What Makes a Story 'Newsworthy'?

Or, put another way, why run THIS story NOW? As you consider what stories would grab the Mirror target audience, run each idea through a check list .
1. Is the story timely? Think newspeg or the hook that will catch your reader's attention, because the story offers something new.
2. How many readers will this story affect? How significant is it? We want as many of the ZU community as possible to read the story.
3. What's the connection to ZU or at least Abu Dhabi? If you are using the Net in your reporting, make sure you localize the story. Bring it home to your readers.
4. How well-known or prominent are the people in the story? This "news value" has contributed to "celebrity journalism," but keep in mind that readers do like to recognize people in the news. Personally, I think this is the least important of the five items on the check list when it comes to Mirror stories. But mixing in a few "celebrity" stories like the scriptwriter in the last issue (with a campus hook) makes for a more interesting magazine.
5.What's the human interest in the story? The Mirror isn't covering spot news, which is some ways are easier to write than a human interest story , but human interest stories generally generate more buzz.