We get news from many sources these days. The mobile phone we carry in our pockets has a world full of information from where we can get all kinds of news. We consume information in more ways than we think but do you know news are categorised as hard news and soft news?
It might sound a bit strange but news is remotely divided into two categories - hard news and soft news. Before diving into their definition and meaning, it is important to know that we can get both the kinds of news from one single news platform. They're just two different pieces of information known for their different characteristics. Hard news is what we need to know whereas soft news is what we want to know.
Purpose
In simple words, the news we get in the form of breaking news is generally hard news. They are of much greater importance for both the provider and the consumer. The arrival of the Prime Minister, impact of a disaster, death of a famous personality, etc are all examples of hard news. On the other hand, soft news are stories whose purpose are more to provide entertainment to the audience instead of informing them about a event. One might say that soft news are less important than hard news but that is not always the case. For example, for some people the news of the wedding of a celebrity might be more important than the news of a road accident. Hard news are the coverage of an event and soft news are the reaction to an event.
Style
Writing a hard news is different from writing a soft news as they both have different structure and format. The lead of a hard news should include more and more facts and it should be written with extra responsibility. On the other hand, soft news plays with the emotions of the audience and therefore are written in a formal but creative manner. Hard news state the news in a direct way, giving simple information to the audience whereas soft news delay the main news, it's written more like a story.
Elements
Hard news has different elements than soft news. A soft news article can have slangs, idioms, sarcasm, etc but a hard news should be informative and easy to understand. A hard news has to provide answers to all the questions which can arise in the mind of the audience. On the other hand, soft news has to engage the audience with it till they reach the end.
