News: the polestar of journalism

Extract from chapter 2

News is any new alteration in the order of things that could become a point of reference for society.

I would have preferred to have said that news is anything that can affect the material, emotional or intellectual lives of people, but I admit that this is too restrictive. It is probably the crazy dream of thinking that the avalanche of “news” might decline thus allowing journalists to spend more time getting deeper into really important things that made me say it.

All communities live in a constant state of transformation just because of the natural processes of life. People are born, grow up, reproduce and die leaving some kind of work behind. Each one of these steps touches those that live it, but why isn’t every wedding news? Because not everybody has the same social relevance, not everybody is a reference for others. This is the root of the desire for fame of many people; wanting to be a reference for others, and this is the power of television.

A personal change isn’t news if it isn’t going to become a model or a positive or negative reference for the community. It goes without saying that all news should be verified by the journalist and better still, by third parties. Rumours are not news, neither is gossip or maliciousness.

There are news items which are like volcanoes; suddenly the ground shakes, the sky clouds over and thunder rolls. Any natural social or scientific change that produces an event is publishable; it doesn’t matter whether it is a new product or a petition signed. However, sometimes you have to dig a bit deeper for it to bear fruit; sometimes the story is there but doesn’t quite come out. You have to find something to hang it on, something that introduces the news item and shows its newsworthy side. Put another way, you can’t publish the news without the headline and at least the photo.