—-+Yes, news and stories are slightly different. Although there are some differences between news and stories, they are often used interchangeably. They are similar in every way but different in just a bit
Stories make the news. Without the stories, there wouldn’t be any news. More so, if the stories are not told as news, then they wouldn’t be heard. So you, both “news” and “stories” can do without each other. The best way to describe it is that they are married.
Imagine trying to differentiate between night and day. That’s the task here.
Features that different News from Stories
To understand the differences between stories and news, let’s take a look at certain features of both.
- Stories are about a person: Most often stories are told by people regarding a particular event. In other words, people tell stories.
- News is about what a person recently: News is about an event or an action a person took recently.
Stories don’t necessarily have to be current. But to make the news, the story or event must be current. Also, news informs the public while stories are told to inspire or motivate the audience.
Characteristics of Story
Although some features of a story have been outlined above, let’s dig deep a little to see what a story is all about.
- Stories often have to do with brands and business goals
- They are character and journey driven with holistic narrative
- Written for an external audience
- Stories may not have a byline
- Time is often to of essence as regards stories
Characteristics of News
A piece of news appears to be more diverse than stories. News tends to overshadow stories somehow.
- As regards news, time is of essence
- News most times makes use of a particular template
- News content has a lot of internal value
- Often has a byline
- Clarity is more important than cleverness or creativity
- News focuses on details compared to stories.
For instance, assuming a student is awarded a scholarship to study abroad because of his excellent performance, this could make the headlines. You can write a brief news item on this. However, a few months later the news can be turned into a story. How? You can write a story of how the student began his academic pursuit and his dedication to his studies. The story may not make the headline again but most of your readers may be interested in reading the student story.
Why Visuals are Important in News and Stories
To elicit your audience’s attention, you need to tell your stories or news with a visual. It could be videos or images. That way, your audience will feel more interested in reading your content.
Visuals also tell a story. For instance, discussing the effect of smoking on your column will be more interesting if you put an image of the organs of a smoker and that of a non-smoker. Your audience can get the gist from the visuals too.
Final Thoughts
News and stories are married and it takes a lot of effort to differentiate each from the other. Visit lakersnews.net for recent news.
