Newsworthiness

Newsworthiness is defined as a subject having sufficient relevance to the public or a special audience to warrant press attention or coverage.

Normal people are not newsworthy unless they meet an unusual circumstance or tragedy. The news divides the population into two groups; those few whose lives are newsworthy, and the multitude who are born, live out their lives and die without the news media paying them any significant notice. The news has always covered subjects that catch people's attention and differ from their "ordinary lives". The news is often used for escapism and thus normal events are not newsworthy. Whether the subject is love, birth, weather, or crime, journalists' tastes inevitably run toward the unusual, the extraordinary.

The subject and newsworthiness of a story depends on the audience, as they decide what they do and do not have an interest in. The denser the population, the more global the reported news becomes, as there is a broader range of interests involved in its selection.

Only a fraction of news manages to convey the overall world development.