NEWS ITEM

Definition about "NEWS ITEM" :

News Item  is a factual text which informs the readers about events of the day which are considered newsworthy or important.
Social function of news item is: to inform readers, listeners or viewers about events of the day which are considered newsworthy or important.


  


 Generic structure:

•          Newsworthy Event(s):  recounts the events in summary form
•          Background Event(s):  elaborate what happened, to WHOM, in WHAT c    
           Circumstances.
•          Sources:  comments by participants in, witnesses to, and expert on the event.
•          Significant Grammar Features:
•          Short, telegraphic information about story captured in headline
•          Generally using Simple Past Tense
•          Use of Material Processes to retell the event
•          Using Action Verbs, e.g.: were, run, go, kill, etc.
•          Using Saying Verbs, e.g.: say, tell
•          Focus on Circumstances
•          Use of projecting Verbal Processes in Sources stages
•          There are some rules that can help to make newspaper headlines more  
            comprehensible.
•          The passive voice is used without the appropriate form of “be”.

Example:  Town ‘Contaminated’
Complete Sentence:  Town is contaminated.
It is unusual to find complex forms, generally the simple present form is used
Example:  Fire Destroys over 2,511 acres of Forest in 2003-2004
Complete Sentence:  Fire has destroyed over 2,511 acres of forest in 2003-2004.
 The present progressive tense is used, usually to describe something that is changing or developing, but the auxiliary verb is usually left out.

Example:  World Heading for Energy Crisis
Complete Sentence:  The world is heading for an energy crisis.
To refer to the future, headlines often use the infinitive.
Example:   Queen to Visit Samoa.
Complete Sentence:  The Queen is going to visit Samoa.
Headlines are not always complete sentences.
Example:  More earthquakes in Japan.
Complete Sentence:  More earthquakes happened in Japan