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Windows Live® Search Results Article Outline
Introduction; Kinds of Newspapers; How a Newspaper Is Produced; Origins of Newspapers; The First Newspapers; The Newspaper in the United States; The Newspaper in Canada; The Global Press; The Newspaper Industry Today
Newspaper, publication usually issued on a daily or weekly basis, the main function of which is to report news. Many newspapers also furnish special information to readers, such as weather reports, television schedules, and listings of stock prices. They provide commentary on politics, economics, and arts and culture, and sometimes include entertainment features, such as comics and crossword puzzles. In nearly all cases and in varying degrees, newspapers depend on commercial advertising for their income. Newspaper publishers estimate that nearly six out of ten adults in the United States and Canada read a newspaper every day, and seven out of ten read a paper each weekend. By the time they see a newspaper, most people have already learned about breaking news stories on television or radio. Readers rely on newspapers to provide detailed background information and analysis, which television and radio newscasts rarely offer. Newspapers not only inform readers that an event happened but also help readers understand what led up to the event and how it will affect the world around them. The staff of a large newspaper works under the constant pressure of deadlines to bring news to readers as quickly as human energy and technological devices permit. Reporters, photographers, artists, and editors compile articles and graphics—sometimes in just a few hours. Page designers assemble articles, photos, illustrations, advertisements, and eye-catching headlines into page layouts, then rush their work to the printer. Printing technicians may work through the night operating printing presses that can churn out more than 60,000 copies per hour. Newspapers trace their roots to handwritten news sheets posted daily in the public marketplaces of ancient Rome. The first printed newspapers appeared in China during the Tang dynasty (ad 618-907). These newspapers were printed from carved wood blocks. Precursors to modern papers first appeared in Venice, Italy, in the middle of the 14th century. Newspapers as known today, complete with advertising and a mixture of political, economic, and social news and commentary, emerged in Britain in the mid-18th century.
Most newspapers are printed on grainy, lightweight paper, called newsprint, which comes in one of two sizes. Broadsheet newspaper pages measure 33 cm by 55 cm (13 in by 21.5 in). The pages of tabloid newspapers measure about 25 cm by 37 cm (10 in by 14.5 in). The term tabloid is sometimes used to refer to newspapers that carry stories about celebrities, crime, or scandal under sensationalized headlines. However, any kind of newspaper can be printed on tabloid-sized pages. Newspapers publish with varying frequency. Some come out every day or even twice a day. Other newspapers print once a week, once a month, four times a year, or even less often. Newspapers also differ in focus. General-circulation newspapers print news of interest to a broad audience, while special-interest papers target a more specific audience.
Daily newspapers print at least one edition every weekday. Morning editions, printed in the predawn hours, cover newsworthy events of the previous day. Evening editions are printed in the afternoon and include information about events that happened earlier that day. Most dailies also offer a larger weekend edition. In Canada, weekend editions generally come out on Saturdays. In the United States, Sunday editions are typical. Stories featured in dailies generally cover a wide range of issues that appeal to an audience in a specific geographic region, such as a particular metropolitan area. Daily general-circulation newspapers average about 65 pages during the week and more than 200 pages in the weekend edition. Commercial advertising takes up about two-thirds of both weekday and weekend editions, and news and features fill the remaining third. Most daily newspapers divide their content into separately folded sections. Newspapers typically have sections for local news, sports, arts and entertainment, business, and classified advertising. The newspapers’ front page features eye-catching headlines and photographs that pique readers’ interests and direct them to stories featured in the inner sections. The first page of each section follows the same general model to entice readers to explore that section’s contents. In the United States in 2000, about 1,500 daily newspapers printed a total of 56 million copies, and on average, each copy was read by at least 2 people. Canada, which has just over one-tenth of the American population, had about one-tenth the number of daily papers. In 2001, 105 Canadian daily newspapers printed a total of more than 5 million copies each day. The newspaper with the largest circulation in the United States is USA Today, with a national circulation of about 2.3 million. Other newspapers with large circulation are the New York Times and the Los Angeles Times. The Toronto Star is Canada’s most widely read daily newspaper, followed by the national Globe and Mail. Many large daily newspapers publish regional editions that cater to the population of a smaller geographical area. For example, each weekday the Wall Street Journal publishes five different editions—three national regional editions, an edition in Europe, and an edition in Asia. Dailies in large metropolitan areas may publish a city edition as well as suburban editions to circulate among readers who live outside the city. Dailies in large urban areas also may publish two or more city editions, each delivering news and advertisements directed at different neighborhoods or boroughs. Most North American daily newspapers print one edition a day and circulate fewer than 100,000 copies. In 2000 about 100 newspapers sold more than 100,000 copies per day in the United States, and 10 Canadian papers had daily sales of 100,000 copies or more. Some papers, especially those in small towns or rural areas, circulate only a few thousand copies per day.
Weekly newspapers publish once a week. General-circulation weekly papers often contain news of interest to people in a smaller area than that of a daily paper, an area such as a small city, town, or neighborhood. They feature less national or international news, focusing instead on local happenings. High school sporting events, traffic accidents, and actions by local government frequently make front-page news in weekly papers. Many large metropolitan areas also have weekly papers. In urban settings, weekly papers often provide more detailed analysis of local news and politics than daily papers do. They may contain in-depth commentary on the local arts scene and include comprehensive schedules for music and theater productions. Almost 7,600 weekly newspapers circulated in the United States in 2000, each selling an average of more than 9,000 copies every week. Canada had about 1,100 weeklies, a number that included many community papers, which publish twice a week.
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