** this is the function **

function writeindexnews($news)
{
$date=date('F j, Y', $news[time]);
echo "<b>$news[title]</b> - <i style='font-size:11px;colour:333333'>Posted $date</i><br><br>";
echo "$news[text]";
echo "<br><br>";
}


** this is what i do to output the data **

$select=mysql_query("SELECT * FROM news ORDER by id DESC LIMIT 0, 4") or die(mysql_error());
while($news=mysql_fetch_array($select))
{
writeindexnews($news);
}