When people think of news update, they might envision black-and-white journalism in a newspaper or the nightly recap on television. But news can be much more than that. For example, many businesses will create a weekly or monthly newsletter that hits all the company’s highlights since the last news update. This is a good way for employees to catch up on what’s happening and can even boost employee morale.
News updates should be unbiased and without personal opinion. If the writer has an opinion, they should be careful not to imply it through word choice or tone. The best way to avoid this is to have another person look over the piece and give notes on how the opinion might be read.
In addition to straight reporting, there are also in-depth news updates that take a smaller subject and research it heavily. These are more like journalism with a point and may include interviews.
In order to write a great news article, it’s important to know who you’re writing it for. A large majority of the time this is going to be a specific demographic based on location. For example, if you’re recapping a school board meeting in Kansas City then your audience would be primarily residents of that city. If you’re announcing that a local business has received an award from a national organization, then your audience is likely to be primarily local business owners and customers. In either case, the demographic is important to narrow down your focus and ensure that you’re delivering relevant information to a target audience.