Balanced News
Two decades ago the idea of getting dressed up in ghoulish costumes, decorating your home with jack-o-lanterns and going door-to-door asking for candy was thought of as a bizzare western custom in Japan. Not anymore.
This weekend, the streets of Tokyo were packed with people in costume and shopfronts were adorned with witches and pumpkins – Halloween fever has hit Japan. [Read more…]
Beijing — At least two people were killed and several injured as China’s Xinjiang region was hit by a series of deadly explosions on Sunday, the authorities said.
The blasts occurred in multiple locations across Xinjiang, an ethnically sensitive region that has experienced a spate of violent incidents in the recent months. According to the government operated Tianshan news portal, three powerful explosions took place at about 5 p.m. in Luntai County, located in the southwest of the regional capital, Urumqi.
Although the report said the injured were rushed to the hospital, it did not give any information on how many people suffered injuries or what was the cause behind the explosions.
Brothel owners and high-class callgirls will have you believe that their business is all part of doing business in Korea. But as News.com.au recently reported, the South Korean tax office has been cracking down on these types of “sleazy services”, frustrating many local sex industry businesses. [Read more…]
These days, it’s normal to see lottery wins of $50,000 or even $1 million. But have you ever wondered how much were the largest jackpot prizes ever won? Wonder no longer—below are some of the biggest lotto and Powerball wins in history.
The largest lottery jackpot in history (so far, at least), was from the U.S., and is worth $656 million. Aside from its staggering size, the win was also controversial because of the drama surrounding the identity of the real ticketholders. There was a woman who claimed to own one of the winning tickets, but she also bought a syndicate ticket for her co-workers and insists that the winner was purchased separately. The suspense lasted a week, but the three winners eventually claimed their windfall. [Read more…]
Image: foreignpolicy
So many things are happening all over the world at the same time but not everything will make it to live or print news. There are stories that make it as mere fillers or news placed just to fill in an expected empty space and there are the newsworthy news which are stories given priority because they are expected to sell and get the readers’ interest. For budding writers and reporters who wish to be significant contributors to their reported materials, there are certain factors that have to be considered to ensure that a story will make it to the final cut.
The first factor to consider is the currency of the news. This is about how new or how recent the story is. People rarely refer to newspapers for history unless a certain section is dedicated to such a topic. People are always looking for what’s new so this means a totally new story or the latest update to a story line being followed.
The coverage of effect is another. In simple terms, stories are gauged for its significance and this would usually pertain to how many people are involved or are actual participants to the story. It is a natural conclusion that the more people involved in a story, the more people there are interested to read about it. A classic example of this is a death toll in a disaster.
The popularity of the subject of the story is very critical in determining the newsworthiness of a story. A very minor mishap involving a celebrity will usually be found in the front pages while a death of an unknown person is lucky to find itself in the last pages unless a story has a unique point of human interest. Since this type of stories appeal to human emotions, other factors may be set aside. The proximity of the event also plays a big part in determining newsworthiness.
