
A selection of newspapers
A 'newspaper' is a
publication containing
news, information and
advertising, usually printed on low-cost paper called
newsprint. It may be general or special interest, most often published daily or weekly.
The
first printed newspaper was published in 1605, and the form has thrived even in the face of competition from technologies such as
radio,
television, and the
Internet. Recent developments on the Internet are, however, posing major challenges to the business model of many newspapers. Paid circulation is declining in most countries, and advertising revenue, which makes up the bulk of most newspapers' income, is shifting from print to online, resulting in a general decline in newspaper profits. This has led to some predictions that newspapers’ role in society will shrink or even disappear, although historically, new media technologies such as radio and television never supplanted print media.
General-interest newspapers are usually
journals of current
news. Those can include
political events,
crime,
business,
culture,
sports, and opinions (either
editorials,
columns, or
political cartoons). Newspapers use
photographs to illustrate stories; they use
editorial cartoonists, usually to illustrate writing that is opinion, rather than news.
Some specific features a newspaper may include are:
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Weather news and
forecasts
★ An
advice column
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Critic reviews of movies, plays, restaurants, etc.
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Editorial opinions
★ A
gossip column
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comic strips and other entertainment, such as
crosswords,
sudoku and
horoscopes
★ A
sports column or section
★ A
humor column or section
★ A
food column
★
Classified ads are commonly seen in local or small newspapers.
History

A modern remake of Kai Yuan Za Bao,original piece is destroyed in Cultural Revolution
It depends on the definition what the first newspaper is.
Kai Yuan Za Bao, a newspaper of
Tang court is believed to be the first newspaper form. In general the publication of ''Relation aller Fürnemmen und gedenckwürdigen Historien'', (Collection of all distinguished and commemorable news), probably firstly from 1605, by
Johann Carolus is considered to be the first newspaper. However, it has the format and layout of a book, so that some people consider it a ''newsbook'' instead of a newspaper. Therefore some people consider the Dutch paper ''Courante uyt Italien, Duytslandt, &c.'' from Amsterdam 1666 as the oldest newspaper. In some way the newspaper ''Opregte Haarlemsche Courant'' from
Haarlem 1656 is the oldest continuously published newspaper, but in 1942 the German occupier forced it to merge with the newspaper ''Haarlems Dagblad''. Since then the Haarlems Dagblad appears with the subtitle ''Oprechte Haerlemse Courant 1656'' and considers itself as the oldest still existing newspaper in the world.
Types of newspaper
A 'daily newspaper' is issued every day, often 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. Typically, the majority of these newspapers' staff work Monday to Friday, so the Sunday and Monday editions largely depend on content done in advance or content that is syndicated. Most daily newspapers are published in the morning. Afternoon or evening papers are aimed more at commuters and office workers.
'
Weekly newspapers' are common and tend to be smaller than daily papers.
Most nations have at least one newspaper that circulates throughout the whole country: a 'national newspaper', as contrasted with a 'local newspaper' serving a city or region. In the
United Kingdom, there are numerous national newspapers, including ''
The Independent'', ''
The Times'', ''
The Daily Telegraph'', ''
The Guardian'', ''
The Observer'', ''
The Daily Mail'', ''
The Sun'', ''
The Daily Express'' and ''
The Daily Mirror''. In the
United States and
Canada, there are few truly national newspapers, with the notable exceptions ''
The Wall Street Journal'' and ''
USA Today'' in the US and ''
The Globe and Mail'' and ''
The National Post'' in Canada. Large metropolitan newspapers with expanded distribution networks such as ''
The New York Times'' and ''
The Washington Post'' can fill the role of ''de facto'' national newspapers.
As
English has become the international language of business and technology, many newspapers formerly published only in non-English languages have also developed English-language editions. In places as varied as
Jerusalem and
Bombay (
Mumbai), newspapers are printed to a local and international English-speaking public. The advent of the
Internet has also allowed the non-English newspapers to put out a scaled-down English version to give their newspaper a global outreach.
There is also a small group of newspapers which may be characterised as 'international newspapers'. Some, such as ''
Christian Science Monitor'' and ''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. Often these international editions are scaled down to remove articles that might not interest the wider range of readers.
Job titles within the newspaper industry vary greatly. In the United States, the overall manager of the newspaper - sometimes also the owner - may be termed the
publisher. This usage is less common outside the U.S., but throughout the English-speaking world the person responsible for content is usually referred to as the
editor. Variations on this title such as editor-in-chief, executive editor, and so on, are common.
While most newspapers are aimed at a broad spectrum of readers, usually geographically defined, some focus on groups of readers defined more by their interests than their location: for example, there are daily and weekly business newspapers and sports newspapers. More specialist still are some weekly newspapers, usually free and distributed within limited areas; these may serve communities as specific as certain immigrant populations, or the local gay community.
Newspapers often refine distribution of ads and news through zoning and editioning. Zoning occurs when advertising and editorial content change to reflect the location to which the product is delivered. The editorial content often may change merely to reflect changes in advertising — the quantity and layout of which affects the space available for editorial — or may contain region-specific news. In rare instances, the advertising may not change from one zone to another, but there will be different region-specific editorial content. As the content can vary widely, zoned editions are often produced in parallel.
Editioning occurs in the main sections as news is updated throughout the night. The advertising is usually the same in each edition (with the exception of zoned regionals, in which it is often the ‘B’ section of local news that undergoes advertising changes). As each edition represents the latest news available for the next press run, these editions are produced linearly, with one completed edition being copied and updated for the next edition. The previous edition is always copied to maintain a Newspaper of Record and to fall back on if a quick correction is needed for the press. For example, both the ''
New York Times'' and ''
Wall Street Journal'' offer a regional edition, printed through a local contractor, and featuring locale specific content. The Journal's global advertising
rate card provides a good example of editioning.
[1]''
Format
Most modern newspapers are in one of three sizes:
★
Broadsheets: 600 mm by 380 mm (23½ by 15
inches), generally associated with more
intellectual newspapers, although a trend towards “compact†newspapers is changing this.
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Tabloids: half the size of broadsheets at 380 mm by 300 mm (15 by 11¾ inches), and often perceived as
sensationalist in contrast to broadsheets. Examples: The Sun, The National Enquirer, The National Ledger, The Star Magazine, New York Post, The Globe.
★
Berliner or
Midi: 470 mm by 315 mm (18½ by 12¼ inches) used by
European papers such as ''
Le Monde'' in
France, ''
La Stampa'' in
Italy and, since 12 September 2005, ''
The Guardian'' in the
United Kingdom.
Newspapers are usually printed on inexpensive, off-white paper known as newsprint. Since the 1980s, the newspaper industry has largely moved away from lower-quality
letterpress printing to higher-quality,
four-color process,
offset printing. In addition,
desktop computers,
word processing software,
graphics software,
digital cameras and digital
prepress and
typesetting technologies have revolutionized the newspaper production process. These technologies have enabled newspapers to publish color photographs and graphics, as well as innovative
layouts and better design.
To help their titles stand out on newsstands, some newspapers are printed on coloured newsprint. For example, the ''
Financial Times'' is printed on a distinctive salmon pink paper, and the Italian sports newspaper ''
La Gazzetta dello Sport'' is printed on pink paper.
Sheffield's weekly sports publication derives its name, the "
Green 'Un", from the traditional colour of its paper, while ''
L'Équipe'' (formerly ''L'Auto'') is printed on yellow paper. Both the latter promoted major
cycling races and their newsprint colours were reflected in the colours of the jerseys used to denote the race leader; thus, the leader in the
Giro d'Italia wears a pink jersey.
Online-only newspapers
Main articles: Online Newspaper
With the introduction of the Internet, web based newspapers have also started to be produced as online only publications, like the ''
Southport Reporter''
[1]. To be a Web-Only newspaper they must be web published only and must not be part of or have any connection to hard copy formats. To be classed as a Online Only Newspaper the paper must also be regularly updated at a regular time and keep to a fixed news format, like a hardcopy newspaper. They must also be only published by professional media companies and regarded under the national/international press rules and regulations
[2] unlike
blog [3] sites. and other news websites it is run as a newspaper and is recognized by media groups in the UK, like the
NUJ and/or the
IFJ. Also they fall under the UK's PCC rules.
Electronic Paper
Main articles: electronic paper
In February 2006, the
Flemish daily ''
De Tijd'' of
Antwerp announced plans to distribute an electronic-ink version of the paper to selected subscribers. This will be the first such application of electronic ink to newspaper publishing. This type of electronic ink will be able to update any newspaper instantly.
Circulation and readership
Main articles: Newspaper circulation
The number of copies distributed, either on an average day or on particular days (typically Sunday), is called the newspaper’s circulation and is one of the principal factors used to set advertising rates. Circulation is not necessarily the same as copies sold, since some copies or newspapers are distributed without cost. Readership figures may be higher than circulation figures because many copies are read by more than one person, although this is offset by the number of copies distributed but not read (especially for those distributed free).
According to the ''
Guinness Book of Records'', the daily circulation of the Soviet newspaper ''
Trud'' exceeded 21,500,000 in 1990, while the Soviet weekly ''
Argumenty i fakty'' boasted the circulation of 33,500,000 in 1991.
According to
United Nations data from 1995
Japan has three daily papers —the ''
Asahi Shimbun'', ''
Mainichi Shimbun'' and ''
Yomiuri Shimbun''— with circulations well above 4 million.
Germany’s ''
Bild'', with a circulation of 4.5 million, was the only other paper in that category.
In the
United Kingdom, ''
The Sun'' is the top seller, with around 3.2 million copies distributed daily (late-2004).
In
India, ''The
Times of India'' is the largest English newspaper, with 2.14 million copies daily. According to the 2006 National Readership Study, the ''Dainik Jagran'' is the most-read, local-language (Hindi) newspaper, with 21.2 million readers
[2].
In the U.S., ''
USA Today'' has a daily circulation of approximately 2 million, making it the most widely distributed paper in the country.
A common measure of a newspaper’s health is market penetration. Market penetration is expressed as a percentage of households that receive a copy of the newspaper against the total number of households in the paper’s market area. In the 1920s, on a national basis in the U.S., daily newspapers achieved market penetration of 130 percent (meaning the average U.S. household received 1.3 newspapers). As other media, such as radio and television, began to compete with newspapers, and as printing became easier and less expensive giving rise to a greater diversity of publications, market penetration began to decline. It wasn't until the early 1970s, however, that market penetration dipped below 100 percent. By 2000, it was 53 percent
1.
Advertising
Most newspapers make nearly all their money from
advertising; the income from the customer’s payment at the news-stand is small in comparison. For that reason, newspapers are inexpensive to buy, and some are free. The portion of the newspaper that is not advertising is called ''editorial content'', ''editorial matter'', or simply ''editorial'', although the last term is also used to refer specifically to those articles in which the newspaper and its guest writers express their opinions. In recent years, the
advertorial emerged. Advertorials are most commonly recognized as an
opposite-editorial which third-parties pay a fee to have included in the paper.
Advertorials commonly
advertise new products or techniques, such as a new design for golf equipment, a new form of laser surgery, or weight-loss drugs. The tone is usually closer to that of a
press release than of an objective
news story.
Publishers of commercial newspapers strive for higher circulation, so that advertising in their newspaper becomes more effective, allowing the newspaper to attract more advertisers and to charge more for the service. But some advertising sales also market demographics: some newspapers might sacrifice higher circulation numbers in favor of an audience with a higher income.
Many paid-for newspapers offer a variety of subscription plans. For example, someone might want only a Sunday paper, or perhaps only Sunday and Saturday, or maybe only a
workweek subscription, or perhaps a daily subscription.
Some newspapers provide some or all of their content on the Internet, either at no cost or for a fee. In some cases, free access is available only for a matter of days or weeks, after which readers must register and provide personal data. In other cases, free archives are provided.
Newspaper journalism
Since newspapers began as a journal (record of current events), the profession involved in the making of newspapers began to be called ''
journalism''. Much emphasis has been placed upon the accuracy and fairness of the journalist — see
Ethics.
In the
yellow journalism era of the 19th century, many newspapers in the United States relied on sensational stories that were meant to anger or excite the public, rather than to inform. The more restrained style of reporting that relies on fact checking and accuracy regained popularity around
World War II.
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.
In the past, newspapers have often been owned by so-called
press barons, and were used either as a rich man’s
toy, or a
political tool. More recently in the United States, a greater number of newspapers (and all of the largest ones) are being run by large media corporations such as
Gannett (the largest in the United States),
The McClatchy Company,
Cox,
LandMark,
Morris Corporation,
The Tribune Company,
Hollinger International,
News Corporation etc. Many industry watchers have concerns that the growing need for profit growth natural to corporations will have a negative impact on the overall quality of journalism.
There is no doubt, however, that newspapers have, in the modern world, played an important role in the exercise of freedom of expression. Whistle-blowers, and those who “leak†stories of corruption in political circles often choose to inform newspapers before other mediums of communication, relying on the perceived willingness of newspaper editors to expose the secrets and lies of those who would rather cover them. However, there have been many circumstances of the political autonomy of newspapers being curtailed.
Even though the opinions of the owners are often relegated to the ''editorial'' section, and the opinions of other writers and readers are in the
''op-ed'' (“opposite the editorial pageâ€) and
''letters to the editors'' sections of the paper, newspapers have been used for political purposes by insinuating some kind of bias outside of the editorial section and into straight ''news''. For example, ''
The New York Times'' is often criticised for a perceived
leftist slant to its stories, or, by others, for supporting the American political establishment, whereas the opinion pages (but not the news pages) of the ''
The Wall Street Journal'' generally take
right-wing positions.
Some ways newspapers have tried to improve their credibility are: appointing
ombudsmen, developing ethics policies and training, using more stringent corrections policies, communicating their processes and rationale with readers, and asking sources to review articles after publication. Many larger newspapers are now using more aggressive random fact-checking to further improve the chances that false information will be found before it is printed.
The future of newspapers
The future of newspapers is cloudy, with overall readership slowly declining in most developed countries due to increasing competition from television and the Internet. The 57th annual World Newspaper Congress, held in
Istanbul in June 2004, reported circulation increases in only 35 of 208 countries studied. Most of the increases came in developing countries, notably China and India.
A report at the gathering indicated that China tops total newspaper circulation, with more than 85 million copies of papers sold every day, followed by India with 72 million—China and India are the two most populous countries in the world—followed by Japan with 70 million and the United States with 55 million. The report said circulation declined by an average of 2.2 percent across 13 of the 15 countries that made up the
European Union before
May 1. The biggest declines were in
Ireland, down 7.8 percent; Britain, down 4.7 percent; and
Portugal, where numbers fell by 4.0 percent. One growth area is the distribution of
free daily newspapers, which are not reflected in the above circulation data. Led by the
Metro chain of newspapers, they grew 16 percent in 2003.
Newspapers also face increased competition from internet sites such as ''
Craigslist'' for
classified ads, especially for jobs, real estate, and cars, the advertising of which has long been key sources of newspaper revenue. Also from online only newspapers. Already in the UK a newspaper called
Southport Reporter started out in 2000 and remains online as a recognized newspaper, but only published online and others now exist through out the world. This opens the debate as to "What is a newspaper".
However, many believe that the Internet can itself be used to newspapers’ advantage.
Newspapers in different countries
Main articles: List of newspapers
See also
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Above the fold
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Alternative weekly
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List of fictional newspapers
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Freedom of the press
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Free daily newspaper
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First News (Newspaper)
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Graphic design
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Gazette
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History of British newspapers
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History of American newspapers
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International Freedom of Expression Exchange
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Journalism
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List of journalism topics
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List of newspapers (by country)
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List of online newspaper archives
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Magazine
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Mass media
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Muckraker
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Newseum
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News design
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Newspaper circulation
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Newspapers on demand
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Photojournalism
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Printing
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Propaganda model
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Student newspaper
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Telephone newspaper
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Underground press
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Weekly newspaper
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Yellow journalism
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World Association of Newspapers
External links to lists of newspapers
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NewspaperIndex.com -- Online newspapers in every country in the world
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DailyNewspapersUK.co.uk -- Find UK newspapers fast
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Lists of Newspapers -- For Africa, Asia, Australia and Oceania, Europe and The Americas
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ThePaperBoy.com -- Comprehensive, searchable directory of online newspapers from around the world.
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AllYouCanRead.com -- 23,000 Newspapers and Magazines from 200 Countries
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Newspapers -- A complete newspapers directory from all the world
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Quiosc — Press. Newspapers and magazines
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Mediatico.com -- World newspapers directory
Other external links
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The Use of the Internet by America's Newspapers
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Google: Historic newspaper archive
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- Network of Southern NJ Newspapers
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just NEWS - A daily news aggregator from best newspapers around the world
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World Wide Wired links to newspapers around the world
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Daily showcase of newspaper front pages from around the world
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World Association of Newspapers
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Newspaper Association of America
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Newspaper National Network LP
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Exhibition on the Occasion of the 400th Anniversary of the Newspaper in the Gutenberg-Museum Mainz (Germany)
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Utah Digital Newspapers
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SmallTownPapers - Current editions of 250 newspapers from small US towns
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Front Page: 100 years of British Newspapers - a learning resource from the British Library
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Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers
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NewspaperARCHIVE.com, the largest historical newspaper database online with
Tornado Newspaper Articles Archive
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Footnote original source documents
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Newspapers Of Turkey