NEWSPAPERS
Skim* the text and group the relevant vocabulary in the below categories. Underline other important words that you will
need while discussing the topic. (*Skimming is used to quickly identify the main ideas of a text. When you read the newspaper,
you're probably not reading it word-by-word.)
Contents/Topics
Kinds of articles
Newspaper Categories
Newspaper Sizes
Personnel/Jobs
A newspaper is a regularly scheduled publication containing news, information, and advertising, usually printed on
relatively inexpensive, low-grade paper such as newsprint. By 2007 there were 6580 daily newspapers in the world
selling 395 million copies a day. The worldwide recession of 2008, combined with the rapid growth of web-based
alternatives, caused a serious decline in advertising and circulation, as many papers closed or sharply retrenched
operations.
General-interest newspapers typically publish stories on local and national political events and personalities, crime,
business, entertainment, society and sports. Most traditional papers also feature an editorial page containing editorials
written by an editor and columns that express the personal opinions of writers. Other features include display and
classified advertising, comics, and inserts from local merchants.
The newspaper is typically funded by paid subscriptions and advertising.
A wide variety of material has been published in newspapers, including editorial opinions, criticism, persuasion and
op-eds; obituaries; entertainment features such as crosswords, sudoku and horoscopes; weather news and forecasts;
advice, food and other columns; reviews of movies, plays and restaurants; classified ads; display ads, editorial
cartoons and comic strips.
Most modern newspapers are in one of three formats:
Broadsheets: generally associated with more intellectual newspapers, although a trend towards "compact"
newspapers is changing this.
Tabloids: half the size of broadsheets and often perceived as sensationalist in contrast to broadsheets. Examples
include The Sun, The National Enquirer, The Star Magazine, New York Post, the Chicago Sun-Times, The Globe.
Berliner or Midi: used by European papers such as Le Monde in France, La Stampa in Italy, The Guardian in the UK.
Most newspapers have four main departments devoted to publishing the newspaper itself—editorial,
production/printing, circulation, and advertising. The person who selects the content for the newspaper is usually
referred to as the editor. Variations on this title such as editor-in-chief, executive editor, and so on are common.
Newspaper editors may share their workload with proofreaders and fact-checkers.
Reporters are journalists who primarily report facts that they have gathered. Reporters writing longer, less newsoriented articles may be called feature writers. Photographers and graphic artists provide images and illustrations to
support articles. Journalists often specialize in a subject area, called a beat, such as sports, religion, or science.
Columnists are journalists who write regular articles recounting their personal opinions and experiences.
Printers and press operators physically print the newspaper. If the newspaper offers information online, webmasters
and web designers may be employed to upload stories to the newspaper's website. The staff of the circulation
department liaise with retailers who sell the newspaper; sell subscriptions; and supervise distribution of the printed
newspapers through the mail, by newspaper carriers, at retailers, and through vending machines. Free newspapers do
not sell subscriptions, but they still have a circulation department responsible for distributing the newspapers.
Sales staff in the advertising department not only sell space to clients such as local businesses, but also help
advertisers design and plan their advertising campaigns. Other members of the advertising department may include
graphic designers, who design ads according to the customers' specifications and the department's policies. In an
advertising-free newspaper, there is no advertising department.
While most newspapers are aimed at a broad spectrum of readers, some focus on groups of readers defined more by
their interests than their location: for example, there are daily and weekly business newspapers, sports newspapers,
and even newspapers for immigrant populations, or the local gay community.
Daily - a daily newspaper is issued every day, sometimes with the exception of Sundays and some national holidays.
Saturday and, where they exist, Sunday editions of daily newspapers tend to be larger, include more specialized
sections and advertising inserts, and cost more.
Weekly - weekly newspapers are common and tend to be smaller than daily papers. In some cases, there also are
newspapers that are published twice or three times a week.
National – a newspaper that circulates throughout the whole country. In the United Kingdom, there are numerous
national newspapers, including The Independent, The Times, The Guardian, The Observer, The Sun, and The Daily
Mirror. In the United States and Canada, there are few national newspapers.
International - there is also a small group of newspapers which may be characterized as international newspapers.
Some, such as The International Herald Tribune, have always had that focus, while others are repackaged national
newspapers or "international editions" of national-scale or large metropolitan newspapers.
Online - virtually all printed newspapers have online editions, which depending on the country may be regulated by
journalism organisations such as the Press Complaints Commission in the UK. But as some publishers find their printbased models increasingly unsustainable, Web-based "newspapers" have also started to appear, such as the Southport
Reporter in the UK and the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.
Customised - a new trend in newspaper publishing is the introduction of individualisation through on-demand printing
technologies. Customised newspapers allow the reader to create their individual newspaper through the selection of
individual pages from multiple publications. Customized newspapers online have been offered by MyYahoo. I-Google,
CRAYON, ICurrent.com, Kibboko.com, Twitter.times and many others.
Since newspapers began as a journal (record of current events), the profession involved in the making of newspapers
began to be called journalism. Criticism of journalism is varied and sometimes vehement. Credibility is questioned
because of anonymous sources; errors in facts, spelling, and grammar; real or perceived bias; and scandals involving
plagiarism and fabrication.
The future of newspapers has been widely debated as the industry has faced down soaring newsprint prices, slumping
ad sales, the loss of much classified advertising and precipitous drops in circulation. Revenue has plunged while
competition from internet media has squeezed older print publishers. Reading newspaper print, however, has a lower
impact on global warming than reading online, according to one of the world's leading paper-makers, because the
impact of powering computers allegedly outweighs the impact of creating newsprint.
Newspapers
No. of Lessons
Grade
Teachers
Objectives/
Learning Outcomes
Time
10 min
5 min
1
2nd Gimnazija
Mojca Fink and Amresh Prakash Torul
At the end of this lesson, students will be able to understand and
categorise vocabulary about newspapers in terms of:
 Contents/Topics
 Kinds of articles
 Newspaper Categories
 Newspaper Sizes
 Personnel/Jobs
Teachers activities
English teacher
Foreign teacher
Introduction:
Introduce the topic and
briefly discuss it with
students to see what they
already
know
about
newspapers.
Assist with the discussion
and write down students’
ideas on the board.
Participate in the discussion.
Give Instructions:
Give students instructions
about the handout and
lesson in general.
Reproduce the table on the
board.
Listen to instructions.
Move around the class and
help students.
Move around the class and
help students.
Explanation
of
vocabulary:
Take turns to explain every
other key word.
Explanation
of
vocabulary:
Take turns to explain every
other key word.
15 min
15 min
Student activities
Work on handout:
Read the text, underline
important words and categorise
them in the table.
Correct handouts
additional notes.
and
take
Evaluation
Students of the 2nd grade showed considerable interest in newspapers. It was not a new topic for
them since they had already covered it in the Slovene class. They found the handout fun to work with
and did not have any major difficulty understanding the key words. Some students even stepped
forward and expressed their opinions about the future of newspapers. As teachers, we were pleased
with their level of critical thinking.
NEWSPAPERS - Revision
1. Match the words on the left with their definitions on the right.
1
Newsprint
A
Communication intended to induce belief or action
2
Editorial
B
3
Criticism
C
4
Persuasion
D
A kind of newspaper that allows the reader to create
their individual newspaper through the selection of
individual pages from multiple publications
A newspaper article that expresses the opinions of a
named writer who is usually unaffiliated with the
newspaper's editorial board
Inexpensive, low-grade paper
5
Op-ed
(opposite
the
editorial page)
E
An article in a publication expressing the opinion of its
editors or publishers
6
Obituary
F
An advertisement that uses graphics as well as text
7
Classified ad
G
A newspaper that circulates throughout the whole
country
8
Display ad
H
9
National
I
10 Customised
J
A notice of someone's death, usually including a short
biography
A short advertisement in a newspaper or magazine
(usually in small print) and appearing along with other
advertisements of the same type
The practice of analysing, classifying, interpreting, or
evaluating literary or other artistic works
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
2. Answer the following questions.
a) Modern newspapers come in 3 formats. Name and describe them.
b) What are the main departments of a newspaper?
c) What is the role of each of the following people working in a newspaper?
 Editor
 Reporter
 Feature writer
 Columnist
d) Why is the profession involved in the making of newspapers called Journalism? Why is Journalism
sometimes criticised?
e) Why has the future of newspapers been widely debated?
3. Fill in the gaps using the words from the box.
plagiarism
graphic designers
fact-checkers
advertising
daily
photographers
advertising-free
web-based
graphic artists
beat
webmasters
paid-subscription
web designers
proofreaders
fabrication
a) A ________________ is a subject area such as sports, religion or science in which journalists often
specialise.
b) A newspaper normally gets its funding from _______________ and _____________.
c) Newspaper editors may sometimes share their workload with _______________ and
_________________.
d) _________________ is the use or close imitation of the language and thoughts of another author
and the representation of them as one's own original work.
e) _________________ is a deliberate act of deviating from the truth by making up something artificial
or untrue.
f)
Most newspapers have an advertising department, except __________________ newspapers.
g) _________________ and ________________ provide images and illustrations to support articles,
whereas ________________ and __________________ may be employed to upload stories to a
newspaper’s website.
h) ____________________ may be employed at the advertising department, where they are
responsible for the design of ads according to the customers' specifications and the department's
policies.
i)
Sunday editions of _____________ newspapers tend to be larger, include more specialised
sections and advertising inserts, and cost more.
j)
___________________ “newspapers” like the Southport Reporter come in online editions only.
Newspapers – revision: Key for exercises 1 and 3:
1.
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
D
E
J
A
C
H
I
F
G
B
3.
a) A beat is a subject area such as sports, religion or science in which journalists often specialise.
b) A newspaper normally gets its funding from paid subscription and advertising.
c) Newspaper editors may sometimes share their workload with proofreaders and fact-checkers.
d) Plagiarism is the use or close imitation of the language and thoughts of another author and the
representation of them as one's own original work.
e) Fabrication is a deliberate act of deviating from the truth by making up something artificial or untrue.
f)
Most newspapers have an advertising department, except advertising-free newspapers.
g) Photographers and graphic artists provide images and illustrations to support articles, whereas
webmasters and web designers may be employed to upload stories to a newspaper’s website.
h) Graphic designers may be employed at the advertising department, where they are responsible for
the design of ads according to the customers' specifications and the department's policies.
i)
Sunday editions of daily newspapers tend to be larger, include more specialised sections and
advertising inserts, and cost more.
j)
Web-based “newspapers” like the Southport Reporter come in online editions only.
Newspapers - Revision
No. of Lessons
Grade
Teachers
Objectives/
Learning Outcomes
Time
15 min
5 min
1
2nd Gimnazija
Mojca Fink and Amresh Prakash Torul
At the end of this lesson, students will have consolidated their knowledge
of vocabulary about newspapers.
Teachers activities
English teacher
Foreign teacher
Review:
Review
the
content
covered in the previous
lesson.
Brainstorm
ideas
presented by students on
the board.
Give Instructions:
Give students instructions
about the handout and
lesson in general.
Give Instructions:
Give students instructions
about the handout and
lesson in general.
Move around the class and
help students.
Move around the class and
help students.
Feedback
Each
teacher
checks
answers for one exercise
and the other writes down
the answers on the board.
Feedback
Each
teacher
checks
answers for one exercise
and the other writes down
the answers on the board.
15 min
10 min
Student activities
Participate in the review.
Listen to instructions.
Work on handout:
Complete exercises
handout.
in
the
Correct handouts and take
additional
notes
if/when
necessary.
Evaluation
The exercises were easy for most students. They were very comfortable with the newspapers
vocabulary, which showed that the first lesson which actually introduced them to all the key words
had been successful. The two lessons about newspaper vocabulary went well in general and
provided students with a good foundation for media literacy unit.