Keeping in touch with the news

A newspaper tells its readers what is happening in their community, in their nation and in the world. It brings readers information on all sorts of things. It is also a way for merchants to tell customers what they have for sale.

True or false

Look at these statements about the history of newspapers and decide which are true and which are false

1 The first known newspaper was published around 131BC.

2 Early newspaper pages had to be carved in stone.

3 At first, newspapers just reported the outcome of legal trials.

4 The earliest known printed newspaper in China was in Beijing in 748.

5 The printing press was invented in 1451 in Germany.

Breaking it down

Choose the right word

A piece of news in the paper is called an article/slug. It's first paragraph is called the intro/wrap - short for introduction - or lede. It should contain a summary of the events in the story and answer the five Ws - where, when, who, what and why.

Reporters/editors are the first people to get the news. They take down the facts, research the background and write the article. Photographers/designers take photographs that are related to the article. A sub-editor/teacher checks the article for facts and grammar and sometimes helps the reporter make it better. They also write headlines/bylines. A page designer decides what the page will look like. The editor/photographer decides what news will go on each page.

In sections

A newspaper is divided into different sections. The sections are listed at the very top of the page.

The main sections of a newspaper are news, business, sport and the classifieds.

The classifieds is where people can put small advertisements to find work, sell goods and services, leave messages or announce their family news.

Why we need them

Fill in the missing words from the following:

value, filter, stories, truth, see

Newspapers are worth much more than their _____. They add ______ to a story by gathering the information for us. They also have 'credibility' which means we should be able to trust them to report the ______.

They act as a ________ for all the information in the world, to bring us what we need to know. If they were not around, we might miss out on a lot of news because we may never ______ it, or we could just get 'news' that is not true.

now do this

1 Take a look at Young Post. How many 'sections' does Young Post have?

2 Write a letter to the editor of Young Post about an item of news in today's issue.

3 Pretend your friend has been in a car accident and write a report.

Answers

Fill in the missing words: stories, value, truth, filter, see

Choose the right words: article, intro, reporters, photographers, sub-editor, headlines, editor

True or false: 1. True, 2. True, 3. True, 4. True, 5. False