Text 23 The Press

The press usually refers just to newspapers, but the term can be extended to include magazines. A newspaper is a written publication containing news, information and advertising, usually printed on low-cost paper called newsprint.

Before the emergence of broadcasting in 1920s there were newspapers and magazines as forms of mass communication. Newspapers play an important role in shaping public opinion and informing people of current events.

A newspaper is a publication containing news, information, and advertising. General-interest newspapers often feature articles on political events, crime, business, art/entertainment, society and sports. Most traditional papers also feature an editorial page containing columns that express the personal opinions of writers. Supplementary sections may contain advertising, comics, and coupons.

A wide variety of material has been published in newspapers, including editorial opinions, criticism, persuasion and op-eds; obituaries; entertainment features such as crosswords, sudoku and horoscopes; weather news and forecasts; advice, gossip, food and other columns; critical reviews of movies, plays and restaurants; classified ads; display ads, editorial cartoons and comic strips.

A newspaper's circulation is the number of copies it distributes on an average day, although circulation rates are decreasing. Readership (total number of people reading them) figures are usually higher than circulation figures because of the assumption that a typical copy of the newspaper is read by more than one person.

Newspapers have certain advantages over other mass media — magazines, TV and radio. Newspaper can cover more news and in much detail than TV or radio newscast can do. Magazines focus on major national and international events of the preceding week. But newspaper focuses on local news as well and provides information and comments faster than magazine can do.

There are daily newspapers and weekly newspapers. Daily newspapers print world, national and local news. Many dailies are morning papers, others are afternoon papers. Sunday issues of the dailies are usually larger than the weekday ones. They may include special sections on such topics as entertainment, finance and travel or Sunday magazine, a guide to TV programmes, colored comics. Weekly newspapers serve usually for smaller areas. Weeklies report of weddings, births, deaths and news of local business and politics. Most weeklies do not print world or national news.

Newspapers are typically expected to meet four criteria

Publicity: Its contents are reasonably accessible to the public.

Periodicity: It is published at regular intervals.

Currency: Its information is up to date.

Universality: It covers a range of topics.

Nowadays most newspapers established online publications. New challenges to its prime product, news, came from the Internet and all-news cable television channels.

Newspapers come in different sizes, shapes, format and style. 

"Broadsheet" is the largest of the various newspaper formats and is characterized by long vertical pages (typically 22 inches or more). In the English-speaking world this term is associated with quality journalism. (The Guardian) Quality newspapers are more expensive, they concentrate on serious news, although they also have features, sports news and a guide to radio and TV programmes.

A compact newspaper is a broadsheet-quality newspaper printed in a tabloid format (The Times). The tabloid (430 mm × 280 m) is an industry term for a smaller newspaper format per spread; to a weekly or semi-weekly alternative newspaper that focuses on local-interest stories and entertainment, often distributed free of charge (often in a smaller, tabloid-sized newspaper format); or to a newspaper that tends to sensationalize and emphasize or exaggerate sensational crime stories, gossip columns (Daily Mail). Tabloids often have very large circulations and even bigger readership. Papers such as these are often referred to as popular press or mass circulation papers.

"Berliner" format or "midi” (470 mm × 315 mm). The Berliner format is slightly taller and wider than the tabloid/compact format; and is both narrower and shorter than the broadsheet format (Le Monde).

The tabloids press is much more popular than the quality press, as the popular press aims to entertain its readers rather than inform them.

Questions:

1. What does the term “press” imply?

2. What articles do general-interest newspapers often feature?

3. What materials are published in the newspapers?

4. What is a newspaper’s circulation?

5. What is a newspaper’s readership?

6. What is the difference between daily and weekly newspapers?

7. What criteria newspapers are typically expected to meet?

8. What is the difference between broadsheets and tabloids?

9. What is the aim of the popular press?

10. What advantages do newspapers have over other mass media?