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Stories of Human Interest

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Image: flickr

Why do newspapers regularly feature stories of human interest?  Simple, because these stories draw the attention of readers and encourages them to read more.  Convincing a reader to know the whole story through the newspaper is what every editor hopes to accomplish with eye-catching titles and emotionally appealing stories.

Journalism defines human interest stories as feature stories that attack the article in an emotional way.  Beyond providing information, a human interest story presents the subject person or people, in relation to their existing problems or achievements which will make them particularly interesting to newspaper readers or viewers.

Human interest stories are the stories behind the headlines.  In a story of tragedy brought upon by a natural disaster, the headline story will be about the death toll and the amount of damages while a human interest story may be a story of how a survivor copes with the loss of either his property or his family or how he saved himself in spite of the mass destruction.  Human interest stories are very personal that is why its effect on readers can be very personal as well.

There are certain criticisms on how some human interest stories are being used to manipulate reactions of readers.  It is seen as an effective strategy to persuade readers to perform a particular course of action.  In a similar situation about a tragedy caused by natural disasters, human interest stories can be used to encourage more donations.  Other human interest stories simply aim to entertain and are often used as fillers in newspapers, magazines, or other reading materials.

Newsworthy News

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Image: foreignpolicy

So many things are happening all over the world at the same time but not everything will make it to live or print news.  There are stories that make it as mere fillers or news placed just to fill in an expected empty space and there are the newsworthy news which are stories given priority because they are expected to sell and get the readers’ interest.  For budding writers and reporters who wish to be significant contributors to their reported materials, there are certain factors that have to be considered to ensure that a story will make it to the final cut.

The first factor to consider is the currency of the news.  This is about how new or how recent the story is.  People rarely refer to newspapers for history unless a certain section is dedicated to such a topic.  People are always looking for what’s new so this means a totally new story or the latest update to a story line being followed.

The coverage of effect is another.  In simple terms, stories are gauged for its significance and this would usually pertain to how many people are involved or are actual participants to the story.  It is a natural conclusion that the more people involved in a story, the more people there are interested to read about it.  A classic example of this is a death toll in a disaster.

The popularity of the subject of the story is very critical in determining the newsworthiness of a story.  A very minor mishap involving a celebrity will usually be found in the front pages while a death of an unknown person is lucky to find itself in the last pages unless a story has a unique point of human interest.  Since this type of stories appeal to human emotions, other factors may be set aside.  The proximity of the event also plays a big part in determining newsworthiness.

 

 

Guide To Renovating

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    If you want to renovate your home, there are steps that you can follow that will help make the process less difficult and stressful. These have to do with the planning and preparation for the actual renovation, and here they are:

  • First decide what you want. You should take your time to do your research, see the different options that you can take and then imagine how your home will look with them. One easy way to do this is to go through magazines and then cut out items and walls or ceilings or doors that you think look good. Get a scrap book and create the rooms as you imagine them, doing each one on a separate page. You can add and remove as you review, but at the end of this, have a firm idea of what you want. [Read more…]

Guide to Choosing a Travel Loan

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World-travel
(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

If you love to travel and have a destination in mind but not the cash, there are financial institutions that are willing to extend you the amount of money that can make a visit to your dream destinations possible. They will allow you to take a loan you are fronted some cash up-front and then you pay it at an agreed interest rate over a fixed period of time. Here is how you choose the best travel loans.

 

  • See how much you need for the trip, including travel. You may do a budget and find that you do not need that much. It you dont, you may want to use your credit card for your travel expenses as it has lower interest rates. [Read more…]

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