'I eat rice every day. I play cricket. I don't bunk off school, blah...blah...blah....' These are common events. They happen every day or on some occasions. Are these events news? Should they be published in newspapers? The answer is a big 'NO'. Then what is news anyway? What do we want to know from the media? 'When a dog bites a man that is not news, but when a man bites a dog that is news,' says Charles Anderson Dana.

The first thing is that the news should be a piece of information. Secondly, the information should be recent or new, and hence it is 'news'. Thirdly, people should take interest in it. Fourthly, it should be self-explained. That is, it should answer all the questions with who, which, what, where, when, why, and how. Finally, it should be objective. Recently, another aspect has been added: news is either printed or broadcast or on the internet.

There are opinions that the term 'news' comes from 'new'. Others say it is news because it comes from all directions: North, East, West and South.