News is current information about events that affects a wide range of people. This information is shared, usually through printed media (newspapers, magazines and books), radio, television and the Internet. It can be a simple news story about a fire, or it can be something much larger like an economic crisis that affects the whole world.
News may also be about politics, religion and war. It can even be about things such as weather or sport. Some people make a living from putting together news stories and they are called journalists. They might be found working for the government or a newspaper, but they could also be found on the Internet or radio.
How is it decided what makes the news? The decisions about what is news and what isn’t news are made by people who work for a newspaper, radio or TV station. They might be called editors, news directors or sometimes news managers. They take recommendations from a number of other people in their news organization, including reporters and assistant editors.
A lot of events are happening all the time, but not all of them make the news. For something to be news it must be unusual or significant. If a bug kills all the cows in a village that is probably not news, but if an insect destroys all the crops that might be news. Also, if the event affects a large number of people it is more likely to be news.