News is the term for a story about current events. These events may include war, politics, government, education, business, health and the environment. They can also be about famous people or their lives, as well as stories of crime, scandal and other interesting or unusual happenings.
There is no such thing as unbiased news; the prejudices of both the journalists and the news outlets have a big impact on what is reported and what is not. A classic example of this is the way in which news about world events tends to focus on conflict and disaster, rather than more positive developments. This is particularly true of television and radio news, where the news agenda is set by a small group of people who control the vast majority of broadcasting companies.
Many people read newspapers and watch TV and radio for entertainment, but the job of the news is to inform and educate its readers, listeners or viewers. This does not mean that there is no room for entertaining news, but this can come from other areas – music and drama on the radio; cartoons and crosswords in the newspaper.
In-depth news articles are a subset of hard news stories that take a particular subject and research it extensively. This can be a good way to give more background information about a topic and help readers gain greater understanding of the overall issues involved. A good in-depth news article should be free from personal bias and should explain key terminology and government or police processes.