Newspapers

Newspapers belong to the oldest methods of getting information to the public and keeping people well-informed on important events. They can cover more news in greater detail than other media and reporters have more time to get the facts straight.

Producing a newspaper requires speed and good organisation. Reporters, editors and photographers always face deadlines. Many other workers are also involved in making a paper: advertising salespeople, artists, printing press operators and truck drivers.

Format of newspapers

Standard papers are large papers that can have a size of up to 55 cm by 33 cm. Generally, these newspapers are more serious and present more facts than tabloids.

Tabloids are smaller papers with a size of up to 37 cm by 25 cm. They concentrate on sensational stories and often publish gossip combined with big pictures.

Types of newspapers

Newspapers can be divided into three basic types:

dailies
weeklies
special interest newspapers

In addition , many newspapers have their own online edition which provides news over the Internet.

Daily newspapers print world, national and local news. Many of them also have a section about events that happen in the area in which the reader lives. Most dailies are distributed in the morning, but in some large cities newspapers have an afternoon or evening edition that comes out when people travel home from work.

Sunday newspapers have additional features and more pages than weekday editions. Topics like entertainment, finance or travel are included in separate sections, which sometimes make Sunday papers so large that they are difficult to handle.

Weekly papers are distributed in a much smaller area and have news that is more local and personal. In small communities people know each other and are often interested in activities of their friends and neighbours.

Special interest papers are newspapers for a special part of the population, like Hispanics in America. Some of them also focuson certain topics like sports or business.

Contents of a newspaper

International news – large format papers publish more news about world affairs than tabloids
National news covers the main events that happen in the country.
Local news centres on what happens in the state or district that the reader lives in . Tabloids have more local stories than others.
Editorials are articles that show the opinion of the writer .
Letters to the editor come from readers and show their opinion on certain topics or agree or disagree with an editorial.
Comic strips are a series of drawn pictures , mostly by a cartoonist, that show a story
Crosswords and other puzzles give the reader the chance to solve certain tasks
Horoscopes give you a description of your character and the things that may happen to you, based on the position of the stars and planets at the time of your birth.
Television guides give the reader an overview of the programmes they can watch throughout the day.
Sports are a very important part of most newspapers . That’s why they are given a larger section at the back of a newspaper.
Weather reports and forecasts give the readers information on local as well as travel and international weather
Death notices appear mostly in local papers . They show a list of people who have died in the region in the last few days.
Advertisements take up large parts of a newspaper and are positioned throughout the paper. Sometimes they can be a whole page in size, in other cases they make up only a few lines.
Advice columns offer tips for readers and answer their questions on certain topics.
Movie, art, book and music reviews give the reader information on new releases Reporters give their own opinion on how good a new film, book or a newly released CD is.

How newspapers are made

Gathering information

The first step in printing a newspaper is to collect enough information . A paper gets the news from two main sources:

Reporters and correspondents do a lot of research work in order to gather the facts. They must also find out which news is important and worth reporting and which information can be left out.

A newspaper employs various kinds of reporters. A beat reporter covers certain issues and topics, mostly over a longer period of time. He or she may report on a crime and the trial that follows. An education reporter follows topics related to schools and universities. Other beat reporters cover topics like fashion or science. General assignment reporters cover any story that they are given to by the editor. Sometimes reporters spend months trying to get stories on corruption and other wrongdoings. These stringers, as they are called, do not work for a paper, but send them stories regularly.

Large newspapers often have offices in other cities or countries . Foreign correspondents work in these offices and can send news stories to the newspaper very quickly.

Newspapers cannot have reporters and correspondents everywhere in the world. They get part of their information from news or wire services. Such services collect information from reporters all over the world and relay it via computers and satellites to newspapers. Among the largest news services are United Press International and Associated Press (both USA). Other services include Reuters (UK), Agence France Press (France) and ITAR-TASS (Russia) .

Writing and Editing

Most reporters only provide information and the basic facts of a story and rarely write the whole story themselves. This is usually done by news editors. They write stories as a team on computers that are connected together. The finished story goes to a copy editor or reader, who corrects spelling and makes the story easier to read. If it is too long he makes it shorter and also finds a headline.

Stories would be boring without photos . Newspapers get pictures from news services and sometimes have their own photographers who work for them. Graphic artists design charts or illustrations for certain stories.

Columnists write stories that offer readers opinions about the news and important events. These editorials often try to influence the opinion of the reader.

Creating a layout

The layout shows where the text, photos, advertisements etc.. should appear on the page. Almost all newspapers use computers to create layouts. Usually these layouts are just empty frames that are filled when the news comes in.

Printing the newspaper

The completed paper is transferred electronically from computers to the printing press. Most papers use offset printers in which the contents is put on curved printing plates.

Every day newspapers must be finished at a certain time, so that they can be delivered to the readers on time. For the morning editions this deadline is mostly late at night or shortly after midnight. For newspapers published in the afternoon the deadline is sometime in the morning or near noon.

Delivery and circulation

After printing, the papers are bundled into groups , loaded on lorries and delivered to stores, vending machines and newsstands. Thousands of carriers pick up newspapers at a distribution point and deliver them to private homes, because everyone wants to get the newspaper as early as possible.

Circulation managers organize the sales of newspapers and try to increase the number of readers.

A newspaper cannot exist without advertisements . They pay for at least 75 % of all costs. The people who work in this department sell ads to individuals and companies.

Newspapers carry two types of ads. Display ads can be as large as a full page and can also include illustrations and photos. Classified ads or want ads usually appear in a separate section. They often have only a few lines in which people offer goods and services or look for jobs and apartments. Classifieds are grouped into categories so that readers can easily find what they want.

Newspapers in the 21st century

The invention of computers in the 20th century has greatly changed the way newspapers are made. Today, reporters can save time by sending the main facts of their stories by e-mail . Editors can easily make corrections with spell checkers. Articles are shuffled from one page to another and colour graphics and pictures make newspapers more attractive.

Increasing costs of publishing, however, have also driven many newspapers out of business.

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Words

ad = short word for “advertisement”
additional =extra
advertisement = picture or words that give information on something and try to make people buy a service or a product
advertising salespeople = people at a newspaper who sell ads
agree = to have the same opinion as someone else
appear = here : print
appear = show , be seen
artist = a person who makes drawings, graphics etc..
attractive = to make more interesting, so that people buy it
based on =to depend on
basic = main
birth = the time when you are born
bundle = to put together
carrier = a person who carries something from one place to another
cartoonist = someone who draws cartoons or caricatures
centre on = concentrate on
certain =special
chart = information in picture or diagram form
circulation =the number of copies that a newspaper sells every day or week
classified ad =a small advertisement that you put in a newspaper to buy or sell something
combine = together with
community = neighbourhood
complete = finish
contents =here: the articles
correspondent = someone who works for a newspaper and reports on something
corruption = if you use your power to do something bad or get money in illegal ways
cover = deal with, work on
cover = report about
curved = not straight , bended
deadline = a time by which something should be finished
deliver = bring to
department = part or section of a company
design = plan, create
disagree = to have a different opinion than someone else
distribute = deliver
distribution point = a place where a person gets newspapers and then brings them to the homes of people
district = small area, neighbourhood
edition = copy of a newspaper
editor = person who is the boss of a newspaper and decides what should be printed
editorial = an article that shows the opinion of the writer
employ = to pay someone to work for you
empty = leer
entertainment =things like movies, television, music etc..
fashion = style of clothes, hair etc...
feature = story, article
focus on = give attention to something , concentrate on
forecast = a report on what will probably happen in the near future
foreign = in another country
frame = a box with borders
gather = collect
general assignment = all kinds of tasks or subjects
get the facts straight = to report the correct things
goods =products
gossip = information that passes from one person to another—a lot of it is not true
greatly = a lot
guide = a small book or part of a newspaper that gives you information on something
handle = here: read
Hispanic = people who come from Central and South American countries and speak Spanish
illustration = a picture that often helps you understand something
in addition =also
include =contain, to have in them
increase = to make higher
individual = one person
influence = change
invention = a new machine
involve = to take part in
issue = subjects, problems
load = put on
local = the place that you live in
media = organizations that offer news, like newspapers, TV or radio
news or wire service = an organization that collects information and gives it to radios, newspapers etc..
newsstand = a place on the street where newspapers and magazines are sold
notice = announcement
offer = give
opinion = what someone thinks
out of business = to stop working because of financial problems
overview = summary, outline
plate = flat, metal object
position = put, place
printing press = machine that prints a newspaper or book
printing press operator = person who helps print the paper
provide = give
public = normal people who do not have a special job
publish = here :print
rarely = not very often
regularly =often
relate to = is about
relay = to pass on
release = a new book, CD, film etc.
require = need
research = to discover new facts about something
review = an article that gives you an opinion on a book, play, CD etc..
sales = the selling of something
science =a person who is trained in science
serious =earnest, without so many sensational stories
service = a kind of work or job
shuffle = move from one place to another
size = how big something is
solve = work out
source = where something comes from
speed =how fast something is
spellchecker = a computer program that tells you when you have spelled a word in a wrong way
tabloid = newspaper with small pages , a lot of pictures and stories about famous people, crime etc.
task =job, duty
throughout = in the whole ...
topic = subject
transfer = to move to another place
trial =it takes place in a court; a judge and a jury decide if a person is guilty or not
various = different
vending machine = a machine where you get things like newspapers, cigarettes, drinks by putting money into it
via = by way of
world affairs = important things that happen around the world
wrongdoing = illegal or bad behaviour

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