Deciding on the Format
Determine the purpose and audience. Newspapers can report on happenings for a school, community or neighborhood, or organization. They can be local, regional, national or international in scope. Determine who your audience is and why you want to publish this newspaper. Be realistic about your reach. If you want to publish nationally, think about how you will reach your audience and convince them to read your paper.
Determine how frequently you will publish. Newspapers can be published daily, weekly, monthly, or even less frequently. Think about how frequently your readers will want news. Think too about how you will be able to handle publishing as frequently as you would like. Do you have the staff to support frequent publishing? Are you doing everything yourself? Consider starting publishing less frequently and as your newspaper builds its readership and financial support, you can switch to a more frequent schedule.
Decide on your newspaper’s circulation. Circulation is the reach of your paper, or how many copies you will print and circulate. If you are publishing online, circulation numbers are measured in how many people visit and read your online newspaper. Think about how many copies you can afford to publish and how you can realistically distribute them.
Decide on the newspaper’s size. Choose a number of pages and size of the page for your newspaper. Newspaper pages are typically printed in multiples of 4, with smaller papers running about 8 pages, and larger newspapers running more pages than that. Think about how many sections you’d like in your paper (news, opinion, etc.) and how many pages to devote to each of these.
Figure out how you’d like to publish the paper. Newspapers can be printed in hard copy, but increasingly, newspapers are turning to an exclusively online format. If you do print in hard copy, consider also offering some of your stories online, or at least having some kind of online presence. Consider too if you are publishing any of your pages in color or black and white . Online printing is in full color, but physical printing will cost more if you add colors. Talk with a printer to find out your options.
Determine how you will finance the newspaper. Most newspapers are funded a combination of advertising and subscriptions or per-issue charges. This does not mean, however, that you need any of these. There are some newspapers that are commercial-free. You do, however, need to consider how you will make money in order to support the newspaper. Some newspapers that are published by an organization are financed through the organization’s membership dues.
Give your newspaper a short name. Brainstorm a list of names that you can call your newspaper. These might include the name of your town, your school, the specific community you’re reaching, or something else entirely. Pair this name with a typical newspaper title word, such as “Times,” “Herald,” “Bugle,” “Post,” and so on. Try different combinations of words. The title should be easy to say and easy to remember. Make sure there isn’t another newspaper with the same title. You don’t want to be confused with a competing publication.
Getting Operations in Place
Set a budget. Even if you have a bare-bones newspaper, you may still incur costs for printing and distribution. An 8-page school newspaper printed monthly can run $6,000 per year, budgeting for paper, ink, incidentals (supplies for reporters, etc.), a camera for a photographer, and other costs.
Establish a schedule. Putting together a newspaper takes time. Think about how many articles you’d like to publish and how long it will take for these articles to be written and edited. Consider too how long you’ll need to design the newspaper issue, and how long you’ll need for printing. Establish a schedule so you know when to start working on an issue. Start with the date that you’d like to release your paper on, and work backwards from there. You will also have overlap between one issue and the next issue, so keep this in mind as you plan your schedule.
Establish journalistic ethics for your newspaper. Journalistic ethics are a code that guides how you practice journalism. Consider how objective and responsible your paper will be, and think about what lines you will absolutely not cross. Be sure to get these in writing and enforce these guidelines with your staff. The Society of Professional Journalists, a professional organization with regional chapters all over the United States, has good guidelines for journalistic ethics on their website.
Recruit staff for your newspaper. Newspapers are a lot of work and can be more effectively produced when you have a team of people working on them. You can publish a newspaper by yourself, but you may be strapped for time or money in the process. Find people who share the same vision and passion as you for the newspaper. Think about different positions you’ll need to fill. These might include writers, editors for each section, photographers, designers, web designers, and ad sales representatives. If you can afford it, pay your staff. Even if it isn’t much, a little bit of money helps to validate their professional contributions.
Solicit advertisers. If you want local businesses to advertise in your newspaper, you will need to ask them to do so. Make up a rate sheet, which is a table that tells them how much newspaper space their money will buy. You might charge $100 for a quarter page, for example. The rates you charge will be dependent too on the number of readers you anticipate having. Give special deals to your advertisers if they are willing to purchase ad space for a certain length of time or number of issues (for example, for 10 issues, or six months).
Consult a lawyer. You may consider getting legal advice or at least establishing a relationship with legal counsel, just in the off-chance someone has a problem with the news you publish. Writing news ethically will hopefully ensure that you won’t face problems, but you should be prepared nonetheless.
Preparing your First Issue
Hold an editorial meeting. Work with the editors of each section of the newspaper to come up with story ideas. Consider the most timely or pertinent news for your readers. What do they need to know? Make a list of the most important stories and assign these to reporters. Give hard deadlines to ensure you will receive their work in time for publication.
Find stories in your community. Ask around in your community for news stories or press releases. Organizations and other groups may have formal press releases that talk about their current news. Talk with people in your community to get a feel for the stories that are most worthy of reporting.
Write balanced and carefully researched stories. Articles should give more than one viewpoint and have information that is factual, easy to read and engaging. Reporters should interview at least two sources, if not more, in order to present a balanced story.
Edit your stories carefully. Be meticulous about editing. Ensure that articles are fact-checked and that details are correct. Spelling and grammar should be perfect. If an article needs revision, send it back to the writer for more work. If the story is not up to par, think about holding it over until the next issue. It is crucial to establish a positive reporting and publishing reputation for your newspaper, especially with your first issue.
Get advertising information and graphics from your advertisers. If you have ads in your paper, you need to make sure these look as professional as possible so your advertisers will be satisfied.
Designing the Newspaper
Use a desktop publishing program. Using your computer, lay out your newspaper with a desktop publishing program (DTPs) such as Adobe InDesign. There are also a number of free DTPs available for download, which you can find by searching online. Alternately, you can type up and print out articles, and paste them on a larger sheet if you want to have a more DIY zine look for your newspaper.
Lay out the masthead. A newspaper’s masthead includes the name of the newspaper, as well as other information such as the date and issue number. You can also include the web address and a tagline if you have one.
Use two fonts for your articles. Choosing too many fonts will make your newspaper look too busy and it will be hard for readers to focus on your articles. Select one highly-readable font for the headlines and another one for the text of the articles. The size of text fonts should be about 10-point. Headlines can be larger, but keep them consistent. Giant, screaming headlines tend to take up unnecessary space and should be used only in rare cases. The masthead can have a different font, but keep the rest of the newspaper consistent.
Put the most compelling articles on the front page. The most timely and important articles should go on the front page. Accompany them with solid, catchy headlines. Include the bylines (credits) of the writers. Put the rest of the articles in their proper sections. Pair these articles with compelling photographs. Include brief captions that explain the photos. Make sure to credit the photographer.
Lay out the newspaper in columns. Columns are much easier to read than big blocks of text. Divide up columns so that there are 4-5 columns across the page (depending on the size of the page). Don’t run the columns all the way down to the bottom of the page, however. Divide the page into thirds vertically and make each of these its own mini-section for an article or two. If you are publishing online, you can have a more flexible format and will likely not lay out your newspaper in columns. Rather, you will just put blocks of text accompanied by pictures on the page.
Lay out the advertising. If you are including advertising, lay out the ads. Make sure the ads are the correct size that the advertisers purchased. Think about where you might place the ads. Many ads can go anywhere in your newspaper, but there may be some ads that are more suitable for certain sections. For example, if you have an ad for a concert, think about placing the ad in the arts section. Advertising should not go on the front page of the newspaper.
Print your newspaper. Depending on the size and circulation, you may be able to print your newspaper yourself. You can also take your digital file to a copy shop for printing. For more professional, newspaper-type printing, you will need to use a printer that does that sort of printing. Search online for a local option. You might also be able to use a regional printer.
Distributing the Newspaper
Distribute it throughout neighborhoods. Give out your newspaper for free by placing it on people’s front doorsteps. This can be an expensive option, however, since you may want to wrap up the newspaper in a plastic bag so it doesn’t get wet. You will also need to print a lot of copies of the newspaper so you can reach a lot of homes.
Distribute your newspaper in local businesses. Many local businesses and stores are willing to put a pile of newspapers or flyers near their front doors or cash registers. Then interested customers can take these newspapers home. Check with stores, doctor and dentist offices, restaurants, and cafes, and other places with a reception area to see if they will make your newspapers available for customers. Keep track of how fast your newspapers are being picked up. You may find that some areas or stores go through newspapers more quickly and need to be restocked, while other locations don’t go through their papers at all.
Mail your newspaper. You may already have an existing readership for your newspaper, especially if you are starting the newspaper for a membership-based organization. Mail the newspaper to these members. Check with the post office to determine bulk postage and rates for periodicals.
Distribute online. Online newspapers can take different forms. You might post news in a blog format, or you might have mocked up a newspaper-looking format that can then be read as a sort of online publication. Readers can either read the blog format or download the other format as a PDF or other document. Especially for online publication, you should publicize your newspaper on social media so that people know you have published a new issue.
Insert your paper into another newspaper. Talk with another newspaper to see if you can insert your paper within one of their issues. This will likely cost you quite a bit of money since the insertion process costs money.
Comments
0 comment