News is what someone wants to suppress. Everything else is advertising.

Reuven Frank, former head of NBC News, quoted in the Economist, 21 January 2006

Footnote: Bill Thompson points out that the quote was attributed many years ago to Lord Northcliffe, a famous British newspaper proprietor. And then, of course, there’s Evelyn Waugh’s definition in Scoop:

News is what a chap who doesn’t care much about anything wants to read. And it’s only news until he’s read it. After that, it’s dead.