News

Overview

In the early 2000s, you or your parents probably got the news almost exclusively from TV broadcasts or printed newspapers. It required intentional effort, like sitting down at 5 p.m. to watch the news or picking up a newspaper each morning. At that time, the definition of “news” was relatively straightforward: it referred to any event deemed interesting or important enough to report, and those decisions were largely made by professional journalists.

In today’s digital age, the definition of news has become increasingly ambiguous. News might appear to you on your “For You” page or as a quick scroll through the Apple News app. It no longer requires the same deliberate effort as sitting down to watch a broadcast or read a newspaper. As the ways we consume news have evolved, so has society’s understanding of what qualifies as news. What one person views as newsworthy may not be seen the same way by someone else. Rather than journalists exclusively defining what is newsworthy, it is now partially up to the individual.

In its May 2025 report What is News, the Pew Research Center explored what Americans consider news to be. While no single definition earned universal agreement, several qualities stood out, with at least 65% of respondents or more agreeing that news should be:

• Factual, without commentary or opinion (85%)
• Timely or up to date (78%)
• Of societal importance (72%)
• Unbiased (68%)

This chapter will discuss news authorship, using news a source, and the various types of news resources that are available.

News Authorship

Journalists remain crucial players in investigating and creating the content that has traditionally been considered news. Journalism is “the activity of gathering, assessing, creating, and presenting news and information. It is also the product of these activities,” according to the American Press Institute, a nonprofit that supports journalists. Formally trained journalists follow a set of ethical guidelines, which inform their work.

Journalism ethics are the cornerstone of all news writing.

News organizations across the U.S. have established ethical guidelines that they publicize and follow. Many use some version of the rules set by a national journalism organization called the Society of Professional Journalists.

According to its website, the SPJ is “the nation’s most broad-based journalism organization, dedicated to encouraging the free practice of journalism and stimulating high standards of ethical behavior.” It was founded in 1909 and promotes free journalism-related information to its 6,000 journalist members in professional development, ethics, and advocacy.

The SPJ’s rules are as follows:

• Seek truth and report it
• Minimize harm
• Act independently
• Be accountable and transparent

News as a Source

News sources can provide insights that scholarly sources may not or that will take a long time to get into scholarly sources. For instance, news sources are excellent for finding out people’s actions, reactions, opinions, and prevailing attitudes around the time of an event—as well as to find reports of what happened at the event itself. “News” is a strange term, because even when the information is old, it’s still news. Some sources are great for breaking news, some are great for aggregated (or compiled) news, and others are great for historical news. We will look at a couple of examples below.

News must be brief because much of it gets reported only moments after an event happens and is meant to be consumed by the general population. Many stories might be labeled as “developing” and will be updated in real-time with the event. Slight inaccuracies are common in this type of reporting and should be updated as the reporters gain updated information. News reports occur early in the Information Lifecycle.

Not all news sources are created equal, and when you are first getting started with these sources, you must evaluate the publishers for both credibility and biases. As you continue to use these sources and practice evaluation methods, you will create an arsenal of news sources that you know you can continually trust.

Whether news sources are good for your assignment depends on what your research question is.

Types of News Sources

Just as the definition of “news” has become less clear, so too has the distinction between different types of news sources. Today, a single news outlet may distribute content across multiple platforms—websites, social media, and traditional formats like newspapers and TV broadcasts. For instance, ABC News has a television channel, an active presence on various social-media platforms, and a website.

As we explore the different ways people access the news, remember that one news source can span several categories. The lines between formats are often blurred in the digital media landscape.

Newswires

Also known as news agencies, newswires have offices all around the world that provide international news coverage to subscribing news organizations around the world. The largest newswires are Agence France-Presse (AFP), the Associated Press (AP), and Reuters.

News outlets (print, broadcast, and online) get a lot of their news from these services, which make it unnecessary for individual outlets to send their own reporters everywhere. These services are so broadly used that you may have to look at several news outlets to get a different take on an event or situation.

News Aggregators

Aggregators don’t have reporters of their own but simply collect and transmit the news reported by others. Some sources pull news from a variety of places and provide a single place to search for and view multiple stories. You can browse recent stories or search for news on a specific topic or event.

Aggregators tend to have current but not archival news. Some aggregators are often critiqued for replicating content that might otherwise be paid for by a subscriber, which undercuts the site’s ability to profit from readers. This would be a good place to get a general sense of what the top headlines of the day are.

• Google News
• Apple News
• Yahoo! News

Newspapers

Physical newspapers remain a popular way for many to receive news. Many print newspapers also have their own websites. They vary as to how much news they provide for free.

In addition to the examples below, see the complete list of UW-Green Bay’s newspaper databases. These databases provide staff and students with access to articles that might otherwise be paywalled.

• Green Bay Press-Gazette
• USA Today
• The Times of London
• The New York Times

Broadcast or Cable News

Although broadcast news (from radio and television) is generally consumed in real time, such organizations also offer archives of news stories on their websites. However, not all of their articles are provided by their own reporters: some originate from the newswires discussed previously, like Reuters and the AP.

• • ABC News
  • BBC
  • CNN
  • NPR News