About Newspaper Articles
While people have various wants, needs and expectations from newspapers, it's important to remember that the articles themselves are usually written by one person. That journalist is doing her best to interest the reader with a story and can spend less than a day or months at a time reporting and writing it. The process each reporter follows can vary by the newspaper or because of that reporter's personality, but the general practice of journalism remains the same.
Other People Are Reading
-
History
-
According to "History of Newspapers," by Mitchell Stevens, objective newspaper articles became the norm after the American Civil War, along with the "inverted pyramid" style of writing that places the most important facts at the top of the story. In 1923, the American Society of Newspaper Editors constructed the "Canons of Journalism," which in part stated that news reports should be free of bias or opinion. Though newspaper critics speculate whether individual reporters or newspapers as a whole bring their biases to the table, in theory the objectivity model continues to drive newspaper articles today.
Types
-
The most common type of newspaper article, one which is typically seen on the front page, is a straight news report. Full of what is often referred to as "hard reporting," these reports recite the top stories of the day.
Investigative reports are also vital for newspapers. Not to be confused with the so-called "gotcha" reports of dirty motels or slippery salespeople, these stories require months or years of work, resulting in the exposure of corruption or poor practices at the government or corporate level. One piece of investigative journalism can take months or even years to complete, and as a result of shrinking newsrooms, they are increasingly less common.
Feature articles are another common type of journalism. These stories rarely break news; instead, they reflect on the current events with profiles or personal "human interest" stories. The emphasis in these stories is less on facts than on the human condition and the way people are affected by the news.
Separate from all of these examples are editorials, reviews and news analysis. These are critical responses to news, works of art or other happenings. Instead of being objective, the author uses facts and observations to construct an opinion. -
Time Frame
-
A newspaper article can take less than a day or more than a year to write. The amount of time a reporter spends on each story depends on its importance, the availability of information and, in some cases, the volume of other stories the reporter is juggling. Often times, a journalist will chip away at deeper, more developed stories when there is spare time after covering the news of the day.
Size
-
To construct a newspaper page, editors have to deal with headlines, pictures, articles of varying lengths and advertisements. As such, reporters need to be somewhat flexible when writing their stories. An article can be measured in words or column inches. In either case, an editor might tell the reporter how much space is available for his story, and the reporter may in turn argue whether the article is worth more or less space.
Expert Insight
-
With the rise of the Internet, the opinion that newspapers are dying is common. This is because readers are increasingly getting their news online, often from a variety of sources rather than one newspaper. Because online advertising revenues do not match print earnings, hard copy newspapers are indeed in danger around the world.
However, the basic format and tenets of newspaper articles should live on. Web sites like VoiceOfSanDiego.org feature the same reporting and analysis of a newspaper, but it uses only virtual pages. The transition from print to online is and will be difficult for news organizations, but reporting will continue to exist.
-
