Are You Being News NewsWorthy?

Newsworthy events are all around us. Turning these events into news is a simple matter of identification and delivery. Newsworthy material comes from asking the right questions about the situation that occur around us everyday. Those factors include the timeliness of the story, the proximity to the news outlet, the possible future impact of the issue, the number of people involved or affected and the prominence of the people and things in the story.

Timeliness - News is perishable and stale news is not interesting. Information that is currently relevant or has some immediate impact on the readers is newsworthy. A consumer who picks up the evening paper or watch the news would want to be told of what happen earlier on the same day.

Prominence - News that cover on important people and attention seeking matters. It can be activities from the president, other head of the state and sports/entertainment figures who have tremendous media attention, even infamous or criminals are good coverages that consumers want to know. An example, A Terrorist escapes from Whitely detention centre, a Singaporean Malay who limbs on the left and he is none other than Mas Selamat who have been a prominent figure in Singapore covering headlines in all local newspaper.

Proximity - News coverage that are close to our hometown would be good news for consumers rather than countries that are foreign to us. A recent riot attack in Malaysia is charging southwards and fears speculate that the riot might break into Singapore, news like this are newsworthy and worth looking through again and understand what is it that caused such a riot. A news that covers on a plane crash in panama with 50 killed and 110 passengers injured have no significant interest to the local people.

Consequence - Information about the development that will significantly impact on some or not all of the readers. Singapore will cap it's CPF to a minimum of $20,000 before anyone above the age of 21 can actually use their CPF to do investment eg. unit trust fund. This message alerted many Singaporeans to push out their money from their CPF and statistic shows that 50% more Singaporeans have invested in unit trust funds recently before the implemention kicks in.

Human Interest - A story that is quirky, colorful or otherwise dramatic about a human character or condition. The extraordinary act should be identified by consumers that the person is once ordinary with a big heart to do something out of the norm. A man who recently won 1st prize in the lottery decided to give a man half his winning who he have only met once which was the day he bought the lottery ticket, this becomes newsworthy.

The ShipWreck that had a Secret to Tell

A private dive team have discovered a long wrecked ship at the coast of alaska. The Torrent sank in Cook Inlet in 1868 after tidal currents rammed it into a reef south of the Kenai Peninsula. Documents from the period show that all 155 people on board survived. The shipwreck is the oldest American wreck ever found in Alaska.

They have found the wrecked ship in July and until this day then it was official announced to prevent looters arrival, this was a secret kept by the 4 men dive crew.

What was found: An array of objects, from guns, cannons, shoes and plates, are hidden beneath the broad leaves of giant kelp beds or concealed in caverns and crevices among massive boulders. Big finds include the two anchors, sections of hull and heavy bronze rudder hinges weighing about 100 lbs.

The Torrent is now being considered for listing in the National Registry of Historic Places. Bittner said state or federal archaeologists may study the wreck if they can secure enough funding.

Read The full story - AP News on The oldest Shipwreck found