In my opinion, lately there's been some confusion about what exactly news is. By my definition, and therefore the definitive definition, news is an event or happening not widely known. Hence, the etomology of the word news -- the plural of new. If it was a bunch of stuff we already knew about, it would be called an oldscast.

Here are two examples that I think illustrate the difference between news and olds well. That Exxon Mobil was able to extract the largest profit ever recorded during these times of high oil prices and an extraordinarily helpful administration is news. That's because, though I know we've all been feeling vaguely fucked over, it was impossible to say who was doing it and exactly how well they were doing it. So, that it was Exxon and that they were doing it record-breakingly well is news.

On the other hand, that Bush supporters tend to be more racially biased is not news. Sure, there was a study that seems to have proven it, but this information is so ubiquitous anecdotally that it's the very definition of olds.

Analogcabin @ 3:37 PM
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