We did a test in class, and (context !) I saw this sentence in the text presented.

Many children feel scared because of news stories of child murders

I crossed out the word "stories" but my teacher marked it incorrect, so I expostulated with him.

Maybe for him, these two words looked the same, but I argued that "you can not know for sure what an American or a British would choose."

So, in order to end the dispute, I'd like to find out what native speakers think about it.

• What is the difference between “news” and “news stories”?
• Are they interchangeable? Shouldn't have I crossed out “stories”?