NEWS ITEM

#1 Summary

What is News Item?

• News item text is a text which informs readers about events of the day. The events are considered newsworthy or important.
• It means if there is an important event that should be known by many people, then this event deserves news. Well, the news text is called the news item text. However, if there are events that people do not deserve, then they are not definitely worth to be news.
  

Generic Structure of News Item

• Main Events / Newsworthy event(s): it recounts the event in summary form.
• Elaboration / Background event(s): they elaborate what happened, to whom, in what circumstance
• Resource of Information (Source) : it contains comments by participants in, witnesses to and authorities expert on the event 

Purpose of News Item

News Item Text is used to inform readers about events of the day which are considered newsworthy or important.

Or

• To inform the readers about newsworthy or important events of the day
• To present information the readers about newsworthy or important events of the day

Language Feature of News Item

• Focusing on circumstances (using a simple language in writing the text)
•  Using saying verbs: “….”, She said, informed, told, reported.
• Sometimes at the beginning of news, the scene is mentioned : Jakarta – … .. / Kuala Lumpur – …
• Using Past tense in explaining news events. But if it is a fact that until now still happen or still in the form of fact, then can use simple present tense.
•  Short, telegraphic information about story captured in headline
•  Using adverbs: time, place and manner.
• Uses of material processes to retell the event

#2 Practice

Question Words	Information from the text
What	WHO says more than 170 countries have joined COVAX vaccine facility.
Who	The WHO and the GAVI vaccine alliance
When	Thu, September 17, 2020. 08:00 pm
Where	Reuters Singapore
Why	To tell the reader that more than 170 countries have joined the World Health Organization’s COVAX global vaccine facility.
How	WHO previously said 92 lower-income nations were seeking assistance via the facility, and some 80 higher-income nations had expressed interest, but some still had to confirm their intention by the deadline.

Newsworthy Event	More than 170 countries have joined the World Health Organization’s COVAX global vaccine plan to help buy and distribute immunization shots for COVID-19 fairly around the world, the body's director general said.
Background event	WHO previously said 92 lower-income nations were seeking assistance via the facility, and some 80 higher-income nations had expressed interest, but some still had to confirm their intention by the deadline. The WHO and the GAVI vaccine alliance are leading the COVAX facility, which aims to procure and deliver 2 billion doses of approved vaccines by the end of 2021. But some countries that have secured their own supplies through bilateral deals, including the United States, have said they will not join COVAX.
Source	"More than 170 countries have joined the COVAX facility, gaining guaranteed access to the world's largest portfolio of vaccine candidates," Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in pre-recorded comments on Thursday ahead of Friday's deadline to join the facility. "The first vaccine to be approved may not be the best. The more shots on goal we have the higher the chances of having a very safe, very efficacious vaccine," Tedros added in his remarks made during a webinar hosted by the National University of Singapore.