Example of News Item Text : Spanish Thief Saw Himself as Robin Hood-Like Bandit

Definition of News Item Text
News Item is a text which informs readers about events of the day. The events are considered newsworthy or important.

Purpose/Social Function of News Item
to inform readers, listeners or viewers about events of the day which are considered newsworthy or important

Generic Structure 
Newsworthy Event (recounts the events in summary form)
Background Event (elaborate what happened, tell what caused the incident))
Sources (comments by participant in, witnesses to and authorities expert on the event)

Language Features of News Item
Focusing on circumstances
Using material process
Short, telegraphic information about story captured in headline
Use action verb

Here is one of the Example of News Item Text. Please check it out!

Spanish Thief Saw Himself as Robin Hood-Like Bandit

Newsworthy Event
Madrid (Reuters) - Spain's most wanted thief, "The Loner," saw himself as a Robin Hood-style figure and said he robbed banks only because they stole from the public, his lawyer said Thursday.

Background Event
Accused of killing three policemen and holding up more than 30 banks, Jaime Jimenez Arbe was planning to move on to insurance companies when he was arrested last month, Spanish media reported, citing lawyer Jose Mariano Trillo-Figueroa.

Sources
"I am not a killer and if I was obliged to shoot at officers of the law, it was always against my will and in order to avoid being arrested," Jimenez said in a letter reproduced on the websites of newspapers El Pais and El Mundo.

Sources
Trillo-Figueroa said Jimenez, who robbed the banks disguised in a false beard and a wig, thinks of himself as Curro Jimenez, a Spanish 1970s television bandit in the style of Robin Hood.

Sources
The Loner was arrested in Portugal, armed with a submachine gun in preparation for another bank robbery-Reuters.

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Example of News Item Text : Wade Withdraws from U.S. Basketball Team

Definition of News Item Text
News Item is a text which informs readers about events of the day. The events are considered newsworthy or important.

Purpose/Social Function of News Item
to inform readers, listeners or viewers about events of the day which are considered newsworthy or important

Generic Structure 
Newsworthy Event (recounts the events in summary form)
Background Event (elaborate what happened, tell what caused the incident))
Sources (comments by participant in, witnesses to and authorities expert on the event)

Language Features of News Item
Focusing on circumstances
Using material process
Short, telegraphic information about story captured in headline
Use action verb

Here is one of the Example of News Item Text. Please check it out!

Wade withdraws from U.S. Basketball Team

Newsworthy Event
(Reuters) - Miami Heat guard Dwyane Wade withdrew his name from the player pool for the U.S. Olympic basketball team on Thursday because his injured left knee will require surgery, USA Basketball said.

Background Event
After receiving the diagnosis from the Heat team physician, the All-Star guard, who helped Miami win the NBA title in five games over the Oklahoma City Thunder, informed USA Basketball chairman Jerry Colangelo that he was having the surgery soon and would be unable to compete in London.

Sources
"As many people may know, throughout the season, I struggled with a recurring knee issue," Wade said in a statement. "After the championship game, I visited with my doctors for a round of comprehensive medical tests, and the recent results dictate the need for surgery. "While every part of me wants to be in London, I need to take this time to do what's best to improve my health and allow me to continue to play the game I love."

Wade was the U.S. team's leading scorer in their run to 2008 Olympic gold in Beijing, scoring a game-high 27 points as the Americans beat Spain 118-107 in the Olympic final.

Despite having his knee drained during the NBA playoffs, Wade averaged over 22 points a game during Miami's championship series triumph over the Thunder. Wade's exit from the U.S. squad left 17 players in the mix for 12 spots on the Olympic team following injuries that removed several players from consideration, including Derrick Rose of the Chicago Bulls and Dwight Howard of the Orlando Magic.

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Example of News Item Text : Police Discover 13 Petrol Bombs in Palu

Definition of News Item Text
News Item is a text which informs readers about events of the day. The events are considered newsworthy or important.

Purpose/Social Function of News Item
to inform readers, listeners or viewers about events of the day which are considered newsworthy or important

Generic Structure 
Newsworthy Event (recounts the events in summary form)
Background Event (elaborate what happened, tell what caused the incident))
Sources (comments by participant in, witnesses to and authorities expert on the event)

Language Features of News Item
Focusing on circumstances
Using material process
Short, telegraphic information about story captured in headline
Use action verb

News Item Text usually can be find in printed newspaper and online newspaper. Here is a news which can be categorized into news item text. Check it out please!

Police Discover 13 Petrol Bombs in Palu

Newsworthy Event
PALU (Antara): Police searching a conflict area between two Central Sulawesi villages in Poso have discovered 13 petrol bombs.

Background Event
Dozens of people have been injured in fighting between the two villages in recent weeks. On Dec. 8, dozens were injured and scores of houses were destroyed in fighting, while at least 18 people were wounded in a more recent clash and had to be evacuated to several hospitals in Palu.

Sources
"After bombing the area from Sunday night to Monday morning, we found 13 petrol bombs hidden in water channels and bushes," a police source said here Monday.

Sources
He said the situation in the area was under control, but that guards had been posted at several points, while the road connecting the villages of Nunu and Tavanjuka remained closed.

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Example of News Item Text (News Story) : Killer Cyclone Wrecks 4 Town

Another kind of factual genre is News Story. Some linguist call news story as a news item text type. News Story is a kind of factual genre which inform the readers of daily newspaper about events of the day which are regarded as newsworthy or important. 

Newspaper need to make the news as readable as possible in order to attract as many readers as possible. More readers means more money from advertisers and wider circulation of the newspaper. 

News story especially the ones published in afternoon newspaper, often make the events of the day as dramatic or as sensational as they can in order to make more people buy them. 

News story has three schematic structures (generic structure). News story begin with newsworthy events and then followed by background events and sources. The most difficult things is deciding the newsworthy events because it is the core of the text. 

News story has some specific language features. First, news story use short and telegraphic information about the story summarized in one sentence headline. Second, It use of material or action process to retell the story. In addition, news story also use of projecting verbal process in “Sources” stage. Besides that, news story also focus on circumstance meaning. Last but not the least, news story often use dramatic of participant structure, especially in thematic position.

To make clear, here is an example of News Story (News Item Text). It is taken from the front page of Telegraph 5 April 1989. It informs us about killer cyclone wrecks 4 town. 

Killer Cyclone Wrecks 4 Town

By Rick Feneley and Lisa Scott

Troops started moving into devasted northern Queensland last night to help clean up after Cyclone Avivu left  a toll of misery with one man dead, 40 injured, more than a hundred homes destroyed and cane fields flattened. (Newsworthy Events)

Helicopter, Trucks, sandbags, tarpaulins and electric generators were rushed into declared disaster areas immediate response to reports of widespread damage. Winds of up to 210 km/h just as intense as Cyclone Tracy which devastated Darwin ripped through the towns of Ayr, Home Hill, Brandon and Clare in the Burdekin District yesterday. At least 100 homes in the tiny sugar town of Ayr were uprooted. (Background Events)

An elderly man who was sheltering in his caravan near Ayr drowned when a huge gust picked up the van and hurled it into a creek. Another man was reported missing, feared drowned, at Bowen. At nearby Home Hill, Peter and Jennifer Dennis watched in horror as their home collapsed around them and their babies. (Background Events)

Gino Pegoraro, 53, of Home Hill, wept as he surveyed his ruined house. Gino thought he heard his shed falling apart. “I put my head around the bathroom door…and I knew it was my house that had gone.” (Sources)

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