Starting Your Own Class Newspaper
What should go into a class newspaper?
- Newspapers have it all! News, gossip, features, advertisements and the classifieds. You are not restricted. Almost any kind of writing you can think of can be found in a newspaper. Even fictional writing can be accommodated!
- News should be "new" and not stale. Aim to be "hot off the press!"
- News should be informative and investigative - a good journalist finds out things that others don�t know, and asks embarrassing questions in the public interest.
- Try not to be sensational - people have a right to privacy, and private lives should only be publicized if it is in the public interest.
What is the layout of a newspaper? Look at a few newspapers and note the following conventions.
- Some newspapers are in tabloid form (The Weekly Mail, Sowetan, The Citizen). That is to say they can be read without folding. Others (The Star, The Sunday Independent ) fold out into a large format. You need to decide what format you will use - remembering practical difficulties with printing. Most school printers can only handle A4 pages or less, but can be photocopied to an A3 format!
- Text is found in columns which make it quicker to read. What is the usual number of columns found on a page?
- Photographs or cartoons are found, and can stretch across several columns if need be.
- Headlines are used to catch a reader�s interest. Notice the abbreviated style used in headlines.
- Articles have by-lines in which the journalist is credited with writing an article. Usually only senior journalists can command a by-line!
What shall we call our newspaper?
- Common names include words like 'Times', 'Herald', or 'Post'.
- Choose a name which fires your imagination rather than a boring title like 'The 10C Times'!
How can we divide up the work?
- Look at what talents you have. Is one of you a good drawer or photographer? They should be responsible for the graphics.
- Write about something that excites you, or that you really know about. There is no sense in writing about something that bores you, or that you are ignorant about.
