Newspaper is everything for some people. They need a daily dose of the newspaper every early morning. It is not from today but since centauries. It is a time long convention to which people are devoted.
But do you know how newspapers are produced?
I guess, you don’t. So, that’s why I am here to tell you the process of newspaper production, where you will know how the newspaper production process works.
It is not a one-man’s job to follow the whole newspaper printing process in both traditional and digital printing. It requires many people, from gathering news to selling newspapers. There is the involvement of a lot of people, different from each other.
Newspaper is the lifeline, especially the generation before us was completely dependent on newspaper for getting all the news. They still prefer the newspaper over everything. But the Younger generation today is more dependent on digital printing rather than the traditional one.
You must wonder when you get your newspaper on the door or notification on the phone, that it is the newspaper boy and a news poster only who produce the news, but it is not. Each headline you read and the advertisement you see is done by a different person at the job. A lot of people have a lot of jobs to do in the newspaper industry.
Traditional printing and digital printing both involve people who are responsible for making us know the things which are out of our league. Both the printings are important for keeping us equipped with the daily news.
If you also want to know what is the newspaper production process, then continue reading this blog. I am going to share every little aspect of this process. You just need to hang in there till you get everything you need.
Demand of Newspaper
The newspaper industry plays a most essential part in the lives of people. It provides every important, current, and ongoing trend information to people around the world. The information is not related to one city, one country, rather it is from around the world. Maybe, the newspaper is that mode which is a thread that connects the world.
As we know, the newspaper industry is shifting from the traditional way to the digital way, but we know there are still a majority of people who are dependent on daily newspapers. They don’t prefer to have a digitalized model of having news. And on the other hand, the rest of the people are dependent on digital news.
The main reason people still choosing printed newspapers over digital news is that the newspaper industry continues to bring some excited and attractive things. They are keeping the interest of their readers alive in them, through designing and advertisements. Whereas digital printing doesn’t have to do anything to keep readers interest in them because they already have gained it.
The newspaper industry is making itself consumer-centric so that it can retain its regular audience.
Do you know what is the most infatuated thing about newspaper printing? It can be available everywhere irrespective of anything. In the digital mode, it is sometimes impossible to have news everywhere because technology depends on a good network which is not always good.
But news industry still holds a major part in the economy. That’s why the newspaper printing process is huge, both traditionally and digitally.
Newspaper Industry
The newspaper industry is that industry that is involved in printing, circulating, gathering information, writing, etc of a newspaper. It consists of different media houses, who are engaged in collecting and publishing news.
The newspaper was made to convey the daily news and important information to the people at large. To make it happen, the newspaper industry has worked hard for ages. There are so many things that the newspaper industry has done to make people aware of everything they should know.
Newspapers are printed daily, weekly basis, monthly basis, etc. It depends on the newspaper industry how it is circulating news, is it doing daily or weekly. It completely depends on them.
You would be surprised to know that India is one of the countries where newspaper production is dominant and seeing a surge in revenue. It is rising in all aspects from circulation to sales.
The newspaper industry’s prime focus is on providing efficient news. The news industry is competing daily with each other to retain the trust of their readers. Because of that, they are attracting more readers every day. And when readers are rising, so does the newspaper production process is widening.
Contents of a Newspaper
Now, you know there is always a lot of content in a newspaper. But how often do you focus on that? You just go through a headline and read a particular article. You might not read the whole news. But there are a lot more than just a few headlines and articles. So, here I am going to share the whole content of a newspaper;
- Local news– There is always going to be a local news column in a newspaper. In this column, the news about your area, district, or state will be there.
2. International news– In this column, there is news about international affairs. There will be news about what is going in the world. This is how we get to know about world affairs.
3. National News– National news is all about the affairs going on within the country. It consists of every national issue which people should know about. It also consists the important issues.
4. Editorial part– The editorial part is that part of the newspaper where editors/writers write about their opinions on certain matters.
5. Comics– There is always a part in the newspaper where comics or cartoonists have played their part to entertain people.
6. Crosswords puzzles– You must already know how readers love to solve these crossword puzzles. You would be amazed to know that some people only prefer newspapers to solve these puzzles, it is like therapeutic to them.
7. Television show reviews– In this part, the news writer gives reviews about different television shows to have the readers an insight into them. So, they can watch it if they find it good.
8. Horoscope– Horoscope, one of the important parts of a newspaper. It is also the most engaging part of the newspaper for readers. In this part, an astrology writer tells his readers about their horoscope according to their time of birth.
9. Weather forecast– There is always going to be a weather forecast in a newspaper. It gives the readers an idea about how the weather could be, in case they are planning a travel.
10. Sports News– A newspaper without sports news cannot be completed. It is always there. In this part, news related to sports is written, both national and international.
11. Death notices– A local newspaper also provides the death notices of those people who have lost their lives in the past few days.
12. Movie reviews– There is also a column where the movie reviewer give their reviews about an upcoming or a recently released movie. They tell their audience about the positive and negative aspects of the movie.
13. Advertisements– Advertisements are always there almost on every page of the newspaper. They hold a large part of the newspaper.
14. Lost and found– There is also a column about lost and found people or things in the local newspaper. So that people can find their lost things.
15. Business news– Business news is also an important of a newspaper, where all the business news is given for those readers who prefer to read it daily.
These are the contents of the news. These contents are always there. These contents make a newspaper whole. During the newspaper production process all these content matters.
Types of newspaper
There are different types of newspapers according to their shape, size, number of pages, and the kind of news they are sharing. Not all people prefer to read the same kind of news. Some people want some crisp and some people want straightforward news. So, keeping the preference of newsreaders in mind news publishers are printing different kinds of newspapers.
There are three kinds of newspapers, daily, weekly, and special interest newspapers. Newspapers also differ in formats there are two kinds. One is standard and another is tabloid. Standard news format is generally used for factual and serious news information.
Whereas tabloids are generally small in size and focused on publishing sensational and gossiping kinds of news.
Let’s discuss the different types of a newspaper;
- Daily newspaper- Daily newspapers are all about daily news concerning national and local issues. These newspapers have news about your area or any other locality near your area. This newspaper collects the day-to-day news on a local level, which is generally not seen among all the big news. Also, this newspaper is distributed daily in the morning, but sometimes in the afternoon and evening too.
- Weekly newspaper– Weekly newspapers are available on any one day of a week. These newspapers generally contain major news of the whole week. These are distributed more in smaller areas, where daily news doesn’t reach. In those small communities’ people are much into each other’s lives and already know everything about each other. So, through weekly newspapers, they get the news about local areas.
- Special newspapers– Special newspapers have every kind of news. They have the news of every special part of the country and around the world. Like some of these newspapers have sports news, business news, entertainment news, economy news, political news, etc. They consist of every important aspect of the national and international world.
These are the types of newspaper which are covered under newspaper production process.
Newspaper production
Newspaper is produced in two forms, the editorial, and the manufacturing. Every newspaper goes through these two processes. You already know how the newspaper is printed in paper and digital form but having data and information over the paper and screen is a real task. That task takes a lot of time and effort of the individual teams. That’s what makes a newspaper complete.
Let’s discuss these two steps of a newspaper production process;
- The editorial process– Editorial process consists of a lot of research, collecting information, digging data, analyzing the sources, and finally putting everything into writing. An editorial process may take a lot of time to finish because it is about putting the best information forward. A person cannot write rubbish to meet the deadline.
So, the writers and editors take their time to complete the news story. First, the writer research and collects the information, then he writes about the news and puts it forward to the editorial team. Next, the editorial team checks the facts and figures and later gives their final consent to print this news. - The manufacturing process– The manufacturing process is all about making the news available to the audience. The manufacturing process consists of designing, using write images, formatting, phototypesetting, removing the negative things, and finally printing it. Manufacturing is the most important process as it is responsible for bringing the newspaper into our lives.
To perform these steps, there are different teams of people who are designated to do their specific job in this process. It is not an easy job. There is the struggle of so many people to bring first-hand news to your morning tea.
How often newspaper should be printed?
You may think that newspapers must be printed daily, that is true but, in some cases, only. In some other cases that is not true. Newspaper printing depends on how it is being circulated, whether daily, weekly, or monthly. Printing is not something that can be done very easily, it takes time. So, deciding how often you should print can help you in solving a lot of tasks.
The daily newspaper printed on daily basis with whatever information they have gathered. Weekly newspaper printing on weekly basis, any one day of each week. And monthly newspaper printed on monthly basis.
When you are gathering and writing information about a monthly newspaper, it takes time to complete the story with every fact and figure. Also, if you are printed every month, then you must have a limited staff. But if you are printed on a daily or weekly basis then you are having a wide network of people.
If you are having enough people to make your newspaper printing frequent, then it will be good to increase your printing frequency. Because it will help you enhance your business capacity. Also, it will expand your readers and more demand will open for the newspaper.
Number of pages in a newspaper
Now, a newspaper agency is always stuck on this point as to how many pages they should include in a newspaper. With many pages, comes the quantity and quality of content, images, and many advertisements. So, deciding how many pages your newspaper should have helped you in guessing the right size of your newspaper.
It would be good if you start with 8-9 pages. Between these 8-9 pages you have plenty of advertisement. Also, you will easily handle this number of pages. Each page will have -approximately 700-800 words along with many images and advertisements.
As a new in this news industry, you will have restricted resources but as you will grow over a period you can expand your content and operation. Maybe you will have more than 9 pages and accordingly, the images and advertisement will be more. So, you would sell more newspapers.
Having many pages just define the kind of hard work you need to put in to make your newspaper gain the reader’s trust as well as earn you the right income. So, you can start with a smaller number of pages and can move to more with expansion.
Is the newspaper helping advertisers to grow their reach?
There is no doubt about this fact that advertisement gets a lot of benefit from the newspaper. If you have seen there are plenty of advertisements in the newspaper. All of that advertisement must be for a purpose.
Advertisers know that a newspaper is the right way of targeting a specific audience of a specific geographic area. So, they pitch newspapers for advertising any product or service which is new or existing.
Here are the reasons how newspaper benefiting the advertisement in the newspaper production process;
- Newspaper targets a specific audience– There is no doubt about this fact that a newspaper helps in targeting the specific audience. At often, advertisement agencies find it difficult to target demographic audience but with the newspaper, it is not difficult to reach them. This allows advertising agencies to reach any area or region irrespective of size and popularity. So, yes newspaper advertisement does reach everywhere.
- Newspaper offers more flexibility– Newspaper ads are more flexible than any other ad on the internet. They let the advertiser choose the right targeted location, people, format, etc of the advertisement. Newspaper advertisement remains there on the paper, a customer can take action on it anytime unlike the internet ads.
- Newspaper advertisement is affordable– Newspaper advertisement comes with affordable prices unlike TV ads, radio ads, and internet ads. Newspaper staff directly works with advertisement agencies concerning any ad. It can also be customized to meet the budget. Also, advertisements in the newspaper don’t have much competition in the market, so the advertisement agencies can take benefit of it.
- Newspaper advertisement has more reach– Newspaper reaches almost everyone in a society. Everyone reads the newspaper. It means the newspaper has a wide reach which helps an advertisement agency to reach more audiences. Unlike the other sources which have very rare reach to the people. People pay more attention to newspaper ads than normal TV and radio ads.
So, these are the newspaper advertisement benefit. This is how an advertisement agency is getting benefit from newspapers.
Parts of newspaper articles
While you are in a newspaper production process, you pay focused attention to the articles of a newspaper. A newspaper articles are the main part of a newspaper. Articles are the reason for newspaper production. Articles contain the information we want to share with the public at large.
A newspaper article discusses everything from current to old interests. It must contain a story, important information, any specific interest, or just general news. An article has everything like information, story, eyewitnesses, images, debates, interviews, etc.
An article is a way of attracting the reader’s attention. So, it must be written in such a way that it doesn’t let the readers bore.
An article contains the following elements which must be present in it to make it more readable and accessing;
- Headline– A headline is the most important part of an article, which is responsible for attracting the reader’s interest. It is the written text above the topic. A headline doesn’t contain a lot of words. It is generally straightforward and depicts what is inside the topic and why you should read it. A headline can make you read the whole news article or let you skip.
- Subhead– A subhead is the second part of a news article that gives you an instance of what the news is going to be about. It is part of an article. It divides the articles into parts to make them more clear to readers.
- Byline– Byline gives an idea about the writer’s position in the article along with the date. It somewhere depicts the opinion of a writer.
- Lead– Lead sets the reader’s interest upfront. At the start of an article, the lead generates an idea of what the article is going to be about. The introductory paragraph contains a lot of facts and information.
- Body text– Now, when readers have chosen to read the article it’s time to hold their interest throughout the article. So, holding their attention throughout the article you must be having a great body of the article. You need to add different quotes, facts, and figures to make it more efficient. Your body must have to-the-point information because you have to complete the story or article in approximately 1000 words. That’s the word limit for an article in the newspaper.
- Conclusion– Conclusion the last part of the article. A conclusion must be very effective and contain a summary of what was there in the article. The conclusion must have the words of writers. This is the end part of an article that sums up everything.
These are the most important major elements of an article. All these elements must be present in the article. All of these elements complete an article.
Parts of a newspaper
A newspaper has so many pages, so do the different parts. Each part has something to offer. The news from the whole world including every little corner of the world is there in that newspaper. To gather all the news together and spread it with all the readers, the newspaper agency has divided the whole newspaper into different parts.
All the parts in the newspaper are important in the newspaper production process. When all such parts will be there, then the newspaper would get produced fairly.
Let’s discuss these parts or sections of a newspaper;
- General section– This section contains all the general news from the world. All the important news which is not usually happening in day-to-day life, but once in months or weeks. The general news section is generally on the front page of the newspaper. It is written in bold letters to grab the special attention of the people.
- International section– In this section, all the news from outside the country is there. The news from abroad, especially the special issues are there in this section. The existence of this section differs from publication to publication, as where they put the international news in the newspaper.
- Local section– All the news from the local area, generally your district, region, or states is there in this section. The placement of local news also differs from publication to publication. It can be on the second page, third page, or the last page.
- Political section- This section of the newspaper contains all the news about politics. It is related to the economy, democracy, and how is the Government working. This section is generally placed a few pages before the last pages.
- Editorial section– The editorial section contains the letters which are featured letters from the members of the public. In this section, generally, the opinions of different writers are written.
- Sports section– The sports section contains the news of all the sports, national or international. It gives details about tournaments and leagues. It contains sports articles. It connects the sports lovers from the sports tournament. It is generally placed on the last page of the newspaper. It helps the youngsters, who are looking to start their career or interested in starting their career in a sport and gives an idea about the real sports world.
- Business section– This section contains all the news of the business world. The names of the billionaire, how their wealth is doubling. It talks about finances. The business section is generally equipped with businesses and their news. It covers articles regarding economic, business, and financial issues.
- Society section– This section contains the news regarding ongoing events, upcoming events, social gatherings, etc. The society section also contains the news regarding charities and political contributions in the societies. It also contains the news about those people who influence society.
- Travel and tourism section– This section is one of the favorite section of people who loves to travel because it contains all the travel news. It informs people about the new places and discounts going on the travel.
- Announcement and obituary section– This section contains the news regarding religious events, prayers, seminars, etc. It also contains the notices of deaths of people. News about their prayer meets.
- Entertainment section– This section contains the news regarding the entertainment world. It contains the stories and interviews of successful celebrities.
These are the sections that are a certain part of a newspaper. These sections will be there in every newspaper.
Benefits of digital newspaper printing
We already know the benefits of a traditional newspaper, but we are still not much aware of the benefits of the digital newspaper. So, let’s focus on its benefits which are given below;
- Increase reader’s engagement- You know how important the reader’s engagement because that is the main reason for going digital. And that is completely possible with digital news because more and more people preferring the digital modes of getting news.
- Create new revenue modes- Digital news creates a lot of new revenue streams for earning money in different ways. It refers to earn through personalized ads and promotions etc. There are many streams of generating revenue from digital printing newspapers.
- Less cost of availability- To make a newspaper available to a large number of people would not consist a lot of money, now. The digital newspaper has made it easy to spread the news to many people at once without bearing the cost of paper printing and distribution of the newspaper.
Stages of newspaper production
Now, we have come to the main part of this blog which is the stages of a newspaper production process. Here we will learn about the newspaper production stages, from where it starts and to where it ends. These stages are part of every newspaper production. Every newspaper goes through these stages.
Without wasting any further time, let’s understand these stages;
#1 Information gathering
Can you think of a newspaper without any relevant information? I can’t. Whether it’s traditional or digital news, the newspaper’s very first stage is information gathering. There is no newspaper without any information. Reporters and writers do research, interview people, analyze, gather information from different sources, and ready a report on their study.
They collect information from different places and people. They dig the facts and authenticity of that information. Then, they take out the important part from that information. A reporter cannot travel around the world for one report, so he just collects information from reporting of other reporters. A newspaper industry has a lot of reporters who gather the relevant information for the newspaper. A newspaper is nothing but research on factual cases. So, gathering information is the basis of a newspaper.
#2 Writing the news
When a reporter or a writer has procured enough information about a case or a story, then their next step is to put it down all in words. They contract the information they have got into a small and accurate writing piece. Because they only have few words to summarise their reporting into an efficient piece.
Writing a story may get difficult if the writer hasn’t done his homework properly. But if the writer has done his research work properly then writing doesn’t take much time to complete. Writing the news is another important stage of a newspaper production process, where it requires a lot of focus and concentration.
#3 Editing the news
After when the writer has written his piece, the article goes to the editor for editing. The editor checks all the facts and information and makes sure that nothing irrelevant is there in the article. He edits the unusual things and makes the piece looks good in every aspect. He also corrects all the spellings and ensures that story would be easy to read.
After getting sure, the editor finalizes the article and gives his consent for publishing it in the newspaper. The consent of the editor in publishing the article matters a lot. Because the editor is not a normal employee, he has attained specialized knowledge in his field. So, his knowledge is considered to be above everything.
#4 Designing the newspaper
Designing the newspaper is one of the important stages because it attracts a lot of readers. It refers to designing the article with different fonts, position it at the right place, using correct images, using the correct layout, using the right frame, etc. All of these things come under design. Designing a newspaper is a bit difficult task because you have to design each page of the newspaper and it must be in such a way that it doesn’t bore your readers.
A newspaper designer also keeps in mind that every article’s image must be different from each other. Putting an image on each article is also something a designer does tirelessly. Digital printing looks easy but it is not easy. In digital news, the main focus is always on designing to attract the interest of the audience. To keep the audience involved in them.
#5 Advertisement in the newspaper
Advertisement is an important aspect of a newspaper; it gives people an idea about the things trending and useful for them. On the other hand, advertisement agencies get a lot of benefits from a newspaper advertisement. There is an art of placing advertisements in the right places in a newspaper.
These advertisements can be in different forms illustrations, full-page advertisement display, classified, advertisements related to jobs, etc. Every kind of advertisement you can find in a newspaper or digital news. A newspaper is incomplete without an advertisement. These advertisements are placed on different pages at different places, in traditional and digital printing just to make sure that readers can find them.
#6 Printing the newspaper
Almost the last stage in the newspaper production process is Printing. This stage comes when all the above stages get completed. This stage brings the newspaper into our hands. All the articles and designs done on the computer now get into the paper through printing. The time of printing must be fixed so that the newspaper can be delivered to people in the morning at the right time.
Traditional Printing is not an easy task and requires manpower and machine to complete the printing of paper. There is the use of color printing or printing plate to give the newspaper a certain color. The printing machine generally can print more than one paper at a time, which shorten the process of printing a bunch of newspaper. On the other hand, digital printing is comparatively easy and not time-consuming.
#7 Distribution of newspaper
Distribution is the last stage in the newspaper production process, it delivers the traditional newspaper to the doorstep of people. When a newspaper gets printed, a bunch of newspapers is loaded and delivered to different shops, stores, or agencies for circulating it around the city. Delivery boys have been hired to deliver the newspaper to the people. While the digital news easily circulated from one device to another without the help of any delivery boy.
It is posted on the news portal and reaches thousands of devices in just a few seconds. In traditional printing, the sales manager looks after the sale of all the newspapers across the city. He also makes sure that the newspaper has a wide reach. And in digital printing, the digital marketing team looks after the reach of news. Distribution is generally not as easy as it seems, it takes a lot of effort and vigilance to make it happen. With the distribution stage, the circle of stages in newspaper production comes to an end.
These are the stages that are important for the existence of a newspaper. Every newspaper production process goes through these stages almost daily. Newspaper production is not a job of two or three people, it takes the efforts of a lot of people to make it happen.
Do you know?
- The revenue generated from the newspaper industry in India was amounted to over 295 billion Indian rupees.
- Total print circulation revenue in India in the FY2014-2022 would be 306 billion India rupees.
- Maharashtra has accounted highest print ad volumes in 2020.
- According to a survey in India, Dainik Jagran was a paramount Indian publication between FY2019-2020.
- In FY2018, the number of the registered newspaper were 118 thousand across India.
Conclusion
When we get the newspapers in our hands in the morning or news notifications pop up on our screens, do we ever think about the work of so many people behind it? I don’t think so, we do. But the newspaper production industry cannot think of completing this process without the help of huge manpower.
From gathering information to circulating newspapers is not an easy task. Each person at every stage plays an important role in the newspaper production process.
While reading this blog you may have got a lot of ideas about the newspaper printing process. We have discussed every little thing in this process so that it would help you in a better way.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q1. What sizes of newspaper can I print?
Ans. You can print three different sizes of newspaper depending on the number of news you are sharing. The sizes can be mini-newspaper, tabloids, and broadsheets. You can choose any size according to the requirement of your newspaper.
Q2. What is the difference between digital and traditional newspaper printing?
Ans. There is a fine line of difference between a digital and traditional newspaper and that is the use of digital devices and the internet. The traditional newspaper is printed on paper while the digital newspaper has online news on websites and mobile devices. Traditional newspaper printing is an old-age printing form. It is preferable among the older generation than the new generation.
Q3. What kind of newspaper types are available?
Ans. There are three types of newspaper which are;
- Daily newspaper
- Weekly newspaper
- Monthly newspaper
These are the newspaper which is printed on daily, weekly, or monthly basis.
Q4. What are the essential parts of a news article?
Ans. There are some essential parts of a news article, without them, a news article cannot be completed. Here is the list of parts of the news article;
- Headline
- Subhead
- Byline
- Lead
- Body
- Conclusion
Q5. How does a newspaper production process work?
Ans. There are a few stages through which the whole newspaper production process works. The absence of any of the stages doesn’t complete the newspaper production. The names of such stages are;
- Information gathering
- Writing the articles
- Editing the news articles
- Designing the whole newspaper
- Advertisement
- Printing newspaper
- Distribution of newspaper
Q6. How many pages must be there in a newspaper?
Ans. The number of pages depends on the content of the news. The more content you will have the more pages you will require to complete the story. But keeping the quality of the news you are sharing in mind; your newspaper should have 8-9 pages to cover every news. The more pages you have the more responsibility of providing quality news will fall upon you.
Q7. Who delivers the printed newspaper?
Ans. In the case of traditional printing, the newspapers are distributed to different news agencies that hire a bunch of delivery boys. The delivery boys distribute the newspaper to the homes of readers. Whereas in the case of digital printing, the news is circulated online on different platforms where people have access. And it doesn’t need any delivery boy.
