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01 // DEFINING NEWS

News has been, and forever will be, a universal force of nature in our world.

Whether harnessed through secluded word-of-mouth or displayed on every screen in the nation, news is a way of obtaining knowledge on the happenings and outcomes of a specific place or topic. Places can range from a single household to a country's government, and topics can be as niche as the cancellation of one's favorite TV show or as broad as the latest stock market updates. No matter the scale, what is and isn't news will vary from person to person.

(From Super-Team Family: The Lost Issues)

Of course, there isn't just one type of news. The National Institute of Mass Communication & Journalism, Ahmedabad gives a fairly thorough list of these types, all of which include:

  • Crime, Legal, and Investigative
  • Sports and Entertainment
  • Science and Technology

...And much more.

However, it should be known that news isn't available to all. The obfuscation or restriction of news is known as "censorship," and is still present in certain regions of the world today. Information on what is (or what isn't) happening can be controlled at the discretion of every country's government. This can lead to an increase in both disinformation and misinformation, a topic discussed in a later post.

Ultimately, while some may not consider themselves to be "up to date" with certain news, the constant inflow of information about media, technology, etc., paints a broad stroke of what exactly "counts" as news. And this definition will only expand as time progresses.

- C. Thomas Bailey

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