The XXXVI International Scientific Symposium "Multidisciplinary Studies of the Turkish World" The 25 th of March 2023 ISBN: 978-605-72481-0-7 Eskishehir / Türkiye ---89---
mind will be when it had happened and where? Then you are keen to know what the full story of the incident
was. Then you ask the question, why has it happened? Also you want to know about the kidnappers. Who were
they? And finally the news becomes complete only when you get from the news how the kidnapping happened.
Unless a news item satisfies all these six questions of the reader or listener, the news is incomplete.
Journalists are the best judges about what is news and what is not. They take this decision based on
certain news values. The following are the main points to judge the newsworthiness.
1.Timeliness : News is something new. So timeliness is a great factor in deciding news. An incident that
happened one month back will not make news for today’s newspaper. Also timeliness varies from publication
to publication. For a newspaper, events that had happened on the previous day is news. But for a weekly,
events of the previous one week can make news. For a 24-hour television news channel, every second is a
deadline. They can break the news anytime. So their timeliness is different from that of a newspaper.
2. Impact : Impact of an event decides its newsworthiness. When the tsunami waves struck several of the
world, thousands of people were affected. It became major news for the whole world. But if a cyclone kills 20
people in Bangladesh, it may not have any impact on other parts of the world. When dengue fever affects 100
people in Delhi, it makes news not only in Delhi but in other states also because the impact is more wide and
people become more alert about the news.
3. Proximity: “Bird flu spreading and hundreds of chicken dying in England”. Does it make news for you?
You may read it but do not worry about it. But bird flu spreading in Azerbaijan will make you alert. This is
because it is in your proximity. A plane crash in Russia will not be big news in our country, but if an aircraft
crashes in Azerbaijan, there will be headlines everywhere. So proximity decides the news.
