Why are these stories news worthy?

Out of the many choices of stories on baltimoresun.com, I chose the following: “Fire Destroys Playground,” “Fla. woman fatally stuck after jumping from car” and “Details announced for Oct. 4 Phelps homecoming.” These stories are newsworthy because they follow several traditional news values. The values included are proximity, prominence, human interest and unusualness. Proximity simply means physical nearness. Prominence means that basically big names make the news. Human Interest is stories that have strong emotional content. Unusualness means stories that happen that are out of the ordinary. The first story is based on human interest. The playground was built by the community for children in the surrounding urban area. Anyone with or without children while develop some type of emotion about it. There could have been a possibility that a child could have gotten hurt. Thankfully no one was there at the time. Also, the fire was labeled as an arson which may provoke anger. Proximity also comes into play when the location is mentioned. Personally, I have family members living in that area. The second story involved unusualness. It‘s not everyday you hear of a woman jumping out of a moving car and get hit by another. It’s out of the ordinary. In the last story it appeals to human interest because some people may feel strongly about the United States participation in the Olympics. They may want to know of the event to show their support. Lastly, prominence is used because Michael Phelps’s fame began to pick up, and he became a household name after his success at the Olympics.