Common terms used to create a newspaper

Advertisement - messages printed in newspaper space paid for by the advertiser.

Classified advertising - advertising purchased in small amounts. Advertisements are "classified" into categories such as help wanted, automobiles, houses for sale, etc. Click here to read classified ads from The Review.

Column - the arrangement of a news story in horizontal lines of type. Also a feature written by a columnist that appears regularly in the newspaper. Some column topics include health, food, advice or humorous accounts of daily life. For examples of columns in The Review, click here.

Column inch - one inch of type or space, measured vertically, one column wide.

Cover - to discover the facts of a news event for a story

Display Advertising - large, illustrated advertisements purchased by those who provide goods and services, such as retail stores Edition - one day's run of the newspaper.

Editor - a person who decides what stories will be covered, assigns reporters to stories, decides what news goes in the paper and where it will appear, and reviews, corrects and rewrites stories.

Editorial - an expression of opinion by the newspaper, reflecting the opinion of the publisher or owner of the newspaper. Click here to read editorials from The Review.

Editorial cartoon - Cartoon art that expresses opinions on the news

Feature story - a story that deals with something other than late-breaking news, but is timely and of interest to readers

Five W's - the major questions found in the lead of a story - who, what, when, where, why and, some people add, how

Hard news - urgent, serious news found in news pages

Headline - words in large type found at the top of the story, summarizing the story for readers; also called a head.

Issue - all copies of a newspaper produced in a day.

Inverted pyramid - a methods of writing a news story in which the parts of the story are placed in descending order of importance, with the five W's in the lead.

Lead - the first paragraph of a news story usually containing the five W's.

Letter to the editor - a letter from a reader expressing the reader's personal views on an issue. Click here to read letters to the editor from The Review.

News story - an objective report of a recent event or timely information. The lead paragraph usually contains the main facts of the story.

Page One - the first page of the newspaper.

Press Release - a specially prepared statement for the press.

Reporter - a person who finds facts about a news story and then writes the story for the newspaper.

Review - a critical evaluation of an artistic event, such as a movie, play, concert or art exhibit.

Want ads - classified advertisements. Click here to read classifieds from The Review.

The Southend Scoop

'The Southend Scoop' is the title of my newspaper that I have chosen. The reason being is that it's quite light-hearted and isn't a serious title that you would be used to coming across in a newspaper due to the fact that it usually delivers some form of serious news. 'Scoop' is also commonly known as revealing news or simply, gossip.

I liked the idea of having this type of cheery newspaper title because it is definitely different to what we're used to with newspaper titles. Common local newspaper titles begin with the town and include words such as 'herald', 'gazette', 'advertiser' or 'chronicle'. I liked that my title was different therefore may be more recognisable and well-known.

Content of the newspaper

As a result of chosing a project which is based on creating a local newspaper, I have to write up a couple of minor stories and a headliner for the two pages I am making. After researching local newspapers, I have found that they are all based on community and focused on small stories about small issues found by members of the community. Either that, or the headliner matches the national newspapers because it is a big deal- such as the recent weather forecast. The weather seems to be plastered on every newspaper I come across recently which is inevitable as it is big news however no newspaper is any different to each other because they're all focusing on one story which is found to be the same, just worded differently in different areas.

I plan to write fictional stories as I believe it to be far harder having to find a true to life story on top of all the work I have to do to create my newspaper pages, hyperlinked website pages and poster. Celebrities seem to be an intriguing topic in all types of news, particularly tabloid newspapers and the internet. Although there are more serious topics of global events going on the recent news, I think writing about a celebrity scandal or gossip eases the minds of the audience because it doesn't affect them as an audience and is generally entertaining therefore a small section of my newspaper will be devoted to this type of gossip people enjoy reading about.

There are always events going on in Southend due to the amount of students that attend the college and university, also older students attending local senior schools, so I will be finding real life events going on in the area, usually based in the popular nightclubs or venues for students to bring students into my target audience. It will also be advertising which is always found in local newspapers, it'll be benficial to my local newspaper to have local events too.

Research into layouts

I have found that popular national tabloids usually cover their entire front page with a headlining story and a picture to match. There isn't a lot of text but there is an A4 sized picture relating to the story that would catch the eye of a potential buyer, and the less included in the text on the front page means they would have to buy the newspaper to carry on reading inside, which is a clever tactic.

This differs hugely from popular national broadsheet newspapers as there is usually so much going on on their front page. The Daily Telegraph, for example, have a tendancy to cover their front page with text rather than images however this may be due to the target audiences being completely different to tabloid newspaper readers.

Although the newspaper I will be creating is a local newspaper, I will probably be opting for the broadsheet layout as local newspapers usually deliver a lot of news on their front pages to engage readers from that area. The national tabloid newspapers may seem more eye catching however it doesn't include a whole lot of information and is far too plain. The Basildon Echo is a newspaper from the area I am from therefore I am more familiar with it's layout and content. It usually opts for a whole headlining story on the front page as opposed to tiny pieces of information leaked onto the front page, leading onto the main content on the inside of the newspaper, much like The Daily Mirror, pictured above.

Statement of intent

For my project, I intend to create the first two pages of a local newspaper together with a poster for the newspaper and two hyperlinked pages from the paper's website. I have chosen to do this specific project because I have never worked in printed media before therefore I thought it would benefit me with regards to learning new skills and gaining the knowledge required to create printed media.

The newspaper this project is based on will generally be a local newspaper basing it's news on local issues, current affairs and gossip about celebrities in the area as through my research, that is usually what local newspapers include. My newspaper's target audience will generally be people from the area I will be writing about which will typically be Southend due to the college being situated in this area therefore it is easier to acquire local news because there is always something going on within the college or nearby.