समाचार

To indicate the date and place of the news report.

The dateline tells readers when and where the news was filed (e.g., "Kathmandu, 5 June"). It establishes the news's timeliness and location, which are essential to its credibility.

Sources of News

News does not appear on its own; it is gathered from a range of sources. These sources can be broadly grouped as follows:

1. Official and institutional sources Government offices, ministries, the parliament, courts, police headquarters, and local bodies are major sources of news. Press releases, press conferences, official reports, and spokespersons of these institutions supply verified information. For example, the Ministry of Finance is the source for budget news.

2. Individuals and eyewitnesses People directly involved in or who have seen an event — victims, participants, eyewitnesses, experts, and public figures — are important sources. Their statements, interviews, and personal experiences give news its human angle. Reporters often gather news through interviews and observation of such people.

3. Other media and news agencies Newspapers, radio, television, online portals, and news agencies such as RSS (Rastriya Samachar Samiti), PTI, Reuters, and AFP are common sources. Agencies collect and distribute news to many media houses, while media houses also follow up on stories first reported by rival media.

4. Documents and records Official documents, reports, statistics, court verdicts, budgets, research papers, and public records serve as documentary sources. They provide accurate data and background for investigative and analytical news.

5. Field observation and events Reporters themselves witness events such as accidents, disasters, rallies, and ceremonies. Direct observation at the scene is a primary and reliable source of news.

6. Public and digital sources Public meetings, social media, online forums, and citizen journalism are increasingly used sources. Information from these sources must be verified before publication because it can be unreliable or false.

Conclusion In practice, a good reporter cross-checks information from more than one source — official, individual, documentary, and observational — so that the news is accurate, balanced, and credible.

News structure is the way facts in a news story are arranged. Nepali newspapers, radio and television mainly use the following structures.

1. Inverted pyramid The most important facts come first, then less important details in decreasing order. It has a headline, a lead (intro) answering who, what, when, where, why and how, and a body with supporting detail. The end can be cut without losing the main point, which suits busy readers and editors who must trim to fit space. This is by far the most common structure in Nepali dailies for hard news such as accidents, politics and crime.

2. Pyramid (normal/chronological) structure Events are told in the order they happened, so interest builds towards a climax at the end. It is used in feature-like stories, court proceedings and event narrations, and sometimes for radio stories.

3. Hourglass structure The story starts like an inverted pyramid (key facts), then a turning point such as "according to police" shifts to a chronological narrative of what happened. It suits crime and disaster reports.

4. Diamond (or kabob) structure It opens with a human example or anecdote, widens to the larger issue, and returns to the person at the end. Used in human-interest and in-depth reports.

5. Broadcast structure Radio and television news use short sentences, the main fact first, and are written for the ear. A TV story has an anchor intro, visuals with a reporter's voice-over, and a sound bite.

Common parts in all structures: headline, dateline (place and date), byline (reporter's name), lead, body and, where needed, a closing background.

Conclusion: the inverted pyramid dominates Nepali news writing because it is quick to write, quick to read and easy to edit; other structures are chosen for special story types.

News performs several important functions in society.

1. To inform – its first duty is to give people accurate and timely knowledge of events at home and abroad, such as weather, elections or prices.
2. To educate – news explains developments in health, law, science and politics, and raises public awareness (for example, news on dengue prevention).
3. To interpret and explain – it gives background and causes so that people understand what an event means.
4. To guide public opinion – balanced news helps people form views and take part in democracy.
5. To act as a watchdog – by exposing corruption and misuse of power, news keeps government and institutions accountable.
6. To entertain – human-interest, sports and cultural news give enjoyment and relief.
7. To serve as a record – news becomes a first draft of history for later reference.
8. To help the economy – business, price and market news guides traders, farmers and consumers.
9. To link society – it unites people by sharing common concerns and events, and warns them of dangers such as floods.

Together these functions make news a necessary service for an informed, democratic society.

The lead (intro) is the opening sentence or paragraph of a news story. It gives the most important facts and attracts the reader. Leads are classified as follows.

A. Summary (direct) leads – give the main facts at once.

1. Summary lead – answers the 5Ws and 1H briefly. Example: "Three people were killed when a bus fell into the Trishuli River at Mugling on Monday morning."
2. Single-item lead – focuses on one important fact when several are available.
3. Multiple-item (concentrated) lead – covers two or three related main points in one sentence.

B. Delayed (indirect) leads – hold back the main point to build interest. 4. Question lead – opens with a question. Example: "What will happen to the thousands of students whose results are withheld?" 5. Quotation lead – begins with a striking statement by a source. 6. Descriptive (scene-setting) lead – paints a picture of the scene. 7. Anecdotal/narrative lead – begins with a short story or incident. 8. Contrast lead – places two opposing ideas side by side. 9. Surprise (startling) lead – opens with an unusual fact or twist. 10. Direct address lead – speaks to the reader ("You may soon pay more for electricity."). 11. Suspended-interest lead – delays the main fact to the end of the sentence.

Hard news normally uses the summary lead; features and human-interest stories prefer delayed leads.

News and editorial are both published in a daily paper, but they differ in purpose and style.

Example: a news story reports a bus accident; the editorial on the same day argues for stricter road safety.

Qualities of news (also called news values) decide whether an event deserves to be reported.

1. Timeliness – news must be recent or current; old events lose value.
2. Proximity – events near the audience matter more; a local flood interests Nepali readers more than a distant one.
3. Prominence – involvement of well-known people or institutions, such as the Prime Minister.
4. Impact (consequence) – the number of people affected, e.g. a rise in fuel price.
5. Conflict – disputes, war, strikes and competition attract attention.
6. Human interest – stories that touch emotions, like a rescue or a struggle for success.
7. Unusualness (novelty) – the rare and unexpected ("man bites dog").
8. Magnitude – the size or scale of an event.
9. Accuracy and objectivity – facts must be correct, fair and balanced.
10. Clarity and brevity – simple, clear and short writing.

A story usually carries several of these qualities, and the more it has, the stronger its news value.

What is news?

News is the fresh, accurate and timely report of an event, idea or issue that is of interest or importance to the public. It tells people about things they did not know and need or want to know. A popular saying is that news is "anything that interests a large number of people", and "when a dog bites a man it is not news, but when a man bites a dog it is."

Basic elements of news

A. The 5Ws and 1H – the facts every news story must answer:

1. Who – the people involved.
2. What – the event that happened.
3. When – the time and date.
4. Where – the place.
5. Why – the cause or reason.
6. How – the manner in which it happened.

B. Elements (values) that make an event newsworthy

1. Timeliness – the event is new or current.
2. Proximity – nearness to the audience.
3. Prominence – well-known people or places.
4. Impact/consequence – effect on many people.
5. Conflict – disputes, violence, competition.
6. Human interest – emotional appeal.
7. Unusualness – rare or strange events.
8. Magnitude – size of the event.

C. Qualities of the report itself: accuracy, objectivity, balance, clarity and brevity.

Conclusion: an event becomes news when it is reported accurately and has the elements of timeliness, proximity, prominence, impact and interest, and when it answers the 5Ws and 1H.

Model news report (written in inverted-pyramid style for a daily newspaper; names and figures are illustrative)

Headline: Landslide Blocks Narayangadh–Mugling Highway, Traffic Halted for Five Hours

Sub-headline: No casualties reported; traffic restored after machines cleared the debris

MUGLING, Chitwan, August 12 – Traffic on the Narayangadh–Mugling road section stopped for about five hours on Monday after a landslide triggered by heavy rain buried a stretch of the highway near Jugedi.

The slide came down around 6 a.m. following continuous rain since Sunday night, said Deputy Superintendent of Police Hari Prasad Adhikari of the Mugling Traffic Police Office. Around 200 vehicles, including buses and trucks heading to Kathmandu and Pokhara, were stranded on both sides.

"No one was injured because the soil fell before vehicles reached the spot," said local resident Sita Gurung, who first informed the police. Two excavators from the Division Road Office, Chitwan, started clearing debris at 7:30 a.m., and one lane reopened at 11 a.m.

Road office engineer Ramesh Thapa said the area has been prone to slides each monsoon and that the office is preparing a retaining wall plan. The Department of Hydrology and Meteorology has forecast more rain in the hills for the next two days. Police have urged drivers to travel carefully and avoid night journeys on the highway.

Passengers waited without food and water for hours. "We had no information, and the children were hungry," said Sunita Karki, a passenger heading to Kathmandu.

Structure: headline, sub-headline, dateline, lead (what, where, when, why), body (police source, eyewitness, official action, expert view, forecast), and background at the end.

A headline is the title of a news story, usually printed in large type above it. Its importance is as follows.

1. Attracts attention – a good headline catches the reader's eye in a crowded page.
2. Summarises the story – readers who only scan get the main fact quickly.
3. Helps readers choose – people decide what to read according to the headline.
4. Shows importance – size, position and type of headline show how important the editor thinks the story is.
5. Gives page design and balance – headlines of different sizes make the page attractive and orderly.
6. Organises the paper – they act as signposts and make the paper easy to navigate.
7. Sets tone and identity – the style of headlines reflects the character of the newspaper.
8. Helps sell the paper – striking headlines on the front page and in billboards bring buyers.
9. Online value – headlines affect search ranking and clicks.

A good headline is short, accurate, in the active voice and in the present tense, and must not mislead readers.

Meaning

Balance in news means giving fair and proportionate space and treatment to all the main sides or viewpoints involved in an issue, so that no party is unfairly favoured or harmed. It means that when a person or group is criticised or accused, they are given a chance to reply. It is an essential part of objectivity and fairness.

Key points

1. Hear all sides – the reporter must contact people from different sides of a dispute (government and opposition, accuser and accused).
2. Fair space and tone – each side gets similar prominence, and the writer avoids loaded words.
3. Separate fact from opinion – the reporter's own view must not enter the story.
4. Attribution – views are credited to the people who hold them.
5. Not false balance – balance does not mean giving equal weight to a proven fact and an unsupported claim; accuracy comes first.

Importance: it builds credibility and public trust, prevents bias and defamation, helps readers form their own opinion and upholds journalism ethics.

Example: in a story about a teachers' strike, both the teachers' union and the education ministry are quoted.

A sky headline (also called a skyline or sky-line) is a headline or title block placed above the newspaper's nameplate (masthead) at the very top of the front page. It is usually a short, bold line or a small boxed item that promotes a major story or feature inside, or announces an important event.

Features

• Positioned across the top of the page, above the title of the paper.
• Short, striking and often in large or coloured type.
• May include a small photograph or a teaser.

Purposes

1. To attract the attention of readers and buyers at first glance.
2. To promote a special story, supplement or advertisement.
3. To add variety to the design of the front page.

Example: a line above the paper's name such as "Special: Budget Highlights, Page 4".

Information is a broad term that refers to any fact, data, or knowledge that is communicated or received. It can be about any topic and in any form.

News Structure

News structure refers to the organised way in which the parts of a news report are arranged so that information reaches the reader in order of importance. It is the skeleton or framework on which a news story is built. A well-structured news story answers the reader's basic questions quickly and lets the reader stop at any point without missing the main point. The most widely used structure in journalism is the inverted pyramid.

The Inverted Pyramid Structure

        ┌─────────────────────────────┐
        │      HEADLINE               │  ← Attracts attention
        ├─────────────────────────────┤
        │      BYLINE / DATELINE      │  ← Who wrote it, where & when
        ├─────────────────────────────┤
        │                             │
        │        LEAD (Intro)         │  ← 5W + 1H: most important facts
        │      (Who, What, When,      │
        │       Where, Why, How)      │
        ├─────────────────────────────┤
        │                             │
        │      BODY / DETAILS         │  ← Supporting facts, quotes,
        │   (Important details in     │     background, context
        │    descending importance)   │
        │                             │
        ├─────────────────────────────┤
        │      BACKGROUND /           │  ← Least important, optional
        │      MINOR DETAILS          │     material that can be cut
        └─────────────────────────────┘
              (Broad at top → narrow at bottom)

Main Elements of News Structure

1. Headline – The title of the news story, printed in large letters. It summarises the news in a few words and attracts the reader's attention.
2. Byline and Dateline – The byline gives the name of the reporter; the dateline gives the place and date from which the news is filed.
3. Lead (Intro) – The opening paragraph. It contains the most important information and answers the 5W's and 1H — Who, What, When, Where, Why and How. A good lead is short, clear and complete.
4. Body (Details) – The paragraphs that follow the lead. They give supporting facts, explanations, quotations, figures and context. The details are arranged in descending order of importance.
5. Background and Minor Details – Additional information such as history, causes or related events. This part is placed last because it can be dropped if space is short.

Why This Structure Is Used

1. It presents the most important information first, so a busy reader gets the main news at a glance.
2. It allows the editor to cut the story from the bottom without destroying its meaning.
3. It makes news clear, concise and easy to read.
4. It follows the principle of 5W's and 1H, ensuring completeness.

Thus, the news structure — headline, byline, lead, body and background — arranges facts in the inverted pyramid form, placing the most significant information at the top and the least significant at the bottom.