Kinds of news

Looking at it from its appearance, news consists of straight news and features. Straight news consists of soft news and hard news. Features consist of some kinds, from bright to enterprise story. On printed media, besides news, there are some articles, such as: editorial, news analysis, news comment, opinion article, book review, corner and column.
Meanwhile, according to Onong Uchahyana Effendy, television news is divided into some kinds:

a.Straight newscast
Straight newscast or spot newscast or spot news is a kind of news which is the fastest report about an event happening in public society. It usually consists of some news which is broadcasted every hour for about 15 minutes.
The pattern of this television news story arrangement is similar to the other mass media. If there is a difference, it is only caused by characteristics and criteria of each broadcasting mass media. (Askurifai Baksin, 2006: 83)

b.On The Spot Telecast
According to Soewardi, on the spot telecast is on the spot reporting. Then, because of its development, on the spot telecast may be not broadcasted directly, but it is delayed for a while. The event is recorded as on the spot telecast event, and because of some cases, the broadcasting is delayed. The delayed broadcasting does not change the characteristic of the program.
Its main characteristic is that it is directly broadcasted without any editing. According to Onong Uchahyana Effendy, on the spot telecast is called “an outside broadcast” or “a remote control broadcast”. When they do their duty, reporters prefer to give annotations to comments because viewers directly see the on going event there.

c.Interview on the Air
Recently, this kind of news has been very popular. Although viewers only listen to the news source’s voice, this news is more factual because the explanation directly comes from the news source. There is an interview between an interviewer and interviewee. Interview on the air which is usually held for 10 minutes can be divided into two kinds:
1)Informational Interview
It is an informative interview between an interviewer (a tv reporter) and an interviewee about ideas, opinions, or information.
2)Personality Interview
It is an interview about the own personal interviewee, for instance, an interview with a movie star, miss universe, sport winner, etc. In this kind of news, there are the interviewer’s voice and interviewee’s appearance. The problem which often occurs is camera fright of the interviewee, so some rehearsals are very necessary.

d.Commentary
Commentary is an analytic comment which the point of view is the previous facts broadcasted on straight newscast program. Because the characteristic is reporting in depth, so commentary is called analysis, and someone who comments on is called commentator and analyst.

Different from Onong, JB Wahyudi divided news into two kinds, they are:

a.Latest News
It is the coverage of events or opinions which contains news of the day. Latest news can be presented as:
1)Straight news for hard / spot / soft news
It is facts or opinions coverage which consists of some important points, 5W+1H, and the coverage comes from the most important to the less important things. The reported facts or opinions are looked from one side, so the characteristic is linier.

2)In-depth news
It is facts or opinions coverage containing the value of news, by placing those relating facts or opinions and reflecting them to wider cases. Those reported facts or opinions are looked from many aspects, so the characteristic is multi-linier.


b.Periodically News
It is linier and explorative coverage of already existed or happened facts or opinions, so it is not really actual but still interesting. Periodically news consists of:
1)Explorative report
It is facts or opinions coverage gained by exploring.
2)Feature
It is unique or special facts coverage.
3)Analysis news
It is analytic facts or opinions coverage.
4)Human interest
It is facts or opinions coverage which is able to give a human sense or interest.
5)On the air magazine
It is a combination of facts and or opinions coverage at one place or program. The focus is periodically news and feature, including human interests. (Askurifai Baksin, 2006: 88-98)