Starting your own newspaper is the dream of journalists around the world. Controlling your message, seeing your name in print, and uncovering injustices that other publications have yet to write about are just a few of the benefits of writing your own article, but it won't be easy. It takes people, time, money, and commitment to your message to survive in the competitive media marketplace, but you'll only get halfway if you follow these steps.
edit steps
Method one of four:
Start your newspaper edition
Determine the niche of your newspaper.There are many newspapers, blogs, and news outlets covering many different topics, but believing that you can instantly compete with The New York Times in reach and content will set you up for failure. Look for a topic or perspective that is not currently offered in your field and try to fill it. [1]
- Small town news, events and politics are often underestimated by major newspapers and instantly appeal to every resident of this town.
- The more specific your niche, the more you stand out from potential readers, but if you think too specifically, you can alienate readers. For example, try writing about "Central New York High School Sports" instead of "Tompkins Country Soccer."
- Do you have experience in a specific industry that could appeal to a wider audience? For example, if you have knowledge of a local music scene, your newspaper could interview bands and review new CDs to bring them to a wider audience.
Can you whitelist wikiHow for your ad blocker? wikiHow relies on advertising money to bring you our free how-to guides. learn how .
Choose a good name.Your name should somehow clarify to potential readers what your article is about.
This can be easy when you're starting out with a small-town reporter (The Lansing Sun, The Petaluma Dispatch-Herald), but it's a little more difficult with niche newspapers. Find something concise but not limiting.
- Try something that allows you to write many different types of articles. Instead of The Southside Chicago Beekeepers Chronicle, try something broader like Windy City Bees Beekeepers.
- Always write the date and edition of the article under the title.
- Make sure you also place your contact information or website near the title.
Choose between a print or an online newspaper.While traditional newspapers are printed and distributed physically, publishing online often allows you to reach a larger audience and reduce printing costs. However, some newspapers are more successful in print because they can be strategically placed and promoted by local businesses.
- Online newspapers tend to attract a diverse readership and are easily marketed through social media and word of mouth. They're also cheaper and easier to manage on the go because you can reply to users and post new stories instantly. However, it will compete with millions of other small newspapers for the same readership, and online plagiarism is rampant. A great interactive website can also be expensive.
- Printed newspapers are easier to collect and many consumers still enjoy the physical experience of reading them. But the physical experience takes far more time, money, and energy to bring to the world, and other than "Letters to the Editor," you get minimal feedback on your writing and who's reading it. [2]
- While there's nothing stopping you from being both online and print, when you're starting out, you should choose one or the other.
Build a news team.Whether in print or online, starting a newspaper is a tough job for a person. Between writing, editing, design, photography, publishing, marketing, and accounting, there are many different skills that go into creating a newspaper. While more and more jobs will be needed as your newspaper grows, you'll need to fill at least the following roles to get started:
- Reporter:Write stories, report on events and introduce new ideas to the newspaper. Reporters are on hand to conduct interviews, collect data and research the next big story to write and produce all the content for your newspaper.
- Editor:Help the reporter get the story the right length, tone and angle for the newspaper. They often look after several reporters in their department (business, sports, politics, etc.) and act as intermediaries between the reporters and the editor-in-chief.
- Editor-in-Chief:The editor of the newspaper has the ultimate decision as to whether or not a story will be printed, which stories go where, and the direction of the newspaper. At smaller newspapers, they edit and critique articles while providing guidance and advice to reporters.
- Copy Publisher:Proofread articles before publication, looking for grammatical, syntactical, or factual errors. Sometimes they also do basic research for the stories.
- Photographer:Join a story reporter to capture images that complement the story. Web-based newspapers are also increasingly asking for video and sound technology.
- Graphic Designer:Responsible for the look and feel of your newspaper or website, as well as creating graphics, tables and illustrations for stories.
- Sometimes these roles overlap, and sometimes you need multiple people to cover the same job. Be flexible and recognize what your newspaper needs: an art newspaper, for example, might need a whole team of graphic designers to make a beautiful newspaper. [3]
Choose the most relevant or compelling stories for the cover.Just as the leadline draws people to your article, your cover story should draw people to your newspaper. Choose a story that's relevant, timely, or particularly unique, and make sure you have a quality image to go along with it.
- Think about which story will catch the most people's attention. It can be a dramatic sporting event or breaking news, but it doesn't matter what you need to have broad appeal.
Create attention-grabbing headlines.Editors, not reporters, usually write the headlines. The goal is to give the reader a brief, memorable clue as to what the story is about without giving away the entire article. The best headlines are short and sweet, promising new information to the reader or forcing them to ask a question they want answered.
- Use numbers whenever possible. They communicate a lot of information without a lot of space.
- Use active speech, interesting adjectives and expressive verbs. Ex. "Rouge deer crashes through deli window." [eleven]
Create different sections to make it easier for the reader to navigate.This is crucial as the paper gets larger. No matter how good their stories are, some people just pick up a newspaper to read sports, or check out the op-ed pages, or solve the riddles. Group similar articles together in a format that works for you and stay consistent in each issue to make your readers feel comfortable.
- Place a small table of contents on the first page or your home page to make it easier to search.
- Arrange your article so that your most attractive sections are at the front. [12]
Find advertisers willing to pay for ads.Whether online or in print, paid advertising is essential if you're ever going to make a profit from your newspaper - subscriptions and sales are too small a market to fully trust. Once you've determined how much space you'd like to allocate to ads, ask your friends and local businesses if they'd like to place an ad or if they know someone who might.
- Offer potential buyers options at different price points: Small black and white ads are cheap, but full-page color ads cost a lot more.
- Many blogs and websites allow you to sign up for pre-packaged advertising programs that pay you for every click on an ad. Check your website hosting or use Google AdSense to find advertisers for free. [13]
Understand the basic principles of newspaper design.Once you've chosen your stories and ads, you need to decide where you want them all to go. Designing your newspaper, also known as pasting, is a full-time job that requires journalism, design, and computer skills. Today, desktop software like Scribus (free), Serif PagePlus (inexpensive), or Adobe InDesign provide templates and tools to create any design imaginable. In general, newspaper layout has few hard and fast rules:
- Remember, above all, clarity. If articles are difficult to read or find, you need a new design.
- Edit, cut or change the stories if necessary.
- Make your titles bold and center them to make them stand out.
- Never use anything smaller than 11 point font.
- Use no more than two fonts to avoid confusion and clutter.
- Be sure to set your computers to a CMYK color scheme rather than the standard RGB, as inkjet printers use CMYK to print.
- Fill the remaining space with ads, puzzles, comics or different stories. [14]
- Browse some of your favorite layouts, or search for award-winning newspaper layout ideas if you're stuck.
How to create a newspaper in Microsoft Word
How to write a newspaper column
How to spread a story to get maximum media exposure
How to create a professional-looking newsletter
How to report a police strike for a newspaper
How to write a paragraph
How do you become a reporter?
write a newspaper (for children)
How to write articles
How to write a press release