Anatomy of a Newspaper

Newspaper formats Broadsheet Tabloid the largest of the various newspaper formats and is characterized by long vertical pages (typically 22 inches) Tabloid A newspaper of small page size, usually 11 inches wide and 17 inches deep.

Banner Headline A headline stretching across the top of a page.

Subhead Small, one-line headline inserted in the body of a story to break up the monotony of a solid column of small type.

Deck A "bank" or section of a headline. Multi-deck headlines improve the ability of the reader to scan.

Masthead Details of the publisher, place of publication, editorial staff and information about the newspaper, generally placed on the editorial page. Editor = A person who directs the editorial policies or a person who decides what news will go in the paper and where it will appear

Flag The title of the publication

Hard News Factual news stories without opinion.

Body Copy The main part / writing of a story.

Byline The author's name, which is printed at the beginning of an article.

Op Ed Section The Opinion / Editorial Section The section offers analysis of the news in the form of editorials and columns

Editorial An article expressing the opinion of the newspaper regarding a certain subject. It is unsigned because it’s the opinion of the staff as a whole.

Column An article appearing regularly written by a particular writer or "columnist." The article contains bias (the writer’s opinion) on the subject he is discussing. Usually the writer’s photo appears above the article and under the headline.

Feature Story (soft news) A story in which the interest lies in some factor other than the news value, usually to entertain. Often is a "human interest" story, as compared with a "straight news" story. It bases its appeal more on the unusual than on consequence.

Lede The first few sentences or the first paragraph of a story.

Jump To continue a story from one page to another.

Dominant Image The largest image on the page – every page should have one, especially the front page of each section (A, B,C, D).

Caption/Cutline Headline or text accompanying a picture or illustration

Hard and Feature News Examples See handout

How are newspapers surviving? The transition to digital journalism