News Item Material

 News item

  News Item is text which used to inform readers, listeners or viewers about events of the day which are considered newsworthy or important. We often find it in a newspaper because the passage often tells the readers about great, important, interesting, tragic, entertaining or fresh incident or events that all people should know about it

Purpose:

To inform readers about events of the day which are considered newsworthy or important

Generic Structure:

Newsworthy event(s): recount the event in summary form.

Background event(s): elaborate what happened, to whom, in what circumstance

Sources: comments by participants in, witnesses to and authorities expert on the event

Language Features:

1. Short, telegraphic information about story captured in headline

2. Using adverbs : time, place and manner.

3. Uses of material processes to retell the event. (mental process is ….)

4. Use of projecting verbal process in sources stage

Example :

                       

          1.                Indonesian Maid Beheaded

An Indonesian housemaid has been executed in Saudi Arabia after being convicted of killing her employer, the Saudi Interior Minister said.

The woman was beheaded in the Southern Asir province in what was the second execution in the country.

The maid was earlier found of suffocating her female boss and stealing her jewellery. Rape, murder and other serious crimes can carry the death penalty in the conservative desert kingdom.

Last year, Saudi Arabia, which follow a strict interpretation of Syaria, Islamic law executed more than 130 people.

2. Facing Jail for Highway-Blocking Marriage Proposal

HOUSTON, Dec. 16 (UPI) – A man who stopped traffic on a busy stretch of Houston interstate for his marriage proposal is facing the possibility of jail for his gesture, police said.

Vidal Valladares Navas, 24, recruited friends to drive their cars along his on Interstate 45 Sunday and stop on a spot with a view of the city’s skyline so he could get his girlfriend out of the car and propose in the road.”There were about 8 cars with me and we just lined up — 4 and 4 — and we just stopped,” Valladares Navas told KTRK-TV.

Valladares Navas’ intended, Michelle Wycoff, 23, was unaware of the proposal plans, but quickly accepted.”I said, ‘Are you serious?'” Wycoff told the Houston Chronicle. “Then I saw all my family and friends with cameras and I looked where Vidal was and he was down on one knee.

“Honestly, I didn’t think about if it was a good idea or a bad idea. I was just so happy in the moment. I love him so much,” she said.

Exercise 

Please read the text below and answer question correctly!

                    Singapore to Develop Marine Tourism in Riau Islands of Indonesia

Singapore has expressed its interest in developing marine tourism in Natuna, Anambas and Lingga, three beautiful yet hidden regencies in the Riau Islands province of Indonesia.

According to Riau Islands deputy Governor, Soeryo Respationo, the three areas have their own beauty but lack of adequate infrastructure to boost tourism.

Singapore's investment in the tourism sector would perfectly match with the islands' need, he said recently. Soeryo said that Singapore Ambassador Anil Kumar Nayar visited the Riau islands asministration on Tuesday to show the country's commitment in developing the marine tourism sector.

1. Singapore is interested in making investment in ....

     A. Tourism in the three islands in Riau

     B. Tourism in the sea around the three islands in Riau

     C. Building marine infrastructure in the three islands in Riau

     D. Building tourism infrastructure in the three islands in Riau

     E. Developing tourism industry in the three islands in Riau 

 2. What is the main idea of paragraph 3?

     A. Singapore shows its commitment in developing the marine tourism sector in the three islands in Riau

     B. Singapore ambassador visited the three islands in Riau

     C. Singapore needs to invest in the three islands in Riau

     D. Anil Kumar Nayar is the Singapore ambassador in Indonesia

     E. Tourism is the best sector to invest your money in Riau

 3. What is the generic structure of the text above?

     A. Orientation-Backgroud Event-Source

     B. Newsworthy Event-Backgroud Event-Source

     C. Background Event-Elaboration-Source

     D. Main Event-Newsworthy Event-Source

     E. Main Event-Source-Backgroud Event