The first printed newspaper appeared in 1605. The world's most famous newspaper, The Times, first appeared on London news-stands in 1788. Most newspapers are printed every day and are called 'dailies'. Newspapers that only appear once a week on a certain day are 'weeklies'.

General interest newspapers contain current local and international news, political events and opinions, crime reports, business, culture and sports articles, light-hearted features and adverts. Newspaper editors use carefully chosen photographs and cartoons to illustrate their articles, and much thought goes into the headline article of the day which appears on the front page.

Pick out the words

Read the passage on the left again and circle the words with the following meanings.

1 fun, not at all serious

2 a description or an account of something that has happened

3 a newspaper that appears every day

4 news from all over the world

5 cheap paper that newspapers are printed on

6 a book, newspaper or magazine in which information is printed for people to read

7 a collective noun for music, art, theatre and literature

8 a newspaper that is only published once a week

9 something that tries to persuade people to buy a product or a service

10 belonging to a particular place or small area

True or false?

Are these statements about newspapers true or false?

11 A broadsheet is a newspaper printed on paper sized 23.5 inches by 15 inches.

12 The local sports newspaper in the city of Sheffield in England is printed on green paper.

13 The first edition of the South China Morning Post appeared on November 6, 1903.

14 The person in charge of everything that appears in a newspaper is the president.

15 A puzzle in a newspaper where words have to be guessed from clues and then written in a grid of blank squares is called Sudoku.

16 The pages of a tabloid newspaper are half the size of a broadsheet.

17 The Financial Times in the UK is printed on pink paper.

18 The person whose job it is to write articles for a newspaper is a photographer.

Fill in the gaps

Fill in the gaps in these sentences with a suitable word from the list below.

19 Is the Financial Times ______________ every day?

20 Did you read that ______________ about David Beckham in the US

in the paper yesterday?

21 What was on the ______________ page of the paper this morning?

22 I read a ______________ of The Bourne Ultimatum in the paper last night. It said it was an excellent movie.

23 They always get the ______________ wrong in the paper. It was supposed to rain this morning but it didn't.

24 The first thing I read in the paper is my ______________ .

25 According to the ______________ page in the paper, Britney Spears is in trouble again.

26 I'm bored. Let's do the ______________ on the back page of the paper.

Words

food, humour, crossword, published, printing, entertainment, article, reporter, front, editor, horoscope, review, weekly, weather forecast, daily, headline, culture, weekly

Answers

1. light-hearted; 2. report; 3. a daily; 4. international news; 5. newsprint; 6. a publication; 7. culture; 8. a weekly; 9. an advertisement; 10. local; 11. true; 12. true; 13. true; 14. false - it's the editor; 15. false - it's a crossword; 16. true 17. true; 18. false - it's a reporter; 19. published; 20. article; 21. front; 22. review; 23. weather forecast; 24. horoscope; 25. entertainment; 26. crossword