Some early news sheets were headed with N-E-W-S as points of a compass, but it was simply a clever gimmick.
The word news predates these publications and emerged with its current meaning within a letter written by King James of Scotland in 1423.
In 1616, his descendant, James I of England, wrote another letter, which included the first recorded use of “No news is good news.”
Another theory is that news was developed as a special use of the plural form of new in the 14th century.
The equivalent word was newes in Middle English.
